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A look at Penny Arcade's ESRB ad campaign
Last week, the rascally duo from Penny Arcade announced their new ESRB ad campaign featuring Gabe-drawn characters and Tycho-penned backstories. The idea: to make gamers more aware of the ratings system in a hope that this knowledge will somehow be transferred -- through some kind of filial osmosis -- unto their guileless parents. ESRB president Patricia Vance gushes, "In order for the campaign to resonate with the gamer audience, we sought to have a little 'edge' to the creative and let's face it, Penny Arcade comics give a whole new meaning to the term 'comic mischief!'" Indeed. That's why we're hopeful a certain fruit-processing character assumes his rightful throne educating the masses on the finer points of M-rated behavior. In the meantime, we have Sarah here and the Andersons after the break representin' the letter E, with no mention of the additional characters in their press release (PDF).(Update: added new, higher-res screens that are -- get this -- actually legible. Thanks go to Gabe at PA for uploading them. I'll let him say it: "I was disappointed at the resolution of the images they released. Like I said everyone here is extremely proud of these ads and so I'll go ahead and post some better versions. These are designed to be read in a magazine. The idea is that kids will actually be turning the page around in order to read the text. It doesn't quite work as well with a monitor but you get the idea.")
Macgamefiles offers free game hosting
Macgamefiles.com has announced free game hosting for shareware and freeware game developers (but not for things like maps, mods, etc.). The only catch is that the game's developer needs to point their download links to the game's product page hosted at Macgamefiles.com. This, I assume, is so MGF can make up their (probably astronomical) hosting costs with ad hits.Given some of the bills I've heard of for hosting large files like podcasts and software downloads, I would imagine this is a huge bonus for garage-based game developers. Three cheers for internet advertising business models!
SugarMama: earn Virgin Mobile minutes by watching ads
Yeah, we've seen this system before. It didn't work for Gizmondo's Tiger Telematics when it was called Smart Adds, we didn't think it was going to work for the company's unofficial spinoff, Xero Mobile (started by the CEO of Tiger's Smart Adds division), but now Richy Branson wants you to to stop paying for (some of) your minutes by watching youth-oriented ads. Welcome to SugarMama, Virgin Mobile's ads-for-minutes system which gives you airtime in exchange for viewing a video ad or interacting with text ad, and then providing feedback to the advertisers (presumably to make sure you actually performed the act of watching or reading said ad). We don't yet know exactly how many ads it'll take to reach the monthly ceiling of 75 minutes "earned," but what would really impress us is if you could earn your whole minute plan this way.
Chinese WoW Advertisement
While this video isn't new, I just ran across it today. It's a Chinese advertisement for World of Warcraft and Coke. And I think I'll leave the conclusions to you...
Study shows more support for in-game ads
According to oddly-capitalised research agency comScore Networks, gamers are a ripe target for marketers. With almost 50% of all Internet users apparently reading game sites, reaching out to these 76 million consumers is big business.The survey also looked at attitudes to in-game advertising amongst heavy and light gamers. Heavy gamers are more familiar with the concept of in-game ads, and are also more likely to buy products advertised in-game. The conclusion across all types of gamers leans towards the inevitable -- in-game ads will be a feature of the future.With only 800 gamers surveyed, a larger segment may produce vastly different results, but these statistics are encouraging for firms like Microsoft's Massive who are working within this market.[Via Gamasutra]
TiVo Product Watch gives you commercials on your schedule
So, you thought the whole reason to own a DVR was so that you could skip commercials? Think again. Today TiVo is rolling out the Madison Avenue-friendly Product Watch service, which lets you watch commercials on demand. Whether anyone will actually demand to watch these ads remains to be seen, but TiVo has managed to sign up over 70 advertisers, who will provide the service with everything from 60-second spots to hour-long infomercials, which will, in the words of TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, "deliver real, relevant results for our advertising partners while at the same time enhancing the TV experience for subscribers." Ads will apparently include gems such as cooking tips for products such as Kraft's Tombstone pizza and Jell-O, and a Ford ad featuring Penn and Teller. As long as we can delete them from our hard drive, we'll live with the ads -- though we may just archive the Kraft spots to DVD; you never know when you'll need some tips on preparing Jell-O or nuking a frozen pizza.
Discovery Channel discusses the HD effect
Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble has posted about the MSN Strategic Account Summit where besides hobnobbing with Bill Gates & Jay-Z, he had a conversation with a Discovery Channel exec confirming what we all pretty much know already. The Discovery Channel has some great high definition stuff, and HDTV owners will watch anything, even ads, in HD. The network knows all this and is promoting high definition advertisements so hopefully we'll see less 4x3 breaks in the action.Also on that note I saw an ad last night again using high definition for a non-television product, this time contact lenses. It wouldn't be so bad since it could be related to enhanced resolution except that the ad itself was in SD.[Via HD for Indies]
Commercial skipping to cost $8 billion in TV ads this year?
We can't vouch for the number -- that's their job -- but JupiterResearch has a recently published report that gets a lot right when it comes to DVR use. They claim that 53 percent of DVR subscribers use their DVRs to skip commercials, and that if all of those households skip commercials 100 percent of the time (unlikely) cable and broadcast TV advertisers would be at risk of losing around $8 billion of the $74 billion they spend on ads in 2006. Sounds rather doom and gloom, and JupiterResearch also contradicts the idea that DVR users watch a whole lot more TV to make up for those missed ads. But luckily they manage to reach a much more reasonable solution than most: networks and advertisers should rethink programming and ad strategies to cope with the way consumers are using DVRs. Not rocket science, we know, but JupiterResearch sees some of the current efforts by the networks not only as ineffective, but as a penalty to users -- which doesn't really do anybody a lot of good.
Get a Mac
It would seem that Apple's newest advertising campaign is called 'Get a Mac.' There is a new section of Apple's website entirely devoted to this (http://www.apple.com/getamac). There Apple lists a number of reasons why you should get a Mac: No hunting for drivers Next year's OS today Design that turns headsInterestingly the site also debunks the usual arguments about not getting a Mac, which include: Yes, Macs run Office No, Mac aren't slow (thanks to Intel!) Your old printer and other peripherals will workFinally, Apple has posted all the 'Get a Mac' ads here (there are 6 of them in total).
Philips patent app would force you to watch commercials, both live and recorded
In a move that would surely delight advertisers but enrage consumers, Philips is trying to patent a method for flagging digital TV content to not only prevent viewers from changing the channel during commercials in live broadcasts, but to actually lock out fast-forwarding capabilities during ads in recorded programs as well. Even worse, the patent specifically applies to the already widely-deployed Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) middleware system standard, meaning that many Europeans' current TVs would be susceptible to these Orwellian controls. Since the US version of this platform, OCAP, is largely based on the MHP architecture, it's not a stretch to imagine such flagging being applied to American sets as well. Although we're certain that a workaround would be developed if Philips' evil plan ever actually materializes, just the thought of our DVRs going impotent is enough to fill us with fear and trepidation.Update 1: Reader Paul B, who also happened to chair the group that wrote the MHP PVR specification, writes to inform us that "there is no such flag as standard in the spec. Philips could add one as a Philips-specific flag but it wouldn't apply to the other manufacturers. Secondly, as currently specificed there is no way for an MHP application to take control of the channel switching function, so changing channels always works." There you have it folks; it seems that all your MHP-equipped gear is safe -- for now.Update 2: Royal Philips Electronics, ever mindful of their Engadget-reading customers, had this to say in a note to us: "(Philips) filed a patent application, as yet not granted, that enables watching a television movie without advertising. However, some people do want to see the ads. So, we developed a system where the viewer can choose, at the beginning of a movie, to either watch the movie without ads, or watch the movie with ads. It is up to the viewer to take this decision, and up to the broadcaster to offer the various services. Philips never had the intention to force viewers to watch ads against their will and does not use this technology in any current Philips products, nor do we have any plans to do so."[Via New Scientist]
TiVo getting interactive and on-demand ads
It was no surprise that TiVo's fast-forward banner ads didn't quite take as they might have hoped, but BusinessWeek is reporting that next month we can expect to see some new TiVo-based advertising systems rolled out, including interactive ads and ads on demand. Yes, yes, we've seen interactive advertising and enhanced television done umpteen times now, but from what it sounds like (BizWeek was kind of vague -- we don't have a lot of specifics yet), TiVo's taking a slightly different approach by background-downloading and storing ads in the system for viewing; this also lends to a new kind of choose your own adventure style ad system that lets viewers pick how they want to be advertised to with spots that unfold depending on user input. The irony here is that the first round of TiVo's interactive ads were apparently bought by Sony for the new Bravias they've been pimping so hard lately -- HDTVs that your trusty old standard def DVR won't be able to take full advantage of. Still, if you want to learn more about Sony's new TVs, their TiVo commercial will apparently have twelve different endings to choose from.[Via TechDirt]
HD-DVD advertising campaign kicks off: "So real you can feel it"
That is the new rallying cry of the HD-DVD camp; will it be enough to move customers into stores to by players before Blu-ray comes out, or enough to make consumers care about high definition DVDs at all? Toshiba and Warner Brothers certainly hope it is. To counter, the Blu-ray supporters were considering launchnig a market campaign around the concept that HD-DVD "came first", leaving HDTV owners unsatisfied. Expect the milder tagline "step into Blu" when their media juggernaut hits the ground.They plan to start the advertising on channels that air high definition content but we haven't seen any yet, although I did catch a nice Mission Impossible trailer in HD during 24 last night. Drop us a line if/when you see the ads.[Via Adjab]
Breakfast Topic: Have your say about our ads
We've had a few discussions here about gold farming, and we're well aware that thanks to some of the keywords on this site, the Google AdSense ads displayed here can be incongruous with the message we are trying to get across. While we've had to leave the adverts as-is so far, we want your feedback on this issue, and we're prepared to act -- how important is the content of our advertisements to you?Technologically speaking, we can block certain ads based on their URLs, but as more sites spread and more domains spring up, this isn't going to help too much. Of course, we know that most of you aren't going to buy gold, so if you do click on the adverts you're costing the gold sellers money -- doing this, and making advertising expensive for them, could be one way to combat the problem.What would you do in our position?
Silent Hill billboard welcomes you to... Culver City
Sony Pictures' upcoming Silent Hill movie is hoping to break the long-running cycle of terrible movies adapted from video games. Curiously enough, their plan involves hiring a proven writer and director! Clever folks over there in Culver City. Their way of thinking is so unusual it's almost "Otherworldly," lending the above billboard -- located just outside Sony Studios in Culver City -- a certain credibility. Either that or they're referring to what might happen when Ken Kutaragi activates the PlayStation 3's fourth-dimensional SPU during their scheduled E3 keynote in Culver City this May.[Thanks, Mof]Read - Silent Hill billboard imageRead - IMDb's Silent Hill message board thread on the billboard (use BugMeNot)
Super Bowl XL ads.....in high definition!
We know you're getting ready for the big game.......and so do advertisers. Particularly due to the trend of people going over to a friends house (one who has high definition TV) to watch the game, more than half of the advertisements scheduled to be run will be shot in high definition. The one downside is they cost up to 15% more to produce, not just due to equipment, but makeup and set attention to detail increases because viewers can see more. We've been telling people about the power of high definition advertising, it looks like someone is listening.
Sony's fony graffiti sparks lashback
Sony's guerilla graffiti campaign promoting the PSP in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco has pissed some folks off. The best way to fight corporate graffiti? With graffiti, of course. Pictured here: one vandal's response to the PSP ad campaign. Sony's not the only company that has co-opted modes of underground expression. Rockstar plasters NYC with stickers, Microsoft did the same to promote MSN, and so on. A bit of the ire directed at Sony probably has to do with the whole rootkit fiasco. [Via Digg]
