The Scottish Government is to spend £10,000 on adverts on the virtual billboards within Xbox 360 games to warn people against drink driving.

The adverts will be seen by Scottish Xbox 360 gamers playing the online versions of titles including driving games Project Gotham Racing 4, Need for Speed: Carbon, and sports titles Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and NBA Live.

The government hopes that this new approach will target younger drivers while acting as a trial for the medium before rolling out other adverts on road safety measures in the future.

"With statistics showing that road deaths, particularly among young people, are continuing to rise, it is clear we must look at new ways of getting road safety messages across," said Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson for Scotland.

The Minister also said the innovative initiative was a "huge opportunity" to get the anti-drink driving message to a new audience.

No date has been given as to when the campaign within the game will be running.