And I mean that literally.

After unpacking my groceries a few days ago, I went to prep a banana for consumption. I peeled off the stickers and noticed that there was a cute little monkey on the sticker instead of the usual “Chiquita” lady logo.

I checked the other bananas and there was one with a friggin’ MonkeyBall logo on it. Super MonkeyBall: Step & Roll for Wii to be precise).

Sure, the monkey makes sense but a Nintendo game tie-in? Where will the marketing end!? OK, so it’s sly, it’s subtle and it’s actually related (and for a healthy food item). Damn you, Sega (and Nintendo)…

Konami may have gone overboard with its forthcoming PSP game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The company has basically turned it into a game/advertising vessel. Players won’t just be experiencing Naked Snake’s latest adventures, they’ll also be learning how Axe body spray can heal you and getting a taste of the Monster Hunter series.

Konami and Hideo Kojima held a Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker event in Tokyo to reveal information about the game, but it seemed like the bulk of it dealt with all of the commercial tie-ins. While the Assassin’s Creed II collaboration doesn’t seem too farfetched, the other inclusions seem ridiculous and unnecessary. This is especially true since the game takes place in 1974 and many of these products didn’t exist then…

As an avid video gamer, I know all too well the extent people go through to ban certain games in their stores and businesses, especially game advertisements.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is guilty of this by recently banning advertisements of more violent and racy video and computer games on its trains, buses and stations. This is not only a violation of free speech but, by doing so, CTA is intentionally singling out video games to ban, seeing as it still advertises movies and TV no matter how violent or racy they are.

However, the US Supreme court decided that enough is enough and last Thursday (January 7, 2010) by issuing an injunction against the CTA saying that it must lift the ban at least until the case is finally resolved, which was a huge victory for the gaming industry who seems to deal with tons of prejudice.

Experience what it’s like to download at unlimited speeds from a massive collection of over 800 Terabytes of user uploads. You’ll max out your Internet connection downloading a file in minutes that would take hours using other technologies. Binverse utilizes 256-bit SSL encryption (the same encryption used by banks) to protect your privacy and security. more »

Usually I don’t give any of the advertisements a second look, but when I logged in to play Flash Hero (a Guitar Hero-esque Facebook game), a fairly unassuming ad caught my eye.

“ACE YOUR FINALS – $25 – Get access to 45,000 term paper and essays right here!”

So right above a flash game that 13-24 year olds are likely to play is an ad endorsing cheating…

The latest move in the ongoing fight to ban violent video games by non-gaming communities worldwide is pulling advertisements for upcoming video games. Besides TV commercials, the latest ads to be banned are from the sides of buses in Chicago.

One of the ads yanked from the sides of a buses and buildings is the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV ad, according to Game Daily. This occurred following a weekend of violent shootings and isn’t the first time GTA ads have been removed. It’s also not the first time any ad has been removed for being potentially too violent…

In response to my Gamook post from last month (February 14, 2008), one of the company reps responded to my post and offered a bit more information about how to monitor revenue.

Gamook creates (or purchases) Flash-based games that webmasters embed into their sites. The site then accrues earnings based on how often a game is played and the the advertising placed in and around the games. The rep previously indicated that an affiliate earns 30% of the ad revenue generated by each game.

Click through for her email…

Advertisements for the videogame Stranglehold have been officially banned from television as of January 16, 2008 by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for being too violent.

According to the ASA Adjudications posted on January 16, 2008, the issues the ASA had with the game were the promotion of “glorified” violence and the danger of impressionable children watching during the time frame it aired. The concern over time was an issue because the commercial aired before 7:30 p.m., a time when young children are most likely still watching television.

According to the ruling, both Picture Production Company (PPC) and Clearcast had made the necessary changes to the commercial for it to meet ASA standards. PPC told ASA that it removed the bullet flying scenes and ensured no character was struck by a bullet in the commercial. Clearcast claimed it thought the violence was unrealistic enough to meet the standards for advertisement.

Due to the high demand of Nintendo’s Wii console, Nintendo will pull the holiday ads for Wii and replace them with ads for the Nintendo DS until New Years. This switch is to help push the DS and give the company time to restock their Wii supplies as reports mount of expensive bundles, eBay price more »

ReportOnBuisness detailed the business plans of Massive Incorporated last Saturday (August 4th, 2007) and it looks like there will be plenty more advertisements headed into our video games in upcoming years. The article by Matt Hartley cited this new facet of the advertisement industry as a potentially being “worth billions within five or six years.” more »