American actor Danny Divito chomped his way through masses of Dunkin Donuts in one flick and Coke and Pepsi appears magically in the hands of stars on other popular celluloid offerings.

It's celebrity endorsement and exposure rolled into one, and Nintendo is now also getting hip to product placements in their video games - for street fighters and monsters can also have their own "celebrity"..

The New York Times reports - "...Take Darkened Skye, due out for Nintendo's GameCube console later this year. The role-playing game has plenty of monsters and fighting, but it also uses Skittles candy from Mars Inc. as a magical catalyst. Given that most games can take several hundred hours to complete, that is a lot of brain candy reaching consumers..."

Nintendo and Sony, Japanese monopolists of the hand-held video market are starting to use the same techniques of the big screen film producers to attract more revenue.

Electronic Arts, a game producer for PC's, expects to attract $1 million US from product placements this year.