Today in In-Game Advertising

Just when I thought the free "Toyota Prius" download for Sims 3 was the cleverest summer game marketing scheme, Mountain Dew's "Game Fuel" trumps all. As a pet collector I couldn't turn my back on the free "battle bot" pet offered by the deal, which is likely driving millions of other players to the site as well, generating a load of page hits and click throughs on ads (you can earn tokens by clicking through banners and affiliates) as people earn credits to enter prize drawings.

Yes, you can go just once to get your pet. But if you wish to "fuel" your pet, then you need to return daily.

Evil genius.

In Game Product Placement

The previous post publicly admitting to buying The Sims 3 was really just to preface this discovery as I was checking out this Sims store (back when I played you had to dl this stuff from fan sites that were often dubious and always a pain in the ass) and found this:

Don't believe me? Read more.