Earlier Wipeouts had ads; which none were real. Its outrageous to put real ads in a Paid DLC. I'm the type of person who hasn't liked the series since #3 (Wip3out), and it sucks to see them doing this on any PS3 game.

Stealthgear, that's an excellent point. Wipeout has always been about advertising. It has featured some of the coolest advertising iconography you've ever seen, but it was always for fictional products (with the lone exception of Red Bull, if I'm not mistaken). Dropping a State Farm ad into the loading screen is crass and out of place. Furthermore, I suspect it *might* extend the length of the loading screen to make sure the entire ad plays.

I hope this isn't a trend. I'd hate to see more companies taking a "This Space For Sale" approach to loading screens. Unless, of course, they want to incorporate it into the business model and use it to reduce the price of the game.

so to show sony and state farm how upset you are, you post a picture AND a video of the state farm logo, thereby ensuring more people get to see the ad. and to further drive home your outrage, you'll one-up sony by not even charging state farm for advertising space. how stupid.

We don't seem to have this eyesore in Europe, how bizarre

I have nothing against in game advertising when it's done right, and I don't think theirs anything wrong with this type - who likes to look at loading screens anyway?

First of all, the loading screen used to look awesome. The whole game looked awesome. Everything in a Wipeout game since the very beginning is supposed to immerse you....

And then they go and throw this obnoxious ad in your face immediately before you race. Yeah that's gonna really help my concentration and improve my times, Sony. I would gladly pay an extra 5 or even 10 dollars to stop it from playing.

Total bs move.

This is bullshit. I'm not real crazy about ads in games at the best of times, but this makes no sense. I didn't shell out $30 ($20 for the game, $10 for the DLC) just to watch State Farm commercials.

For shame, Sony. This is low even for you.

WAHHH WAHH WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

It's got ads ... big freaking deal.

It's time for all you idiots to get used to the fact that games will HAVE ADS and there is ABSOLUTELY nothing that any of us can EVER do about it. Bitch and moan all you want ads are here to stay. PERIOD.

Advertising companies are looking for a way to sell ad space in newer and different locations. With things like Tivo people are fast forwarding thru commercials. They now need to place them elsewhere. With video games being more popular today than ever (they too keep people off TV so again less people too see ads.)

Who's to say that selling the ads in Wipeout did not keep the game from costing $15??

At least the ads don't interupt game play in any way. If they FORCED you to watch an ad, which this does not do, that is a different story.

@guy
Seriously .. does this ad really cause you to lose concentration and as a result makes your times suffer?? If so then you have a problem. If a little video ad during the loading screen is messing with your mind you have serious issues.

@ Neuromancer
NO ONE is forcing you to watch the ad. Don't watch it .. there problem solved

@Tom Chick
Where have you been? Under a rock? In a cave? Deserted island? In game ads is no longer a "trend" it is more or less the norm. So I suggest you get used to it. It is here to stay.

Also it WILL NOT lower any retail prices on ANY game. With the cost of game production at an all time high revenue needs to come from somewhere to support this. The retail of a game has gone up from $50USD to $60 USD with the current gen of systems. This is the first MAJOR retail jump in a long time. Atari games cost $40 in the early 80's.

I was reading what I typed early and I'm sorry I kind of blew up at you guys. I can totally see your points, they're completely valid. I've just been feeling really down lately (well, It's that time of the month if you know what I mean) and I took it out on you. It won't happen again.

Wow, you don't see that in a comments section very often! A flame-out, followed by an apology three hours later. :) Don't sweat it, Sep. The internet is full of people yelling at each other. Glad to see at least one of them thought better of it after the fact.

You're right that advertising in games is here to stay. But I believe how we react to it now will help determine the form it takes. Right now, it's a fairly new endeavor. It's important that gamers assert that there are acceptable and unacceptable forms of ingame advertising. If you're okay with the ads in Wipeout's loading screens, that's cool. There will be differences of opinion on where folks draw that line between acceptable and unacceptable.

Am I the only one that thought that the ad itself looked interesting? It didn't clash with the color scheme at least, and because of that I actually thought it wasn't a "real" ad, until I saw the State Farm logo.

Ideally we won't see them plastered on an in-game billboard (not that we'll be moving slowly enough to see them). Well, not yet.

If advertising is here to stay, I'd rather have it this way, rather than in the game itself, as it was with stuff like Battlefield 2142 etc.

Hey Tom, wait until the "dynamic, in-game video advertising" in Wipeout begins:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24677

It'll make the loading screen ad look quaint.

Wow thanks for the tip Luke. Sounds like State Farm is just the tip of the iceberg here and it's only going to get worse and worse.

I called that ad company, Double Fusion's main number (415-975-9991, their HQ is in San Francisco) and left a message on their voicemail. I was polite but basically said I didn't appreciate having commercials in a game I paid $30 for, and of all the products to advertise in Wipeout, State Farm insurance was a terrible and illogical choice.

Also I fired off an email to Sony as well, here's the link to their contact page:

http://playstation.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/playstation.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?&p_sid=L1BZ9lEj

I already got their stock response that they were sorry I felt that way and they would send my email to the appropriate department.

If anyone feels the way I do I would suggest doing the same. If we don't make our voices heard they are going to think this is perfectly acceptable business and we'll be watching commercials in games we paid for, for the rest of our natural lives.

State Farm should pay me to put ads on my kids: that's a total of 32 years worth of loading screens right there.

That apology was not me ..

Someone else posted it.

Last time I checked I did not have a vagina so I could not possibly have a "time of the month"

And that is the problem with comment systems like this ...

I Can Be Anyone Here.

@Neuromancer

Let your voice be heard ...

We can complain about this stuff all we want ... NO AMOUNT of complaining will ever change their minds ... especially when lots and LOTS OF MONEY is involved.

Time to just get used to it and hope they do it right. Chances are they will not.

Yeah, when has a game company ever reacted to customer feedback? We might as well just get used to it.

Also, Sepioth, there's no need to apologize for your apology.

In all seriousness, this is a lot like ads at the beginning of a movie that I paid ten bucks to see. I absolutely agree that companies will continue to push unless we as consumers push back, and articles like this are a good start.

Neversaid a game company has never reacted .. don't twist my words. They respond a lot to customer feedback in most cases actually.

BUT when it comes to revenue from an industry that claims piracy is destroying their business, yet games like Halo sell millions, then they will not listen. Money runs the world. If they can find a way to soak more from your pockets they will do it. Look at some of the DLC out there .. pay $ to unlock something already on the disc.

But Sepioth look at EA when they were going to charge for extra weapons in Battlefield. There was a public outcry, so they put the weapons out there for free (well, you had to jump through a few hoops, but still).

Or look at the new TMNT game, it was going to be $15; there was a public outcry; now it's going to be $10.

Or look at the horse armor for Oblivion; there was a public outcry, now Bethesda only puts out bigger, more meaningful DLC.

Companies do listen to the people, sometimes. You just have to speak up.

Ads have been in movies for a LONG LONG time. They first started out as a slide show before the previews started, and still continue to do that today.

They have since in the last 5+ years began to run a few video ads before the previews.

Yet the cost of seeing a movie as well as food and drink continue to rise.

People have been complaining about this advertising since it started yet I still see it.
Guess we didn't push back hard enough ehh...

Theater Patron :"I will not see a movie at full price if they continue to show Ford commercials"

Same Theater Patron : "OHHH .. a new Batman movie .. can't wait to see it."

You can complain, yell, shout .. voice your opinion to the highest authority .. unless you run the movie studio / theater (or the games studio) you will never have an impact on how or where these ads are shown.

You're right, nothing we say will change anything, nothing we do matters. The universe is a cold, dark, hostile place, and we are at the mercy of the forces around us. Let's just all give up, curl up into a ball in the corner, and die.

Sepioth said at 8:57 PM ON 08/03/09:

"We can complain about this stuff all we want ... NO AMOUNT of complaining will ever change their minds ... especially when lots and LOTS OF MONEY is involved.

Time to just get used to it and hope they do it right."

Oh wait, they removed it?

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-removes-in-game-advert-that-increased-load-times

Sepioth said:

"We can complain about this stuff all we want ... NO AMOUNT of complaining will ever change their minds ... especially when lots and LOTS OF MONEY is involved."

Oh wait, they removed it?

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-removes-in-game-advert-that-increased-load-times

Well I guess we all learned something today about what you can do if you put your mind to it. If no one had complained, they wouldn't have pulled the ad. Sorry about the whole time of the month thing though, I totally understand. It's cool.

So what they removed it ... they DID not remove ads all together yet. The ad was TEMPORARILY removed until they come up with a better solution that does not effect load times.

They just have to make it so it either cuts the commercial short if load times are completed OR make it so the commercial is either just a few rotating images or just a shorter video. Either way the ad will be back.

See the whole argument here was about in game ads in general ... NOT about the fact they increase load times.

Your right Tom.

Sepioth I am sorry I imitated you a few posts ago and posted under your user name. It seems I'm an idiot and I sincerely apologize for any trouble I may have caused.

There are currently no ads in Wipeout HD and as far as I know, Sony hasn't said one way or the other if they're going to be put back in. If they return, I'll be pretty bummed. And I'll probably whinge about it here some more. You guys brace yourselves for possible whinging.

Well your pretty naive to think it won't return.

Also good job at removing the few posts I did under your name ... too bad you failed at removing the one I said I didn't post. Nice job. Protect your own name but not others. Pretty selfish really and VERY unprofessional. Glad to see the integrity that the journalists/moderators have here.