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Wipeout HD In-game Ads Nearly Double Load Times (Updated)
by Nick Breckon and Chris Faylor, Aug 03, 2009 3:58pm PDTUpdate: Sony has now pulled the most common video ad, a commercial for State Farm, and vowed to "ensure that any in-game advertising does not affect gameplay."
Original: In-game advertisements recently added to Wipeout HD are nearly doubling the load times of some races, Shacknews can confirm.
The video ads, served by advertising firm Double Fusion, occasionally play in a window as a race loads. Video evidence suggested that load times can last around twice as long when the ads are incorporated, a ratio that Shacknews can corroborate after independent testing.
After selecting a ship, it took us approximately 12 seconds to enter a race. With the ads playing, the race consistently loaded after around 20 seconds.
The advertisements were added several days ago in an update to the year-old game, but were not mentioned in the patch notes or by Sony. The first official word of the commercials came from a Double Fusion press release issued today.
"By introducing high-resolution dynamic video ads into Wipeout HD, Double Fusion is responding to advertiser demand and offering an engaging ad format while pushing in-game ad innovation to a new level," said Double Fusion CEO Jonathan Epstein.
Comments
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I could care less If the load times aren't reduced or not, ads are Intrusive and wreck the overall gaming experience. I play games to get away from the real world, and all the crap from are daily lives that we put up with, so why would I want ads ruining this Illusion for the short time I'm playing?
I would bet you a million dollars, that the same exec's who came up with this dumb ass Idea are the same people that use Tivo's so they don't have too watch commercials.
You best tread carefully on this subject dev's, or your likely to be out of a job.
Yez, push1ng the limits of techmology!
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It's not like anyone who's been playing the fuck and a half out of WOHD/Fury noticed the longer load times until they were pointed out. The ad doesn't even show all the time, let alone **ever** between race restart loads. If you're not chasing elite golds that elude you in campaign mode (fucking you detonator mode), you're chasing lap times, spending most of your time stuck on one track/mode at a time. The next time you'll see the ad is if you achieve/or bail out on your goal and find another, and/or defect to some other teams ship. Even then, you aren't guaranteed to see it again. Straight petty shit that's truly few and far between. More so when you put it up against all the face melting fuck shit up awesome the game deals out.
In other loading screen news, I'm just glad the loading status bar was updated to actually mean something a couple of patches ago. It always bugged me how it used to just to be just an animated loop that wasn't representative of actual load progress.
PSYGNOSIS STUDIO LIVERPOOL K.I.T. STAY SWEET DONT EVA CHANGE
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At least the "ads" on the xbox 360 menu are skippable/optional. And I haven't even seem them yet because I'm usually in a game anyhow. :P
I remember reading about how great this game was, the attention to detail the developers put into the backstory of all the corporations, all with a real identity that carried over to their ship designs, etc. and now we have these ads that are completely out of place.
This kind of stuff might be okay for you, but I don't want any part of it. I want there to be big bold letters when I am purchasing a game warning me that I am accepting advertising. Then I can make a decision. Do I want to play this game enough to ignore how I feel about advertising. I can't think of a game that I absolutely must play that would make me pay that price.
Let me vote with my wallet.
Yerah, I'm suuuure people were ASKING for ADS, you PoS parasite 'stein.
What an utter piece of shit, low-life wannabe lying scumbag.
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Jonathan Epstein doesn't care about gaming people!
Seriously, the amount of pandering to ad agencies here is sickening. I was going to post something about 20 seconds not being such a long load time in the context of games back in the PSX days, or even Quake 3, Half-Life, Doom 3, or Half-Life 2 when they came out, but now I consider that point moot because Jonathan Epstein's intent here is to serve advertisers, and not gamers.
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Then we can talk about 10 second load times - with ads. Plus I'll get to try it out. I used to be a Wipeout fan ways back but lost my enthusiasm after seeing this franchise turn into a Sony exclusive about.10 years ago.
20 seconds? I have farts longer than that.
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I also want Zen Pinball and Shatter but just can't decide what to buy first, and it appears Sony would prefer me not buying anything at all.. don't they want my monies??!
Comcast videos on demand does this...a short ad before the video starts.
What if the first ten seconds of each track on a cd is an ad for douches or male enhancement pills?
Would that still be "not so bad"?
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I really don't mind ads... UNTIL THEY START CLOGGIN' MY TUBES!@#
I agree 20 seconds is ridiculous. I stll stand by the fact that this in no way should be a reason not to buy one of the best games on the PSN.
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