Google Enters Gaming Ad Business This Month

An ad-supported Psychonauts and video advertisements in casual games wil lead Google's gaming initiative.

A GigaOM report reveals that Google's long-awaited videogame advertising initiative will roll out later this month. Firstly, Google will be embedding 15-second, "video-type" pre-game advertisement spots within the casual games developed by Bunchball, a company whose recent hits have been Flash games on Facebook and is a member of Google's newest social networking project OpenSocial.

Google's second effort is a partnership with Double Fine Productions to offer an ad-supported, digitally distributed version of popular platformer Psychonauts this December. Psychonauts, a console cult-hit, is Google's way to diversify their advertisements beyond casual games. "Google launching with Psychonauts as a trial platform is like a new cable network launching with a Coen Brothers movie," said GigaOM writer Wagner James Au.