E-CONSULTANCY.COM — In-game advertising is nothing new. From automotive giant Jeep advertising in Tomb Raider in 2007 (image below) to FarmVille based incentives from Bing this month. The question is; how does it work? Have companies and game providers cracked the method of getting into our psyches to get us to do what they want? With the global in-game advertising market set to hit the $1bn mark by next year (it's likely we’ve already surpassed this), this is turning into a big business. Social gaming has grown an army of enthusiasts prepared to spend valuable time and money on virtual rewards and companies are all queued up to capitalise on this...

BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK — Honda Motor Corp.’s campaign for its new CR-Z car features the hybrid vehicle in some colorful roadside billboards that can’t be seen from a freeway. The ads are on display in Facebook Inc.’s virtual game "Car Town," as Honda advertises on the social-network site for the first time today. The game, which allows users to collect and customize cars, has 3.1 million users. It was released on Facebook two weeks ago by Cie Games Inc. Brands are turning to social networks to reach an audience with leisure time on its hands and the patience to sit through branded messages. Walt Disney Co., Electronic Arts Inc. and Google Inc. have all bought games makers in recent months to benefit from millions of users signing up to play...

INSIDE FACEBOOK — Group buying startups, which let consumers get deals with local businesses en masse, are finding a new route to customers beyond the e-mail newsletter and prolific online advertising campaign. They’re tapping into social games, in a marriage of two of the most lucrative revenue models to emerge off Facebook’s platform. Social gamers earn additional virtual currency by buying Groupon or LivingSocial deals while they’re playing. "Farmville’s been called the new daytime TV," said Terry Angelos, a co-founder and chief product officer of TrialPay. "Rather than spending time watching ‘Days of Our Lives,’ people are playing Farmville and seeing ads for local restaurants." Indeed, many of TrialPay’s supported titles attract women aged 35 to 50 -- a prime demographic for online shopping...

VENTUREBEAT — About 20 percent of the U.S. population has played a game on a social network in the past three months, according to market researcher NPD Group. That means 56.8 million Americans ages 6 or older have played on social networks. And about 35 percent of those social networks are new to gaming, having never participated in any other type of video game before they started on the social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or others...

MYCUSTOMER.COM — A third of UK developers are now incorporating advertising into their video games, with the social gaming market alone expected to grow to $826 million in value this year. According to a report by Tiga, a trade association for games developers, although advertising in video games has not proved popular with users in the past, it is on the up as organisations look for new ways to boost revenues. As a result, almost half of those producers that do not currently support in-game advertising plan to do so in future...