In-game ads are one thing, alot of times they make the game more realistic (as sad as that is) especially in sports games. Games like need for speed underground took it a bit far (i think the 1 town had 20 best buys in it)

but... " the user's IP address and 'other anonymous data' would be sent to a company called IGA Worldwide in order to deliver in-game advertisements." as said in the battlefield 2142 manual is something else entirely. I couldn't disagree with it more. The company is not only trolling your system for info about you, they're making money of you as an individual. That's different that a billboard in a game, that's intrusive. And wrong.

It's a fine line to walk

To be honest, I have no issue with it whatsoever. Product placement has been around for years, and video games are just a new medium to exploit. Does it really take away from the game to see a Coke machine instead of a "soda" one?

The trolling for info situation is, as NoName said, a fine line to walk. But again, since they're looking at your shopping habits and targeting to you as a consumer, not trying to find out how much porn you watch or what you did to the neighbours cat, I really don't have an issue with it. Effective advertising is what drives the economy. If I'm going into a subway station in the next generic FPS I play, and I see an ad for McDonald's that gets my tummy rumbling while my friend down the block sees an ad for K-Y in the same place, I'm not going to get my panties in a twist about it.

That's just my two cents.

i think product placement can be annoying when over done. in rainbow six vegas, every car is a dodge. it takes away from the realism a bit when there is only one kind of car. as for what jimmy said about coke vs soda, i'd much rather see a coke or pepsi machine in a game than a generic one because it takes away from the realism. as for trolling, i have a serious issue with that. i pay them sixty bucks to play their game. not so tghey can scout me and make money off of me. if you want to extort me for money, put something up on xbl market place.

Well as everyone will agree an ad for say a norelco shaver in WoW is out of place and will be scorned by the gamers so approriate placement is key.

As for BF2142, I have put in over 100 hours of game play and no ads... So I am not sure if the author was seeing ads before hand or not. The only ad thats been in the game as per my knowledge was a wanted poster for the player who was ranked #1 at the time.

Honestly I do not see anything wrong with in game ads at all, it's isn't like it's taking stuff away from the game, it's just making it more realistic (except of course for RS:V)