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Top 8 Times Gaming Got Real

Top 8 Times Gaming Got Real

Marketing campaigns for video games are nothing new. We’ve seen many a celebrity endorse big-name releases by appearing in advertisements and promotional materials. Hey, Beyoncé has good taste if her Rhythm Heaven commercial is any indication!

In-game advertising can be gross and cynical, but there’s occasionally a captivating sense of weirdness in those moments when the line between real and virtual begins to blur. Join us as we take a look at eight of those memorable crossovers.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius – Ariana Grande

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius – Ariana Grande

♪ Somethin’ bout you / Makes me feel like a dangerous Summon ♪

Ariana Grande is one of the biggest names in pop music today, not only for her incredible vocal range, but for her willingness to critique the industry that made her famous. Personally, I’m a fan, so I’m actually pretty excited to see a fantastical version of her coming to Final Fantasy Brave Exvius . The diminutive singer will soon be a playable character, garbed in her black rabbit latex suit from the cover of Dangerous Woman, complete with a set of musically-themed attacks.

Mass Effect 3 – Jessica Chobot

Mass Effect 3 – Jessica Chobot

Here’s a cameo that stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Mass Effect fans were in an uproar when Jessica Chobot, a video game journalist who provided coverage of the series for G4, was cast as a character in Mass Effect 3 . She played Diana Allers, a journalist who Commander Shepard can initiate a brief romance with. Her appearance raised concerns that she was too close to BioWare despite being a reporter for a gaming network, and although she never reviewed Mass Effect 3 in any official capacity, the incident remained in gamers’ minds for quite some time.

Final Fantasy XIII – Louis Vuitton

Final Fantasy XIII – Louis Vuitton

In an unusual occurrence of a video game character appearing in real life instead of the other way around, Final Fantasy XIII protagonist Claire “Lightning” Farron somehow wound up a model for Louis Vuitton. Yes, THE Louis Vuitton. She debuted as “the virtual heroine” for the clothier’s Spring-Summer 2016 collection, sporting lavish garments that… actually work pretty well for her! I’m not sure how practical some of them are for saving the world, but hey, she looks fly, so I’m not especially bothered.

Final Fantasy XV – Cup Noodles

Final Fantasy XV – Cup Noodles

Anyone who has played Final Fantasy XV is aware of its fairly prominent product placement – American Express and Coleman logos appear more often than I’d like for a fantasy world – but Gladio’s love of Cup Noodles is so hyperbolic that it actually circles back around to being amusing. As the muscle of the team, Gladio loves quick and easy food that provides plenty of energy, and Cup Noodles fit the bill – or so he says. I don’t know of any bodybuilder who can keep their figure on such a carb-laden diet, but more power to you, dude.

Final Fantasy IX – Coca-Cola

Final Fantasy IX – Coca-Cola

One of the first times I ever remember seeing a video game-themed commercial for a real product was around the time Final Fantasy IX released in Japan. A brief TV spot in Japan depicted Zidane and the crew running through Alexandria after a magical Coke bottle cap, finishing with the phrase “tsu-na-ga-ru,” meaning “to be connected to” in Japanese. It was short, but on the same level as an in-game cutscene in terms of production quality, and I must’ve watched my low-resolution RealMedia copy of it well over fifty times. The hype was real. I probably bought a lot of Coke back then, too…

Everquest II – Pizza Hut

Everquest II – Pizza Hut

This is the kind of thing you would expect to see as a joke on South Park , but nope: the /pizza command was real. For a limited time, players of Everquest II could type that magic word into the game client to launch the online ordering page of Pizza Hut. It wasn’t really anything special, but the campaign WAS widely publicized, and apparently a commercial success, too. Which stat does pizza boost, anyway?

Uncharted – Subway

Uncharted – Subway

This is what we mean when we point at the dark side of product placement in our video games. Subway ran a super-gross “Taste for Adventure” sweepstakes back in 2011 to promote the release of Uncharted 3 . A ghastly commercial depicted Nathan Drake doing Nathan Drake things, like falling out of planes and running from explosions, all while holding a deliciously refreshing Subway sandwich. Just kidding. Subway tastes like cardboard.

Sonic Adventure 2 – Soaps Shoes

Sonic Adventure 2 – Soaps Shoes

Congratulations! You now have City Escape stuck in your head. Sonic Adventure 2 was one of the most highly-anticipated Dreamcast games, and one of its key features was a new “grinding” system that let Sonic speed down railings (at the speed of sound). Hey, he’s got places to go – he’s gotta follow his rainbow. How did he manage such a feat? With Soaps shoes, of course. The real-life footwear allows its wearer to simulate grinding as if they were on a skateboard, which was perfect for Sonic, apparently. All I know is that I begged my mom for a pair when I was a kid. She said no, which was probably a smart move.

Do you remember any of these crossovers? Do you have a favorite I didn’t cover here? Let us know in the comments below!

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