When you’re on the go and find yourself in dire thirst, you can even chug Monster on the road. | Caty McCarthy/USG, Kojima Productions/Sony It is hilarious, and I watch it every time with glee. In this animation, we see a magnificently rendered Norman Reedus tilt back as he chugs the perfectly replicated can in one fell swoop. This has the effect of boosting his stamina for tripping over rocks and carrying mountains of cargo on his back. In Death Stranding, protagonist Sam Porter Bridges’ (do not get me started on the names in this game) is able to knock back not just one Monster energy drink, but five. Kojima may be liberated from Metal Gear Solid now, but that hasn’t stopped him from shilling for consumer goods every chance he gets. In fact, product placement is so prevalent in Metal Gear Solid that it has its own wiki page. From Walkmans to iPods, Kojima has never had any qualms about dropping advertising into his games. Hideo Kojima has long been especially notorious for blatant product placement. The Sims 2 had IKEA and H&M DLC packs, which each got hilarious reviews. Sports games are packed with flashy in-game ads. (But why would you do such a thing?) Mario Kart 8 had baffling Mercedes-Benz DLC. In Everquest 2, you were once able to literally order Pizza Hut in-game. In Alan Wake, you can see ads for Verizon Wireless on TV. Video games have never escaped it either.įinal Fantasy 15 has a side quest dedicated to Cup Noodles.
It was product placement at its worst, and really, just the latest in a long line of painful, obvious product placement. And yet, Peter Parker, apparently, uses Bing to search for things.
I’ll never forget the time Peter Parker-the handsome Andrew Garfield version-used Bing. See more articles like this in our Starting Screen archive. Starting Screen is our weekly column featuring news, commentary, and music to help you get over your case of the Mondays.