Derex Sango

 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has made a play for online videogamers, placing campaign advertisements in a series of popular titles from videogame giant Electronic Arts.

The ads purchased by the Obama campaign are appearing from October 6 to November 3 in Xbox 360 games such as "Burnout Paradise," "Madden 09," "Nascar 09," "NHL 09" and "Skate," EA spokeswoman Holly Rockwood told AFP on Tuesday.

She said the ads would be visible to players in 10 US states who play the Xbox games online against each other using Xbox Live.

"Not all of our games support dynamic in-game advertising but these ones lend themselves well to this kind of opportunity," Rockwood said.

"You're driving down the freeway, you're passing billboards and one of the ads you will see is for Obama.

"We try to create an authentic gaming experience," she said.

The ad campaign encourages voters who are eligible to do so to cast their ballots before the November 4 faceoff for the White House between Obama and Republican John McCain.

"Voters have a clear choice between Barack Obama and the change we need, or John McCain and more of the same failed Bush policies," Nick Shapiro, an Obama spokesman, told AFP by email.

"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," he said.

The technology website GigaOm published a screen shot of an Obama ad which appears in the racing game "Burnout Paradise."

In the picture, a race car is seen driving by a roadside billboard which carries Obama's picture and says "Early Voting Has Begun."

The billboard features the VoteforChange.com website address and the words "Paid for by Obama for President."

The games which will feature Obama campaign ads are among the most popular in the EA catalogue of sports titles and are rated for play by the Entertainment Software Rating Board for everyone aged 10 and older.