I can't find any other recent title displaying the intelligent in-game advertising so brilliantly put ( meaning = modestly coded to fit in the environment ) , like found in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, that I may qualify as a masterful piece of subtlety. Some ads look neon-like, while others are carefully placed in dark corners. Never to be aggressive nor irritating, the well sparsed insignias remain wonderfully crafted within the environments for a credible integration. You really have to look closely on one container in the dark to see the Honda Element logo at the beginning of Maria Narcissa level; while the usual War of the Worlds//AMD//Nokia tags on various in-game monitors were replaced by the g4TV.com show, a couple of weeks before E3. Talk about a discreet interactivity directly plugged to the Windows clock. Almost a friendly spyware to me. In many games such intrusion merely allows positive feedback from the user. Or, to the contrary, may be aimlessly infused into the user interface for an irritating experience - like the incessant urban tracks at night in Need for Speed Underground II, redundant and provocative with no realistic meaning.

The whole idea is to specifically tailor snappy ads, at least trying to make them look snappy, thoroughly scattered within the construct. Some specialists even discussed the matter lately, as we can expect nifty evolutions of the feature's implement in upcoming smash hits. If nothing else, producers and devs alike seem to be quite enthused to offer gamespace in return of $$$$$ much welcome to help funding the higher production costs of the average video game, now a trend no longer reserved to racers. Dunlop and Good year had their share in the 80s, propelled by antique hits such Pole Position et all. Now SC:CT discloses a pleasant diversity ( I spotted g4TV, AMD, War of the Worlds, Aeon Flux, Motley Crue, Honda Element, Nokia, Axe, Longest yard ). Heck, I even made a search for Axe, I didn't know what it was then - such an ignorant I am. :oops:

Up until now, most insignias were tactically placed as flashback ads, sometimes only as a tilt to tease aimlessly the player for a fraction of second. Although a plethora of street action games ( *cough* GTA , Max Payne & clones *cough* ) present excessively a myriad of them, and occasionally in a disjointed manner, the whole ''adding-the-ads'' process in some other games evolve in a fun way; now dispersed to ''dwell in darker corners'' - as if they were MINI Easter Eggs. I like that. I mean, ads with even more related content to be melted in the tougher-to-spot areas of the game's storyline. I'm waiting for a wider repertoire abroad in the future. End of line.