Gearblog: Randy on game ads

[ennui]

In light of the recent announcement that Gearbox has created an opportunity to partner with Double Fusion for advertising, we've seen a lot of comments from you all. Randy has responded to these concerns and wants to make Gearbox's intent with advertising very clear - please check out his blog:

http://www.gearboxity.com/content/view/323/38/

[The_Wraith]

I hope the game is $10 cheaper...

[rwl2]

Good: Pan-Am in The Aviator

Bad: Everything in Transformers

btw, those were awesome HH pics. is there a chance we can get them in hi-res?

I will always trust you guys to make games with taste and maintain an extremely conscientious attitude towards your fans.

[Xhan]

If I see an ad in, or on the outside of Gateway Station or a "retro poster" on the side of a blowed up European building or some cheesy hologram in the corner my Borderland garage for a product, it won't bug me too much.

If I see Germans or Aliens or something from Wayne Douglas Barlowe's imagination plastered with a BUY DELL COMPUTERS THEY ARE ROX YOUR VAGINAS on them, Plano is a rather short drive away, and I own several weapons.

I have hope that GB will treat this as Splash Damage did, with minimalist design.

[Pachu]

Yeah, so...I think we judged them wrong over the fact that we're pissed off because they're making us wait really long.

Truth is, Randy put it all out really clearly and it really is for the best.
What I really don't get is what's the aim of the advertising thing, wether it's profitable for the companies that put their advertising or not. I mean, I'm not gonna go running to buy some Philips or Opel Blitz product just because I see the in-game ad, but it's true that it adds a lot of authenticity when guys like the ones at Gearbox use it correctly like they know how to.

And I also thought that the coverage this got was actually pretty big. Appart from Ennui posting it repeatedly on the forum, I found sites such as Gamespot covering the new (In the three games I have tagged - BIA:HH, Borderlands and Aliens:Colonial Marines), which actually tells us that these guys really have a concern for their fans not being driven away for taking bad conclusions beforehand.

Glad to see they take their time in explaining all of this to their fans and 'followers', since it talks really well about the company.

But those Philips Factory screens were orgasmic. And I want the game. NOW.

[Mr. Romantic]

The whole Philips idea is good. I just feared something like the Golden Arches being stuck on a wall. Is there a RL photo of the Philips factory similar to this one?

[Lt.Henkie]

Amesome pics.

[robotboots]

ah the classic "you sold out" misconception...

as the lead artist for Hell's Highway part of my everyday job is tasking out work and bug fixing.

so let's use the screen shot for example with the outside of the trainyard by the Phillips building. we knew this was going to be a task to make this and wasn't a case of "hey stop what you are doing and shoehorn this item in". part of the BiA experience is that we try to get things right. as a matter of fact the process of building that Phillips sign went faster than the railroad track below, the destructible sandbags below around the 8 and the train cars.

another fact is that advertising has been around as most people can remember...and that is just fact. so again let's use an urban area in Hell's Highway. when we are working on tasks i will tell one of my artists that we will need to add some character to the streets near the bakery so "make a poster/sign" for the shop. now if made some made up company for that sign no one would ever really make a big deal out of it UNLESS you make an announcement such are we did recently. the first human reaction is "oh well that is obviously why things are taking so long because they had to remake all that art to work with thin any deals"....well coming from someone who is again right in the trench.

it is funny to me how people react to things like this because it is all really about perspective. for example i love movies probably more than most. my dvd collection is large. as i sit here writing this i am watching Lethal Weapon and i've already seen
1. nike shoes
2. a Pepsi banner
3. Ford truck
4. Perrier bottle
...this was all in the matter of 5 minutes. let me check to see if that influenced my reaction to this movie.......nope. looks like i lived.

in the end of the day companies like Gearbox are a business like any other. when we strike deals like this one it should be seen more as "yay!! Gearbox has more money for resources!!" as it should be noted that we are one of the largest remaining independent developers of this size in North America.

[ParanoydAndroid]

Advertising doesn't really bother me, when it's done for the right reasons. Shameless Coke ads etc. just get annoying, especially when they are out of context. I don't see anything wrong with the ads in H'sH from the images. It wont be an issue until I see Baker running around in a pair of Nike's drinking Dr. Pepper.

On the plus, nice pics. Game's looking awesome.

[Airborne X]

These screens tastefully advertise Phillips and I now have more support for the idea of a little product placement in Gearbox Games. I just don't want pop-ups for PokerStars.net to flash on my HUD while I'm trying to fight Germans on Hell's Highway.
If you want to see movies with product placement at it's highest level (i.e. done it wrong) watch Minority Report, I, Robot, Spider-Man, or The Island.