backtop

Print E-mail del.icio.us 98 comment(s) - last by Procurion.. on Oct 25 at 1:52 PM
The advertising technology scans your computer, finds out where you live

Electronic Arts today announced that Battlefield 2142 has shipped to retailers in North America and Europe for the PC. After ripping open the box, but before putting the disc into their systems, gamers may notice a slip of paper with a disclaimer written on it. CGW Podcast read the disclaimer on air, which we have transcribed below:

"The software may incorporate technology developed by IGA Worldwide, the advertising technology. The purpose of the advertising technology is to deliver in-game ads when you use the software while connected to the Internet. When you use the software while connected to the Internet, the advertising technology may record your IP address and other anonymous information. That advertising data is temporarily used by IGA to enable the presentation and measurement of in-game ads and other in-game object which are uploaded temporarily to the your PC or game console, and change during online gameplay. The advertising technology does not collect personal or identifiable information about you."

Essentially, the in-game advertisement system in Battlefield 2142 utilizes methods that most spyware use. By analyzing your computing and browsing habits, EA/IGA uses that data to provide targeted ads. It is unknown if spyware scanners detect and classify Battlefield 2142 as malicious.

EA announced in late August its agreement with IGA Worldwide to provide in-game advertising across a portfolio of games.

"Consumers are increasingly gaming in deep, virtual worlds and advertisers need adapted ways to reach these audiences," said Frank Sagnier, Vice President for Online and Strategic Relationships for EA in Europe. "The agreement with IGA is a first step in a detailed strategy to deliver advertising in a seamless format. We are continually looking at how to bring more connected experiences and services to consumers, and working with a network like IGA is a start to building this dimension of our business."

This is a radical shift from previous instances of in-game advertisements, where advertisers would purchase billboard space or product placement that would remain a part of the game forever. For example, Nivea is teaming up with UbiSoft to place its skin products and Philips Norelco shaving products in game-space bathrooms.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Congrats EA
By ilkhan on 10/17/2006 8:25:12 PM , Rating: 4
Congrats EA. You just permanently lost me as a customer! Enjoy your advertising dollars at the expense of my software dollars.




RE: Congrats EA
By Josh7289 on 10/17/2006 8:32:16 PM , Rating: 4
EA lost me long long ago, and they've just given me another reason to not come back.

It's getting harder and harder to figure out which one has the worst public opinion right now: Sony or EA? ;)

Oh, and I agree with bobsmith1492 below me. Nice pic...


RE: Congrats EA
By nerdtalker on 10/17/2006 8:39:33 PM , Rating: 4
I guess the only lingering question was how many people truly were even going to buy BF 2142 after how much BF 2 suffered through patch after patch, a rollback, and more broken updates than real fixes.

EA seems to live to kill itself here. Paradoxical, indeed.

With any luck, disabling this crapware-like behavior and AD delivery should be as easy as adding an entry in the HOSTS file.


RE: Congrats EA
By danz32 on 10/17/2006 8:46:57 PM , Rating: 2
I have really enjoyed the Need for Speed games, as well as EA Sports. It is unforunate that they have to do crap like this.


RE: Congrats EA
By Chillin1248 (blog) on 10/18/2006 12:54:49 AM , Rating: 4
But your model for ad revenue just doesn't add up. How will they know I am looking at a advertisement? I might just be camping a street that has a AXE billboard further down the road. Or will they now put it that after every game you have to select which ads you liked looking at best? Perhaps maybe everytime your crosshair goes over an ad a pop-up screen appears showing more info... Either way, this just does not sound appealing.

Don't forget, this is the same EA that required you to either pay money to go play a racing game online that you bought or give your E-mail address to them so they can fill up your mailbox with spam... And I don't recall a warning on the box that time either.

So like I said, the only way it makes sense is if they scan your Temporary Internet Files folder or IE cache, etc to find out what you like looking at or going to so they can spam you in-game with things that they think would peak your interest.

One more thing, what modern ads can they possibly put into a game that is set 150 years in the future that cannot subtract from the atmosphere... I mean here you are driving a two legged mech and you come around a corner face to face with a ad showing the latest Honda....

-------
Chillin


RE: Congrats EA
By Chillin1248 (blog) on 10/18/2006 12:59:03 AM , Rating: 3
One more thing I have to add after reading IGAs response, how do you know that they are not scanning elsewhere outside the game. I mean it does say, "other anonymous information".

-------
Chillin


RE: Congrats EA
By Chernobyl68 on 10/18/2006 12:35:37 PM , Rating: 2
wow, and here I was thinking I played games to get away from all the advertising on TV...!


RE: Congrats EA
By MadDogMorgan on 10/18/2006 4:21:54 PM , Rating: 2
One can only SPECULATE what "other anonymous information" could mean. Does that mean, your Favorites list?, your email address book? Your adjusted gross income from your saved Turbo-Tax files? All these things are not "personally identifiable" when not connected with your name. Thus, they would fall under the disclaimer you agree to by installing this software.
If I was the AD company, I'd be VERY INTERESTED in your Adjust ed Gross Income, it would certainly allow me to target the ADs to your buying ability. You think they haven't thought of that??? Do you really think they have any qualms about digging for that information?


RE: Congrats EA
By otispunkmeyer on 10/18/2006 5:19:01 AM , Rating: 3
lol yeah, but i guess if u looked exclusively at porn all day then maybe you get billboards of naked hotties while your driving your mech?

or you round the corner in your futuristic hummvee in gimp suit, to see some girl on girl action :D


RE: Congrats EA
By UserDoesNotExist on 10/18/06, Rating: 0
RE: Congrats EA
By Wwhat on 10/18/2006 10:12:16 AM , Rating: 4
Apparantly you can block ports 1274-1275 to block the ads, but I would not be surprised they then make it jump to another portrange later on.


RE: Congrats EA
By soydios on 10/17/2006 9:31:31 PM , Rating: 2
Same here. Personally, I do not want to install spyware with any games on my computer.


RE: Congrats EA
By Wwhat on 10/18/2006 10:13:31 AM , Rating: 4
You'd be surprised how many games install hidden crap on people's computers and don't remove it when you remove the game.
Mostly copyprotection schemes though.


RE: Congrats EA
By kdog03 on 10/18/06, Rating: 0
RE: Congrats EA
By del on 10/18/2006 3:10:17 PM , Rating: 4
I'm not going to buy BF2142 anymore because of this.

Thanks, DailyTech! ^_~


RE: Congrats EA
By carrotroot on 10/18/2006 6:31:08 PM , Rating: 3
Paying $50 USD for game AND having to get spyware ads is just wrong.


Too bad
By Dustin25 on 10/17/2006 11:50:47 PM , Rating: 3
This is just pathetic. I was gonna preload the game tonight, but after hearing this, no way. EA's decision has already lost them money today, my money. I'm so pissed that they did this. Oh and thanks for the nice little slip of paper EA, would I have had the same notice if I had downloaded it tonight? Doubtful, and if so, it would have been after the download purchase. EA knows this shit isn't right, that's why they are trying to hide it until after purchase. I'll bet the paper is even wedged into all the other advertising crap in the box so most would never see it.




RE: Too bad
By michal1980 on 10/17/2006 11:57:28 PM , Rating: 3
i'm glad daily tech finally picked up on this. (I gave you links at 5AM!!!!)

heres the IGA canned response http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?st...

When the hell did I wake up and NEED IN GAME ADS?

WTF, give me the game for free/cheap then I'll watch your stupid ads.

Ads in sports games are natural.

Ads in a war-torn future battlefield? oh ya, I remeber all those wars sponsered by pepsi?! wtf


RE: Too bad
By Spinne on 10/18/2006 2:23:31 AM , Rating: 2
Some needs to send this ****** (Justin Townsend) some spyware. He is full of it.


RE: Too bad
By wallijonn on 10/18/2006 12:39:13 PM , Rating: 3
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?st... :

"In addition, IGA's in-game ad solution does capture the time of day that the user started to play each gaming session - Townsend mentioned, as an example, that "if the brief says 'Males 18 to 34'", the ads may only be served between 6pm and 9pm on a weekday evening or similar, to replicate 'primetime' viewing.

The time that each ad [b]impression[/b] takes place is also recorded by IGA, alongside what type of ad content it was (billboard, megaboard, or video stream), the duration (how long was the ad [b]seen for[/b]), the size of the ad relative to the player, and [b]the angle of deflection [/b](what angle the ad is viewed at)."

So figure that when you sign up that you will have to provide proof of age since "a brief" will be compiled for your IP address. I guess all the 12 year olds will now say that they are 21 so that they can be exposed to cigarette, booze and call girl ads.

Will there be bonus points for destroying every ad? The ANGLE OF DEFLECTION is being sent back. Think about the resources which must be employed to measure where you are in-game at all times. (It's one thing to compute within the game engine and another to stream that data outside the engine.) I would think that this would be a bandwidth resource hog. What is being measured is how long you look at an ad and if you are going out of your way to read the ad. You are now a human guinea pig.

Will there be a cache of cookies inside the game folder? Will you have to clear the cache before and after you start a game? Will it be as hard to clear as AOL's cache? Will the game account need Administrator privs to run? In which case you are leaving yourself wide open for abuse.


RE: Too bad
By DrMeerkat on 10/19/2006 9:57:21 AM , Rating: 3
Actually they COULD make it realistic, just have them sponsored by Exxon, Shell, Texaco, Halliburton...