Sony's U.S. game unit creates ad business

Sony Corp's headquarters is seen in Tokyo July 6, 2007. Sony Corp's U.S. video games operation has created an advertising unit that will promote brands and products inside games such as its upcoming ''Home'' virtual world, the company said on Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sony Corp's U.S. video games operation has created an advertising unit that will promote brands and products inside games such as its upcoming "Home" virtual world, the company said on Monday.

In-game advertising has become an area of focus for video game companies as they seek new forms of revenue to offset higher production costs of new games, which often feature high-definition graphics and more dialogue than a movie.

The new unit of Sony Computer Entertainment America is being headed by Darlene Kindler, who most recently was head of publishing for Adscape, an in-game advertising company that was bought by Google Inc in March.

Sony said it aimed to place ads in "Home," an online virtual world that is scheduled to debut early next year on its PlayStation 3 gaming console.

Sony said it "will depict brands in various forms within the game, where users would expect to see them in real life on billboards and posters, on shopping bags and soda cans and on images of TV screens."

(Reporting by Scott Hillis)