I'm sure Delta was thrilled when CNN used the FS Lear and a FSX CRJ repaint to "reenact" the Lexington crash.The UP deal was bad timing for Microsoft rather than Train Sim specific. UP had been going after model railroad companies for a couple years before TS was released.Someone had decided their paint schemes and logos could be a major revenue source. They eventually lost that battle - too expensive to keep paying the lawyers to track down everyone.And the unbridled contempt and disgust by real and model railroad fans world wide.I work for a worldwide company with four well known fast food restaurant brands. Soon after FS2004 came out, one of my friends in the company who is a lawyer in the intellectual property team asked me to show them the 'chicken' and another object which kind of looks like one of our trademarked building designs.The lawyers didn't like the similarities, but they could see they didn't have a chance of sustaining a complaint.But there is no way this company would allow anyone in FS to use the company logos and trademarks.They even sent letters to repainters who copied the corporate jet paint schemes back when we used to have brand logos on them.Product placement advertising will come to FS, but it will not be obvious.The very nature of the FS world makes it difficult to expand the placement beyond a custom scenery. Yes you can put signage in Seattle - but how much of the worldwide FS customer base actually flies in Seattle each day?

When billboards are prominent around airports, then they really need to be modelled. Since the real-world ads change quite often, it makes more sense to me to replace them with my own advertising -- in my case, promoting a friend's flightsim product. Much more useful to my customers than promoting some overseas bank.Now if I sold 10 times as many airports, then it may be worthwhile me talking to one of those rich banks...RobinGodzone Virtual Flight, for 'Real New Zealand' sceneryhttp://www.windowlight.co.nz

Heh-heh, there's a *slight* conflict between these two parts of your post:>developers look for ways to supplement their income.>In game advertising can DOUBLE the revenue a developer gets. ...and...>the developer are not going to ruin their game just to>put ads in it. It's an insidious thing. A developer might put in a few subtle ads initially. The next game or expansion, hey, we've already got some in place, let's add some more. Once the practice starts, it becomes easier and easier to justify that you're not "ruining the game". Money talks.It's already happening -- for example, the last Need For Speed game I played a few years ago had a bunch of Burger Kings etc scattered around the game world's streets. Not too bad, that sort of thing has been done previously and maybe you can justify it as making the game more "realistic". But in addition to that, incoming game information popped up in a Cingular-branded bubble. Not even appearing on some image of a cell phone that had the brand name on it, you might be able to rationalize that as tied into the game experience, but just as a pop-up dialog box with the brand name plastered on it. Really annoying, blatant pushing of a product. It was the last NFS title I've bought -- not solely because of that, but the annoyance of having that shoved in my face repeatedly certainly influenced my decision.

Before I switched to FSX, I flew into Seattle all the time. I used Flytampa's airport and they are already using billboard advertising. Dr. Frasier Crane uses the space to advertise his radio show. Hmm, I think I feel like tuning in.. ;)

Nascar of the skys,that would suck.One thing though,didn't you know that Flight Sim is no game..LOL

Interesting discussion. My 2c:There would be limited interest by advertisers in "static" advertising - i.e objects that come packaged as part of the product, mainly because there would be limited ways to track the effectiveness of the ad (return on their investment)But there would be interested in in "dynamic" advertising. You can download dynamic weather today, so I see no reason why the FS architecture could not be expanded to include other downloadable content, including advertising. There is no reason why the advertising has to be in-flight. Imagine the option to download free aircraft, aircraft repaints, scenery, etc. (or equivalent content for TrainSim) from within FSX - but you have to watch an advertisement first. This already happens in another context today when you want to view certain video content on-line: You get an ad, flollowed by the video. So, would you be willing to watch a 60 second ad in a window populated with other clickable ads (that would open up your web browser to that advertisers site) to get a more accrurate representation of an airport, or get a new mission, or a new AI aircraft, new station, new train, new set of wagons or carriages, etc... Most of the technology already exists - it just has to be packaged in the product- regards, SkyDrift