Sony Creates Game Play Pausing Ads

[The 1 2 P]

There has been lots of animosity from gamers towards game publishers for all the ads that are in our games, videos and on our dashboards. But a new patent from Sony will take that all a step further (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-05-25-sony-patents-ads-that-can-pause-games?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=us-daily). Lets say you are playing a game on your PS3/PS4/PSP/Vita, perhaps God Of War, Uncharted or whatever. And all of a sudden, in the middle of your gameplay session, your game pauses itself(without your doing so) and plays a 15-30 second ad, making it so you can't resume gameplay until the ad is finished and it won't be skippable.

I'm not sure when these will be implemented but Sony now has free rein to do so at their leisure. Normally I would have said theres a chance Sony may never use it but in the current climate of video games(where placing ads all over the place has become the norm) I think theres a pretty good chance we will be seeing these sometime in the future. The one bit of good news for Sony is that other companies would have to pay them a royalty if they followed suit. But I really couldn't see that many game developers wanting to use a similiar format for their ads. So is this the future of video games on Sony's systems, random unskippable ads?

[heybtbm]

I say this without hyperbole...

This idea is worse than every bad idea from Nintendo and Microsoft combined x 99.

[joshnickerson]

Hell, why stop there? How about requiring your blu ray player to be connected to the Internet, and when you're watching a season set, they can stream in commercials?

[Jaruff]

Hell, why stop there? How about requiring your blu ray player to be connected to the Internet, and when you're watching a season set, they can stream in commercials?

Don't give them ideas.

[Griking]

I say this without hyperbole...

This idea is worse than every bad idea from Nintendo and Microsoft combined x 99.


What's worse, this idea or banning the sale of used games?

[Collector_Gaming]

What's worse, this idea or banning the sale of used games?

that too me is a toss up.

they are equally just as bad imo.

Thats like you going home popping in your disc you just got of season 3 of say seinfeld and all the sudden a commercial for mcdonalds pops up in the middle of a episode. Then makes you go "well what the hells the difference between this and watching it on tv."... we spend all that money to not deal with that kinda bs.
And if a game company makes me spend 60 bucks on a game and then be forced to watch commercials in the middle of it because they feel they aren't sucking enough money out of me. Well fuck them too.
I said once... I said it a billion times. Fuck power/money hungry corporation running bastards that think they know better.

[Gameguy]

Thats like you going home popping in your disc you just got of season 3 of say seinfeld and all the sudden a commercial for mcdonalds pops up in the middle of a episode. Then makes you go "well what the hells the difference between this and watching it on tv."... we spend all that money to not deal with that kinda bs.
In a way with some older shows I wouldn't mind seeing commercials in the middle if they were the original commercials from the original time period, makes it more nostalgic and you get to see the original commercial bumpers that get edited out for home releases. Some of the fun of watching old taped episodes on VHS.

Of course it's different with playing games and I wouldn't want ads interupting me when I'm in the middle of doing something. If this happens maybe pirated versions will get rid of the ads. Then they'll blame the pirates as the reason for adding commercials in the first place.

[Hwj_Chim]

This is bull crap fu Sony. It is like none of the current gaming company's want customers anymore.

[Cornelius]

I won't say it will never go where you guys are taking it, but there is a lot of assumption going on here. Couldn't it be more like the current Hulu (or dedicated network equivalent) model? Meaning it has no impact on people that buy the dvd or watch it live, but if you want to watch for free later, you also watch some ads. For games, maybe a month after release you can play the game free if you are willing to sit through the ads?

If it was implemented that way, I'd have no problem with it in theory. In practice, those streaming systems w/ ads blow chunks since they always get fouled up at the ads and i have to restart and re-watch all the ads at some point, presumably because my internet isn't the fastest. pretty sure they are punishing me for not paying a premium to get comcast instead of the city wifi.

[Superman]

This idea wouldn't work for many games. For some games, like poker, it could work, because an ad could pop up between plays, with little to no effect.

But what if someone is playing another type of game, like a racing game, for example. The person is trying to take a turn at 120 mph, when all of a sudden, the game pauses and up pops and ad. Then the ad is over, back to the game...and Boom!, into the wall the player goes!

TV shows have commercials, but a show to some extent is built around the commercial. The show may use an upcoming commercial break for suspense, to keep the viewer around. In that respect, the show and the commercial can work together. But games aren't developed that way.

I just don't see people learning to tolerate something like this, in most cases.

[Ryudo]

So something like MGS would turn a 45 min cut scene into a full hour tv show

[Shriek of the Mutilated]

Wouldn't mind an ad-supported system like this as an optional alternative to actually paying full price for a game, but ads *in addition* to the retail price would be plain unacceptable.

Having said that, I highly doubt this is ever going to get implemented as clumsily as the patent description makes it sound anyway.

[dendawg]

I have one word for anyone who thinks mandatory ads in a game are a good idea:

Gizmondo.

[thegamezmaster]

This totally sucks! Gee what's next? I shudder to think.

[heybtbm]

What's worse, this idea or banning the sale of used games?

I don't buy used games, so my first reaction is the commercial idea is worse...

...then upon further reflection, any console that banned used games would eventually kill itself (IMO). Especially if it's competition did play used games. The console that didn't would cease to exist in a matter of months.

In other words, it's too close to call.

[duffmanth]

Sony must be losing more money than anyone thought?!

[Zama]

Modern gaming, as we know it, will be even more annoying and the consumers will leave in disgust. It is fine so far for some shows and movies seen on youtube and hulu but I can't imagine playing video games with ads coming out of nowhere :(

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I can't see this being some arbitrary or mandatory part of full commercial releases, that's the equivalent of Hollywood adding commercials to the middle of theatrical films.

This is likely for free-to-play or freemium product. Sounds exactly like what many if not all free software on iOS and Android does.

There are plenty of practical applications of this that aren't as wildly offensive or unimaginative as the examples you've described.

Commercials might subsidize longer running demos, betas, standalone online multiplayer modes for existing games. (Imagine if you could download and play standalone FREE online multiplayer versions of Uncharted 3 or Killzone 3 with the caveat that you had to play on a server that ran commercials between rounds?)

And if it's not for standard PS3 style games, I have no problem with ads subsidizing the cost of free games that run persistent on Sony's servers (Free Realms, DC Universe Online, etc) if it means that they can make more, similar product available to the public at a zero-dollar point of entry.

[Bojay1997]

Sony must be losing more money than anyone thought?!

They've lost billions. I still don't buy that this is something to worry about. There is no way they will do this with full price commercial games. People would be so outraged it could literally kill the whole Sony video game franchise.

[kedawa]

Modern gaming, as we know it, will be even more annoying and the consumers will leave in disgust.

I wish I could say I agree with you, but there are plenty of doormat consumers that would put up with it, and they aren't likely to be the sort of people who spend money wisely. They're the same breed of nitwits that will pay $2 for a 15 second ringtone. Their money is just as valuable as yours, it's just easier to get.

[kupomogli]

It could be for first party games only and if they do it correctly it wouldn't be bothersome. I'm not sure how many of you have played Uncharted 3 online, but on the bottom right of the screen, outside of the way of all the menus and such, there's a screen which shows trailers for Uncharted 3, Naughty Dog interviews, plays of the week, the Last of Us trailer, etc. Whenever you enter certain menus like when you're changing character weapons, perks, etc, it removes that.

If it's done this way, it's something that's doesn't interrupt gameplay, is out of the way, and would only be showing during the couple of minutes it takes for the next match up to take place.

[The 1 2 P]

If it's done this way, it's something that's doesn't interrupt gameplay

But by it's very nature it's "designed" to interrupt gameplay. So rather you are playing single player or multiplayer this ad break is suppose to cut in while you are in the midst of your gameplay immersion, meaning it's pretty inconvient. Of course we don't know if this will be used in free-to-play(one of the original stories suggestions) or full AAA games. My guess would be that Sony will experiment with both models(as well as others) until they find one that they like or feel works best. As a gamer it would be super annoying either way but as I stated in the OP thats pretty much the climate we are in for the majority of our entertainment: all ads all the time. But this one is the worst of all(if applied to AAA games).....until they come up with something even more annoying.

[Gameguy]

What if they put ads during loading screens?

[kupomogli]

But by it's very nature it's "designed" to interrupt gameplay. So rather you are playing single player or multiplayer this ad break is suppose to cut in while you are in the midst of your gameplay immersion, meaning it's pretty inconvient.

While that is what the patent basically describes, it doesn't have to follow the patent in the exact way explained. Stopping interactive gameplay could mean nothing more than finishing a match, etc. Everything else is websites adding their own assumptions just as we are.

None of us know how it's going to work as of right now, but here are some pictures of how it's done in Uncharted 3.

http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/2/e/b/gfs_190913_2_170.jpg

http://dumbwire.com/game/wp-content/uploads/mvbthumbs/img_12459_uncharted-3-online-match-1.jpg

[E Nice]

This idea wouldn't work for many games. For some games, like poker, it could work, because an ad could pop up between plays, with little to no effect.

But what if someone is playing another type of game, like a racing game, for example. The person is trying to take a turn at 120 mph, when all of a sudden, the game pauses and up pops and ad. Then the ad is over, back to the game...and Boom!, into the wall the player goes!

What if came on as a radio ad you'd listen to while driving? The BGM would cut out 'and now a word from our sponsor'.


What if they put ads during loading screens?

Like Blur had? I think one of their loading screens was a screenshot that featured the Geico billboard ad that's actually in the race track.


But by it's very nature it's "designed" to interrupt gameplay. So rather you are playing single player or multiplayer this ad break is suppose to cut in while you are in the midst of your gameplay immersion, meaning it's pretty inconvient......until they come up with something even more annoying.

One way to make it more annoying is if they made ads that popped up that worked like quicktime events. Depending the type of game it could be worked in as a minigame of some sort, like giving you some temporary bonus perk or meseta for in-game use.

[wingzrow]

Part of me wants to believe they filed this patent so they could sell it to ANOTHER company that's actually stupid enough to try this.

Either way, we all lose.

[Shulamana]

Part of me wants to believe they filed this patent so they could sell it to ANOTHER company that's actually stupid enough to try this.

Either way, we all lose.

This is the most likely scenario. Every major tech corporation has a portfolio stuffed full of patents they often don't even use just so that they can squeeze money out of other corporations, or to protect them from from having it done to them.

[The 1 2 P]

One way to make it more annoying is if they made ads that popped up that worked like quicktime events. Depending the type of game it could be worked in as a minigame of some sort, like giving you some temporary bonus perk or meseta for in-game use.

Or worse, they could make these ads pop up in the middle of quick time event gameplay. I could see them using this atleast twice in God of War: Ascension when it's released. For the first you would be in the middle of killing a huge Cyclops type monster making QT button presses and right when you are about to press the button sequence to stab your dagger in it's eye--a Visine eye drop ad starts playing. Or even more intrusive, during the quick time button presses for the latest sex mini game, right when Kratos starts to get his rhythm going a Trojan condom ad pops up with Kevin Butler playing the part of Trojan Man. Actually, people might find that amusing....well, the people that were playing with both hands still on the controller.

[otaku]

this would be a terrible move (hell just the news of it is bad) people complain about story videos let alone outright interruptions of gameplay for marketing purposes. perhaps on stuff thats free to play (or damn cheap) otherwise hell no!