Video Game Ads

No, I am not referring to the advertisements that you find on video games magazine or Gamespot.com© promoting the latest shoot-em up or the upcoming Starcraft II. Apparently video games producers have found a way to increase funding through selling virtual real estate for real life ads. Obama certainly wants a piece of the virtual pie - so to speak.

The Barack Obama presidential campaign has broken ground in a relatively new ad medium: in-game advertising. The candidate has purchased ads in the Xbox 360 car-racing title "Burnout: Paradise City." When a gamer goes online to play against other racers, the ad appears as a billboard.

The game features a multiplayer element in which users can play against each other if they hook their Xbox consoles up to the Internet. When the game is connected to the Web, new advertisements can be placed on billboards that players see as they race through the streets.

Obama's ad reads "Early voting has begun. Voteforchange.com. Paid for by Obama for President."

Full story can be found here