| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
CR6
Administrator
Canada
2708 Posts |
 Posted - 03/15/2006 : 10:02:49 PM
|
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory was one of the first Ubisoft games to use real-time delivery of in-game advertising by Massive Incorporated, and it looks like Lockdown PC has followed suit. Slippery Jim was the first person to post in the official Ubi forums that Massive streaming ads were in Lockdown after he detected them in the game editor. After playing Lockdown yesterday, I saw evidence that the Massive ad switch has indeed been turned on:
Massive advertising turned on
I personally don't mind in-game ad placement if it looks "natural" (e.g. like a big Nokia sign in the urban environment of GR:AW's Mexico City) but unfortunately, in-game ads from Massive have looked notoriously out of place in games like SWAT 4. (You can see an example of this here at SimHQ.)
The more serious issue is that according to this article, "Massive ads track how long the gamer spent with each advert in their view. This is mapped to the gamer ID, so they know which player in the game saw the advert, and when, for how long, and from how far away (by virtue of the size attribute). Even the average viewing angle is passed back." This is all done without you being aware unless you've read some obscure line in the EULA, and if you don't agree with the EULA, you can't install the game.
Fortunately, there is an easy way to control Massive advertising which is detailed at the bottom of this page. I followed the simple instructions and ... voila!
Massive advertising turned off |
|
|
CR6
Administrator
Canada
2708 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2006 : 12:56:38 AM
|
Just for reference, I am putting the instructions to turn off Massive ads here:
In Windows, your computer can be prevented from being contacted by placing the following lines in either WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Open the "hosts" file in Notepad and add the following lines:
127.0.0.1 madserver.net
127.0.0.1 ad.madserver.net
127.0.0.1 imp.madserver.net
127.0.0.1 media.madserver.net
|
 |
|
|
Slippery Jim
Private
Canada
4 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2006 : 01:24:12 AM
|
Did you know that even the soft drink machines and the lettering on the sides of the trucks are potential advertisements in Lockdown? Sad.
I have been working to remove all those annoying advertisements from Lockdown with the use of the Tough Hombres mod. The new version that I have not yet released will fix the problem nicely.
|
|
|
|
CR6
Administrator
Canada
2708 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2006 : 2:37:28 PM
|
>The new version that I have not yet released will fix the problem nicely.
Cool! Let us know when it's available! I've been wanting to try out your mod but I'm waiting for the results of your research into the Punkbuster issue that you mention at the AGR-S forums. |
|
|
|
Slippery Jim
Private
Canada
4 Posts |
Posted - 03/16/2006 : 8:46:53 PM
|
Ah sorry, I got distracted by work, mod making, and gaming so I have not yet tried the Punkbuster test yet. I will get around to it, lol.
Hopefully the PunkBuster people were correct in that the mod doesn't bother PB at all. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Massive Ads in Lockdown PC
