Among the various other firsts that have marked the 2008 elections, Democrat Barack Obama has become the first presidential candidate to buy ad space inside a video game. According to Obama campaign officials, the video game ads target 10 states, including some battleground ones, that allow early voting - Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, and Colorado.

Roadside billboards and other signage have the Illinois senator’s familiar face on them, and the message “Early Voting Has Begun. VoteForChange.com.”

Though the campaign is tight-lipped about the cost involved in launching the ad blitz on gamers, it revealed that eighteen video games - including the extremely popular ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Madden 09’, will feature in-game ads in the final weeks before the election. The timing of the ads within the video game varies from state to state. While players in smaller states may see them for almost a month, users in bigger states may see them for a shorter period.

Obama spokesman, Nick Shapiro, said: “These ads will help us expand the reach of ‘VoteforChange.com’, so that more people can use this easy tool to find their early vote location and make sure their voice is heard.”

Game maker Electronic Arts (EA), which is featuring the Obama ads in nine of its games, confirmed Monday that the ads were the real deal. They are aimed primarily at game players who like sports, including NASCAR, NBA, NHL and skateboarding. It appears the EA Sports’ motto, “It’s in the game”, now literally applies to presidential politics as well.

According to Holly Rockwood, a spokeswoman for EA, the idea of embedding advertising temporarily inside a video game is relatively new, having only begun about 18 months ago, and Obama is the first presidential candidate to buy space. She said Obama’s ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams, and added that these ads reach “an audience that is typically hard to reach - young males, roughly 18 to 34.”