Sony Could Interrupt Your Games With Ads

[Karloff]

Sony Could Interrupt Your Games With Ads

Your next PlayStation may hide commercials in its CPU.

Sony has patented a system designed to interrupt media content and insert advertisements. According to the patent, the invention is intended to be used with "computers, graphic workstations, television, entertainment systems, video game systems, DVRs, media players, home servers, video game consoles and the like." The code that transmits the commercials can be hidden away on removable storage devices, the GPU, the CPU and the RAM.

According to the patent, you'll know it's happening when "the game slows down...the user knows to get ready for a commercial, the game then stops, and the commercial is played. After the commercial, the game resumes." In some instances the game "may resume by slowly starting again, which allows the user to remember where he or she was in the game."

This isn't the first time Sony has expressed an interest in such technology; the patent has been active in one form or another for at least six years. However Sony's decision to continue the patent strongly suggests they want a workable advertising system at some point.

Don't think this is limited to PlayStations. Sony manufactures hardware as well as software, and assuming they follow through on this patent then there's no telling where those storage devices or central processors will end up. After all, when you buy a media player, you don't ask where the manufacturer got their GPU.

So. Anyone want to buy some soda?

Sources: Patent US 2011/0274409 [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-25-sony-patents-method-to-interrupt-your-gaming-with-an-ad]


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[DustyDrB]

No. I don't hate ads. Put them before or after something, and I'm cool with that. I'm even fine with product placement to an extent. I tolerate commercials in TV because that's how it has always been (though I watch most shows via Netflix nowadays, so it's generally not even an issue there). I hate the idea of my gaming experience being interrupted by something totally unrelated. This just seems disrespectful to gamers and to the games. I promise I won't buy a Sony console that does this.

 

[Racecarlock]

Hey jackasses, one of the main reasons we play games over watching TV is that games don't randomly get interrupted by advertising! This idea is pure bullshit.

 

[RJ 17]

Good god.........seriously, if even half the rumors about the next generation of consoles prove to be true, I'd say there's a 95% chance the last console I buy will be the 360 I currently own. >.>

 

[Burst6]

If it lets me play games for free than I'm all for it!

If this is for paid games then no, I'm not getting a ps4.

 

[Wolfram23]

I would fucking rage. Right in the middle of gaming, a damn ad interrupts me? Hell no.

When people talk about pirates offering a better service... this is the sort of shit that will give them a gold badge of approval.

 

[Tanis]

Dear Sony,
Please keep acting like cunts and activity shitty on your user base, it's great!


-Sincerity, Nintendo

 

[Eri]

If you sell me the console really cheap and give me free games (including AAA games) sure, I might can deal.

 

[Andronicus]

What happened to subtly integrating branding into the games themselves? Too much effort? I can only imagine that this is just one of those "patent that shit before anyone else can" kind of things, and they don't actually intend to put it in, because I can't imagine anybody being insane enough to actually believe this to be a good idea.

EDIT: actually, after reading the above comments, I have to admit the idea seems much more interesting if the upside is free games (and I'm talking free here, not discounted; not even quarter-price sales can convince me to play something that cuts in and out of ad breaks). Course, I'd imagine there'd still be full-price games without ads. Sounds like it could be interesting, as long as they approach it smartly, and not just jamming random ads into every game with abandon.

 

[Something Amyss]

No. I don't hate ads. Put them before or after something, and I'm cool with that. I'm even fine with product placement to an extent. I tolerate commercials in TV because that's how it has always been (though I watch most shows via Netflix nowadays, so it's generally not even an issue there). I hate the idea of my gaming experience being interrupted by something totally unrelated. This just seems disrespectful to gamers and to the games. I promise I won't buy a Sony console that does this.

I've actually been cool with those advertising billboards in games updating and the like, so I'm not even bothered by ads IN games. These would stop gameplay, though. That's just wrong. I hate it when CUTSCENES take control away from me, and they don't actually sell anything.

 

[Darkmantle]

Well I'm definitely not buying this new generation of consoles right off the bat, I want to see how much of this BS is true before I waste my money on it.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...

Very bad idea Sony, very bad idea indeed.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

They better keep their ads of my stuff.
I'm already paying for the hardware and the software.
I don't need ads on my pc.
Wait... Does Sony produce anything for PC?

 

[Terminate421]

The only time I don't care to see an ad is at this screen:

You know, the screen where nothing is happening while the map loads?

So long as it doesn't happen when I am pinned down in the middle of a sniper zone, I could give less of a shit. I could imagine the irony when Pepsi is advertised while I am drinking my coke.

Though I also wouldn't care if there was a pepsi billboard stopping Tank Rounds from hitting me.

 

[DrTobiasWho]

This is a very what moment.

 

[Covarr]

This is obnoxious if it makes it into new products. But if a firmware update starts interrupting games I've already paid for (or worse, my movies), then I will be furious. But Sony's not THAT dumb... I hope.

P.S. Thanks

 

[AndrewC]

Wow, I mean, I know Sony are stupid but are they really that thick?

If this goes ahead they can say goodbye to their consu- HEY TRY NEW GENERIC COLA 9999 CENTS- mer base.

 

[Baresark]

This doesn't even make sense. Is the point of buying a game not to play the game. I mean, if there is any likelihood this would happen while I was playing on a Sony game system, there is zero chance of me buying one. If they were going to distribute games for free, then this would be acceptable. There are plenty of smart device games that do this... though usually they are shitty games, and if they aren't, I don't usually buy them anyway if there is a free version... this is of course because the game is not worth the money they are asking for it.

I digress. I can't help but feel that if you buy a product you should be free of advertisements. That is why there is no commercial interruptions on HBO shows. It only makes sense.

 

[RJ 17]

Course, I'd imagine there'd still be full-price games without ads. Sounds like it could be interesting, as long as they approach it smartly, and not just jamming random ads into every game with abandon.

At least according to the article, the ads won't be programmed into the game, they'll be coded into the console itself. No matter what game you're playing, a Pepsi commercial will be interrupting you. From the sound of things no game will be ad-free.

 

[Fayathon]

Ads in loading screens? Fine, but stopping my game in the middle of it is a great way to ensure that I never pay for a game ever again.

EDIT: Now that I think on it some more, if it's hardcoded into the hardware I'm never buying the hardware. Not just that, but I'll help anyone I can jailbreak that shit out of their hardware so they don't have to deal with it, this is a terrible idea, and will pretty well just earn the ire of every gamer out there.