PATENT application 20110274409 may soon be better identified by the series of expletives the technology is likely to generate among Sony PlayStation users. Described by Sony as an “advertisement scheme for interactive content”, the application covers technology developed by the company’s Sony Computer Entertainment America unit that will pause a game until the advertisement is played.
During this time, the user may enjoy an existential crisis and/or a brief hate affair with Sony before being allowed to resume the game – at this point presumably riled enough by the rude commercial interruption to their flow to take newly replenished levels of aggression out on some virtual victims.
The Sony patent application suggests the game will slow down, a message will pop up warning gamers that an ad is about to intrude on their universe, followed by another warning that the game is about to restart.
If the technology is ever used, it seems likely that it would come into play during free or low-priced casual games rather than flagship shooter video titles where players have already paid premium prices. Still, it begs the question as to which consumer brands might fancy a crack at getting their message across during the adrenalin-draining commercial breaks of, say, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
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