Yaris, a racing-shooter, is released to Xbox Live in North America

Following the surprise success of Blitz's Burger King games in 2006, Toyota is the latest non-endemic brand to jump into the world of advergaming, with the release in the US and Canada of a game called Yaris.

The title, freely downloadable from Xbox Live Arcade, is a non-realistic racing-shooter, which tasks the player with equipping the Yaris with weapons and taking out enemies.

The main reason for getting involved in an XBLA title is, according to Kim McCullough - corporate manager for marketing communications at Toyota - to do with getting back in the eye line of younger consumers.

Speaking to the New York Times, McCullough said: "People can time shift, they can do all sorts of different things to avoid advertising. That's why we have to move beyond traditional advertising to do things that are really engaging for people."

The game is restricted to North American Xbox Live accounts at this point, and there is no indication at this time whether the game will move to Europe as well.

News-Source: GamesIndustry