Hey kids, remember when Sonic still starred in cool games and had a shred of credibility?  No?  Well, he did once, and that credibility was used to endorse Honey Nut Cheerios.  Yes, Cheerios do seem like the perfect fit for a blazingly fast rodent.

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Ever so slowly, the two gigantic balls of clay meld into one. Soon, will anyone be able to tell where one ends and the next begins? If you’re the type to freak out and cite 1984 when just about anything in business happens, it’s probably time to get out your tin foil hat. Microsoft and Electronic Arts are in business together.

Microsoft owned subsidiary Massive Inc. and Electronic Arts have inked a deal for in-game advertising in EA games until through 2010. Massive Inc. is an advertising company specializing in placing ads within online games. Basically, the type of ads you see randomly changing in games from time to time. The deal is an extension of a current deal, but it will greatly expand the number of titles EA places Massive’s ads in. (more…)

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The dread of many gamers is the eventual arrival in mass of in-game advertising. They’re about to get a lot more of it if one analyst prediction is correct, with expected in-game advertising spending to double in the next five years. While product placement is nothing new in games (you can find it in many NES era titles and earlier), the idea of served ads appearing in games is relatively new.

eMarketer predicts that in-game advertising will rise from $295 million in 2007 to $650 million in 2012. They base this upon, among other things, the continuing increase in revenue in hardware and software in the game industry. The interesting part is that this may actually be an under estimate of the increase gamers will see. (more…)

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