Advertising games - or 'advergames' as they're also awkwardly known - are something we're going to see a lot more of in the future. The high-profile Burger King titles on Xbox Live are just the tip of a growing iceberg (a growing iceberg - how incredibly un-21st century...). I enjoy checking out serious game sites like Watercooler Games to see what's going on in this strange little ghetto, and was not disappointed by their latest post - it turns out, toothbrush manufacturer Reach has commissioned a sort of dental hygiene RPG entitled Mr Reach in the Mouth of Mystery to teach Canadians about brushing their teeth. As the site explains:
"The production value is very high, but the game is completely absurdcdist. For example, you have to use Reach products to solve (embarrassingly simple) puzzles - clean totem teeth to reveal secrets, use floss to pull levers."
I'm pretty sure that advergames are going to become more subtle than this, and eventually we'll find ourselves playing downloadable titles - on PC, mobile or games console - only to find out halfway through that we're actually being sold something. We've already seen how companies are using blogs to secretly stimulate word-of-mouth buzz (I was going to link to Sony's www.alliwantforchristmasisapsp.com, but the site appears to be down...) - downloadable adverts disguised as games is the next step.
