Konami may have gone overboard with its forthcoming PSP game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The company has basically turned it into a game/advertising vessel. Players won’t just be experiencing Naked Snake’s latest adventures, they’ll also be learning how Axe body spray can heal you and getting a taste of the Monster Hunter series.

Konami and Hideo Kojima held a Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker event in Tokyo to reveal information about the game, but it seemed like the bulk of it dealt with all of the commercial tie-ins. While the Assassin’s Creed II collaboration doesn’t seem too farfetched, the other inclusions seem ridiculous and unnecessary. This is especially true since the game takes place in 1974 and many of these products didn’t exist then…

Ads in games are commonplace, and when these games have internet options, these ads can often change. So when Barack Obama ads started appearing in Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360, it shouldn’t have been a huge surprise. And yet, people are treating it like it is. The image above, taken by Dragunov765 and now famous across the internet, clearly displays one of the Obama ads in game. The ad shows Obama’s face, informs players about early voting and provides his website’s address…

If there is a dollar to be made you can count on EA Games, the largest third-party developer and publisher in the world, will be first in line to take advantage of a new cash opportunity.

EA and Massive Inc, a subsidiary advertising company that is owned by Microsoft, have signed a two-year extension for all in-game advertising within EA games. This extension of the deal will continue to insure that EA remains a leading force for in-game advertisement for a number of its most popular games, including EA Sports’ Madden NFL, NBA Live, NASCAR Racing and NHL Hockey as well as a number of racing titles including the Need for Speed and Burnout franchises.

This is all-in effort for EA to ensure…

Google announced yesterday (July 18, 2007) that it plans to market advertisement space in web based games and later on in PC and console based games. The announcement was part of this week’s Casual Connect game convention in Seattle. Google also put to rest rumors that they would be entering into any other sector of the video game industry. The in-game advertising will be handled by the company recently acquired by Google, Adscape Media.

I won’t beat around the bush here – I think this is a terrible idea. Advertising is what ruined radio and now it looks like…

Soon after acquiring advertising company Adscape Media, Google filed a patent for in-game advertising. The process specified is, roughly, the same Google uses on its web site. They take players in-game choices and serves in-game ads according to those choices. Pick a yellow Hummer to drive in a race and you can expect to see more »