Deus Ex Gets Augmented with Star Wars Advertisements

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Well they missed the biggest audience for those ads by over two weeks. Although still a new release, the vast majority of people to play it have probably already finished it (twice!). Still, it's very current and will annoy many many players the world over.

Shame on you Eidos, shame on you. I can understand F2P MMOs with in-game ads, but an offline SP game from a huge publisher? Just not cricket. I expect however that as DE:HR is THE biggest release right now bar none, Lucasfilm offered them a great deal of money to advertise SW: The Altered Saga in a game with the largest audience.

This would explain the 32MB patch Steam downloaded for it yesterday. Shame, I was thinking they'd fix the frustrating bug in the "Cloak and Daggers" side mission.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Damn, that's subtle isn't it?


I always like the way things were advertised in the Wipeout games. Ads work if they're used properly withing the context of the game.

Methinks having a Blu-Ray release of Star Wars advertised in Deus Ex (you know, the future), is really out of place.

I reckon they are gonna be re-released for a long time into the the future, so maybe we'll still be seeing ads for the newest re-release of Star Wars in whatever year Deus Ex is set. But yeah, still seems damn outa place the way it is. The Wipeout way woulda been much better.

I'm still probably not gonna buy either Deus Ex or Star Wars on Blu-ray so it doesn't bother me at all, it just sure is a weird story.

 

[Cat of Doom]

wow, that's subtle isn't it.

 

[thirion1850]

They're not even fucking trying now, are they.

 

[4173]

I've tried. I don't care. This is a case where I'll deal with the slippery slope when we get there.

 

[wadark]

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something, but it just seems crazy that people get so worked up over a 2"x1" square on a loading screen that no one pays attention to anyway.

Look, I'm not some marketing executive painfully trying to trumpet the virtues of in-game ads and their "benefits" to consumers. All I'm suggesting is that people keep it all in perspective and not attack something simply for being without considering the circumstances. There are in-game ads that are well-implemented, ads that are implemented awfully, and ads that are out of place but not really obnoxious. As far as I can tell, this is in the 3rd category. Yes, it's not exactly great, but its also not the end of the world. It's nothing that should keep one from playing a great game (if Deus Ex is a great game, I haven't played it). But then again, if your principles are that important to you, and you don't care about missing this game, then that's your own business.

Again, all I'm saying is, keep it in perspective.

P.S. Seriously, the Star Wars changes are not that bad.

 

[SachielOne]

My issue is that I run on a crappy Canadian bandwidth cap that I share with several other people, and they wasted some of that cap with data that added absolutely nothing to the game. I don't care that the patch was only 32.2 megabytes. That's MY GODDAMN BANDWIDTH they took a chunk out of.

 

[NathLines]

What? I just tried playing it; no ads.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I don't mind in game ads... when they're used to cover the costs in a free to play game without a cash shop. In a full priced AAA game like Deus Ex, banner ads like that are just ridiculous, especially if they weren't there when the game was released. Now, product placement along the lines of a character drinking a coke, or an in-game billboard that meshes with the setting, that's fine. But a blatant commercial that pulls you out of the game? That's just not right.

 

[wadark]

EDIT: Double post, my bad.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

A patch with an in game ad? What madness is this?! And I guess this is just "perfect timing" since I'm going to start playing it today.

Lucas, why are you stalking me?

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

There have been some games where I wish they had done that -- mostly games with cool concept art on the loading screens, or that let you do something interactive with it. I remember this one PS1 game that let you play a Galaga clone while it loaded...

 

[Epona]

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

There have been some games where I wish they had done that -- mostly games with cool concept art on the loading screens, or that let you do something interactive with it. I remember this one PS1 game that let you play a Galaga clone while it loaded...

Well, some games load but then tell you to "press any key to continue" allowing you to read the tips or go to the kitchen without worrying that the level will start without you. That's all great but that's to your benefit. What I am talking about is not letting the game continue until the ad has been up for five seconds, even if your machine could load faster. That's not to your benefit but rather to the benefit of the advertiser.

 

[wadark]

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

There have been some games where I wish they had done that -- mostly games with cool concept art on the loading screens, or that let you do something interactive with it. I remember this one PS1 game that let you play a Galaga clone while it loaded...

Well, some games load but then tell you to "press any key to continue" allowing you to read the tips or go to the kitchen without worrying that the level will start without you. That's all great but that's to your benefit. What I am talking about is not letting the game continue until the ad has been up for five seconds, even if your machine could load faster. That's not to your benefit but rather to the benefit of the advertiser.

That's certainly a legitimate concern, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen that way. They aren't blind to the fact that certain levels of advertising would seriously piss people off, and I don't think they'd be blindly greedy enough to do so, but I suppose only time will reveal the answer to that.

 

[Raioken18]

This reminds me of that South Park episode. Anyway, you can't really complain that ads should be subtle or whatever, having a subtle ad would defeat the purpose of actually having the ad in the first place.

Frankly, I'm ok with ingame advertising as long as it doesn't effect anything important, loading screens being one of the least important things I could imagine, right up there with easter eggs.

 

[imnot]

I've tried. I don't care. This is a case where I'll deal with the slippery slope when we get there.

Your avatar!
You must be with George Lucas!
Kill the imposter!
KILL!
KILL!

 

[Sir Shockwave]

My copy of Deus Ex got Augmented...in the worst way possible.

 

[Racecarlock]

Didn't decline of video gaming 2 predict this, but with resident evil? I wonder how long it is before that minority report mall scene is reality.

 

[robert01]

The are exactly the kind of bullshit adds that shouldn't be in video games. Put them in tasteful places where they would be in reality, on vending machines, billboards, etc, and I bet you 100% of people wouldn't actually care that they are there, because they aren't intrusive. That shit, is terrible.

 

[GeorgW]

I love ads. They make it so I can completely ignore them, while giving back to something I like. So, while this is shameless and wrong, I have no problem with it.

Wow, that's bullshit.

Thankfully my SSD and i7 take care of loading screens, so I'll never see it should I replay the PC version.

Which leads me to think that in future games they will artificially extend loading times to fit the ads in.

There have been some games where I wish they had done that -- mostly games with cool concept art on the loading screens, or that let you do something interactive with it. I remember this one PS1 game that let you play a Galaga clone while it loaded...

Well, some games load but then tell you to "press any key to continue" allowing you to read the tips or go to the kitchen without worrying that the level will start without you. That's all great but that's to your benefit. What I am talking about is not letting the game continue until the ad has been up for five seconds, even if your machine could load faster. That's not to your benefit but rather to the benefit of the advertiser.

That's certainly a legitimate concern, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to happen that way. They aren't blind to the fact that certain levels of advertising would seriously piss people off, and I don't think they'd be blindly greedy enough to do so, but I suppose only time will reveal the answer to that.

Oh, believe me, they're greedy enough.