HomeFeatures
What’s your favourite fictional brand in video games?Nuka Cola? Spacer’s Choice? Minmo?
Nuka Cola? Spacer’s Choice? Minmo?
From Nuka Cola and Tediore to Umbrella Corp and Spacer’s Choice, video games are full of fictional products and brands. Some are narrowly dodging trademark infringement, some have full lines of products with distinct style, some are jokes, and some have complex in-fiction histories. Reader dear, which is your favourite and why? Mine is a cat food.
In the rusty depths of a subway crawling with meatmonsters,Silent Hill 3has this absolute joy of a billboard:
pic.twitter.com/sdZPJohWG9— No Context Silent Hill (@NoContextSilent)November 1, 2019To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings
pic.twitter.com/sdZPJohWG9— No Context Silent Hill (@NoContextSilent)November 1, 2019
pic.twitter.com/sdZPJohWG9
While some games painstakingly design brands grounded in their time and place, SH3 casually drops Minmo into a hellmaze. These puffball cats! The Comic Sans text! The colours! And the slogan: “Growing Strong and Healthy …..MINMO!” It’s so silly, and I adore it. Minmo inspires brand loyalty too; here’s streamer and Let’s Player “Void Burger” with her excellent ad for the best cat food in gaming:
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings
Back to the fun brandchat, I am reminded of the sterling work ofThe Video Game Soda Machine Project, which catalogues the brands and dispensers of fauxzzy pop.
Where do your virtual brand loyalties lie? Which games have impressed you with attention to detail? Or which have tickled with stupid puns?
