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XBLA gets its first advergame

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Oct 8, 2007 1:50 pm PT

Toyota's Yaris debuts on Xbox 360 downloadable game service this week, plugs car line of the same name.

While some companies prefer to place their advertising messages into existing games, others feel it a better use of money to spend their advertising budget on making games developed solely to promote their product.

If ever a racer needed good controls, it's this one.

The most notable advergaming experiment to date has been the Burger King trilogy of Xbox and Xbox 360 titles. Released in 2006 as $3.99 add-ons to combo meals, Sneak King, Big Bumpin', and Pocketbike Racer combined to sell more than 3.2 million copies and helped spur the fast-food franchise's quarterly profits by 40 percent.

Now the Xbox 360's downloadable game service is getting its own advergame, as Microsoft today announced that Toyota's Yaris will be one of this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday releases. The game lets players hop behind the wheel of one of three new Yaris models and race through oddly twisting tracks, shooting enemies with a tentacle rooted in the car's hood, collecting loose coins, and unlocking a dozen new Xbox Live achievements along the way.

Developed by Backbone Entertainment (Death Jr., Brooktown High), Yaris is also the first Live Arcade game that's only available for a specifically limited time; US and Canada users will only be able to download the title for the next year.

While Yaris is the first advergame to make it to Live Arcade, it won't be the last. PepsiCo ran a contest recently looking for concepts for a Doritos-themed game, with the winning entry being released over Xbox Live.

136 Comments

  • ThAdEa82

    Posted May 20, 2008 2:05 pm PT

    Just a lame game. I can at least think of one way I would have taken a Yaris game and that idea is staying in my brain...and it would have been waaaay better. The Yaris has appeal...this game does not

  • zhevox

    Posted Feb 2, 2008 11:06 am PT

    wtf a toyota game...with yaris!

  • Ouji-San

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 4:37 am PT

    No idea why ppl hate this but I was having fun with this game ^_^.

    198 something thousand was my highest score

  • supersonicGO

    Posted Nov 7, 2007 12:35 am PT

    food AND GAMES JUST GO TOGETHER

  • ryanritter

    Posted Oct 14, 2007 11:29 am PT

    Horrible Game.

  • X360MadMan

    Posted Oct 12, 2007 1:23 am PT

    UK? nop. Toyota, LOL.

  • hrah

    Posted Oct 12, 2007 12:39 am PT

    boring as hell, i'm letting my nephew play it, he liked it, then again, he think SpongeBob SquarePants is funny, ANYHOW , MORE points for my gamertag, after getting the points is bye,bye.

    HOPE THIS DOESN'T BECOME EPIDEMIC !

  • Ra-Devil

    Posted Oct 11, 2007 1:52 pm PT

    Nonono, the next Advergame will be called "Franchise Crasher", where you have to go from one store to another destroying as many PS3's and Macs as possible...


    Nah, Sony and Apple are cool. I wonder if this game will be aweful or mildly enjoyable?

  • lerker3a

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 6:50 pm PT

    Advergay!

  • willripyouanew1

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 4:56 pm PT

    If its free I'll give it a shot.

  • Pedro7_2000

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 12:22 pm PT

    +200 more points (nice...)

  • JBiker51

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 1:06 am PT

    Soon, Axe will probably come out with a "Snap the Strap" game or something like that.

  • Delongman

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 11:57 am PT

    tomorrow my birthday! Anyways, they had Burger King on the 360??? Next up will be some Adidas soccer Mini-game

  • WeaponXQc

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 11:48 am PT

    I don't mind in-game ads since it helps funding games. I even enjoy dynamic ads that are slowing gettin' into games too (i.e. Skate. I ended up gettin' french local Bell Canada ads). Made me smile. I still remember drivin' by Burger Kings in NFS:U2... and it did make the world look a bit more real...by addin' buildings that we are all used to see while we're driving in real life. I just hope that the Yaris game is going to be free... that game is made for marketing/ads purposes only. As long as we're not gettin "Need For Speed: The Burger King cup".. we're good.

  • Stix_3200

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 11:35 am PT

    I'm surprised more games are jumping on this bandwagon. *cough* EA *cough*..... Man I wouldn't mind a bunch of ads in my Madden and only have to pay 20 bucks for it at the store. Wouldn't this be cool? Games costing less then 20 bucks each cuz they have a butt load of ads in them... Either that or chrage me $75 bucks like you do now and don't put any ads in em.

  • ChickenHounk911

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 9:08 am PT

    It doesn't say its gonna be free does it? If its free then I don't compalin at all, even if it DOES have the crappy controls. Free is always good!

  • josh_TX

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 8:35 am PT

    Well Aegis wing wasnt bad for a free game. This reminds me of that sonic bonus level where you ran through the halfpipe trying to grab rings....Hopefully it's more fun than that.

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Yaris
  • Downloadable Game

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    22,114 of 86,777
    (down by 6,641)
    X360 Rank:
    1,156 of 2,180
    Tracking:
    226 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    13 Wish It»
  • Player Reviews:
    64
    Player Ratings:
    747
    Users Now Playing:
    36
  • Number of Players:

    1-2, 2 Online

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. yaris
    2. racing
    3. backbone
    4. toyota
    5. microsoft
  • Everyone 10+ Rating Description

    Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes. Learn more

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