Suck

for 1 October 1996. Updated every TUESDAY.



	American Gladiators for the Everyman...
	on the Internet!

	Corporate-sponsored video game arenas
	build brands while gamers frag for
	dollars and glory.

	Dark and evil first-person action games
	set in their own 3D worlds have taken the
	Internet by storm. Any ad agency worth
	its salt understands the value of a
	gamer's eyeballs. The equipment and
	software required to get set up for true
	Internet gaming requires deep pockets as
	well as a willingness to purchase new
	technologies. Couple this with a
	media-craving ennui quenched only by
	constant entertainment, and, well, get
	out the green ink, cause putting
	billboards in cyberspace gives you a
	license to print money.

	Coliseum.com will be a virtual arena where
	corporate-sponsored gaming tournaments
	take place. Play would be completely
	subsidized by advertising within the
	game, with Coke picking up the tab for
	the connection charges and MTV giving
	away dream vacations to the player most
	adept at using the super nail gun.

	Corporate logos and messages will be
	integrated within the gaming world, as
	well. Duke Nukem might wear the latest
	pair of Nikes as he drops a hand grenade
	into the fray, or he might stop to
	squeeze the Charmin during one of his
	signature pit stops in the John.



	Coliseum.com will sell the rights to
	netcast these tournaments, bringing
	animated blood and guts right onto your
	desktop. Bidding wars will pit Fox
	Interactive against Time Warner in a frag
	of their own as they try to fill the gap
	of lame programming between the Super
	Bowl and March Madness. Worldwide
	exposure will further serve to up the
	ante on net tournaments where gamers
	already spend as much time talking trash
	to each other as they do actually
	battling. Egos will flare as bellicose
	personae are carved out of the
	competition for endorsement deals by
	joystick manufacturers. The next Nitro
	will not be televised!

	Variations of the bullfight theme will be
	propagated by inventive level designers
	eager to watch "Christians" be thrown to
	the Lions. Voyeurism will rule the day as
	our twisted society once again embraces
	the entertainment value of viewing public
	executions. Guillotines will be replaced
	with new and improved gaming engines.
	Online lotteries will bear little
	resemblance to state-run lotto; instead,
	they'll be modeled after the vision of
	Shirley Jackson:

	"Looks like Billy got the black dot this
	time, can't wait to see the look on his
	face as we pelt him with rockets and
	machine-gun fire!"

	All this fascination with death translates
	to more advertising impressions and quite
	a hefty CPM for Coliseum.com. Couple that
	with the broadcast rights and frag-fest
	merchandise ("I got offed by 10 strangers
	and all I got was this stupid t-shirt")
	and Coliseum.com has one chunky business
	model.

	Subcultures of level editors have created
	third-party applications which make code
	hacking a snap. While advertising people
	tend to have a lot of trouble creating
	ways to aesthetically integrate their
	products into environments, experienced
	gamers will be more than willing to turn
	the tables - to target, rather than be
	targeted.

	Fire up a copy of DoomCad and it won't
	take long to plaster the walls with
	Mountain Dew billboards and product
	marquees. The rooms can be filled with
	all sorts of new objects that make the
	Mission Impossible PowerBook look
	unobtrusive. The new Metallica album may
	make its next debut in UnderHalls rather
	than the concert halls.

	Any one of these ad-levels can be played
	over the Internet with existing
	game-connection software. Netcasting
	technology will beam the game play to the
	voyeurs, if not over the Internet, than
	through the TV. Compelling levels, free
	gaming, big money prizes, product
	endorsements, and gothic-style
	entertainment add up to a kill-kill
	situation for all parties involved.

courtesy of The NasQuak