I always thought it was weird that the price for XBox Live Gold went up and the amount of space devoted to ads increased while actually finding games got more difficult.

As for this feature, they clearly recognize that people surf or switch due to ads. Why would those people want ads in both environments? Again this is more stuff that isn't value added yet Microsoft focuses on.

yeah, with every xbox announcement it's pretty clear that Microsoft is thinking more about their business-to-business deals and don't see the people buying the boxes as their actual customers.

We'll see how well that works out for them. Here in America it's probably a tossup. In Europe they are going to get crushed.

Actually, the UI is devoid of ads within games and in the guide view. On the main dashboard, yes. Other than that, no.

Yeah, 8 bucks a month for Netflix and 5 bucks a month for XBL is a HUUUUGE difference. You probably have higher disposable income than I do, but why would I want to bend over backwards and give Microsoft money for services that I'm already paying for when on every other device there's no paywall? It's ridiculous.

"Xbox does not even need to offer services like Netflix if they don't want to, so putting it behind a pay wall is fine by me."

Uhhh...do you know what their target audience is? A lot of my friends use their 360/PS3's to watch Netflix. Also, again, Netflix is on every other console, and it's not behind a paywall. Your logic of thinking that Microsoft is doing you some kind of favor by including Netflix is completely insane.

I think people just need a reason to complain. This is the Internet after all. Most of these things never affect people but they have to kick and scream regardless.

Would I prefer not to have anything but game specific ads on the 360 or the xbox one? Sure. Do they ever get in the way or hurt the overall experience. Not really. I actually prefer the home and games screen because they always list new arcade games and new DLC that maybe I didn't know was coming out. I don't have to go into a store and dig around. Do I need to see the other stuff that I don't care about? Nope. It has never bothered me. I couldn't care less.

The same thing applies to the always online, which was not actually always online. It was online once every 24 hours and it was going to be a process that would happen seamlessly in the background. The idiotic hypocrisy of Internet babies is hilarious. They obviously have Internet access, otherwise they wouldn't be able to cry on the Internet. Their consoles are always plugged in anyway.

Maybe I'm spoiled because I live in area where connectivity is plentiful. My 360 and PS3 have never been disconnected and I can count the number of time I've lost access on one hand. It's also never been for more than a few hours at the most.

I can understand why people cry, but I can't relate because I'm not inherently one to complain about every little thing. Gaming is an expensive hobby and if a few dollars or even a few hundred really creates a make or break situation, you should obviously go with the least expensive option. Don't try to belittle the other things because you personally don't have the finances to support the hobby completely.

It is not one small ad in the corner. Maybe a video ad is that but there is a HUGE block right in the center of the main screen that is an ad with the "play game" in a top left small box.

I doubt it.

It's also not a good sign if you are posting on a video game forum and have paid $60 for a year of live.

I have never paid more than $35. Have never seen a year of Plus get down to that price.

The next gen ads are going to be dope

@metalgearsunny: Did you even see the backlash at the XboxOne launch event? Everyone was complaining because they were even talking about TV and Sports? What so now all of a sudden it matters? I wish haters would make up their mind it would be a lot easier to have a conversation.

While I understand and agree with you and everyone that there should be no reason to have that behind a pay wall I'm sure anyone coughing up money to get netflix on a $200 machine will have gold. If they don't them I'm sure they have another device to watch Netflix on. I would be curious to see the number of people who would get Netflix if they offered it not behind the Gold Subscription, my guess is that it would very, very low. Honestly the complaining of having it behind a paywall is a "problem" on paper and not one that would be brought up in the real world.

As I said the steps need to even get to Netflix on a 360 require a good chunk of money as it is. A TV(varies), a 360 ($199), a Ethernet cord ($5), Internet (min $25.00/month and that might be shitty to stream Netflix). So as you can see a person needs to spend a decent amount of money before that even becomes an issue. Who are these crazy people that would buy a $200 box to watch Netflix? Go get a roku for like $50.

Yeah, because obviously everyone who has a problem with how MS is handling their next console is doing it because of some deep resentment over not having enough money to get one.

Way to douche out a discussion by assuming it all comes down to money.

Wow adverts on xbone, controlled by kinect. Big deal not as if the adverts are intrusive on the 360, they are not like your watching a tv programme and then they go to commercial break and spoil what your doing. The only time adverts will become annoying is when they pop up in game and ask you do you want to buy this weapon or amour etc, much the way I see free to play games that only allow to progress when you purchase what ever it is you need to get further on.

The people who were lashing out at the TV stuff is not their target audience. There's a portion of people who seem really excited for that stuff, because they use their Xbox for more than games.

If people are buying a 360, they already have most of the stuff you mention. Who is really going to be like "That 360 looks cool, I'm gonna go out and buy a TV and get some internet first!" I just think it's a convenience issue. If I don't enjoy playing multiplayer games, but I want to use Netflix, I have to pay for Gold. Sure they could just use their computer or whatever, but it's nice to load up Netflix whenever you're tired of playing a game.

I think I recall someone say they wont have the ads on the home screen.

Ugh, the more I hear news about xbox one, it just seems like its making enjoying games harder.

Then they showed footage of the XBO interface with ads on the screen, they just called them 'recommendations' for things like Rhianna and Star Trek.

MS makes a ton of money on ads on the dashboard, they're not going to give it up this time around. They'll muddy the waters with twisted terminology and hope that does the job.

It was simple stuff and no more intrusive then what is currently on the 360.

It's still ad space was my point.

Ads are a fact of life, but could we at least see some intelligently targeted ads.

- If the system knows which games/DLC I own, exclude ads for those products. You already made the sale.

- I use my system to play video games. No stupid bank ads please. Show me video game things.

That's the main problem with xbox live, pay 60$ a year and still have to deal with annoying ass ads? Shit is just terrible.

@metalgearsunny: I wasn't saying they had to go buy a TV, I was just showing they clearly had to have a source of income to afford a TV, a $200 360, and a month payment for internet.

Like I said if your barrier to entry is the $60 a year for Gold go buy a Roku with that money.

Oh boo hoo. Deal with it. Talk about first world problems.

Thanks Phil Spencer, I'll just #DEALWITHIT with my wallet by not buying into it.

Oh right, now i remember why I hate the Xbox so much, phew, I was almost starting to look at the One favourably. As long as there are ads plastered across the menu of a console which costs hundreds of dollars, I will never buy it.

Nope. When you pay for cable, you're paying for the ability to watch the shows it provides and all the overhead expenses the cable company incur. You are not actually paying for the funding of the shows or anything of the sort—that is where the ads come in.

With XBL, you are paying for the service, you are paying for the content, and then on top of that you are subjected to ads. It's more than just kind of bullshit; it's bullshit to the max.

TV and ads. Just what I wanted out of a video game console.

YOU'LL JUST LOVE NEXT GEN THEN BUDDY.

No you are not. Microsoft charges $10 a month for xbox live; if you pay monthly. If you buy in one year blocks you save 50%. If you buy the subscription online at the right time it will cost you $30 - $45 for the whole year. Basically Microsoft is doing their best to get their customers to buy their subscriptions in large chunks so they can more easily allocate income to the appropriate divisions within the company.

Umm alright then? I have never really been bothered nor even noticed advertisements on the dashboard. If I need something, I merely scroll over to the section of my desire and search what is needed. If not, I just play my game. Not really disruptive but ok.

Won't it be even easier than ever now to not see the ads, since I can just tell my XB1 to do whatever without even looking at the TV.

I think i spend 5 seconds on the dashboard every time i boot up my xbox

I use Steam and everytime i boot that up a pop up Ad comes up, thats more annoying that the Xbox ads.

I think we have a pic of the main screen. It looks like a windows 8 main screen.

The issue isn't necessarily that either of them have ads. The issue is you are getting ads for cars and beverages and food even under Games. When Steam starts advertising for the new Cadillac CTX or for Mountain Dew Code Purple then there is a comparison.

I actually liked the ads on the 360, they keep me informed on the latest games and sales. Without them I wouldn't have known Witcher 2 was $10. As long as most are game related I don't really see a problem.

I love paying obscene amounts of money to be advertised to.

What's thoroughly disgusting about the whole thing is how, 'Ads are an expected part of the dashboard experience.', 'We believe that many of our customers enjoy ads on the dashboard.', 'We hope to evolve and make ads an enjoyable experience for all customers.'

Wait what? Besides the 1 or 2 ads over the years that made you tilt your head and say, 'Hmm, that was nifty.' Since when has anyone found ads 'an enjoyable experience'? This doesn't just go for the 360, but for PS3 and PC as well (though let's face it, the 360 has ads freaking EVERYWHERE on that dashboard) Ads suck and I can completely understand why people are pissed off about them, hell I hear about it on Youtube all the time. But unlike Youtube, where those channels pretty much depend on that ad revenue to survive and you're not paying a premium subscription fee to watch videos, Microsoft and Sony are both large corporations (Hell, look at the backlash Hulu still gets from their premium members). The amount of money those ads bring in, is probably chump change to how much they make off of Licensing Fees, Gold / PS+ and 1st Party Game sales. The argument that, 'Well their costs must be astronomical to keep the servers running.' are pretty much mute, because A. Advertising doesn't bring in that much money and B. If their self-maintained servers are costing too much, there are plenty of services like AWS that would build, maintain and monitor those servers for them at a fraction of their current overhead.

Really, in all reality, the few excuses that have been given towards why the Xbox One or PS4 should have ads have been very minor or completely false. Neither 'needs' to have ads to stay afloat and ads aren't keeping the sub prices down. It's just further padding to their pockets.

As for the Kinect functionality, I don't expect many advertisers to use it and those that do will probably be like the one Doritos commercial that people flipped out about last year, that had button prompts and Kinect motions you could use to move through the powerpoint like commercial. Voice activation is still really iffy on the new Kinect and even though everyone 'should' have one when they buy the Xbox One, they know some people will probably have it locked in a cabinet or with a sheet over it / never want to use it.

Overall, while I find advertising in our current market to be highly insatiable with terms to how obtrusive they can be, it could definitely be worst. We're not being told to wait 5 seconds before we can skip an ad. PS3 and hopefully the PS4 will keep ads in one section, one that the majority of the userbase immediately scrolls away from. And most game publishers, except those publishing racing games, seem to be moving away from the in-game advertising, which is always a good thing.

This shouldn't derive into a 'O god the Xbone sux!!!' or 'Sony does it way worst!' type argument, it should be an 'Advertising sucks and here's ways we'd tolerate it' type discussion. At the end of the day, you have two options, one, be logical and stop paying for Gold / PS+ if the value isn't worth it or two, make a coherent argument and be vocal about it to the people that make those decisions.

A whole lotta QQ over nothing.

Every time.

gag

Really? There are advertisements on Steam, on PSN, on Giant Bomb and I bet that Nintendo advertises to its customers as well. If you don't like advertisements I suggest you go live in North Korea or Cuba.

I certainly don't enjoy most advertisements myself but have learned to deal with them as a fact of life.

@isomeri: I understand they're a fact of life but that doesn't mean I like them or need to pretend like I like them.

If I had the choice between having more ads or fewer ads than I will almost 100% of the time choose fewer. Also the 2% of the time I want more ads I am blackout drunk.

@spraynardtatum: "Like" may have been the wrong word to use, I would prefer no ads but realistically that's impossible. As I said before I don't mind the type of ads that inform you on a sale or a new indie game you may have other wise never heard of. The occasional Mazda ad on the Xbox..... Not so much

On buses....walls..T.V...radio...the sky...your own room.

How does a consumer ever know that something exists without advertising? I don't understand the incredible rage levied at what is basically a company's only way of getting their product/service known to the public. As someone who is even now trying to launch a new website it's particularly frustrating that so many people seem to look at advertisements as some kind of attack on their personal freedom. I work my ass off to create an awesome service but it means absolutely nothing if nobody knows it exists. Advertising is essential to a free market.

I realize this sounds insane to people (though I don't fully understand why), but ultimately advertising benefits the consumer, the only reason ads are effective is because they make people aware of things they might want that they didn't know was available. Why does that offend you? Does the act of your eye being drawn for half a second to something you don't want/need really upset you so deeply? Company's need advertising to succeed, if you removed all advertising from the world how many of the awesome game companies we love would simply not exist?