Goolge has had their beady little eye on the gaming market for some time now - paying $23 million for an in-game advertising platform sort of gives the game away. But things have been quiet since the acquisition until today, that is. Behold, Adsense for Games.

The technology is still in BETA but the announcement shows that Google knows where the money is (well, a lot of the money). In-game ads have been around for some time now but they’re not very popular - a News.com poll  found that the ‘I hate in-game ads’ clan currently lead the track. Amazingly, 5% of respondents stated that ‘I like them because it’s more realistic to have them.’ - hey, it’s Armageddon, have a Coke!

The announcement comes at a logical point; the world economy is in meltdown (I’ll have that Coke now!) and companies will either pull their advertising or looks for more ways to reach the masses. Google are ensuring they has many avenues covered.

Google are expected to concentrate on casual and online games but this is likely to expand to all areas once they get a taste for gamers hard earned cash.

The New York Times has also suggested that Google will be launching more ad products in the near future. A bit too much you may think - not in Googles eyes; 40% of their $40 billion annual revenue comes from advertising so expect to have your eyes pummeled with more and more ads in future.

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