With all of the recent buzz on in-game advertising on mobile, one would think that a game giant like Sega would embrace the opportunity.

However, this is not the case at all. Sega Mobile is gearing up for a big year of mobile entertainment with the launch of games such as -- Sonic at the Olympic Games," "Sega Columns Deluxe," "Beijing 2008 -- The Official Mobile Phone Game of the Olympic Games," "Samba de Amigo," "Sonic The Hedgehog 2," and "Crazy Taxi ." None of these games will have in-game ads.

"Sega Mobile is actively watching how in-game advertising unfolds in the mobile games space, but currently, we are not supporting advertising within our games," said Carrie Cowan, the director of marketing at Sega Mobile.

"We will, however, be launching ad-supported games in the next month, where consumers agree to receive advertising on entry and exit of a game application," she said. "Sega sees this as a way to grow discovery and awareness for the mobile games category."

The mobile games category certainly has caught the eye of all players in the mobile ecosystem.

For example, handset maker Nokia has launched its mobile games service in a worldwide effort to capture share in one of the fastest growing mobile segments.

The Nokia N-Gage platform will let Nokia device owners find, try and buy mobile-designed games directly from their handset (see story).

Whereas most of the established game developers like DreamWorks, Gameloft, EA Mobile, Glu Mobile and Greystripe proudly boast success in in-game advertising, it's rather surprising that a titan like Sega has waited this long to throw ads in the mix.

"This year's mobile game line-up is the strongest it's ever been for the North American market," said Linda Chaplin, vice president of Sega Mobile, in a statement. "We are delivering some of the best brands in gaming, each designed from the ground-up specifically for play on the mobile platform.

"With the casual gamer in mind, our games are short and 'snackable,' with one-thumb controls that make it easy to play Sega Mobile games from anywhere," she said.