Old classics die hard

Marketers are expected to take advantage of - and profit from - console video games that are also connected to the internet, reports Brandweek.

A new study from ABI Research says that in-game ads that link to the website of the advertiser are expected to leap in value. By 2011 the value of such ads could rise from $80 million this year to $852 million. That would make dynamic ads that change consistently more important than static ads that fade in relevance.

The market for movie and TV episode downloading via those connected consoles is also expected to rise. And the downloading of casual and classic games, according to ABI, will hit $1.1 billion by 2011, a significant increase from this year's $93 million.

Both markets will flourish, according to the report, as the vendors build out their offerings and user acceptance increases.