Obama ad appears in Xbox 360 car racing game

Ads for Democratic politician Barack Obama are appearing in an Electronic Arts high-speed racing game. This appears to be the first time that a presidential candidate has bought in-game advertising.

Electronic Arts confirmed on Tuesday to our sister site GameSpot that the ads have been appearing on virtual Obama billboards since October 6, and will continue to run until election day in November.

The ads will appear in the Xbox 360 version of the game in 10 states, most of them hotly contested: Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wisconsin.

The game in question is called Burnout Paradise, which was released in January for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. It features an open-world design that gives players the flexibility to explore (well, race through) the virtual landscape of Paradise City.

Update Wednesday, 10:45 a.m. PDT: National Public Radio reports that the ads, which target men between 18 and 34 years of age, are running in a total of 18 video game titles from EA. Those titles also include the popular and timely Madden NFL 09 football game, along with games targeting Nascar, NBA, NHL, and skateboarding fans, the the AP says. The company would not say how much it is charging for the ads.

[Imdoingjustfine]

what a dill hole! P.S LIMP!!

[Travis Ernst]

talk about subliminal advertising. THAT makes me sick.

[sharmajunior]

I can't believe it. This is awesome.

Just a friendly reminder to vote while you play.

[cloud9ine]

Travis,

That is not Subliminal. That is upfront. You need a dick-tionary man.

[typical_white_person]

it doesnt have to be completely hidden to be considered subliminal........I agree it has subliminal qualities.
Besides the fact that its also...Bullet-in Board....now thats subliminal.

[srhoda]

LOL, yep!

[typical_white_person]

Racing add or Racist add. How quaint!!! What tool BHO is.....

[J.G.]

Awesome! This reveals how sharp the people working for Sen. Obama are. They pay attention to even minute details. No one working for his opponent would have thought up putting ads in games, not to mention time adjusted ads for consoles. The brains are working for the man and it shows.

[SaeedZam]

In related news -- John McCain has released a press release that it has decided to advertise using the latest telegraph technology

[AverageAmerican]

And to think, I use to like EA games!

What sell outs!

Is nothing sacred?

This is a little too much reality if you ask me?

They should at least put the Red Hammer & Sickle up with those ads!

Talk about pervasive!

I say gamers should draw the line very clearly here and say ENOUGH! After all, what is there to escape to if even our games are full of BS like this! If we don't act with resolute determination right now then you can bet the door is open and we wont be playing games anymore, we will be clunking through advertisements...

NoBama, NoBama, NoBama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[celticbrewer]

I take it you can't crash your car through sponsored advertising like you can with the other billboards in the game?

I'd love to run through that sociallist pig's face!

[zenboy_yooryoo]

Have you heard? McCain has followed Obama's lead and is running his own in-game advertising campaign. Czech out the examples here: http://tinyurl.com/4bppkw

[cuylar]

Is anyone else sick of the ads? Is anyone's mind not made up yet? Can I play a game in peace without seeing the ad for another candidate? Is there anywhere I can go until I vote on Nov 4th without being bombarded with ads and propoganda? Please somebody let me know.

[Ramey73]

I won't be buying any software with political crap shoved in my face !!! Take them and shove them, you
know where.....