BACK when the video game industry was young, a marketing campaign for a new title might have cost $50,000, and would have consisted of full-page ads in gaming magazines. No more.

Million-dollar ad buys are routine, driven by the games' growing ties to Hollywood and to huge retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co.

Sony Corp. has spent $10 million--about what it would use for marketing an independent film--to promote the first installment of its "Ratchet & Clank" franchise, while Vivendi Universal S.A.'s game division spent $7 million to launch "The Simpsons: Hit & Run," a video game extension of the cartoon series.

Retailers, too, have played a role in the evolution of the video game market into a hit-driven business, similar to the movie and music industries. They count on games to generate revenues and to bring in customers who will buy other products.

"Retailers look at the early sales and so do reporters. So you're spending a lot of money to get critical mass early and crossing your fingers," said VU Games executive vice president Philip O'Neil.

To understand how elaborate video game marketing has become, consider Ubi Soft Entertainment's promotional effort for its cloak-and-dagger title, "XIII."

The French game maker spent $10,000 to orchestrate a three-day weekend in March in which stuntmen disguised as CIA agents "kidnapped" several influential critics and whisked them away to San Francisco's grimy Tenderloin district. There, they tried out copies of the game in a converted Tae Kwan Do studio.

A month later, thousands of additional dollars went for a party where 250 gaming magazine editors and reviewers checked out a prototype of "XIII," while actors imitating CIA functionaries walked around in menacing black eyeglasses and ear pieces.

Million-dollar marketing budgets were rare in 1988, when Sega announced a $3 million campaign to launch its "Double Dragon" franchise.

Nowadays, a game maker will spend as much as 15 percent of anticipated sales on marketing, versus 10 percent a decade ago.

A campaign can include full-page ads in consumer magazines, such as Entertainment Weekly and Maxim, and millions of dollars spent on television ads. A series of 30-second spots during Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim"--a favored launch pad for game makers can cost more than $200,000.

Then there is the cross marketing, aimed at the mass audience. Video game giant Electronic Arts Inc. gave away demos of its "Tiger Woods" video game in boxes of Wheaties, which had hired the golf superstar as a pitchman.

But in the end, video game companies must still court hardcore enthusiasts and game reviewers who can make or break a title before it even hits the shelves.

There are armies of publicists courting the gaming press; VU Games has a staff" of 15 for that purpose. To garner more buzz, they send out their designers to write "diaries" in gaming magazines detailing the progress of their games.