214
rate

The Latest Feature Set To Hit Your Dashboard: Ads

July 01, 2009 in News comments 48

With the many upcoming features announced for the Dashboard, there might be one of them you don't want. According to Sean Alexander, the director for Microsoft's Advertising Business Group, ads will be implemented on the 360 through the use of Microsoft's Silverlight, which allows online advertising campaigns on multiple platforms. The Silverlight integration is set to appear sometime this year, but most probably with the next dashboard update. But hey, look on the bright side. At least you get to experience the ads in 1080p and 5.1 surround sound...

Edit: Image is a mock-up by Kotaku.

Advertisers and creative designers will soon have more artistic freedom to turn campaigns on Xbox Live into interactive and interconnected experiences reaching far beyond technology for television, Sean Alexander, director at Microsoft's Advertising Business Group, said Monday.

Microsoft plans to bring IAB specifications for rich media technologies, including Silverlight, to Xbox Live within the year. It will enable companies to build advertising campaigns that span four screens: desktop, television, mobile phone, and Surface. Microsoft's Surface debuted last year when AT&T and Sheraton released promotions based on the technology.

The vision is for agencies to spend less time repurposing creative pieces for multiple platforms, so campaigns can cut across all screens, Alexander says. "We are just starting to scratch the surface of what's possible," he says. "As a marketer, your job is to build an emotional connection with the brand, no matter the platform."
McClubbin via mediapost.com »
Favourite this article Add source
| More
Report!
News story attached to:
Additional sources:
Latest comment:
Most recently commented on by on Jul 7, 2009

Comments

Register as a member to subscribe comments.
  • 7
    chautemoc Jul 1, 09
    Okay, so, PS3 and Wii have online services with no ads, for free. Xbox 360 has an online service with ads, and is monetized.

    This is greed in a most disrespectful form -- they take from the PC what makes them the most money, and ignore what (in their eyes anyway) doesn't (community, free content/online play, etc). Well, writing off Microsoft, too, I guess.
  • 2
    Shinobi_razor Jul 1, 09
    oh hell. i can see this happening on Wii and PS3 cause theirs is free, but on Live it makes no sense if we have to pay a yearly fee and ON TOP of that have to deal with ads. this is total bull. at the very least hopefully the ads wont take up too much screen space.
  • 7
    FinalFantasyFanaticc Jul 1, 09
    Tbh, i hope this is a silver member only thing like gold members are able to turn off the ads, caus we pay for a good monthly service and we don't want to have to pay just to have to see ads all over our goddamn dashboard =|
    • 1
      chautemoc Jul 1, 09
      That would at least have some logic behind it.
    • 0
      Matthew Jul 2, 09
      Yeah that would make sense, but if I pay £40 a year for the service I would prefer for it to be ad free. I don't like the idea of 'Gears of War will load after this short advertisement.' at all. I get enough of that watching television. Seems to me Microsoft are trying to push this moneymaking as far as it can go before gamers start complaining, and if this is implemented for Gold subscribers a lot of people, myself included, will complain
  • 4
    Smoke Jul 1, 09
    Paying for Live in the first place has no logic behind it. It's a rip off from the get-go; and it seems that 360 fan boys are the only ones that don't recognize this. Why do you think Live failed on the PC? PC gamers laughed at the idea of paying to play for a service that did little to nothing compared to what they had already.
    • 4
      Shinobi_razor Jul 2, 09
      it does if its altogether better than anything the PS3 can hope to accomplish for an online service, which it is.

      and $50 a year is absolutely nothing. almost anyone with a job makes that much in a single DAY. even if you make minimum wage which is like what, $7.50/hr? apparently some people just cant grasp that.
      • 3
        McClubbin Jul 2, 09
        I couldn't agree more. If you're really passionate about playing online, $50 isn't that much money for a whole year. You'd just be stupid to pay the $8/month option. And if 50 bucks still seems like a lot to you, you can always manage to find it cheaper. I managed to get my current 13 month subscription from Amazon for only $35. And I can honestly say that I'm a satisfied customer.
      • 6
        Smoke Jul 2, 09
        You... don't seem to get my point. $50 a year is not much, but would you pay $50 for a subscription to Neoseeker for a year? It's not much at all, really; you can make it in a single DAY. How about that nice subscription to Last.fm premium, $3 a month? Screw the fact that it's a free service to start with, $3 a month is NOTHING. Hell, tack on a $5 month charge for the twitter and Facebook subscription; $5 is so tiny ANYONE can pay it.

        This isn't an argument of PSN vs Xbox (Though it would be easy to make); this is just a general argument about how silly it is to pay anything for something that should be free in the first place.

        Just a quick question, why do you think Microsoft's Live service failed on PC?
        • 5
          Shinobi_razor Jul 2, 09
          quote
          Just a quick question, why do you think Microsoft's Live service failed on PC?
          because there are better alternatives like Steam. even with it being free, GFWL wasnt anywhere near as good as XBL. it was and still is severely lacking compared to the Xbox version. plus its still being used to some degree and its free, so just use that if you are too cheap to pay a very small price for a great service.

          and you cant compare Neoseeker, Twitter or Facebook to Live because they are not even close to the same. you cant play online on them, cant download games, watch Netflix movies, have a great party system where you can join games or do other stuff as a group (try doing that on PSN, oh wait you cant...) etc. so of course paying $50 for them would not be worth it because they offer nothing compared to Live. and now that Live is getting Facebook and Last.fm implemented in it, who needs them on computer?

          also your argument really loses weight when you consider Live has more UUs than PSN.
        • 4
          FinalFantasyFanaticc Jul 2, 09
          quote Smoke
          This isn't an argument of PSN vs Xbox (Though it would be easy to make)
          Yes, it would be easy to make and also it'd be easy for the 360 to come out on top.

          Sick of you fanboys jumping at any chance you can to attack the 360. Either say something worthwhile or gtfo.
    • 0
      Dine_Agoti Jul 3, 09
      I think Smoke has a point. I mean, what exactly are we paying for here? Sure, we get a service completely superior to its competitors, but charging money for said service doesn't mean the charge itself is what makes the service as good as it is.

      Personally, I think the reason Live is better is because Microsoft has been taking the 'online community' thing more seriously. Sony only recently started taking it seriously, and Nintendo never took it seriously (*bleep*, the Dreamcast had better online capabilities than the Wii does).

      The online games we play can be played for free on the PC and PS3, and they're just as laggy as they are on those platforms, too. So the fee we pay really doesn't do as much as we'd like to think. But hey, I'm willing to pay it, simply because nothing compares to Live (though PSN might get there someday). I am not, however, willing to put up with ads as a paying subscriber; that would be completely unacceptable.
  • 0
    Diamond Master Jul 2, 09
    The ads look out of place, crowded and just generally horrible. I agree with Final Fantasy Fanatic.

    Those McDonalds ads are going to tempt me somthing silly, though.
    • 3
      McClubbin Jul 2, 09
      Shoot, I knew I forgot to mention something. The picture's just a mock-up created by kotaku to go along with the story. That's not how the actual thing will look.
  • 4
    Onvacation Jul 2, 09
    *bleep* this. This is like if the BBC Channels had adverts when you have a to pay a TV license fee to watch them anyway. *bleep* you, microsoft you greedy money grabbing twats. I could handle paying a bit to play online, and the overpriced accesories that all the other consoles have as standard. but i'm not paying to be bombarded with adverts, its ONE OR THE OTHER. When this happens i'm switching over to PS3.
  • 0
    DragoniteBallZ Jul 2, 09
    They better have those ads for Silver accounts only. That's lame. That just completely covers what's left of what you can see on your dashboard theme
  • 0
    pooOBKp Jul 2, 09
    The ads are pretty lame, but that ESPN ticker looks to be nice. I love when my sports games have the ticker on the bottom, being on the dashboard can be a plus.
    • 0
      chautemoc Jul 2, 09
      If there were optional, genuinely useful items like that -- that would be cool.
      • 0
        pooOBKp Jul 2, 09
        Have more community tool like items, kind of like how the iPhone has all its apps. I don't know how big it would be but I would spend days browsing the apps for my 360's dashboard .
    • 0
      Slumpy monkey Jul 2, 09
      That's not how it looks. That's a mock by kotaku.
  • 0
    Phil Anselmo Jul 2, 09
    I'm pretty sure Games for Windows, which is the PC equivalent to Xbox Live, is:

    1. Free
    2. Still up and running

    I have no idea where the idea that it has "failed" came from.

    With that being said, there's already SOME advertising on the marketplace, albeit voluntary. Some map packs and other content is "brought to you by..." and you can download gamerpics of company logos to enter sweepstakes and such.

    Advertising in games though has been a norm the past few years. I can't play Madden without seeing a Taco Bell or Best Buy ad on the large in-field screens.
    • 0
      Smoke Jul 2, 09
      It "failed" previously when they were charging for the experience. When it turned out that very few people wasted their money on it, they refunded the money to the people who paid for a year subscription.
    • 1
      chautemoc Jul 2, 09
      It used to cost money -- it didn't do well cause PC gamers are used to not paying extra for pretty much anything, so it failed. After this Microsoft made it free and launched version 2.0, with paid DLC, anti-piracy tech, etc (other means by which to make money).
      • 0
        CarRamrod Jul 2, 09
        Exactly. PC gaming has always been free and the use of Steam and Xfire on PC's makes Live worthless on PC. When Gears came out my friend's brother bought it but I don't think he ever got the Live subscription because he's not an idiot. When I was over he was telling me what he and most PC gamers thought(lifelong PC gamers). "Hahaha look at how they try to lure you in with Gears even though it's not good on PC. They think people will pay so they can use ranked matches even though no one on PC cares about that. If we want ranked or something to count we play Counterstrike or Battlefield and use clans. Nobody's going to pay for this junk and it will fail." Now look, it's free because of that and he hit the nail on the head. No reason to pay for something that should be free.
        • 0
          chautemoc Jul 2, 09
          People say it's not good on PC -- I don't really get it, personally I think it's fantastic.
  • 2
    Phil Anselmo Jul 2, 09
    I'm not a PC gamer, so I was unaware that they tried to charge for the service at one point. Even at the beginning, though, it couldn't have been a complete and utter failure due to the fact that Gears of War launched with it and sold millions. Perhaps the reason for their change in policy was to compete with Steam, which was already established and free?

    For your "Paying for Live in the first place has no logic behind it" comment, I'd have to ask if you have jumped deep into Live before? Perhaps my favorite feature for Xbox Live is the Netflix streaming straight to your TV. One of those boxes alone costs $100. Not to mention a deep and detailed friends list which is universal across all games and an awesome party system.

    Microsoft can charge for this because it's the only system like that on the console market. It's name practically sells itself.. while the Playstation Network is still new and a bit behind when it comes to functionality. Of course we'd like Live to be free, but it isn't, so for those of us who want our gamertags tracked and kept up instead of creating a new account every month (a known way to play for free), $50 every 13 months isn't bad if you're a serious online gamer.
    • 1
      Smoke Jul 2, 09
      I've played on Live on and off at different people's houses, but never saw the "OMG IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN ANYTHING OUT THERE" experience.

      Deep in experience? You can stream Netflix to TVs anyways via computer; in the same manner you can watch Hulu through a browser with the PS3 (Though it's bugged at the moment).

      I just can't fathom why people pay for something that is free everywhere else. As I said, if it had private servers and other various things that come along side of it, sure I might see that.
      • 4
        Silent Storm Jul 2, 09
        I can't fathom why the *bleep* you care so much.
    • 0
      chautemoc Jul 2, 09
      Gears sold millions on the Xbox; notice Gears 2 hasn't been brought to PC..the developer said it was because of piracy...that's a debate in itself but obviously sales for the first game weren't high enough either way, which is really sad given all the extras they put in that version.

      Anyway I think that was one of the first games to implement it (or one of the few, at least), so it's not fair to say it couldn't have been a failure, for that reason also.

      Doesn't have much to do with Steam -- most of the features it offers were always free for PC games.
  • 2
    Bale Fire Jul 2, 09
    As others have said, this is really bullshit. The Wii and PS3 are unstandable and I would accept them as the price for having free online. Yet neither has implemented any serious advertising and now the 360 has on top of a pay to play service. It's no big deal when you think about it, but it the principle of the thing.
  • 2
    Aussie Legend* Jul 2, 09
    Myeh, doesn't really bother me, I'll just ignore them.
  • 1
    The Slayer Jul 2, 09
    So they want us to pay $50 a year for xbox live, plus $10 for a few maps for games that already cost $60, $10 for arcade games, and now they want to throw in some ads to make more money?
  • 1
    Rabla Jul 2, 09
    And this is why you buy a PS3 or Wii
    • 1
      Star of Spurs Jul 7, 09
      And comments like that are what make you a fanboy.
  • 2
    Slumpy monkey Jul 2, 09
    Quote from major nelson:
    quote Major nelson


    I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion today about how we’re bringing Silverlight ads to LIVE in the future.
    I need to let you know that you don’t need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard. One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the LIVE community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we’ve done with some of the NXE slots in the past. No one on the team wants to turn the dashboard into something that looks like like Shibuya Crossing. That’s just not good for anyone.
    Also I found an ACTUAL image of how it looks:

    This whole ads like a browser thing is wrong. What the ads will be like is like a demo. I.E you can go to marketplace, click on a film and then it brings you to that movies area where you can watch trailers for that movie etc.

    http://team.silverlight.net/files/media/image/WindowsLiveWriter/SilverlightAdsonXboxLIVEAnnouncedatCanne_EE23/Cannes_2.jpg

    So for example, this guy has gone to the Harry potter section where he can watch trailers for that film and buy tickets on his xbox.

    That's a relief.
    • 1
      FinalFantasyFanaticc Jul 2, 09
      Ah so basically they'll just be on certain slots of the dashboard which can easily be missed and not seen, not like the picture that is attached to this article then.
      • 0
        Slumpy monkey Jul 2, 09
        No, that image was made by Kotaku.
        • 1
          FinalFantasyFanaticc Jul 2, 09
          I thought it looked poorly done. By the way just so everyone is clear they are only enhancing existing ad space and NOT adding more adverts.
        • 0
          pooOBKp Jul 2, 09
          Is this Silverlight thing what's been bringing on the Xbox 360 Beta symbols on Microsoft employees gamercards? http://majornelson.com/ You can see Major Nelson has it too.
        • 0
          McClubbin Jul 2, 09
          The Beta thing is probably the upcoming Avatar Awards feature.
    • 0
      chautemoc Jul 2, 09
      Links help. Good find.
  • 3
    Fallen Royalty Jul 2, 09
    BOTTOM LINE: I pay Microsoft for a Gold Membership to Xbox Live, they have no right to inconvenience me with advertisements to squeeze out a few extra pennies.

    It's got nothing to do with PSN and all that crap you've been arguing about.
  • 0
    Star of Spurs Jul 7, 09
    A news ticker at the bottom of the screen wouldn't be bad. But these ads, probably over the dashboard which many people pay to get premium versions of their favourite games and movies is *bleep*. As if Microsoft needs more money. There better be a way to turn this off.
    • 0
      chautemoc Jul 7, 09
      In all fairness, they laid off 3,000 people in May and will be laying off 2,000 more, in light of a 32% decline in profits (link).
  • 0
    Mikstaslaya Jul 7, 09
    Seriously? Advertisements now? Microsoft will do anything to get more money. They even make you pay to get your Xbox fixed when it is THERE fault that it RRODs. This is the main reason I'm selling my Xbox and getting a PS3. All they care about is money, and they will charge players for any shit that they should have given us for free in the first place.

    Oh and to the jack ass fanboys who are gonna quote me on this with words like "LOL UR JUST POOR HALO BEATS UR ASS NUB", maybe if people stopped putting up with this shit and wasting hard earned cash on video game attachments and additions that should be free, Microsoft would be a little less greedy.
    • 1
      Star of Spurs Jul 7, 09
      If you're still in warranty don't they fix RROD for free?
    • 2
      chautemoc Jul 7, 09
      If you think Sony doesn't rip people off, you're mistaken.

This news story is archived and is closed to comments now.