Gaming news appears in the strangest of places. Did I ever tell you about the time I found out about Vagrant Story in The Big Issue?

BrandRepublic, which is like PS3 Attitude but instead of a passion for gaming they’re got it big for marketing and advertising, has reported that caffeine charged and ‘no friend to dodgy tickers‘ energy drink Red Bull has the accolade of becoming the first product to advertise in Home.

It’s not all product placement however. The company has also worked hard on adding value to the world in the form on its own minigame. Read on …

The article states that “Red Bull has built a tropical island, featuring an aeroplane racing game based on Red Bull’s real world Red Bull Air Race series.” It goes on to quote John Beasly, Brand Manager for Red Bull in the U.K., who claims:

“The game gave us the first opportunity to recreate in the gaming world what we try to do in the real world, which is to facilitate interaction, to give people stories, memories, experiences and a really good opportunity to interact with the brand.”

Home is definitely starting to become a more interesting place to visit. This recent announcement does however suggest that the slim and well groomed avatars (there are no fat or bearded people in Home) walking amongst the virtual concourse will now need another emoticon: to signify cardiac arrest.