I sometimes wonder whether blogging is a sincerely egocentric operation – does anyone really care about much of what we have to say? My experience dictates to the contrary, and yet I’m still sitting here blogging away (though that might have something to do with a 25% hidden away on a syllabus somewhere…). I started out this project by dictating that I would escape this narcissism by simply presenting the content of others, but if you look at my blog posts so far, it seems I’ve audaciously decided that you want to hear what I have to say. Or think, if you believe that any sort of thinking went on in those posts. Maybe I have a bunch of monkeys sitting around with wireless keyboards…

Has anyone been seeing the ads for Burger King video games? I ran across this post which sorta explains a lot about it, but basically Burger King's putting out three Xbox360 games that you can buy for $3.99 each with the purchase of a value meal. I'm wondering how much the game feels like a game and how much it feels like an ad...it seems so strange to pay someone money so you can watch their advertisements. Are there other brands out there doing the same kind of thing? I've seen silly little online games that are advertisements, but nothing this elaborate. Or maybe I've been missing stuff--is this becoming a common thing now?

I don't know how many of you have seen the Honda Element commercials with the crab and stuff, but there is also a game (which my seminar class played with for, um, twenty minutes tonight).

It's a little online game where you drive a Honda Element around and find different animals and talk to them/help them. In a few instances, it gives you choices as to what you can say to/do with the animals.

Obviously, this game is pretty basic. But the idea of advertising as a part of an immersive experience is a common one (like all the blatant product placement in major motion pictures)--we're immersed, and therefore already in a state where we're accepting things we might not normally accept. It becomes even more powerful with something like a video game, IMO, because people aren't just being bombarded with ads while they watch a movie. They're actually choosing to play a game that IS an advertisement.