Xbox 360 Ads

[Vigo]

So I never owned a 360, but played plenty of it over the years. I always thought the dashboard was cool, but I was never the one navigating it. When I was playing on my brother's 360 over this Christmas...damn! Ads plastered everywhere. It was completely annoying. Is this from the new version of the dashboard, or have I just never noticed how awful it is? It seems kinda cheap that they charge you for live membership, and then slam you with ads as well. Is there a way to tone the ads down? I am thinking of finally taking the plunge and getting a 360.

[amendonz]

the ads are fine, quite often get good deals out of them. the dashboard is great. also the voice recognition is really outstanding. i use professional voice recognition pretty much all day at my job and and i was REALLY impressed with it. especially since you don't need to template.

[Vigo]

I enjoyed playing with the voice recognition as well, much smoother than the hand recognition in my opinion.

The ads annoy the heck out of me though, Every category of the menu had multiple ads often the largest item on the screen, and I couldn't tell which icons were games my brother owned and I could play, and which icons were ads. I was thinking my brother had GOW3 on the system, and it was just a lame ad. After bumping into piles of adverts, I just got frustrated with the menu and quit.

I think the menu layout is completely new as well, I don't remember seeing it like this on my friends 360 like a month ago.

 

[Mikezilla]

I enjoyed playing with the voice recognition as well, much smoother than the hand recognition in my opinion.

The ads annoy the heck out of me though, Every category of the menu had multiple ads often the largest item on the screen, and I couldn't tell which icons were games my brother owned and I could play, and which icons were ads. I was thinking my brother had GOW3 on the system, and it was just a lame ad. After bumping into piles of adverts, I just got frustrated with the menu and quit.

I think the menu layout is completely new as well, I don't remember seeing it like this on my friends 360 like a month ago.

 

Yeah the new dashboard pisses me off. The GF got me Batman: Arkham City for 360, and I went over to play it at her place (I let her use it for netflix so she doesnt have to pay for cable etc) and jesus GOD there were ads all over the place. I hadnt played the 360 in about a month, cause I have the PS3 at my house. I hate how they change ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- all the time, I wish they would just leave stuff alone. Right when I got used to the "old" one, they change it to this crap. I dont have patience for the voice stuff, I just want to play my damn game and maybe get some DLC. Like you guys have stated, I already pay for the damn membership, so why all the ads? Drives me nuts. 

[amendonz]

i guess my $44NZ for 1/yr subscription + 800 pts i got from an ad might have swayed my opinion but yeah i don't find them intrusive, there's a lot, but its not like the're ad for insurance or painkiller pills or anything...and yeah new dash is new, mainly to make more use of kinect which isn't gamechanging but its actually pretty good. kinect games on the other hand are pretty awful, well apart from fruit ninja which rules

[Skullreaper2000]

Yes it is a new dashboard.  It has added some nice elements to it like the voice recognition and some other things.  Ultimately though, it takes to many steps back in other areas that just makes it an utterly horrible interface to use.  Getting to some of the content you are looking for, is just a chore or confusing.  One of the reasons that the indie developers are pissed off with this new dash board is because it makes it harder to find them and browse them.  I also think looks ugly as hell.

[lilshawn]

i totally derailed another thread with this a few days ago...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=116783.msg1238316#msg1238316

[DaveMMR]

I do not have 360, but in general I hate having to pay for something and still getting bombarded with ads (cough Hulu+ cough). 

I have seen this however: http://kotaku.com/5866681/how-to-block-xbox-360s-newest-feature-dashboard-ads.  Haven't tested it (see above) but if someone wants to give it a shot, there you go.

[SavannahLion]

Yeah, I was having problems with the Kinect (brand ---smurfing--- new 360 and it's that far behind on the versions?) and so I had to update to get the new Kinect updates. Fixed my Kinect problems to a T, but the change to the dashboard and the addition of all those ads are a bit mind-numbing.

I think my router supports URL blocking or maybe not. I'll have to check it. Now that I think about it, I think the URL blocking is misnamed, it's actually an IPA block. I dunno. I'm too tired.

[Ginsu Victim]

It seems kinda cheap that they charge you for live membership, and then slam you with ads as well.

Cable television and magazines have ads. Are those free?

[lilshawn]

Im a "need to update due to kinect" as well.

It seems kinda cheap that they charge you for live membership, and then slam you with ads as well.

Cable television and magazines have ads. Are those free?

It also costs a ton more to produce those things. Data is data, make it once, its there forever. Its not costing them any money to have it sent to one place vs another.

Damn it, just give me an option to turn it off.

EDIT: besides microsoft has a literal fuckton of money... more than all BYOAC-ers combined could spend in our life, and they need to make a few 10ths of a cent on accidental clickthroughs??? Give me a break!

[ark_ader]

I would welcome ads in consoles if I got anything for clicking on them.  Like Microsoft points towards games and extras.  I'll view the ads and I buy online like every week, so I'm sure you could switch to Amazon-like service for all your games instead of Microsoft. 

My pet peeve is not being able to remove your credit card details from web services like Microsoft.  It is quicker to have your card replaced then to have your details removed.  If the ads have your purchasing details, you should be able to manage them.  Play.com is a good example.  You can change your credit card details but you cannot remove them unless you close your Play account.  Why is that a big deal? 

Well when my Xbox live subscription expires it gets updated with the existing credit card on file unless I intervene, which is proving difficult.  I can get Microsoft live cheaper on the net, but I should have the option not to have Xbox live, like if that was a good option in the first place.

I can see the ads going the same way.  You accidentally click on an advertisement and it sends you away from your game.  Getting a point towards your next game purchase could make the experience better.

Advertisements for games would work, but anything else it would have to incur a discount or a click bonus after a confirmed sale to become a benefit.