They are as predictable - and unavoidable - as the snows of winter. They are the year-end ad campaigns that muscle their way into magazines, infiltrate our favorite TV shows, and swallow city buses whole. Sometimes, in the case of the Lara Croft-draped buses, they can be as entertaining as playing the games themselves.

　　Capcom Picks Proven WinnersCapcom will launch a four-week TV campaign to promote PlayStation titles Resident Evil Director's Cut and Resident Evil 2. The campaign consists of two 15-second spots airing back to back. Capcom will buy slots on national and cable networks including MTV, Comedy Central, the Sci-Fi Channel, Turner Entertainment, and USA Network. The ads launch November 16 and will run through December 17.

　　Capcom says Resident Evil 2, released last January 21, has sold more than 4.4 million copies worldwide. Resident Evil Director's Cut, released last year (and rereleased this September under Sony Computer Entertainment America's Greatest Hits program) has sold more than 1.5 million units worldwide.

　　Drinking Dew and DrivingMidway and Pepsi-Cola have joined forces to incorporate the Mountain Dew logo onto tracks in its upcoming racer, Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA. For all of you who've been asleep, Rush 2 is the sequel to Midway's popular San Francisco Rush title for the Nintendo 64 and will be released in November with a PC version due this spring. All ten tracks will feature Mountain Dew power-ups.

　　Sony Bets BigClaiming that the upcoming campaign is its most expensive ever, Sony is eyeing consumers with an almost killer instinct. Sony ads will begin appearing later this month in consumer print magazines, on TV, billboards, bus shelters, and buses. Sony Computer Entertainment America says its total ad budget is $140 million.

　　TV ads will promote Sony's marquee game characters including Crash Bandicoot, Lara Croft, and Sweet Tooth from the Twisted Metal series and will air on shows such as King of the Hill, X-Files, Friends, The Simpsons, Spin City, Suddenly Susan, Dawson's Creek, Fraiser, Dharma & Greg, and Newsradio.

　　Sony is also buying time on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast and the network premiere of Home Alone 2.

　　Print buys include Entertainment Weekly, Reader's Digest, George, Jane, People Magazine, Teen People, In Style, Playboy, Maxim, Sports Illustrated, Allure, React, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and Wired.

　　Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle are the markets where Sony is buying billboards, bus shelters, and bus wraps.