One panel at ad:tech focused on new media exclusively--the advertising opportunities to be found in video games. The CEO of Massive, the Microsoft-owned game advertising company, cited that the company has already provided ads for 85 games. One of the most recent, "Need for Speed: Carbon," in his words, "received tens of millions of impressions on Saturday." As panel moderator Evan Neufeld pointed out, advertising in games is expected to generate $1 billion annual revenue in 2010.

The panel concentrated on the different kinds of advertising available, from in-game billboards to product placement. According to the members of the panel, gamers are fine with these methods of marketing, as long as it makes sense in the context of the game and it doesn't interrupt things--such as signs in a baseball stadium or commercials on televisions. As Brandon Berger of Ogilvy enthusiastically extolled, "The gaming landscape is a great opportunity for marketing."

One panelist, Billy Pidgeon of IDC, thinks the future will be sponsored games or downloadable content, which may be free since it is sponsored. This could be good for gamers, because many of them hate the microtransactions on Xbox 360 that don't seem worth the $5.00 you spend. There was also some discussion of the three games that will be sold at Burger King soon. But Pidgeon pointed to one resounding success of sponsored games, "The biggest one is the Army. There is a ten million dollar game and they are seeing more reach with that than with television."

With gaming advertising growing and marketing techniques become more overt, will players start turning off their consoles? Or will they continue to log-on in droves, and create a new stream of revenue for game publishers?