The price of developing games is going up, inflation is making the dollar weaker, and places like Gamefly are flourishing. What are developers to do? In-game advertising has become a popular choice to offset the cost of making games and recouping some of the expense before the game even ships. While many gamers scream bloody murder when they see ads, I usually don?t mind. In a racing or sports game I even think ads look good; after all, that?s what real sporting events look like. I don?t mind shooting up an area in a game and see Coca-Cola machines in the halls. There can come a point, however, where advertising crosses a line.  

While I?m playing a game, fantasy games in particular, I geek out. See, I played some Dungeons and Dragons growing up. I had a good time with my friends around the table and I have a strong imagination. I like to put myself in the game and really get immersed; when I play something like Oblivion I often spend my time while my character runs around and performs quests by imaging little side-stories for him or explain to myself what his background is. Geeky? Sure, but it?s fun. The one thing I don?t want from a fantasy game is to be yanked out of the experience when an NPC tries to sell me another game. How low class is that?

In Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World, our forum goer Scero found an NPC that told him about the Dungeon Siege PSP game and offered him a code for it, as well as saying the PSP game had a code for items in the game he was playing. Way to help us suspend disbelief. Even worse, this "ad" was voiced by the character. Wanting to advertise in a game is fine, but I think this is kind of sick; characters in games should not try to talk to you about other games the developers want you to buy. 

I?ve just put Broken World in my "do not buy or play" folder.

--------Originally from Opposable Thumbs