Personally if they look like the first shot I'd be fine with them. - Kol Tregaskes

Guerilla ones could suck big time, but dynamic in game ads in billboards or cars should be fine. - Acharad Sami vanJoulee

As long as it makes sense within the context of the game. I wouldn't want to see a big McDonald's ad in the middle of, say, Dragon Age II. - Akiva Moskovitz

when i saw an ad in a shooter game, im shooting it. - siniradam

I think my games should cost me much less then. - CW™

Looks like they are going for realism. Corporations have taken over the world! - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

I depends. I'll accept them in racing games if they look real, but with CW, definitely should be cheaper if games have ads in them. And I find that the games that do have ads in them, I don't play as much. - Admiral Anika

Stupid, not working idea. [Check out Ian Bogost's "Persuasive Games" for further details] - Kurai (ff)

If they make sense within the game, I'm ok with them. There are billboards all over Burnout: Paradise and they fit into the game's cityscape. I remember Crackdown, while also being set in a city like Burnout, having ads for a vehicle that is decades old in that game's world. That took me out of the game a bit. - Rob Haas

On a billboard like the first one's not an issue for me. The second one's a bit overkill. But yeah, if it makes sense in the game. Fantasy games, historical games, not so much. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

in NFS there is a lot. well it is making the game realistic. i mean like football every football game has own ads. in the game. but in the future it could be disturbing. - siniradam

Point is, no one will notice those, because attention is on the game. And no one will buy a product just because it's advertised on a game. But still, marketing will do the equation copies of the game sold -> increase in the sales. Funny. - Kurai (ff)

As long as it makes sense in context and is subtle enough to not be annoying, then fine. - Tanath

Tanath, agree. Just use some intelligence in integrating them. The first shot is good in that it's an advertising board and it's clearly been built into the game's engine. Unlike the (probably edited) second shot with has lots of ads that have the stuck-on look. - Kol Tregaskes

Kurai, that doesn't seem to stop companies from advertising in movies, TV or even the clickable ads that no one clicks. - Rob Haas

The point of advertising is to reduce or cover the cost of something. It's why tv shows have ads, and why ad slots cost different amounts depending on how many people are expected to be watching. With something you have to pay for the ads should created with that in mind, that they are being purchased and constitute double income. No one is going to buy something where ads are distracting and take away from the experience, and if ads are there it should cut the cost of the game. - Heather

+1 Kol, if they put them in like #1, I don't have a problem with it. - Jason Huebel

An interesting aside to this is whether or not ads should be dynamic. I heard a story on the radio a few months ago about some new games (I don't game much, so I haven't paid much attention) actually downloading and swapping out the ads over Internet connections (so that the ads are always current and new). Is that okay? Does that turn a video game effectively into adware? Should we remove them from our systems because of that? I think one of the Rock Band or Guitar Hero games might have been one of the ones that was going to implement the ad-swapping. - Curtiss Grymala

Back on-topic, though, I'm fine with ads in games as long as they fit with the story and scenery. I expect to see ads plastered all over a NASCAR game, but would find it a bit ridiculous in Zelda. For me, part of the thought process would be: if they would have put a fake advertisement in that spot (billboards on racing/city games, for instance), why not make a little extra money and sell real adverts for that spot? - Curtiss Grymala

Curtiss, I can't remember what game I was just playing that had current ads in it, but somewhere in the game was a theatre marquee and it was showing Paranormal Activity. I thought it was kind of cool, actually, that the ads were so up-to-date and relevant. And, I mean, it worked within the game, because it was a theatre marquee. It made sense for it to show something, why not a currently-playing film? - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

If I am honest I would only like them if the game was free or cheap - I absolutely hate buying a DVD and having ads forced on me, and too much product placement would really annoy me. I even dislike the little studio/production ads they force you to watch at the beginning of films and games, I want to get to the film or game, not watch pointless logo animations for every company involved. Sorry :) - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

I don't mind ads that look like part of the landscape (as Kol pointed out for the first ad), for games that are ostensibly in something like this universe. I love the fake ads in games like Ratchet & Clank, and think it would be very jarring to insert a Wal-Mart ad into that universe. - Jennifer Dittrich

Subway on the gun is extreme ha - Joe Dawson

Here's how I see it. You can get free games which mostly tend to be at the bottom end of the development-cost scale. You can buy games at the top end of the development cost scale. In other softwares, the third way is to sell advertising space to pay for development and distribution, and give the software away free. If selling advertising space results in a lower-cost experience for the end-user, then it's a good thing. If it doesn't, then it's greed-driven and should be protested by the consumer. The same goes for product placement and advertising in general. - Slappy Line