Can you remember a time when you could seek refuge in a few hours of videogaming, and not have to worry about being bombarded with in-game ads? Well thanks to a recent agreement between Microsoft and EA Sports, that special memory is going to get a lot harder to recall. Just today, Microsoft announced that it will start streaming ads into several familiar sports titles, including those yearly updates delights: Madden, NASCAR, NHL, Tiger Woods, and the other upcoming game from EA called Skate.

While great news for Microsoft -- who is eager to start making some gains from their 200 million-dollar investment in Massive last year, I have yet to be convinced as to how ads are going to make the gaming experience any better for us. Yes I understand that product placements are a big part of sports, and that in-game advertisements are soon to be a billion-dollar industry that makes even the most seasoned businessmen all giddy with anticipation. Regardless, the last time I checked, most people avoid commercials whenever humanly possible -- and for good reason.

I might be able to overlook a few well-placed (as in not painfully obvious) ads here and there, but I start to cringe at the thought of the variety that sucks the life out of our precious bandwidth. Be cautious dear gamers....be very, very cautious. Now if you'll pardon me, I need to do a little research on how to block ad-servers on the router level. 

[Thanks to Detry, and the army of tipsters who brought this to our attention]