[Paranoimia]

I'm a bit miffed about The Getaway, but Eight Days not so much. Still, development has been stopped, but that doesn't necessarily mean cancelled. I'm sure The Getaway will arrive somewhere down the line - they've put a lot of money into it, and it was only reported a few weeks ago that it was going into full production.

As for the ads - generally speaking, I hate advertising, but I can (a) see the point of it, and (b) see it being entirely workable.

In-game advertising is a logical step. Production costs are going through the roof ($11 million for Killzone 2, and that was a year ago), so unless gamers are happy to be paying £60 or £80 per game in the not-too-distant future, this is an unfortunate necessity.

Many games already have advertising in them anyway - racing and sports titles have had it for years, and they haven't been any worse for it. The world of GTA could be improved with real ads - although the fake ones are part of the humour, real ads would add to the realism of the game.

It all depends on how devs set about it. Adverts on hoardings in games will be fine - menus and loading screens plastered with "Sponsored by..." will be too much. It needs to be done carefully, but it could definitely work.