Today it has been announced that THQ, SEGA, Eidos and Midway have all signed exclusive in-game advertising deals with major advertising company, DoubleFusion.

This means that we can all expect to see some high profile product placement and promotions in a number of upcoming titles from the aforementioned publishers.

Does this also mean that we are likely to see Conan wearing ‘Nike Air’ CrushBoots? Or could we see Sonic drinking Mountain Dew?

From the adverts seen in existing games this is highly improbable. It does beg the question, however, ‘where does it all end’? Personally, I don’t want to be playing games and having to click through myriad offers before getting to the nitty gritty of a game.

At the same time this may mean that publishers have a new source of much-needed revenue in these credit-scarce times. Would you be happy to see some real-life products in a game if it meant that it was that wee bit more polished?

Perhaps there is a balance to be reached between these two extremes.

Only time will tell.