Game makers see ratings as benefit.

Activision Inc. and other video game makers may have their games rated for popularity just as television programs are, possibly creating new advertising sales.

New versions of game machines from Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. will have connections for online game play that will allow monitoring of how many people play a game and for how long, Bobby Kotick. Activision's chief executive, said at a presentation with Nielsen Entertainment, a division of VNU NV.

Game popularity is judged by how many copies are sold at stores, such as those run by GameStop Corp. Unlike the television ratings provided by VNU's Nielsen Media Research, games sales don't tell how many people play a game or for how long. Knowing that might help publishers charge more for ads in popular games.

"Ultimately there's the possibility for ad buyers to tell the relative value of putting their ads in one game versus another," said Stewart Halpern, who follows Activision for RBC Capital Markets in New York. Billboards displayed in sports games could rotate advertising from different buyers, he said. "This technology will tell moment by moment what a garner is interacting with on screen," said Kotick. Activision is interested in using the data to prove that garners pay attention to images of products placed inside of games.

Activision's game "True Crime: Streets of L.A" contains images of phones from Nokia Oyj. Its "Tony Hawk's Underground" skateboarding game showed images of sneakers from Puma AG.

Activision got $1 million in ad sales last year, said Kotick. The sequel to Tony Hawk, which Activision will release this year, will show as many as half a dozen products.

Nielsen Entertainment may gather data from online players to provide measures of popularity, said Andrew Wing, president and chief executive of Nielsen Entertainment. "We're bringing the same sort of discipline to games that you see in television and other media," Wing said.