Sunday, February 10, 2013

The advertising on the 360 is so obtrusive that I've decided to disconnect it from the internet unless I'm doing something that absolutely requires a connection.

A couple of weeks ago I turned on my Xbox 360 for the first time in well over a year. After it was done updating, I was floored by the sheer amount of advertising in every nook and cranny of the 360's interface.

You see, I'm cautiously optimistic about advertising. I don't watch TV, and I use Adblock, so when I'm advertised at, it's on my terms. When I visit Amazon, I expect to be advertised to. When I open the Steam store, I expect to be advertised to. And this has previously been my experience for consoles. I'm advertised to when I visit the PSN store on my PS3 or Vita or the eShop on my 3DS or the Google Play Store on my cell phone. And I even appreciate this advertising. I'm told about new products I might be interested in when I'm ready to be told about them.

Yes, hold your horses. I know. There's a tiny little ticker on the upper right of the PS3 menu that I ignore. And my Vita notifies me when the LiveArea for the store has updated. These are unobtrusive. These I can ignore.

I am unable to ignore advertising on the Xbox. Microsoft does not respect my boundaries. You are advertised at on almost every screen of the 360 interface. It has been placed to be wherever my eye rests in an idle moment. I could not stop being advertised at, until I pulled the plug.

I also posted this on Reddit. Feel free to leave me a comment here with your thoughts, or on Reddit if you prefer a more public venue.