In-game advertising company IGA Worldwide continues its streak of signing major console manufacturers and publishers to their network, announcing that they've signed a multi-year agreement with Activision to supply dynamic advertisements for the company's PlayStation 3 titles, beginning with Guitar Hero: World Tour.

"Our partnership with IGA will allow us to deliver dynamic in-game advertising to the growing PlayStation Network community for the first time," said Dave Anderson, head of business development at Activision Publishing. "By incorporating dynamic in-game advertising in our titles where it is appropriate, we can increase the realism of our games by presenting consumers with authentic environments in genuine settings, while also expanding a key growth opportunity for the company."

See? It's all about realism. I hate it when video games make me thirsty for a beverage or excited about a masculine hygiene product that doesn't actually exist. Thank goodness for realistic advertising!

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Couple overnight tips point out this weird Rock Band 2 spot presently running, apparently, in the UK. First, Harmonix have given this young lass a full backal lobotomy and replaced the brain matter with a miniaturized band. No wonder she has such a placid look.

More important is the message "Rockband 2 out November, Rockband out now," at 0:16 to 0:20. Price quoted is in pounds and Miss Moneypenny supplies the voiceover so, there's no mistaking this is for the UK. The Rock Band forums are alive with Brit commenters taking this as gospel. Harmonix have offered no confirmation yet. So, we'll call it a rumour for now, taking care to use our special friends' spelling of the word, the notional agreement of collective nouns, and the word "advert."

Rock Band 2 Ad UK [YouTube, thanks readers Craig and Jake]

Can't say I was much of a fan of the first "Live Your Moment" ad, the "casual" targeted slow-motion nightmare that kicks off Microsoft's new Xbox 360 holiday ad blitz. Fortunately, the next two, shot in the same vein and focusing on LEGO Batman and Xbox Live Marketplace's video download service, are simply more goofball than cringe-inducing. The kid in the second ad spot, fresh-faced though he may be, looks like he's getting a hit of heroin off-screen, he's so delighted.

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Microsoft is spending big this holiday season, trying to lure in the "causal" gamer who does not yet own an Xbox 360. They're also going after the "I like to be creeped the fuck out by hollow-headed women with death mask smiles" crowd with the first spot in the "Live Your Moment" ad campaign.

While we contend that Microsoft's new marketing thrust is the kind of disturbing digital witchcraft that will give us night terrors, the company describes its efforts as "focused on shifting brand perception and driving re-appraisal of the platform in a very competitive region with entrenched competition."

Continue on for the first "Live Your Moment" ad, if you dare, to see if your "re-appraisal of the platform" is significantly driven.

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With the exception of Sony's "U R Not E" campaign and the inflicting of Saliva's godawful "Ladies and Gentlemen" upon us a countless number of times this year, we're generally fans of the PlayStation marketing machine. We even kind of liked the "This Is Living" series of non sequitors that annoyed UK gamers in 2007. That said, we're having a hard time wrapping our string of brain cells around the "Matrjoska" print ad running in Spain.

Are Sony trying to appeal to the portly gamer set who prefer to masquerade as teenage waifs online? Or is it the other way around, speaking to the blue ocean market of women with runway physiques who desperately long to be a morbidly obese and wear nothing but brown? Or is it just "Look, nipples!"? We're stumped.

PS3: Matrjoska [Ads of the World]

The former director of the Games Developers Conference, Jamil Moledina, used his appearance at the Japanese CEDEC 2008 conference to speak out about industry plans for in-game advertising.

No longer required to put a positive spin on things, Moledina showed research that suggested in-game ads could not provide enough revenue to support AAA-level titles, only casual games.

Worse, Moledina said that his advertising contacts were finding it difficult to convince clients that games could provide enough exposure compared to advertising on the web.

Sadly, Moledina didn't take issue with the main problem with in-game advertising - the way it makes disbelief harder to suspend than an elephant in a hammock.

Moledina pours scorn on in-game ads and digital distribution [Develop]

Chris Morris of Forbes magazine thinks that Google should try its luck at publishing video games. The search engine behemoth has put some serious research time into advertising within games and certainly has the resources to acquire a developer or three.

As well as the rather ill-received virtual world Lively, the article points out that Google already has some technologies that could mix well with gaming. Google Earth could make a for an excellent flight sim (in fact, it already has) while streetview might be useful in a GTA-like game.

I'd love to see the Google brain trust attack a problem like enemy AI or random terrain generation. It's just a shame we will have to wade through adverts to get there.

Will Google Play Games? [Forbes]

Last week we pointed out, with the help of a telescope, the nifty new tiny Spore billboard found in San Francisco. Today a gamer his us up with images of another tiny billboard campaign, this one for LittleBigPlanet.

The tiny billboards are being placed around major cities, apparently in the U.S. only for now. They were first noted in an eBay listing. Some lucky guy wandered outside of his work one day to find one of these tiny signs planted in the nearby dirt. After doing a bit of research he discovered it was destined to be pitched and instead got his hands on it. It was labelled 99 of 100.

Helpful tipster Barry contacted SCEA's ad agency and managed to get them to send him a few more pics which he sent on to us and I've posted on the jump. So be on the lookout for these tiny little ads. We still have more than 90 to find. They're like real world Easter Eggs... but, you know, not eggs or for Easter.

Little Big Planet Limited Edition Billboard Numbered [eBay]

You gotta love this new Rock Band 2 commercial featuring VAEDA and sung in the key of AC/DC. Well you don't gotta love it, but if you don't love it you're a horrible person and are going to rot in hell. So you decide.

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Reader Maxwell spotted the famous cybernetic hero pulling advertising duty for Eckersley's Art & Craft in a copy of Drum Media. I'm thinking his likeness was taken from one of the manga books shown in the top-left corner, but who knows? Maybe someone at Eckersley's adores the little blue dude. We sure do.