The new King has arrived
On Sunday night I was watching TV and a Burger King commercial came on and peaked my interest. The fast food giant has teamed with the gaming industry and is offering three Xbox/Xbox 360 games for sale during the holiday season. The titles include Pocketbike Racer, Big Bumpin’ (where BK characters engage in bumper car action), and Sneak King (a stealth game where players sneak up on hungry customers and offer them BK products). Each game can be purchased for $3.99 with the purchase of any value meal. (And for those interested, you can also get various Dance Dance Revolution toys with the purchase of a Kids Meal.)
What really caught my eye was the low price of the game - for less than five dollars each, you could own the stand alone game, as well as have access to online components via Xbox Live. According to an article on Gamespot, Pocketbike Racer and Big Bumpin’ have multiplayer online capabilities. BK cleverly makes the games and online spaces easily accessible and afforable to its consumers, betting on the fact that gamers will engaged in the elements of play – and thus be a captive audience for the embedded marketing within the game. As Jim Gee often says, “when you game, content comes for free” – and here, the content is Burger King advertising.
BK’s development of these games is yet another sign that the gaming industry has “arrived” and that the ubiquity of gaming in our world is rapidly increasing. The educational community can neither afford to be left out of this conversation, nor can it bury its head in the sand and avoid it.
