A couple weeks back, we discussed the growing trend of in-game ads in video games. And while it’s nothing new for sports games to feature sponsors in the background, the ad folks at Old Spice are breaking new ground, not just sponsoring a portion of the game, but completely fabricating a new statistic — swagger — to slap their name on. [More]
video games
Pay Monthly To Be Bombarded With In-Game Audio Ads
By 6.29.10
A would-be challenger to the massively multiplayer online game kingdom ruled by World of Warcraft, All Points Bulletin has already got the market leader beat in one department: annoying advertising. [More]
Parents Group To Best Buy: Move Mature-Rated Games To Higher Shelves
By 6.28.10
Advocacy group Parents Television Council says it’s a Joe Camel move to place video games intended for adults right alongside the Marios and Sonics of the world, and the group scolded Best Buy for the practice at a shareholder’s meeting last week. [More]
Give Sony $50 A Year, Get Very Little In Return
By 6.25.10
Sony unveiled the specifics of its Xbox Live-like PlayStation Plus program on its PlayStation Blog, revealing an underwhelming set of features for the $50 annual fee. Bear in mind that Sony already gives away online play — something Microsoft charges for. [More]
Don't Buy A Digital Game And Expect To Return It For A Refund
By 6.24.10
Joshua heard you could play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on the PC with an Xbox 360 controller, so he downloaded it through Steam, a digital distribution service. He hasn’t been able to figure out how to use his controller and suspects it may not be possible, and Steam is ignoring his requests for a refund. [More]
Expensive iPhone Games Cost A Buck Today
By 6.23.10
In honor of the iPhone 4 coming out tomorrow, EA has slashed its prices on several costly iPhone/iPod Touch games to a dollar. [More]
Five Months From Now Microsoft Will Stop Gouging Families For Xbox Live
By 6.23.10
Microsoft’s indispensable Xbox Live service was always tough on gaming households, requiring family members and roommates to piggyback on one another’s accounts or spring for separate $50-a-year subscriptions. Yesterday the company announced it will start selling 4-for-the-price-of-2 Xbox Live Gold Family Packs, which give you four subscriptions for $100 a year. [More]
Game Company Stunningly Uses Downloadable Content For Good Rather Than Evil
By 6.23.10
Rockstar Games trotted out a downloadable expansion to Red Dead Redemption, its epic Wild West-set action game. What’s remarkable is that the download, which lets players partake in online co-op missions and adds Xbox 360 achievements and PlayStation 3 trophies, is free. And not for only those who bought the game new. [More]
Burger King All Set For Another Round Of Creepy Xbox 360 Games
By 6.22.10
Back when the Xbox 360 was just a little baby, Burger King released a slew of $4 video games featuring the off-putting King character that weren’t nearly as bad as you thought they’d be. [More]
Everyone But Microsoft Says Xbox Motion Controller Will Cost $150
By 6.21.10
Microsoft is staying mum on the price of Kinect, its motion and voice controller due out in November, saying it’s evaluating options. [More]
Best Buy To Use Kitchens And Kids To Lure Female Shoppers
By 6.20.10
After listening to thousands of women, Best Buy has decided that its path to long-term profitability lies through redesigned showrooms that resemble kitchens and a loyalty program that lets women donate points to schools. The insights came from Best Buy’s Women’s Leadership Forums, local focus groups that let female Best Buy employees and regular gals like you send ideas to the suits upstairs. Some Best Buy executives were irked by the whole initiative. [More]
Sick Of Losing Out To GameStop, Best Buy To Accept Video Game Trade-Ins
By 6.17.10
With average prices of around $60-$70 for a new title, video games are a pricey prospect, especially for skilled gamers who can finish some games in an afternoon. GameStop and others have capitalized on this buyer’s remorse by buying back used games, the money for which is often spent immediately at that same store. Tired of watching others capitalize on this model, Best Buy has announced a plan to allow customers to trade in their old games. [More]
Microsoft Took Red Ring Out Of Redesigned Xbox To Prevent Red Ring Of Death
By 6.17.10
There were two ways for Microsoft to scuttle the whole Red Ring of Death thing that plagued previous iterations of its Xbox 360: Either fix the problems that cause the consoles to malfunction at a legendary rate or just take the whole red ring out altogether. Microsoft went with plan B. [More]
Sony Wants To Sell You Enhanced PS3 Online Access, Motion Controller
By 6.16.10
Sony’s two biggest announcements at video game summit E3 were of copycat efforts. By the end of the month the PS3 will start PlayStation Plus, a $50-a-year tier of its currently free online service that gives gamers a grab bag of free downloads and the ability to talk with other players online regardless of what game their playing — provided they’re also PlayStation Plus subscribers. It’s the company’s answer to pay-to-play Xbox Live. The first three months of PlayStation Plus are free. [More]
Nintendo Shows 3DS But Doesn't Tell
By 6.16.10
Nintendo did a dastardly thing at yesterday’s E3 press conference, showing off its hot upcoming 3DS portable gaming system but refusing to announce a price or release date. [More]
Come November You Will Be Able To Search Netflix Streaming Content Via Xbox
By 6.15.10
Netflix-streaming Xbox 360 players will have one less reason to be jealous of Roku owners come November. At the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced it will let Netflix users search and add streaming movies and TV shows through the console, bypassing the need to do it the old-fashioned way on a computer. [More]
What Do You Think Of Ads In Video Games?
By 6.14.10
In the recently released Xbox 360 video game Alan Wake, players can’t help but notice that — in addition to playing the game — they’re also being heavily advertised to by Verizon. At one point, they’re even fooled into watching a Verizon ad. [More]
My Downloadable Star Wars Game Won't Play On My PS3
By 6.14.10
Probably the best thing about old PlayStation games that are now downloadable on the PlayStation Network is that you can play them on PS3s as well as PSP. [More]
