Time sensitive billboards in Mercenaries 2!

[Goodwill Hunter]

Was playing Mercenaries 2 on the Xbox360 tonight at about 7:30pm Central time, and was surprised to see that all of the in-game artwork on the billboards in the game had been replaced by ads for the new TV show "Fringe."

The ads noted that the show was on September 9 (today) on Fox, at 8/7 Central. I've seen blatant product placement in games before, but never ads timed to air on a particular date (that even know what time zone I'm in!).

Does anyone know anything about this?...will there be other timed ads?...was this really why the game delayed...to coincide with the Fall TV season? (cause there are a lot of bugs still in there!) Mercenaries 2 could join Christmas Nights as a game to pull on certain days of the year.

Rich

[Dangerboy]

The PS3 game Pain had SOny Movie billboards that changed depending on the DVD / Movie release every month.

[heybtbm]

Until last night, 99% of the in-game billboards were for that new Robert DeNiro/Al Pacino movie. Lame. However, you do get paid $5000 for each billboard you destroy from the P.L.A.V. I must have blown up 100 or so over the course of the game so far. There are some sections of the game that have 15 or so identical billboards in the same city block. F'ing EA.

[DonMarco]

I was quite upset the first time I came across a Tropic Thunder poster in Bad Company one night. It was distracting and ruined any illusion of storming around some middle east town when there are Hollywood movie posters plastered everywhere. Furthermore, they can't be destroyed, switched off or disabled.

With all the money EA is taking in, do you think they'll ever pass these saving on to we consumers with, say, cheaper games?

[Matt-El]

In another EA game, Burnout Paradise, this also happens, but I can't remember the last time if I saw any ads for movies or anything like that.

[Neil Koch]

Well putting ads in games is nothing new for EA. One of the older Burnout games had really obnoxiously huge Axe billboards, and in one of the Need for Speed games there seemed to be a Burger King on every block.

I haven't noticed the billboards in Mercenaries 2, but my internet connection is kind of janky lately so I haven't be logging in while I play.

I'd like to think that if there was really blatant product placement it might have brought the cost of the game down... they certainly didn't break the bank on the voice acting with the same few phrases repeated over and over during the game (one of my only real complaints about it).

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Until last night, 99% of the in-game billboards were for that new Robert DeNiro/Al Pacino movie. Lame. However, you do get paid $5000 for each billboard you destroy from the P.L.A.V.

Sounds like a trick to get you to pay attention to the billboards in the first place.

Mercenaries 2 could join Christmas Nights as a game to pull on certain days of the year.

Umm...so you would actually play the game just to see what new ads they put up on the billboards? That's pretty disgusting. And comparing this consumerist bullshit to the way Christmas NiGHTS changes the environment depending on the calendar is downright inhuman.


...word is bondage...

[roushimsx]

I like billboard ads in games where they make sense. The Hollywood movie posters in Bad Company are a bit out of place, but in an urban area, advertisements on billboards tend to work out ok as long as they're not overly bright in comparison to the rest of the world. If a city is worn down and the billboard is similarly damaged and worn down, then that's actually pretty cool.

The advertisements in Wipeout XL are some of my favorite; they fit in perfectly. Hell, I'd never heard of Red Bull until I played that game.

[FrakAttack]

I've noticed a change in the ads every time I reboot the game (due to the constant glitches.) One session - almost every billboard is for Righteous Kill, next time - nothing, next - a few for Sarah Connor Chronicles, then - back to Righteous "over" Kill.

A few ads can actually to the realism, but too much of it takes something away.

[PapaStu]

Most all the billboards in my game are 'local' ones for being in the game. Like Viva Venezuela is on them ect. I've seen some Sarah Conner Chronicles (like 3) and a handfull of the new Dinero/Pacino movie. I'm not at the point in the game where I get to blow them up for 5k monies, but the few that i'm seeing that are real world advertising don't really bother me all that much.

[Clownzilla]

Mercenaries 2 really crosses the line when it comes to in-game advertising. The second when one of my clients that hired me for a hit told me to place my money that I earn into a high interest savings account at Bank Of America was the second I turned off the game.

[Sothy]

I saw a "Click it or ticket" billboard that mentioned cops in my town were cracking down on people not using seatbelts...

Why they are warning people in Mesquite Nevada to buckle up on a roadside in Venezuela is beyond me.

[maxlords]

Mercenaries 2 really crosses the line when it comes to in-game advertising. The second when one of my clients that hired me for a hit told me to place my money that I earn into a high interest savings account at Bank Of America was the second I turned off the game.

LMFAO! That's just insane!


Oh...and people are actually PLAYING Mercenaries 2??!?!?

[PapaStu]

Oh...and people are actually PLAYING Mercenaries 2??!?!?

Yup. Its more Mercenaries which was awesome. Its got a few glitches here and there with achievements, but Mercs has been my favorite sandbox game released, save for some random fun GTA:VC gameplay with friends.

I'd like it more if I didn't have to buy my drops and supports before I went out into the field. It's much harder to do when the game forces you to piss off factions to progress storyline and basically preventing you from getting back to those bases to buy goods, unless you want to part with 50% of your money to buy back their favor.

[FrakAttack]

This is the buggiest console game I've ever played. Won't even try to list the problems here. Several promised features were also omitted at the last minute. It's obvious that this game shipped too early and the Pandemic Mercs 2 forum has stopped asking for bug reports because they were so overwhelmed.

This probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the EA acquisition.