Switch on your Xbox 360 and you may find that the Xbox Live subscription you're already paying for has been further subsidized by all-moving, all-talking ads -- full on commercials that have been smuggled onto your dashboard and will make noise at you whenever you scroll past them. You might have seen them in the past, at least for MS' own stuff, but it seems that people are starting to notice them far more.
We've been assured by the digital media experts at IPG that these ads won't be as intrusive as feared, and that the Silverlight-powered ads are designed to "fit right in with the interface," meaning that they'll be individual scrolling windows within the rest of the NXE. So, no annoying pop-ups or anything ... for the time being.
Intriguingly, IPG also believes that the entire New Xbox Experience was, in part, designed as a way of bringing more adverts to Xbox Live. IPG has realized that the NXE windows "just so happen to be IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) standard sizes". Well, how about that for a coincidence?
Hit the jump for a video of one of these ads in motion. Meanwhile, I'm going to continue wondering exactly what my Xbox Live Gold subscription is paying for, and wonder why the PlayStation Network has remained ad-free and subscription free for the past three years.
Oh wait, I remember, I'm just paying for the sake of it, right Microsoft?
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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I don't mind the ads for maps or games or whatever, but stuff not x-box related is really pissing me off.
Seriously, Gold members should have the option to turn ads off.
As a little curiosity, are the ads stored remotely on an ad server, or on the xbl servers? If they're stored on an ad server my PC's proxy SHOULD filter them out.
It's like ads on DVDs, you don't have to pay attention to them but for fucks sake they shouldn't be there in the first place. People pay money in part so that they don't have to deal with crap like advertising. This is really annoying though considering that LIVE is a subscription service and not just a one-off $20 fee.
I keep seeing the one where that guy tells an incredibly obvious and unfunny joke, with some of the worst delivery I've ever heard. It just makes me sad.
As for other commercials, I don't mind so much. Easy enough to ignore, I'd say.
Not as annoying as I thought it would be, but still annoying nonetheless. They should make the non-paying members watch these ads, not the ones who are actually paying.
either they add the ability for gold members to turn ads off (which wouldn't do much, because not many people just use silver only in my experience) or they should give us a reason to swallow these ads.
Perhaps discounted prices on Gold or even them cutting the prices off Gold subscriptions with the new ads, or agreeing to having ads for a discounted price on renewing your Gold account/buying things in the Marketplace.
Yep, I have seen those ads all over my dashboard lately. I'm sure a lot of you won't have to worry about it happening too much, since Telus is a Canadian cell phone company. That being said, I'm kind of used to having a really shitty dashboard experience in comparison to the rest of the world. We don't even have Netflicks support, wtf Microsoft...screwing Canadians left right and center, are we?
I agree with Shadowiii, the ads for game related things are, quite obviously, relevant to my interests but everything else is filler which I find annoying. If I'm paying for the service I expect the option to be able to filter what I view.
This is the same thing that happened on the World of Warcraft forums a little while back, you have to have an active subscription to post on them and then they filled them with(very tasteless) ads.
Your paying a FEE for the service, you shouldnt sit and just take it... Although, even if you got a million people to sign a partition it wouldnt make any difference. Yay capitalism and having "freedom".
Because microsoft takes it farther than most companies. Xbox live is already 50$ a year, and it doesn't cost them near that amount to host and keep the servers running for xbox live. All xbox live does is checks to see if you're a gold member, and redirects you to a host. It costs them near nothing to do that. They get a good portion of that 50$ you spend, and now they're adding ads to the service.
I guess I've tuned out ads so much already that the ads on the 360 don't bother me at all. Just flick my thumbstick up immediately upon logging in and I never see them...
But we better be getting something to make up for it. Something like, I don't know...A freebie now and then, knowledge what the money is actually going towards, or even just something like improved servers or better exclus-...
Give them an inch, they'll take a mile. Next time they may force an ad when you start up your xbox.... you never know. I wouldnt mind it if I wasn't already paying 50 dimes a year.
Strange that I don't pay anything for PSN and don't get ads like that. Not that it bothers me, I paid like 30 bucks for my 13-month gold card. That's less than 3 dollars a month.
This makes no sense, it would be like paying for cable and still getting commer........never mind. It would be like paying for porn and still getting adver.......never mind. It would be like paying for a $60 game and seeing billboards and not having the ability to damage the licensed cars.....never mind.
"I've been seeing these for a while now. Like months. I wonder why it's come up recently. Was I accidentally in a test phase and didn't know it?"
It's weird. I only saw an ad like this once, a few weeks back, but it was for proper Xbox-themed content. I am guessing they've just started rolling the things out a lot more and more people are since discovering them.
The only ad that really bothers me is one for Sierra Mist, or some other kind of shitty soda. They plaster some douchebag teenager's face on there, with his not-quite-there-yet moustache, and I get an incredible urge to punch him every time.
"They don't really bother me at all. Microsoft is a company, why is it that surprising that they're trying to make money?"
Yeah Microsoft is a company, but we as the consumers should have a right to not be inundated with ads, when we're paying for a service. They also make Windows OS, but would people put up with ads popping up on the Start Menu? Hell no! Company's can try to make all the money they want, but not at the detriment of their customers. Having a slow, ad filled dashboard is just bullshit for people who are actually paying money for it. Sony, and Nintendo don't fill up their console menus with pathetic ad space.
Playing 1 VS 100 I see that ad like 10 times, which is fine, I can deal with it on there. But do I really need to see the fucking thing 10 more times a day by accidently going over it in the dashboard? That's not going to make me want to buy the product, its just going to annoy the fuck out of me. So who wins here? Not the consumers, because we're just paying to be advertised to.
I can't believe there are some Xbox users who actually defend Microsoft through this. Talk about blind fanboyism...
If Sony did this to my PS3, I'd fucking smash the thing and stick with my Wii. It'll be many years before Nintendo catches up in the online space, enough to get intrusive and annoying ads onto my Wii menu.
"They don't really bother me at all. Microsoft is a company, why is it that surprising that they're trying to make money?"
Microsoft is going to start coming over to people's houses and smashing their system with a baseball bat so you'll buy a new one. WHY SHOULD IT BOTHER ANYONE THOUGH, THEY'RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE MONEY DUR HUR
Not the best analogy but your logic isn't much better.
Shitsux but what can we do? Microsoft makes us pay for Gold, we pay because we want to play online. Microsoft makes us watch ads and we take it because we can't do much about it. They will not remove these ads unless it somehow affects their bottom line, and I don't know if the outrage about ads is strong enough to motivate people to take serious action. Are people going to stop buying 360's or Live Gold because of these ads? I don't see that happening.
I think the real problem is that Xbox Live Gold is superior to PSN, or maybe they're the same now, but people still believe there's a difference. If everyone believed PSN and Xbox Live Gold were of equal quality, then more consumers would buy PS3s because PSN is free. That would be the only way MS would feel the heat and be motivated to make some changes.
What'll happen as a result? Nothing. People will keep on paying LIVE fees as normal and Microsoft will start working on some slightly more intrusive ways of advertising.
It would be a nice goodwill gesture for Microsoft to disallow ads for gold members, but it's not going to happen. If they were to do that, the ads would generate significantly less views from the demographic with disposable income. The best case here is a reduction in the live subscription price to entice users into providing valuable demographic information.
I've seen them every so often. They usually scare the crap out of me, being unexpected while the dashboard is often so quiet and my volume just happens to be up a little too high.
They've been around for awhile now (US). There's almost always one ad that only plays if you're "smart" enough to select it. It's also in a section many don't even navigate. Most people go to Marketplace, Friends and Inside Xbox. Usually when you see an ad, there's also free content (gamerpics, themes etc)that comes with it, or they're sponsoring a contest.
Might want to ask any Canadians who have that ad on their dashes, if there's also free content in the Marketplace, or a sponsored Download and Win type contest associated with that ad.
In all honesty, they've never once bothered me. I flicked back and forth like the person in the video did, when I first saw one. After that, I never selected another ad.
Well that just gives me another reason not to renew my Gold membership. I already don't get my money's worth here in Germany. An now they're going to additionally annoy me with ads. Hell no!
I'll just buy Modern Warfare 2 for my PC instead. PC Gamers are already a lot nicer and generally a lot mor intelligent than the "lol Haloz. You're a gay" Beavis and Butthead wannabes on Live.
Also I call on all Gold Members to break out in rage. Tell MS that you want to be able to turn off the ads. Annihilate their support with a flood of Mails. That'll teach em.
@peeknuckle Same here. I really didn't even notice it at first. I certainly didn't cry or have a fit over it. Takes half a second to scoot across it. /shrug.
There is no fucking way we can avoid this shit, if we wanna play via live.
Micro-Heil-Gates-soft can do what ever they want, and that fucking gaming nazis know it!
I'm just surprised SexualChocolate hasn't shown up to feed us fanboy propaganda about how the PS3 network is 100x better. Except, you know, it has like a quarter of the users.
Still, no ads. Seriously. Everything about the NXE (except installing games to the HDD) has pretty much sucked, and this is icing on the cake. It's like Vista for my Xbox. I want to go back to XP. :(
As a primarily PS3 user, this doesn't seem that obtrusive, but I don't think it's really justified.
I'd have no problem at all if they wanted to spam the service with ads for a bunch of different games (which would basically just be a channel of streaming demo videos), but I don't see how watching a Sierra Mist ad a thousand times over is going to make me want to do anything but NOT drink it in protest.
From what I understand, it's less about making money (directly, at least) and more about extending the reach and appeal of Silverlight for advertisers. They're basically pushing the idea that advertisers can create ad spots in the Silverlight format and publish them to multiple platforms, above and beyond just the plain ol' Internet.
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Contest:
12:20 PM on 07.20.2009
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Seriously, Gold members should have the option to turn ads off.
what's the difference exactly between a Gold and Silver memberships?
As for other commercials, I don't mind so much. Easy enough to ignore, I'd say.
Perhaps discounted prices on Gold or even them cutting the prices off Gold subscriptions with the new ads, or agreeing to having ads for a discounted price on renewing your Gold account/buying things in the Marketplace.
I doubt it'll happen though.
Xbooooooxx liiiiivvveeee,Xbooooooxxx Liiiiivvveee, No other network exists, and if they do it sucks compared to xbooooox Liiiiiivvvveeee.
Seriously gold members paid, leave em be.
This is the same thing that happened on the World of Warcraft forums a little while back, you have to have an active subscription to post on them and then they filled them with(very tasteless) ads.
Your paying a FEE for the service, you shouldnt sit and just take it... Although, even if you got a million people to sign a partition it wouldnt make any difference. Yay capitalism and having "freedom".
Because microsoft takes it farther than most companies. Xbox live is already 50$ a year, and it doesn't cost them near that amount to host and keep the servers running for xbox live. All xbox live does is checks to see if you're a gold member, and redirects you to a host. It costs them near nothing to do that. They get a good portion of that 50$ you spend, and now they're adding ads to the service.
Judging from the general consensus on Destructoid, I'd say quite a few people.
But we better be getting something to make up for it. Something like, I don't know...A freebie now and then, knowledge what the money is actually going towards, or even just something like improved servers or better exclus-...
IN BEFORE MICROSOFT BUYS OUT MORE PS3 EXCLUSIVES.
Give them an inch, they'll take a mile. Next time they may force an ad when you start up your xbox.... you never know. I wouldnt mind it if I wasn't already paying 50 dimes a year.
WTF AM I PAYING FOR THEN?!
I feel sorry for 360 users again. Cereals Suxorz!
It's weird. I only saw an ad like this once, a few weeks back, but it was for proper Xbox-themed content. I am guessing they've just started rolling the things out a lot more and more people are since discovering them.
do you guys/gals understand what your saying?? your ok w/paying for a Gold Membership and still have to see ads??
sure makes sony's PSN look a bit more appealing (minus the live features it lacks).
had to say it.
Yeah Microsoft is a company, but we as the consumers should have a right to not be inundated with ads, when we're paying for a service. They also make Windows OS, but would people put up with ads popping up on the Start Menu? Hell no! Company's can try to make all the money they want, but not at the detriment of their customers. Having a slow, ad filled dashboard is just bullshit for people who are actually paying money for it. Sony, and Nintendo don't fill up their console menus with pathetic ad space.
Playing 1 VS 100 I see that ad like 10 times, which is fine, I can deal with it on there. But do I really need to see the fucking thing 10 more times a day by accidently going over it in the dashboard? That's not going to make me want to buy the product, its just going to annoy the fuck out of me. So who wins here? Not the consumers, because we're just paying to be advertised to.
If Sony did this to my PS3, I'd fucking smash the thing and stick with my Wii. It'll be many years before Nintendo catches up in the online space, enough to get intrusive and annoying ads onto my Wii menu.
Microsoft is going to start coming over to people's houses and smashing their system with a baseball bat so you'll buy a new one. WHY SHOULD IT BOTHER ANYONE THOUGH, THEY'RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE MONEY DUR HUR
Not the best analogy but your logic isn't much better.
I think the real problem is that Xbox Live Gold is superior to PSN, or maybe they're the same now, but people still believe there's a difference. If everyone believed PSN and Xbox Live Gold were of equal quality, then more consumers would buy PS3s because PSN is free. That would be the only way MS would feel the heat and be motivated to make some changes.
Great, I'm sure I'll go home and get tons of them now...thanks Jim!
Might want to ask any Canadians who have that ad on their dashes, if there's also free content in the Marketplace, or a sponsored Download and Win type contest associated with that ad.
In all honesty, they've never once bothered me. I flicked back and forth like the person in the video did, when I first saw one. After that, I never selected another ad.
I'll just buy Modern Warfare 2 for my PC instead. PC Gamers are already a lot nicer and generally a lot mor intelligent than the "lol Haloz. You're a gay" Beavis and Butthead wannabes on Live.
Also I call on all Gold Members to break out in rage. Tell MS that you want to be able to turn off the ads. Annihilate their support with a flood of Mails. That'll teach em.
Micro-Heil-Gates-soft can do what ever they want, and that fucking gaming nazis know it!
Still, no ads. Seriously. Everything about the NXE (except installing games to the HDD) has pretty much sucked, and this is icing on the cake. It's like Vista for my Xbox. I want to go back to XP. :(
I'd have no problem at all if they wanted to spam the service with ads for a bunch of different games (which would basically just be a channel of streaming demo videos), but I don't see how watching a Sierra Mist ad a thousand times over is going to make me want to do anything but NOT drink it in protest.
Put up with? They're barely noticeable. You can fucking scroll right past them, they don't pop up or take away from the dashboard AT ALL.