With all of the news going on recently about Microsoft's unsolicited bid to take over Yahoo and become the advertising king of the internet thereby passing its rival Google, I felt compelled to put my two cents worth in. I of course understand that this means that Microsoft wants other people to pay them for advertising, but in the same token, it also means that Microsoft can further promote its self. I wonder what this means to the gaming world. Possibly a further bombardment of Microsoft and paid advertising?

As an Xbox 360 console owner, I am often frustrated by all of the advertising Microsoft does on their Xbox website as well as on Xbox Live, either by promoting Microsoft products or third party vendors that have paid heavy prices to have their products advertised. I'm sure that more times than not this works well for the vendor, but what about the gamer? I've bought games that were well advertised that were really good, but I've also bought games with the same amount advertising that were so bad that a person has a hard time trying to get rid of them on eBay. Personally, I think that a good game play sells itself.

If you've been on the Xbox website you know what I mean, dense advertising for games, consoles, movies, music, downloads, Microsoft products and much more. What does this mean to you? Advertising is a powerful tool used to create desire for only one reason, they want your money. I know that when I was shopping for a console, I was perplexed on whether to buy an Xbox 360 or wait a while and get the PlayStation 3 (it wasn't yet available at that time). Truthfully, now with Microsoft no longer selling HD DVD drives and the world turning to BlueRay, I wish that I would waited and got the PS3. Anyway, I went to the Xbox site often and ended choosing the 360. One of the reasons was because of the nice clean Xbox Live screens they showed on the website and how they could be customized with themes to suit your own personal tastes.

I received a free limited trial gold membership with the Xbox that automatically turned into a silver membership when it expired. I've never bothered with going back to the gold membership. The one selling point for me was the clean Xbox Live screens that I saw on the website, much to my surprise it turns out they were covered with advertising banners that were constantly changing. These same ads are what also contributes to Xbox Live's slow loading times, even with a high speed internet connection. I went ahead and paid for and downloaded several themes, which incidentally, turned out to be a waste of money, only to find my themes still covered by these advertisements. I keep asking myself why I even bothered with the themes if you can't see them?

I've heard some gamers say they like them because they can learn about tournaments and new games. See how well it works? I wonder if these same gamers bought Old Spice (the current bombardment), Halo 3 and Vampire Rain? As for me, I can live without them, after all, during the course of a day, the average individual is subjected to thousands and thousands of advertisements a day; I find gaming a place to get away from it all. Even now though, in game advertising is on the increase. As an example, I recently played a game that every computer monitor in the game was situated on a desk so that when you looked at it, there was an Xbox console beside the monitor, an Xbox controller on the desk and the monitor screen had the Xbox logo on it. The first time I saw this, I thought it was cute, but as the game progressed, I realized that I could no longer use them as a reference point because they were all the same. After all, what it you were in a city scene and every billboard in the city had the same advertisement on them? There goes all your landmarks.

I hope you enjoyed this blog; it's just one gamers opinion.