Xbox Live, PC games will link to real-time ads

The upcoming video game Need for Speed Carbon will have more than just gleaming sports cars and streets to race on: Drivers also will be speeding past real-time advertisements for upcoming films, automobiles, and other products.

Previous versions of Need for Speed had static ads that couldn't be changed once the game was packaged .

But with Need for Speed Carbon, available in late October, players with PCs connected to the Internet or using Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox Live service will see ads that change over time.

In two deals disclosed yesterday, Electronic Arts Inc. said it will start bringing dynamic ads to its games for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms this fall.

Redwood City, Calif.-based EA, the world's largest video game publisher, said it was partnering with Microsoft's Massive Inc. to deliver the ads to as many as four games, including Need for Speed Carbon. Separately, EA inked a deal with IGA Worldwide Inc. in New York to deliver ads in the upcoming sci-fi shooter Battlefield 2142.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

For gamers, it means once-static billboards or posters in the game worlds might promote an upcoming film one day and a brand of soft drink the next.