Just when you thought Microsoft was getting back into the light from the crazy abyss of XBox weirdness, this has cropped up. Microsoft has announced that advertising on the XBox will make use of the Kinect.

We knew this was coming of course. MS has filed a handful of patents around Kinect-related advertising. One of those mentioned in that article describes a method for requiring someone to get up off the couch and do tricks for the camera in order to get swag for one’s avatar. Which is creepy, at the minimum. 

Though to be honest this isn’t limited to MS. Sony filed a patent for a somewhat similar system in which there would be ads that would pop up during a game and wouldn’t go away until you said the name of the advertiser out loud. No seriously, interrupting your game for that shit.

You know, I’ve had some people that don’t understand why I freak out about advertising. This sort of shit is why. This is where it’s all going. How long until this happens for your phone? You want to call someone, but your phone won’t unlock until you help Ronald catch the Hamburgular? Plus there’s a lot of effort going in to making a ‘smart windshield’ for cars which can overlay traffic info and navigation. Guess how long until ads are popping up on your screen offering you deals at Kroger? 

But there’s really no escaping it. It’s a part of the world we’ve built. We’ll always find a way to Adblock this shit, or to root your phone to uninstall it (as long as it’s legal, which Apple says it isn’t, sooo…). Anyway. Annoyance of the day.