Meh, why not, there's adverts on TV anyway.

Those are US soldiers in the pic, the stripes are upside down :P

OT: as long as it's a dashboard thing, I'm okay with it.

Meh, i got excited about the Last Starfighter lark. =[

I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.
We are already caught up in a useless war and if the government cannot find enough people willing to be killed for no apparent reason they should take the hint.

People don't want to die.
Well, most people don't.

Woah woah woah woah woah...woah .......woah .........

Lois this is not my batman glass Oh wait

Seriously that is messed up, I would expect that from the US armed forces but why the UK? That is messed up, trying desperately to snatch young innocent gamers who are just playing to have a good a good time and throw them into a life-changing situation that they most likely never want to be a part of.

Hope no one is victimized by this

Also this sadly just fuels the fire that games can actually make you a potential killer, either on the battlefield or off it...

*Sigh* Yes, that's exactly two things the crowds have been crying out for: more soldiers and more in-game ads.

i find nothing wrong with advertiseing

Well, that's an advertisement venue. Although, from now on, every time I see an ad for the armed forces of any country I'll remember that billboard in one of the games for the ZP contest - Join the army! No girls, no games, no beer - it's perfect!

dekkarax:
Those are US soldiers in the pic, the stripes are upside down :P

And they have American flags on their uniforms.

This is alright I think, If they paid for the campaign, then its alright. There are adverts on TV so, surely this is just the same, but actualy being aimed directly at the target audience.
Its all good.

ziggybogidou:
I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.

I would find it insulting if I wasn't used to the Government being inept.

Okay, what? Although I can see how the army is interested in the core demographic of 18 to 34-year-olds, I seriously doubt that the gamer demographic is fit for military enlistment. I don't assume everyone who plays Call of Duty and other war games has even the slightest wish to get out on the actual front line, because honestly, then why are you playing that game in the first place?

*head-desk untill i get a migraine*.

just because someone is good at aiming in a fucking game doesnt mean they can aim, or want to aim a gun in real life. and most of the high-rankers on XBL are underaged for the army (i suppose).

this is just plain stupid, if you ask me...

The army isn't all infantry you know. Having just left (hated the last few years); I knew quite a few lads who liked nothing more than a blast on modern warfare for a few hours after work. A lot of the newer lads in the technical trades are gamers to some degree. Of course most like to go out for a few pints and shun the 'geeks'.

That said I find the army's recruiting methods pretty reprehensible (they actively target 12-16 year olds, you just told to say otherwise) and I hate in game advertising banners. I don't mind if a billboard in a game gets adverts that change every now and then but an immersion breaking floaty banner just annoys me.

I was in the military for four years and I met more gamers there than I usually do at college. And I'm now a Computer Science Major. I'm considering going back in and through OCS.

Not all gamers are fit for the military, but many are, and many of them join. They know who they are targeting with these ads, and good for them.

lol I have the exact same headset the soldiers in the picture are using.

As some other people have said, a lot of people in the military are gamers and so I can see why they are using xbox live.

But then I don't think any non-gaming related advertising belongs on a console.

ziggybogidou:
I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.
We are already caught up in a useless war and if the government cannot find enough people willing to be killed for no apparent reason they should take the hint.

People don't want to die.
Well, most people don't.

oh wow really subtle, useless war you say?? have you forgotten September 11th 2001? or closer to home July 7th 2008? How about you show respect for the people giving their lives so you don't get blown up on your way to work?

OT : I think its a good idea as alot of these people will not know where their lives are going and if they join the military they can feel a good sense of purpose in British society

in game ads?
a military made up of xbox live gamers?

screw it, im getting out of here while i still can

WINDOWCLEAN2:
oh wow really subtle, useless war you say?? have you forgotten September 11th 2001? or closer to home July 7th 2008?

I believe it was actually 2005.

I dunno how I feel about this, on one hand I fully support the armed forces and am not opposed to them recruiting at all, but on the other hand, having looked into joining myself the vibe I've gotten is that gamers (particularly those you'd be likely to find on XBL) are the last sort of people they'd be wanting to recruit, I'd have thought they've already had an influx of half-assers signing up because of the recession. Then again maybe I'm pre-judging XBL players, and far be it from me to judge the workings of our fine military.

EDIT: Thinking about it, there do seem to be a fair few gamers in military so maybe it's not as weird an idea as I immediately thought.

If we had an army made up of Xbox live users, they would probably accuse the other side of camping.

Seriously though, that sounds a little... weird. Reminds me of Starship Troopers fro some reason.

WINDOWCLEAN2:

ziggybogidou:
I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.
We are already caught up in a useless war and if the government cannot find enough people willing to be killed for no apparent reason they should take the hint.

People don't want to die.
Well, most people don't.

oh wow really subtle, useless war you say?? have you forgotten September 11th 2001? or closer to home July 7th 2008? How about you show respect for the people giving their lives so you don't get blown up on your way to work?

OT : I think its a good idea as alot of these people will not know where their lives are going and if they join the military they can feel a good sense of purpose in British society

Firstly, it was 7th July 2005.
Secondly, the people who carried out the attacks were British, and probably wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for our prior involvement with America in the war.

oh, and you tell me, what are we achieving?

Well...the world does need more cannon fodder...

ziggybogidou:

WINDOWCLEAN2:

ziggybogidou:
I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.
We are already caught up in a useless war and if the government cannot find enough people willing to be killed for no apparent reason they should take the hint.

People don't want to die.
Well, most people don't.

oh wow really subtle, useless war you say?? have you forgotten September 11th 2001? or closer to home July 7th 2008? How about you show respect for the people giving their lives so you don't get blown up on your way to work?

OT : I think its a good idea as alot of these people will not know where their lives are going and if they join the military they can feel a good sense of purpose in British society

Firstly, it was 7th July 2005.
Secondly, the people who carried out the attacks were British, and probably wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for our prior involvement with America in the war.

oh, and you tell me, what are we achieving?

How about bringing down a couple of tyrannical regimes? Oh wait, I forgot, since it's not in England, it's not our problem and we should ignore it.

one gamer actually joins

"ow that hurt"
"come on damn it why don't I heal"
"oh shit grenade!"
"man this re spawn takes forever..."

seems like a good way to increase numbers of recruits. As long as it works. The Army's problem isnt really getting people to sign up, its getting them to stay in thats the problem.

Any government spending money to advocate enlistment in the military is a dangerous government in my books.

Also, I would be really pissed if there were advertisements in my game, except for games set in modern environments where the ads would be in places you would already expect them to be, adding to the immersion rather than taking away from it.

WrongSprite:

ziggybogidou:

WINDOWCLEAN2:

ziggybogidou:
I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.
We are already caught up in a useless war and if the government cannot find enough people willing to be killed for no apparent reason they should take the hint.

People don't want to die.
Well, most people don't.

oh wow really subtle, useless war you say?? have you forgotten September 11th 2001? or closer to home July 7th 2008? How about you show respect for the people giving their lives so you don't get blown up on your way to work?

OT : I think its a good idea as alot of these people will not know where their lives are going and if they join the military they can feel a good sense of purpose in British society

Firstly, it was 7th July 2005.
Secondly, the people who carried out the attacks were British, and probably wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for our prior involvement with America in the war.

oh, and you tell me, what are we achieving?

How about bringing down a couple of tyrannical regimes? Oh wait, I forgot, since it's not in England, it's not our problem and we should ignore it.

Yes, Iraq is nice and orderly now that the US came in and took out that mean Saddam Hussein.

Good luck with that, don't think most online gamers will be too thrilled at the prospect of getting shot at for real after being fragged for the umpteenth time. i know i'll certainly be ignoring these advertisments as much a i do the t.v. ones and the bloke who came into my store and tried to enroll me in the T.A.

ziggybogidou:
I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.
We are already caught up in a useless war and if the government cannot find enough people willing to be killed for no apparent reason they should take the hint.

People don't want to die.
Well, most people don't.

Useless war? I think not.

If foreign forces pull out of Afghanistan then the Taliban regime will take over again. This will give Al Qaeda a safe haven to plan strikes against nations. 9/11 and 7/7 for example. Do you remember them?

Plus of course the Taliban will bring along their hard line sharia law to the Afghans, which takes away most of thier rights among other things.

But of course you are the sort of person who moans at the government for not predicting terrorists and then moans at the government when they sort the problem out. How about you give our armed forces some respect?

SantoUno:
Woah woah woah woah woah...woah .......woah .........

Lois this is not my batman glass Oh wait

Seriously that is messed up, I would expect that from the US armed forces but why the UK? That is messed up, trying desperately to snatch young innocent gamers who are just playing to have a good a good time and throw them into a life-changing situation that they most likely never want to be a part of.

Hope no one is victimized by this

Also this sadly just fuels the fire that games can actually make you a potential killer, either on the battlefield or off it...

Think they want the innocent gamer still in their mom's loft at 32 and offer them a life.
Least the US armed forces made a half descent game to plug the recruitment.

Sulu:

ziggybogidou:
I live in the UK and, frankly, I find this insulting.
We are already caught up in a useless war and if the government cannot find enough people willing to be killed for no apparent reason they should take the hint.

People don't want to die.
Well, most people don't.

Useless war? I think not.

If foreign forces pull out of Afghanistan then the Taliban regime will take over again. This will give Al Qaeda a safe haven to plan strikes against nations. 9/11 and 7/7 for example. Do you remember them?

Plus of course the Taliban will bring along their hard line sharia law to the Afghans, which takes away most of thier rights among other things.

But of course you are the sort of person who moans at the government for not predicting terrorists and then moans at the government when they sort the problem out. How about you give our armed forces some respect?

The Afghan situation isnt the problem, the problem was Iraq, where we went in on highly dubious grounds and then realised we were not properly equipped to sort the mess out again.
well, we did have a good plan till the Neo Conservative elements decided to mess it up by trying to give them a western democracy they are not used to and woulndn't really accept as well as getting rid of the entire iraqi government establishment rather than just those at the top.

Recruitment ads.

In a war game.