BARACK Obama, flush with cash and ramping up his advertising in the final weeks before the November 4 election, is making US political history by placing the first presidential campaign ads in online video games. The Democratic Illinois senator is using the Internet ads, featured in 18 games through Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Xbox Live service, to promote his online voter registration and early balloting drive in 10 battleground states, a campaign spokesman said on Wednesday. Unprecedented in U.S. presidential politics, the video game buy is targeted mainly at young adult males, who are difficult to reach through more traditional campaign advertising. “The 18-to-34-year-old male is the mainstream demographic for the hard-core video gamer,” said Van Baker, an analyst for Gartner Inc., a technology market research firm in San Jose, California. “They're hard to get to because they don't watch much TV and they don't read a lot, so it's a good venue to get that segment.” The ads appear in games as banners or billboards with an image of Obama, the slogan “Early voting has begun” and a reference to his VoteForChange.com Web site. The site allows users to register online to vote, obtain absentee voter information and find a polling location. Polls consistently have given Obama, 47, an edge over Republican rival John McCain, 72, among younger voters. Obama's video game ads aim to reach a more finely targeted group of potential voters. The in-game ads are delivered to players through 18 games, ranging from “Guitar Hero 3” and “The Incredible Hulk” to sports titles like “NASCAR 09,” “NBA Live 08” and “NFL Tour.” Such ads can be directed to particular geographical areas through the Internet Protocol addresses registered with Internet service providers when players' Xbox 360 consoles go online, Baker said. Obama's campaign said the game ads are targeted at 10 key states where early voting is available and relatively simple -- Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and Colorado. “These ads will help us expand the reach of VoteForChange.com, so that more people can use this easy tool to find their early vote location and make sure their voice is heard,” campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
