I have an unhealthy fascination with advergames. Well, advertising in general, but advertising has gotten so boring since we started expecting companies to? tell the truth and not try to kill us too blatantly. Advertising games in general aren’t s?uper common anymore, usually relegated to browser or mobile platforms.

It’s not that I expect them to be good. Outside of a few exceptions, they’re usually not. At the very best, they’re inoffensive, but at worst, we have Mr. Pibb. Otherwise known as Mr. Pibb: The 3D Interactive Game. It might potent?ially be the wors??t first-person shooter I’ve ever played, but to truly confirm that, I’d have to delve through the fog of repressed trauma, and I don’t think it’s worth it.

[caption id="attachment_397812" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The brand that failed medical school

Mr. Pibb is essentially Coca-Cola’s version of Dr. Pepper. Or it was. It’s now sold as Pibb Xtra. I don’t think it was ever really sold here in Canada, or if it was, it was like Mello Yello in that it was only brief?ly marketed here.

For a short while �and this is all stuff I’m essentially learning right now �it was marke??ted using a character with the obvious name of Mr. Pibb. I’m curious to look up an old commercial, but I’ve heard his voice enough playing through this game, and I really don’t want to subject myself to it any further.

Released in 1998 it is, as far as I can find, the first game created by Brand Games, a company that is still around today. Unsurprisingly, their current webpage makes no mention of Mr. Pibb or even having worked with Coca-Cola, so I’m very happy to highlight their past abomination. Among their PC titles, they also created advergames for Taco Bell and ??Gap Kids, both of which are a bit more hilarious, but I decided to go chronologically here.

[caption id="attachment_397813" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The mascot in my brain

Mr. Pibb was built on the ACKNEX Engine, which is now better known as 3D Gamebuilder. It’s awful. It feels like it kind of belongs between Doom and Duke Nukem 3D’s build engine. There are moments of clever mathplay in the engine, li??ke a single bridge across a room or sections where you go underwater. However, I imagine this is built into the engine since the game design is otherwise, uh, rough. I don'??t have much faith in the technical side of the development team, is what I'm saying.

Apparently, your school was taken over by a mad scientist and everyone was turned into zombies. Everyone except you and Mr. Pibb, who I guess lives in your head. You cure people from their zombification by burping at them. I guess that carbonated beverages make you burp, so that’s your weapon. That sort of sounds like something someone would bring up as a joke in a brainstorming meeting. It truly stretches the meaning of the phrase “There are no bad ideas.�/p>

Beyond the gassy main character, the only other real link to the soft drink that I know of is its pres?ence in the game as a health pick-up. Of course you gain health by grabbing a tall glass of Mr. Pibb. And e?ach time you do, the eponymous character will scream at you the typical �0s-sounding slogan of “Put it in your head!�It’s really, um, unique.

[caption id="attachment_397814" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Yep, that's a school

If there’s one thing that Mr. Pibb does well, it’s in its environment. The school looks li??ke a school, which sounds really bare minimum, but environments that actually look similar to the real world weren’t really guaranteed in 1998.

However, the level design is hardly suitable for some of Mr. Pibb’s eccentricities. Enemies, for example, can’t just be passed through. You’ll always collide with them, which isn’t necessarily unusual. However, once you cu??re them of their zombieism, they still just stand there, unwilling to give ground. There are a lot of choke points like doorways, and there were a number of occasions where I was alternating between jumping and ducking to try and get past someone.

You can burp at them, but that ju?st makes them sass at you and causes you to take damag??e. It’s not ideal.

On the plus side, however, the whole game is just one big(ish) level. It took me 45 minutes to complete the whole ??game, and that includes time spent getting stuck behind immovable students and dying in the worst platforming section imaginable at the end of the game. Your main objective is to ga??ther keys to get to new areas in the school. It’s not very unique.

[caption id="attachment_397815" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Eeeew, it's sticky!

Even at 45 minutes, I can’t believe I went to the effort of completing Mr. Pibb. The last section of the g??ame is somewhat obtuse and entirely created to be as frustrating as possible. You have to traverse caustic slime using moving platforms, and every time you step onto one of them, Mr. Pibb exclaims, “Eeeew, it’s sticky!�This is regardless of whether or not you actually touch the slime.

If you do slip off a platform - and that’s extremely easy to do - there’s a good chance that you won’t recover and will just die. I made slow progress through the final stretch of the game. I heard “Eeeew, it’s stic?ky!�so many times that my husband screamed out from the bathroom how much he hated that "kid."

It doesn’t help that the same awful song loops for the ent?irety of the game. The only time this changes is during the final boss battle. However, it just plays a ?tune over top of the existing music, and I swear that it is one of the worst compositions I’ve ever heard in a video game.

Picture this: You’re in a store that sells musical instruments. Someone has left their child unattended. This child is walking around the keyboard section, mashing keys. That’s what the celebratory ending song sounds like. It’s like the composer?? had left on vacation, and they really needed someone to fill in before the deadline. So, one of the programmers, with no musical knowledge, tried their best. It’s incredible.

[caption id="attachment_397817" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Advertrauma

The only thing that kept me playing Mr. Pibb was my constant amusement at how badly designed it was. Not that it surprises me that a game based on a drink that is 90% high-fructose corn syrup is not very good. It’s most shocking when an advergame turns out to be decent, like in the case of Cool Spot. It’s hard to tap into someone’s passion when you tell t??hem their objective is to sell ?sugar-water.

At the same time, there was a certain value to advergames in the �0s. You may think that it’s an incredibly bad idea to chain your product to a horrible experience, but as a child in the �0s, we’d basically play whatever we could get our hands on. These days, you can really stretch your dollar and get thousands of games for less than $5, or?? even for free, but in the formative days of the internet, it wasn’t so simple.

If you gave a �0s kid a free game, it’s almost certain that they would play it. Once they've pl?ayed it, you’ve managed to put Mr. Pibb in their head. And that's the sort of trauma that can only be dislodged with expensive therapy that children can't afford.

For previous Weekly Kusoge, check this link!

The post Mr. Pibb: The 3D Interactive Game probably isn’t something you want to put in your head appeared first on Destructoid.

Ad-chievement unlocked

Microsoft may be looking to insert more in-game ads into free-to-play Xbox games. A new report indicates the company wants to let a?dvertisers place adv?ertisements inside free-to-play games on Xbox, going live by the third quarter.

Business Insider reports that this new program would add more games that brands can advertise in, and allow more developers to sell ad space. Their sources indicate these ads could show up as billboards in a racing game, for example. In??sider did not learn if other options, like cosmetic skins for characters or vid??eo ads in lobbies, are in the works. They also couldn't confirm if Xbox is pitching the service to advertisers yet either.

New revenue

According to the report, Microsoft may not be interested in taking a cut of ad revenue from in-game Xbox ads. Instead, the revenue would be shared between the game developer and the adtech company that places it. One of Business Insider's sources speculates that Microsoft wants to provide more money-making opportunities for free-to-play game developers. Their sourc?es also say Microsoft is worried about the potential backlash of inserting ads. They say Microsoft may try to create a marketplace where only select brands can insert ads, in a way that doesn't disrupt the gameplay.

In a comment to Business Insider,?? a spokesperson did not confirm the plans. The spokesperson says that Microsoft is "always looking for ways to improve the experience for players and develop??ers but we don't have anything further to share."

Xbox does currently allow some forms of advertising in its games. Ads already exist on the Xbox dashboard. And in-game ads are nothing new to games, though they haven't always received a favorable response. Look at the fan response to in-game ads in Electronic Arts' UFC 4.

It's a fraught area to wade into fo?r Microsoft. The report says the plan will come to fruition later this year, and we'll see if and how it turns out then.

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Double Dribble

Earlier this week, we reported on a controversy that had blown up within the NBA 2K community, after publisher 2K Games added unskippable commercials to the loading screens of the latest entry in the basketball franchise one month af??ter the title's launch.

The commercials for the Oculus Quest 2 appears during pre-game loading screens as a part of NBA 2K21's "2K TV" segments. Fans took to Reddit and social media to express their disdain at being?? forced to sit through product ads in a title they ??had paid upwards of $70 for.

2K Games has released a statement on Twitter, where the publisher acknowledged that the offending v??ideos "impacted our players' experience in a way we didn't intend, as these ads are not meant to run as part of the pre-game introduction." 2K Games then stated that "This will be fixed in future episode??s."

Note that "fixed" does not necessarily mean "removed." As such, players will have to see how the ads are implemented going forward. Last year's franchise entry, NBA 2K20, would become a notorious example of aggressive monetization, advertising, and gambling within the AAA industry. NBA 2K21 has already gotten off to a poor start in regards t??o turning around said reputation - and th??e ball, ultimately, lies in the publisher's court.

2K Community 🗣 pic.twitter.com/rvMC9z0Wft

— NBA 2K21 (@NBA2K) October 20, 2020

The post NBA 2K21’s unskippable ads will be ‘fixed’ in future update, says 2K Games appeared first on Destructoid.

Foul Play

The NBA 2K community has hit back at publisher 2K Games after unskippable adverts materialised within the latest entry in the basketball sim, NBA 2K21. The adverts wer??e not in the sports title at launch, and have popped up one month after release, to the chagrin of many paying customers.

As reported by Stevivor, fans spotted video adverts for Oculus Quest 2 hardware that auto-play during certain NBA 2K21 loading sequences, as a part of "2K TV" cinematic presentations. The adverts always complete before the segment finishes loading, regardless of platform or PC capabilities. You can see the offe??nding segments in action in Stevivor's video below.

NBA 2K fans have taken to Reddit to blast the commercials, fuming at the concept of being forced to sit through ads in a $60-70 video game. This isn't even 2K's first rodeo, as previous entry NBA 2K20, a controversial ti??tle that would go on to become a poster child for overly aggressive monetization and gambling mechanics in gaming.

This situation also recalls a similar event that took place last month, when Electronic Arts' UFC 4 s??uddenly implemented advertising in-game, again one month after release. Following backlash from fans, EA relented and the adverts were then removed from the game.

Sports games, more so than any other genre, are ripe for these sneaky shenanigans. Due to the televised nature of sports, the heavy emphasis on sponsorship and advertising, and the constant drive to make sports video games "authentic," publishers often take advantage of the natural opportunity for mass advertising. After all, it presents a "reali?stic depiction" of watching said sport on the box. Time and again it has been proven that fans do not agree with this way?? of thinking, though I'm hesitant to suggest the message will be heard anytime soon.

NBA 2K21 inserts unskippable ads into pre-game l?oading screens [Stevivor / Eurogamer]

The post Shocker: Unskippable adverts show up in N??BA 2K21 a mon?th after release appeared first on Destructoid.

Selected artists in this competition will get paid, at least

Never underestimate the power of fan art. Need proof that fan creations can score you a gig? Look no further than the upcoming Detective Pikachu film, which hired a fan artist during pre-production (per Kotaku). Through Talenthouse, production studios Legendary and Warner Bros. are looking for artists to collaborate with in promoting the film, which recently got quite the prolific trailer.

This will be in the form of a competition, or an "art activat??ion campaign," that will select five pieces of art and reward $2,000 to the artists for each piece selected. 

Whether it's an illustration, a digital painting, an animated GIF, or even an alternative poster design, the judg??es are looking for captivating and imaginative artwork to help drive promotion and excitement socially across the film's marketing and digital channels.

I assume this will not include memes.

There's always a bit of healthy skepticism when it comes to the interaction between fans and large companies, with the fear of the latter either silencing or exploiting the former. The concept of crowdsourcing from fan artists and calling it "collaboration" is reminiscent of what Joseph Gordon-Levitt's HitRecord company is doing with Beyond Good and Evil 2, with Gordon-Levitt needing to clarify after? his E3 2018 presentation that those selected for their submitted artwork will be compensated.

Optimistically, the fact that the "winners" are paid at all? is more than what I would usually expect. Several artists already produce their own fan work, either on their own time for leisure or for profit—as an artist friend tells me discussing this, it doesn't seem that enough people online are interested in buying original artwork. If anything, opportunities like this are a reminder for me to support independent artists financially, whether on Twitter or in-person at an artist's alley at a convention.

Yes, even the ones drawing Mr. Mime smut.

Creat??e artwork for POKÉMON Detective Pik??achu [Talenthouse]

The post The Detect?ive Pikac??hu marketing team is seeking your creepy fan art to promote the film appeared first on Destructoid.

Finally, a dollar menu for gamers!

_{This week, Destructoid is sponsored in part by QubicGames. This is a note from our sponsor:}

Summer here in the northern hemisphere may be coming to an end, but that doesn't mean the doldrums of going back to school, work, or regular non-vacation life have to bring you down. QubicGames is celebrating the turning of seasons with their new super sale featuring seven of their hit party games going for just $1 each on the eShop! And be sure to check out the QubicGames Super Contest&nbs??p;for your chance to win up to $250 in eShop Gift Cards! 

At just a dollar a pop, why are you still reading th???is post? Go get some cheap games!

QubicGames is running the??ir Party Sale & Contest. Seven of their awesome Switch multiplayer games are reduced to one dollar apiece, including:

Astro Bears Party

Astro Bears Party is an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master game about running around a planet and avoiding each other's Magical Beary Ribbons. Jump and hover over Ribbons using a jetpack. Perform dashes to threaten your opponents. Be the last Bear standing!

Jumping Joe & Friends

Help Joe and his fellas on their upwards journey. Be quick as a flash and dodge roaring cannonballs, vicious bats and other traps. Perform high scores or leave your competitors in the dust!

Robonauts

The action combines familiar arcade shooting gameplay with a unique possibility to switch gravity. Colorful graphics appeal to both younger and adult players while first-class music by Simon Viklund makes the adventure feel even more epic.

Pirates: All Aboard!

Pirates: All Aboard! is a competitive battle game for solo and multiplayer pick 'n play fun.

One Strike

Only one strike settles the duel, master the fighting style of each warrior to outsmart your opponents. Ch??allenge your friends or the AI in easy, medium or hard mode.

Grid Mania

Solve over 170 levels in 4 different modes: Casual Puzzle, Quick Challenge, Grid Madness, and Chain Reaction. If you manage to solve all those riddles, the challenge is not yet over: Grid Mania generates random levels which might prove even more puzzling to wrap your head around?.

Brawl

Step into the darkness of The Emporium with 8 unique characters, each with a rich back story and a surprising plot-twist. Fight your way to the end using di??fferent play styles, from pure brutality as?? a Wrestler to hiding in shadows as an elusive Thief.

The QubicGames Super Sale is running now through September 14 in North America, and through September 23 in EU/AUS/NZ, so get out there and get your discounted games! And be sure to check out the QubicGames Super Contest for your cha??nce to win up to $250 in ?eShop Gift Cards!

The post QubicGames Super Sa?le: Grab a ton of great mult?iplayer games for just $1, enter to win $250+ in gift cards appeared first on Destructoid.

Ryu has wings

It looks like 2017 will not only be the year of the loot box, but also the year of corporate sponsor DLC. WWE 2K18 has Colonel Sanders and now Street Fighter V has Red Bull branded costumes. What a time to be alive!

While we already knew that these costumes were coming exclusively to the PS4 version of SFV, we now have a better idea of what they look like. There are 16 costumes in total and it looks like Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, R. Mika, Rashid??, Balrog and Zangief are all set to become walking billboards.

As stupid as this may seem, buying a can of Red Bull is probably cheaper than ponying up for any of the premium costumes. Since unlocking things in games is such a foreign concept now a days, I ??wouldn't mind chugging some bull piss and getting a new costume for Ryu. Then again, I'd have to put up with Red Bull, which is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies.

PlayStation 4 Version Of Street Fighter V Gets Red Bull Collaboration Costumes [Siliconera]

The post Here is a look at Street Fighter V’s Red Bull costumes appeared first on Destructoid.

A crummy commercial!

While it was announced that there wouldn't be any microtransactions in WWE 2K18 this week, a little detail escaped unchecked about a few of the achievements/trophies. While most of the achievements?? are just normal run-of-the-mill ones there are three that stand? out in particular to me. Just take a look at them.

Well, there you have it. Do you have what it takes to prove that your hunger to win is greater than the general concept of hunger? Do you bring more reversals into a match than the Colonel brings herbs and spices to his ??chicken? Can you end your match before big tobacco will end our youths' chance at a healthy lifestyle? Then maybe you have what it takes to be advertised to!

In all honesty that last one is alright because it's a campaign to end smoking which isn't nearly the same as trying to get you to buy overpriced fried chicken but still, is this where we are headed? Sure Final Fantasy XV was a bit more egregious with their product placement but c??an't we have a little nuance from our corporate overlords? Unless this is their solution for taking out microtransactions in full-priced games that also sell DLC, which I can't believe is something that needs to ?be praised. Regardless if that is the case I guess I'll bite this bullet and learn to love being slapped in the fact with advertisements everywhere.

WWE2k18 Achievement List [PSN Profiles]

The post WWE 2K18 has sponsored achievements ?bec??ause of course it does appeared first on Destructoid.

God is dead and we killed him

In one of the weirdest crossovers that I've ever seen Square Enix announced today that a character based on Ariana Grande would be available during the cleverly titled "Summer Ariana" Final Fantasy Brave Exvius summer event. The character who I guess looks like Ariana Grande if she?? were made of p??ixels goes by the name of "Chic Ariana" and will be available during the event that runs from August 18 through September 1.

In order to get the pop star you will need to complete a portion of the "Musical Showdown" event which I'm sure involves lots of creepy old men and forgotten stage moms living vicariously through your character. In addition to the new character, players will battle a new "Epic Bard" boss as well as enter into a contest for two tickets to Grande's Dangerous Woman tour. The contest that is being run through the game's Facebook site only requires that you take a picture of your team and fluff up Grande and Square with how much you love both of them. The kicker? You gotta go ??to Taipei or Singapore for the concert on your dime.

Surprisingly enough this isn't the first time these two entities have collaborated. A few months ago a similar event ran where players could get "Dangerous Ariana." It's really weird to see Square going so full-measure with these product tie-ins after shunning tie-ins for years. We've seen Lightning Prada, Cup Noodles in Final Fantasy XV, where does it go from here? Me personally, I can't wait for Sora to take a big old gulp of Crystal Pepsi in Kingdom Hearts 3 and look at the camera to say "Nothing like the?? refreshing taste of Crystal Pepsi to? clear the darkness away."

The post Dance it up as Ariana Grande in Fina?l ??Fantasy Brave Exvius appeared first on Destructoid.

Introducing Ninja Spinki Challenges

Dong Nguyen isn't a name most people will recognize, but he's responsible for a gaming phenomenon that most everyone knows of. Nguyen is the man behind Flappy Bird, a simple mobile game about navigating a weird-looking creature through sets of pipes. Depending on who you a??sk, it's either an addictive time-waster or a blight on the entire medium of video games.

Nguyen has just released his newest mobile title, Ninja Spinki Challenges, on both iOS and Android. Ninja Spinki is a series of six mini-games collected together as a series of 30 challenges. They're straightforward and uncomplicated tasks like dodging projectiles, ju?mping over fruit, and throwing shuriken at targets. The game is effortless enough at first.

However, as you progress, Ninja Spinki gets quite difficult. The obstacles come at a much faster clip and the time you must endure is much longer. Most people will find themselves failing many times over in their que??st to eventually complete all 30 challenges.

There is, though, a devious implementation of advertising to help you get through the game. Upon failing, there's a choice between retrying or continuing by watching (or, in some instances, playing) an ad. Doing that w??ill pick up the unsuccessful run where you left off. But, this can only be done once per attempt. You can't watch 10 ads to get through one 30-second challenge.

This is a particularly insidious business model because players can't brute force their way through the game. They will fail many times even when watching an ad; that's the nature of this game. Limiting it to one per try means that the cumulative ad views will surely be higher than if Ninja Spinki took an unlimited approa?ch. That carrot on the stick is more tempting when you feel like you earned it. That's why so many people will chase it.

As for the game itself, it's simple but decent -- certainly more refined than Flappy Bird. But it also feels as if it was designe??d in order to make the user watch ads. It's free and doesn't feature any microtransactions, but most people would be hard-pressed to agree that this approach is any better.

Ninja Spinki Challenges [iTunes, Google Play]

The post Watch enough ads and you might eventually beat the Flappy Bird guy’s newest game appeared first on Destructoid.

120+ hours of video, mobile, and tvOS game design & dev training

You obviously love gaming just by virtue of the fact that you’re here. Wouldn’t it be cool?? to make gaming more than a lifestyle, though, and actually make it your life? You can do it, I believe in you, and to show you just how much I’ve finagled the Compl?ete Game Design & Developer Bundle down to ju??st $59 for today only at the Destructoid Store.

Yeah, there is ??a lot of money in game design and development, but more importantly, you’ll be making the games you wish existed.

Over these 6 courses, you’ll get hands-on training actually building games from scratch with SpriteKit, HTML5, Unity 3D, and much more. You’ll make simple art, configure logic for your games, master game layout, jazz them up with sound and text, create scoreboards, and so much more that goes into making great video, mobi??le, and tvOS games.

T??his one-day sale is… wel?l, you get it, over in one day. Get the Complete Game Design & Developer Bundle for $59 at the Destructoid Store today only!

The post Dea?ls blog: Six game deve??lopment courses under $10 each appeared first on Destructoid.

10 courses in Unity, Unreal Engine, and more, all for a price you pick

There are plenty of totally ??legit excuses to not learn to code. Like “there will be other people in the class and I don't care for them,” and “But how will I buy cheeseburgers?” Well, no more excuses: I’ve got a deal in the Destructoid St?ore on a coding bundle where you can pick your price and you don't even have to leave bed. The best part? You'll be learning about your favorite thing. Video games! The 2017 Master Game Development Bundle is awaiting you.

Here’s how it works. You can pay below the average price and get two of the courses (the HTML5 Game Development in Construct 2 course and the Java Game Development course that teaches you how to make a Flappy Bird clone). Or you can beat the average price and get all 10 courses, valued at $1,?110. You’ll get classes like??:

Player vs. Player tvOS Games - a six-hour training in crafting games for Apple T?V. You’ll master the physics of your game world, lea?rn how to animate explosions, and more.

Learn 3D Game Development and Programming with Unity - a five-hour training in turning your game idea into reality using Unity 3D, the industry-standard game engine. Learn how to program game mecha?nics, create game logic, and design levels.

Unreal Engine 4: The Complete Beginner's Course - a?n e?ight-hour introduction to one of the leading 3D game design softwares on earth. You probably won't build Gears of War in this course, but you'll take the first step towards it!

No excuses — learn how to code and pay what you want for the 2017 Master Game Development Bundle.

The post Get eight hours of Unreal Engine training, pay wh??at you want appeared first on Destructoid.

Save 49% on this Food & Wine Magazine favorite

What does meat? have to do with videogames, you say? Oh, c'mon. Surely you've whipped a cinder block or two in your childhood that somehow produced an energy-filling pork chop. If heroes of old haven't protein-reinforced your walls and you're still going to the store to find good meat at full price, well then you’re not living the dream. Sit on the couch and magically teleport the meat party directly to you through the wonders of the Internet. That’s exactly what ButcherBox does: They deliver chunks of high-quality meat right to your door. Want in? I’ve gotten Butcher Box to stock the Destructoid Store full of meat, and they’ve knocked down the price by up to 4??9%.

Get your high-quality protei?n on with four marked-down options:

- Chicken and Pork Box: Includes bacon (10 oz), organic, free-range chicken breasts (1.25 lb), thigh??s (1.25 lb) & pork chops (two 8 oz chops), and a $20 ??credit toward an additional subscription

- Steak, Chops, and Chicken Box: Includes bacon (10 oz), organic, free-range chicken breasts (1.25 lb), pork chops (two 8 oz chops), ribeye steak (two 10 oz steaks, NY strips (two 10 oz steaks) ?& top sirloin steaks (four 5 oz steaks),  and a $20 credit toward ?an additional subscription box

- Beef and Pork Box: Includes bacon? (10 oz), ground beef (2 lb), sirloin tips (1 lb), top sirloin steaks (fo??ur 5 oz steaks), pork chops (two 8 oz chops), and a $20 credit toward an additional subscription box

- One-month Subscription: Your choice ??of the All Beef Box, the Beef, Pork ??& Chicken Box, the Beef & Pork Box, or the Beef & Chicken Box (8.5 lb of meat in each box).

It's grass-feed beef, definitely worth trying. All of ButcherBox’s meat is humanely raised, an??tibiotic-free, hormone-free, toxin-free, and ridiculously delicious. (Plus free shipping, btw). Meat is flash-frozen at the peak of freshness, packed with dry ice, and delivered within 2-5 days of your order, so it’s super fresh when it gets to you.  Santa stocking full of sirloin, anyone? Yes?ss ... but maybe not near the fireplace.

Alright, stop drooling and go order your meat

The post Deals blog: Meat. Delivered to your door appeared first on Destructoid.

Save 62% on these sweat-proof Bluetooth buds

If you've never caught your headphone wires and yank??ed them out of your ears while running or went into a psychotic rage while trying to untangle them, then you lik??ely have already reached Nirvana. Congratulations. For the rest of us spiritual plebes, there are wireless headphones. I’ve got Center Link Media’s Bluetooth sport earbuds in the Destructoid Store for $18.99, a savings of 62%.

Wires are a serious pain i??n the ass when you’re working out and trying to pretend the treadmill isn&?rsquo;t the?? bane of your existence get in the zone. These sweat-proof buds ditch the wires without compromising sound quality. You’ll get high ambient noise reduction as you power through your workout playlist, with up to five hours of playtime before you need to recharge (that’s like five of your secret Jane Fonda ?workouts).

Sorry, now you’ve got no excuse ??to skip your ?next workout — grab these buds for $18.99 and free shipping.

The post Deals blog: Still working out with wired headphones? How re?t??ro appeared first on Destructoid.

No headphone jack, huh?

Whether or not you think it was a dick move for Apple to ditch the traditiona?l headphone jack you’ve been using literally your entire life on eve??ry listening device you’ve ever owned, this isn’t the time for a walk down memory lane. It is the time to pick up the superior ??HOCO L1 Lightning Cable Headphones at a steal, though?—the Destructoid ??Store’s got ‘??em for $21.99.

Yeah yeah, you’ll tell your grandkids all about the headphone jacks of the good?? ol’ days, while they go comatose in their portable Matrix machines instead of listening to you, that’s great. But in the meantime, these Lightning headphones were a top 10 pick by Heavy, thanks to the solid, durable design and the Sony Hi-Rs Standard audio. Plus, you can control volume right on the headphones so you’re not constantly staring at the phone that betrayed you.

The Destructoid Store is ev??en throwing in free shipping, so wipe your tears and grab ‘em in black or white for $21.99.

For those of us? who prefer the standard headphone jack or can't affo??rd an iPhone 7, here are two other headphone options:

• A-Audio Legacy Headphones ($79)
• XTC Genuine Wood Headphones ($23)

The post Deals blog: HOCO makes better L?igh??tning headphones than Apple appeared first on Destructoid.

Works with Steam VR apps like Riftcat

Most virtual reality headsets don’t co?me cheap (and here’s Matt coming in with the understatement of the century!). But they’re intriguing enough to make us consider skipping dinner for a month just to afford them. So let me just say the Virtual Reality Box Headset is just $18.99.

No, I’m not hawking some subpar tech letdown to you. Under $19 f?or an excellent entry-level headset. This is not a drill!

The reason this VR Box Headset is so affordable? It utilizes your p?hone’s technology to give you that virtual reality experience. Just slot your phone into this pair of 3D glasses. And then slip the headset on to dive into any virtual reality apps on your mobile device. Done, and done.?? I’m also diggin’ the headset’s lens technology, which offers clear images for a truly immersive experience.

I’ll be real: you’re not getting a high-end VR headset ??like the Oculus Rift, which is much pricier for a reason. But if you’re in the market for a solid piece of virtual reality tech, then this headset will do the trick! And at a killer price point.

Virtual reality tech doesn’t necessari??ly come at an astronomical ?price: get the Virtual Reality Box Headset for just ?$18.99, marked down from the usual $29.?99. You’ll get free US shipping included in your purchase.

If VR heads??ets aren't your thing, here are two other products in the store you might enjoy:

• FRESHeBUDS Magnetic Bluetooth Headphones ($39)
• Armor-X Flexible Phone Tripod ($19)

The post Deals blog: Turn your smartphone ?into a VR headset for under ?$19 appeared first on Destructoid.

This 5-Star VPN Client Supports More Protocols Than Any Other Product in Existence

You internet, yes? Yes. You want the stuff on your computer ?to stay on your computer, yes? Yes. You need a top-rated VPN to do it, yes? Yes: grab a subscription to the five-star Shimo VPN for $19 at the Destructoid Store.

Shimo, according to Curvve Media, (with my additional endorsement, of course) is “the VPN software you must use” ??if you’re on a Mac. It supports more protocols than any other VPN app out there - a fact confirmed by MacUpdate - and keeps your browsing activity and personal info completely safe using military-grade AES-256 encryption. You can even establish multiple secure connections at once, work with any type of connection, and ask Shimo to find the socks that the dryer ate. We’ll call that last sentence two truths and a lie.

Regardless, if you think Shimo sounds like a steal for $19, that’s beca??use it is - so go grab it at the Destructoid Store.

If you don't own a Mac, here are two other ??VPN options. Persona??lly, I use PureVPN.

• PureVPN: Lifetime Subscription ($89)
• Windscribe VPN: Lifetime Subscription ($49)

The post Deals blog: Meet the Fort Knox of VPNs appeared first on Destructoid.

Work, relax or sleep with this effective audio experience

Keep muttering obscenities at that to-d??o list and Googling Nintendo Switch updates, just see how mu??ch you get done. Or you can get your distracted b??rain a little helper. No, not methamphetamines; Brain.fm! I’m obsessed with it, so I’ve finag?led deals on one-ye?ar, three-year, and lifetime subscriptions over at the Destructoid Stor?e.

Brain.fm knows that whe??n you will yourself to focus and be productive you actually end up spending all day playing video games in your underwear. So they’ve u??sed neurological research (like, by real neurologists) and artificial intelligence to curate the perfect background music for when you’re working, relaxing, or trying to sleep. (You read that right. You will relax better too, dammit.) It’s basically like having a neuroscientist and a composer living inside of your head, in a non-cr?eepy way. Olympians use it to?? get in the zone, and their zones are way more loaded than yours.

On with the numbers: I’ve got one year of Brain.fm available for ??$19, three years for $29, and?—the sweetest deal—a lifetime subscription for $39. It’s a no-brainer (GET IT?)—check out Brain.fm at the Destructoid Store.

The post Deals blog: You’re here, so let Brain.fm help with your productivity appeared first on Destructoid.

UK's ASA looking into marketing on Steam, elsewhere

Nearly two months after its launch, No Man's Sky can't seem to catch a break. Eurogamer has confirmed that the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is launching an investigation into No Man's Sky's ;advertising af??ter receiving "several complaints" from disgruntled customers.

The primary investigation revolves around the game's Steam store page, which shows off some features not found in the final game. One of the complainants posted their list of grievances on Reddit, ?along with the ASA's response. The videos and marketing material on Steam's web store currently include things like structures and buildings that don't appear in the game, spaceships flying low to the ground and in formation, large-scale space combat, and animal size and behavior that doesn't match up with what pla?yers have observed. 

The person who posted the complaint, Redditor AzzerUk, also post??ed the response they had re??ceived from the ASA: 

"We will ensure the advertisers are made aware of any points relating to other marketing material under their control (such as the Hello Games YouTube channel and website)." They also said "The outcomes of ASA investigations are cross-applicable to other marketing making the same claims, so any decision reached in relation to the Steam page would apply to other advertising for No Man's Sky where the same (or materially similar) claims appear."

This makes it sound like the ASA will also be scrutinizing ads in places other than the Steam page, including the PlayStation Store. If they do find that the claims made on No Man's Sky's Steam page and elsewhere are fraudulent, the ASA has the authority to remove adve??rtisements it believes don't meet its code of conduct, and prevent them from being displayed again. If a retailer refuses to comply, they can impose sanctions by asking search websites to remove a marketer's paid-for search ads.

No Man's Sky has been a magnet for controversy since it launched in early August. Gamers have been disappointed by bugs and crashes, and the reviews on the Steam page are overwhelmingly negative. It's also led to further examination of both Steam and Sony's digital return policies. Hopefully, all of this will cause people to reconsider the next time their cursor ??is hovering over the "pre-order" button, but I doubt it.

Advertising Standards launches?? investigation into?? No Man's Sky [Eurogamer]

The post No Man’s Sky advertising under investigation appeared first on Destructoid.

A lot of people just lost their jobs

Minecraft developer Mojang just updated its commercial usage guidelines because it isn??'t happy with advertisements and paid promotions in the game.

What this means is if you're an ad agency, corporation, non-profit, or even a politician, you can't build or hire someone to build you an advertisement mod or server using Minecraft. Mojang provided such examples as buildin?g a world based on a movie ?or TV show, or making an official movie trailer out of gameplay footage.

Of course, fans are still able to make anything they wish as long as they aren't paid for it or charge for it. This also doesn't impact video monetization. Check out all the specific changes here.

The post No more advertisements or paid promotions built inside of Minec??raft appeared first on Destructoid.

It took a month to draw

Dragon Quest Heroes II: The Twin Kings and the Prophecy’s End launches this week in Japan and Square Enix is celebrating with a chalk-on-blackboard art campaign culminating in this lengthy piece across a ??wall in Shinjuku's subway station.

It took the artist Renarena-san a month to draw and in a chill sand mandala kind of way, if 5,000 people write tweets using "#DQH2?," a "critical hit" from "Erdrick’s Sword Blackboa??rd Erase" will wipe all the monsters from the board. So get your instagram shots in now.

The post Blackboard ode to Dragon Quest spans Tokyo subway appeared first on Destructoid.

None of this matters

Statistically speaking, every single person on earth will go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens this weekend (sample size: my Twitter timeline and Facebook feed). Before the main attraction begins, many of those people are going to get a teaser from the video game world, either from Sony? or Microsoft's flagship franchise.

Both PlayStation and Xbox are taking advantage of the preview space to advertise their respective game. New ads are playing for both Uncharted 4 and Halo 5, both companies confirmed on Twitter. Not surprising given that there's surely a fair amount of overlap between the Star Wars crowd and the video game crowd.

None of this really matters because no one's takeaway from watching the new Star Wars movie is that some pre-film ads were really cool. There's a sizable audience with related interests, so it's tough to fault these companies for getting some ads out. But, peo??ple leaving those theaters are probably going to want to focus on a different topic of conve??rsation.

@PlayStation, @aarongreenberg [Twitter]

The post ??Sony and Microsoft are competing for the Star Wars crowd appeared first on Destructoid.

Turns out Nuketown is a GAME exclusive

If you pre-ordered Call of Duty: Black Ops III in the UK, did you expect the Nuketown multi?player map but a code hasn't turned up? You're not? the only one.

UKVGDeals.com (via VideoGamer) noticed that a recent Black Ops III trailer stated the map was exclusive to GAME, and reached out to Activision for clarification. The publisher itself didn't seem clear, and other retailers like Tesco had to clarify on Activision's behalf that they were not participating in the of??fer.

Activision has now acknowledged that only physical copies bought from UK retailer GAME -- or digital vers??ions picked up via Xbox Live and the PSN Store -- will have the bonus map. Unless you ordered the PS4 console bun?dle, or picked up one of the special editions, everyone else has to wait until Spring 2016.

Activision's marketing originally suggested otherwise, stating that "all retail pre-order copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops III will include an in-box code to redeem to download NUK3TOWN." It was not clear in this advertising that the bonus map was exclusive to GAME in t??he UK. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is out today on PlayStation 4 and 3, Xbox One and 360, and?? PC.

If you've been affected ?by this, vent in the comments below!

The post Not all UK pre-orders ??of Black Ops III will get bonus Nuketown map appeared first on Destructoid.

The discount on GTA V was misleading

Back during the Steam Summer Sale, there was a fairly large uproar about the pricing of Grand Theft Auto V. Between the game’s launch and the Summer Sale, GTA V cost £39.99. Suddenly once the sale began, the original version of GTA V was not available for sale, and instead the only products advertised were the game bundled with other things such as cash cards for GTA Online. This was sold for £51.99, but with a 25% discount making? it cost £39.98.

The argument people made was that the 25% discount wasn’t genuine because that product hadn’t existed before the sale, and the original version of GTA V was only £1.01 more expensive.

Not only that, but due to an error the original version of GTA V was included in ??the sale for a few hours, before it later was un??ceremoniously removed.

This argument managed to make its way to the UK Advertising Standards Authority, an organisation who deal with companies and their shady advertising. We now, five months later, finally have a ruling on this mess, and they’ve confirmed that Valve was in fact in the wrong for allowing that sale of GTA V.

The ASA ruled that Valve did intentionally mislead customers. Due to the &pou?nd;39.99 original game and the £51.98 bundle being advertised side-by-side (even accidentally), the ASA believes there was a reasonable expectation that the discount would apply to both products.

It wasn’t the fact that the only version available later on in ?the sale was the bundled, more expensive version that has Valve in trouble. It’s the accidental listing of both versions together when one of them wasn’t given the discount that did it.

The ASA has demanded that Valve not show those sales in that way ever again, and must ensure that all future? discounts are not misleading.

You can read the entire ruling in all of its confusing glory on the ASA website. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes to how discounts are shown in the UK come the big Winter Steam Sale because of this??.

The post Valve misled customers during the Steam Summer Sale, says UK’s Advertising Authority appeared first on Destructoid.

FarmVille, sponsored by delicious Clorox

Zynga, the company that brought you FarmVille and drove Draw Something into the ground, has found a new way to force advertisements i??nto its cancerous products: sponsored levels.

The evil corporate Mary Poppins' new business strategy takes the spoonful of sugar approach, allowing users to play branded levels, rather than sit through lengthy prom??otional videos.

Clorox has already taken advantage of the new "Sponsored Play" initiative, creating a FarmVille: Harvest Swap level that tasks players with collecting ingredients for salad dressing while promoting its Hidden Valley Ranch® brand. Meanwhile, PepsiCo subsidiary Naked Juice has offered players in-game currency in exchange for harvesting fruit in sponsored levels and t??wee??ting about it.

Sponsored Play was designed by a new internal group at Zynga to attract advertisers and help subsidize its suite of free-to-play games. Speaking with Ad Age, Zynga VP of Sales Julie Shumaker referred to the scheme as "product placement at scale," while noting the plan's insi??????????????????????????dious potential to build brand engagement with players by presenting it in the "native environment" of the game.

Zynga starts selling sponso?red level??s created by in-house agency [Advertising Age]

The post Zynga is now gamifying ads with branded levels appeared first on Destructoid.

Go elderly Dora the Explorer lady

I have a real soft spot in my heart for Japanese gaming advertisements. I love the conviction, the wackiness, and the passion-filled songs that just don?'t se??em to have made it to advertising back here in the Western world. 

Today, we were treated to yet another gem in the form of a Japanese advert for Tearaway Unfolded on PS4. It has an elderly Dora the Explorer lookalike gaining laser eye powers, faces on fingers, and one of the catchiest advertising songs I have?? heard in a while.

YES!!! I am so in to this damn advert. I've had it on loop for far too? long this morning.

The post This Japanese Tearway PS4 advert is fascinating appeared first on Destructoid.

'Members are going to be super popular!'

Moshi Monsters is pretty popular with kids here in the UK. It’s been around for a few years now, and has managed to gain toys and shows alongside the website and games. Bin Weevils has been around for a bit longer, but has a similar concept to Moshi Monsters: exploring a world as yo??ur Bin Weevil, playing games, earning coins, buying cosmetic stuff, that sort of thing.

Well both games are now in trouble with the British Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), due to the way they advertised their subscription services to players. You can read the full findings of the complaint for Moshi Monsters and Bin Weevils on the ASA website.

The complaint (there only ??needs to be one for the ASA to investigate a company) seems to have come from the Competi?tion and Markets Authority:

The Competition and Markets Authority, who believed that the game was targeted ??at children and contained a direct exhortation to buy a membership package, challenged whether the ad breached the Code.

The ASA found that both games were “commanding&rdq?uo; children to buy membership subscriptions with phrases like “JOIN NOW”. This was combined with putting “pressure” onto kids with phrases such as “Members are going to be?? super popular”, and so ruled to a “direct exhortation” on kids to cough up for membership.

In simple, non-British-bureaucrat-bullshit, kids felt unfairly pressur??ed into paying for subscriptions.

The response from both websites was that they were willing to make any changes needed. Both developers made changes to their systems as soon as they were made aware of the complaints. 55 Pixels, the developer of Bin Weevils, said:

[55 Pixels] stated that ?they did not realise their approa?ch was potentially in breach of the CAP Code and that since receiving the complaint they had revised the ads to state "About Membership".

While Moshi Monsters developer Mind Candy said:

Mind Candy Ltd t/a Moshi Monsters stated that they were willing to make suit?able amendments to their advertising, and noted that upon receipt of the complaint they had altered the ads in question. These changes included removing the 'Now' direction ?and re-wording information about Super Moshi Missions.

Because of the ASA’s ruling, the ads are no longer allowed onto the websites in their current form. 55 Pixels and Mind Candy will need to ensure they've rephrased how? they push the membership options.

I think the ruling is pretty good. There have been countless stories of kids running up massive bills in iOS games, simply because they don&rsqu??o;t understand (or don’t care, remember kids are little shits sometimes) that the money they spend in-game is actual real money. This feels like a good way of preventing that sort of thing from happening here.

The post The UK Advertising Standards Agency isn’t happy with Moshi Monsters or Bin Weevils appeared first on Destructoid.

The 90s are bad

Can you believe this 3Dfx ad from the 90s recently unearthed online by Felipe Pepe? In the era of "attitude" (or just 'tude), ??3Dfx had the gall to suggest all men, the fairer sex not graced with breasts, are all casual console babies. "We only want women buying our products," 3Dfx says. No wonder the company went bankrupt in less than a decade, various IP rights scavenged by Nvidia. That's alienating half your audience -- and men have a not insignificant buying power, though they do tend to prefer consoles.

Ah-hah-haha. Maybe 3?Dfx was making a different implication.

Here: if you think it is funny (or "just harmless fun," "just a joke," etc), ask yourself, "why?" Is it funny because it's true, because it is anchored in common, relatable human experience like a man getting hit in the? nuts by a football? No. Plenty of old men who owned bars played NES because they liked golf games, plenty of dweebs played PC games.

Now, is it "funny" because you're the target audience? Because this advertisement pats you, personally, on the back like the Marlboro man giving you a firm handshake telling you, "smoke up"? Because it makes you, personally, feel warmly and convinces you that the inherently limited lens through which you see the world is correct and good? Because it provides not only confirmation bias, but it maybe offers a novel, preferable perspective (Hmmm, yeah, I am cooler than those other gamers).

Where is the objective humor? How is this joke good or funny? Not to harp, but I expect a lot of ha?nd waving away on this point in particlar. Here: let's make this ad about something you don't care about. "There are two kinds of teachers in this world. Those who don't use Expo dry e??rase markers. And those who've actually seen breasts." Still funny?

I know I rally against advertising a lot, and mostly that affords "who cares?" but advertising is important as a cultural artifact reflecting hegemonic social norms. Just think about all those "Doctors recommend ..." cigarette ads. Or a father and son playing Battleship while the mother and daughter do dishes in the background (fun f??or the wh??ole family!).

Heck, just recently, EA Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore suggesting that DICE's Battlefront would be a sales knock out because, "It’s a game that Mom and Dad understand -- and Dad secretly wants to play along with." I mean, my dad certainly never gave a fuck about Star Wars, but I watched the original three films with?? my mom plenty.

These? kinds of suggestions are more learned than earned. Perpetuated when gone unchallenged. I'm here at gamescom 2015, by all rights the world's biggest (and smelliest) video game convention, and it is filthy with women. Not wives and moms (all the 12-year-olds I've trampled trying to get to appointments have been unsupervised, thank god) dragged along begrudgingly, but fans.

Please don't buy into marketing that says you're good and special for liking video games (same goes for trash books like Ready Player One), let alone marketing that says you're better than other video game players because you buy their products instead. Remember that "Nintendon't" is funny because it is petty and wrong. Even the irony by which "PC master race" is purportedly undone grates with genuine usage for every snide comment about Batman: Arkham Knight.

I'mmah go write some more stuff about all the games I've been playing this week so I can go find schnitzel later thanks all love you, in the meantime go enjoy those fucked up PlayStation 2 ads and the David Lync??h PS2 commercial where a duck in a suit says hi to a confused man.

The post Rude ??old P??C ad suggests all men are casual console babies appeared first on Destructoid.

Those were the days

I genuinely, genuinely miss Sony's auteur ad period. Like, the Kevin Butler stuff was cute and fun. The more recent, schmaltzy "for the player" stuff -- typical high production action-p??acked sets stuffed with professional costuming and "regular" (that is, model-level attractive) young folks caught up in the exciting worlds -- is just kin??d of boring.

I mean, why not j??ust pay David Lynch to have a duck in a suit say hi to?? a confused man?

Seriously!

[Larger gallery]

Maybe it's a bit much, but you're still creating a much more arresting, memorable, visually interesting image than tens of millions of dollars of pyrotechnic?? splendor with the "Greatness Awaits" campaign. 

It feels like Sony got scared off weird advertising when the PS3 stumbled out of the gate. The PS3 had some weird ads, but other factors kept it from being the same kind of success as the PS2 (until much later in its life, at leas??t) and Sony seeme?d to chill out with surrealism.

I?? guess coming back to that style with the four boob French Vita ad (and subsequent upset people) didn't help things, but it shouldn't have been a one-off, toe-dip either. Should've come back strong. There were some slip ups that Sony probably didn't want to risk with the flagging PS3 and PSP, but it's a shame it meant an almost complete shift away from bizarre advertisement.

The post Hey, did anyone e??ver figure out this bizarre PS2 ad? appeared first on Destructoid.

You have until June 29

Did you buy a PlayStation Vita before June 1, 2012? You might be able to get $25 in PSN credit or cash, or one of three kind of horrible game packages that are all technically valued above $50, thanks to Sony settling in a lawsuit over deceptive Vita advertisements.

You'll have to fill out a form, which is a bummer (forms are my hell). It can be found here and needs to be completed by June 29.

While I'd opt for the $25 check (which can be used to buy $25 PSN credit if you so desire), the three bundles (below) are interesting to me. Not for their perceived greater value, which depends on you, but for the the fact that a settlement meant to make amends to Vita purchasers includes non-entity Unit 13 and an unwanted Modnation in two of the bundles.

Basically making it up to Vita purchasers ??with PS3 games. I assume there's good overlap there,?? but, still.

The post Get your free games, PSN credit, or cash from PlayStation Vita’s class action settlement appeared first on Destructoid.