Weekly News Roundup: November 25 - 30 & December 1, 2007

EA regrets Need for Speed porn promotion

Ad Watch: Playing with Advertisers’ Moola

Eyeblaster Blasts Past 60 Titles

World of Warcraft Ad Goes Mainstream

In case you missed it, Monday saw the release of two humorous World of Warcraft (Wow) TV ad spots featuring Mr. “I pitty a fool” T and William “I was once famous” Shatner.

We all had an alter ego growing up but now getting to show them off in the virtual world is a matter of fact these days. A lot of this will be facilitated in part by different MMO models, including ad supported and “free” to play games, which might include ads. Avatar support services will become more visible as more and more people go online. Now go check out Mr. T and William Shatner’s alter egos.

NBC Gets Into In-GameAds

NBC has surfed it’s way into In-GameAds via an investment into IGA Worldwide last summer.

“What we’ve done is carve out a portion of our ad inventory for NBC to sell directly,” explains Justin Townsend, CEO of Manhattan-based IGA. “That relationship enables us to bring all the marketing power of the country’s largest TV network to bear and, of course, all the current relationships that it has with existing brands and agencies as well.”

IGA says it has already served over 150 ad campaigns, including such leading brands as Coca-Cola, Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy’s, Cingular, Nokia, and several of the large movie studios. The agreement with NBC Uni is its first reseller deal aimed at augmenting its direct sales force of 30 in the U.S. and Europe.

Now when is Fox, WB & ABC gonna join the table that’s In-GameAds.

[Via Hollywood Reporter]

AdSense For Games And Industry Stats

GamesIndustry had a site down interview with AdSense for Games‘ Bernie Stolar. He’s the that convinced Google to buy AdScape.

‘If you look at research, there are more people playing games than watching television. So what does that tell you? That tells you there’s a whole different audience,” Stolar said.

“The demographics have changed. So the rules have changed.”

It’s a great quick read and sheds some light on the whole Google AdScape purchase. 2008 is looking to be a better year then 2007 for gaming overall.
[Via GamesIndustry News & Interview]

Activision Announces Ad Partnerships For Guitar Hero 3

Activision has announced that its upcoming Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will feature a variety of real-world brands through a series of partnerships the company says is intended to add realism to the franchise.

This is a great announcement for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and sounds like a better product placement idea then H&M in Sims 2 from EA.

[Via Gamasutra]