Scene from Yaris game looks
like Star Wars podracing

Toyota has introduced a game called Yaris in order to promote its line of Yaris subcompact cars on Xbox Live.

Hardcore gamers are hypercritical, which is why agency Saatchi & Saatchi, LA farmed the game's development out to Backbone Entertainment, best known for the Sonic the Hedgehog games made popular in the early '90s.

Available to Xbox Live owners in North America, the cost of the campaign is expected to range in the low millions.

Since the game is a free download on Xbox Live, Burger King Exec Russ Klein told the New York Times might make gamers suspicious of its quality.

Burger King made headlines last year by selling Xbox games at its restaurants for around $4, ultimately selling around 3.5 million games. Time spent playing the advergames equated to 1.4 billion 30-second clips.

Games are fast becoming a stock marketing medium. Advertisers are expected to spend $502 million on in-game advertising in '07 alone, up from $346 million last year.