Following the revelation yesterday that the company would later this year be placing advertisements on Xbox Live, Microsoft have moved to assure users that the ads will "enhance, not interfere" with their experience.
Posting on his blog, Microsoft's Larry Hryb has said:
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.
Which puts to rest fears that the service will look slightly whorish, but then, it doesn't address the more fundamental question of "where, then, is my $50 a year going"?
Silverlight ads on Xbox 360 [Microsoft]