Video Gaming is a big business, as articles regularly tell us here at Gamespot; it's the biggest it has ever been and still appears to be growing. This also relates to a lot more marketing and promoting of those games. The standout game advertising campaign last year surely has to be Halo 3's, which cost somewhere to the tune of $10,000,000.

There are plenty of opportunities for downloadable content in games. While the occassional downloadable item is free, most cost a small fee. Conceptually I have no problem with this model. Developers have put extra work into the downloadable content, and deserve to be paid for it.

I see the potential for a melding of downloadable content and marketing. The concept is not new; the Halo Mjolnir mix download for the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero 3 is in fact the inspiration for this article. It was the perfect fit; it added gameplay to Guitar Hero 3, while providing a track promoting Halo 3's excellent music. A Master Chief character rocking out on the guitar might be asking a bit much, but it would have been icing on an already free cake.

By virtue of their design and gameplay elements, Guitar Hero and Rock Band offer an easy way to promote games with memorable music. However, I think there are certainly other viable options for cross promoting. Forza 2 and other car games are almost as accessible as the music games, as any game can be promoted via a car with a slick paint job.

Due to the gameplay and story elements in some games, throwing extra stuff in randomly isn't always going to work. Changing character models is probably the next easiest way to cross promote, as they generally don't change the gameplay. Sometimes it doesn't even have to make sense if it will turn out to be fun, or just downright funny. Imagine playing Crackdown with Sonic as the model when they go to promote the next Sonic game. Perhaps you would like to watch Master Chief dancing while you play Dance Dance Revolution.

In-house promotion is easy. Studios can promote their own upcoming games via downloadable content for their own existing games. They could also suggest promotion with other studios. Given the right synergy of products, this would be a win/win/win situation. The first studio gets to promote their upcoming game, the second studio has interest renewed in its already released game, and the gaming public wins because they get free content and new stuff to do. One would assume that costs involved would be payable by the company wanting to promote their upcoming product, accountable in their marketing budget.

Perhaps there could even be a way to limit the use of such content. For example, say there is a new Ratchet & Clank game coming out, and they decide to make some models to be used in Warhawk. However, they only allow those models to start being used online from 1 month prior to the new Ratchet & Clank game, and end it 1 month after its release. Anyone who wants to use those models is going to have to do so during that time frame, thus presumably generating more exposure at the time that it matters most.

I don't expect this will become a huge part of marketing games. Perhaps it will remain in the realm of the music games and 'proper' crossover games that are built from the ground up (Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, Super Smash Bros, Soul Caliber). There are certainly challenges to overcome in making such content reality, particularly licensing issues. Even if it did take off, I would not want to be saturated with this kind of content, or its impact may become diluted. However, I think the option is there for imaginative people willing to give it a try. It would certainly beat gamer pics and dashboard themes.