Even if you have a TV channel like the BBC you still end up watching adverts from the BBC about the BBC, and you thought it was an ad free channel.

Having said that the most torteous channel for me in the UK is SKY not only does it take the self promoting theme to the next level they also bombard you with comercial adverts as well. Oh and guess what you pay for the channel because it is not free to air.

A) paying $50 for 13 months through amazon is still expensive, and unless you found a free way to keep your account (and not just make a new one), then you're an idiot too...

B) The NXE is useless, clunky, overcrowded, and forces you to make a souless mii rip-off (avatars). The service for XBL is much better than that of PSN, but for all terms of comfort, ease-of-use, and efficiency, XMB (cross-media-bar) >>> NXE (and it's better than blades too)

C) My father pays for satellite radio. He recieves ZERO ads. I don't usu. listen to radio, but as you can probably tell, sometimes I don't have my phone with me, so I have to listen to FM radio (I had a free trial for sirius, but it wasn't worth it)... Notice: My dad pays for his radio, and I do not. He has ads, and I do not. On another case, you can think about it like OnDemand from your cable company. You pay for the content so you don't get interrupted by commercials, instead of waiting for it on a movie channel (where it may also be censored)...

D) That is why I almost never watch TV (with the exception of a few shows). It is a collosal waste of time. The internet is 90% of my video-entertainment needs

E) I don't pay for magazines because they are virtually useless thanks to an internet connection... The only one I have is Game Informer, and that's just because it came free with the Edge card. (I get 10% off used games & accessories w/ that)

Well, for those of us who haven't evolved past the rest of the universe, as clearly you have, we just choose to read/watch what we want to read/watch and to not read/watch what we don't want to read/watch.  I know that you said TV is a colossal waste of time for you, which is not surprising since you are the supreme being that you are, but for the rest of us (at least the ones who DVR our shows), we can just fast forward right past all the commercials and STILL watch the things we enjoy watching.  Therefore, we don't have to cut out a major source of information/entertainment just because we feel like being snobby about it.

You get most of your video entertainment from the internet instead of TV?  So let me get this straight:  You think the video on TV is a "collosal waste of time" but the video on the internet is not?  And you're skipping TV because of the ads, and then watching all your video on the internet which has even more ads than TV?  AND even crappier ones?

Also, you don't have to make a new account to get a good deal on Xbox Live membership.  Shop around a little bit.  Since you spend so much time on the internet, you should be good at finding things like that. And you can totally ignore the NXE stuff and use the blades if you want.  No, they are not the full screen that they once were, but you can still navigate around Live the way you used to be able to if you don't feel like using NXE.  I think a lot of people thought the blades were clunkier than NXE.  I for one didn't have a problem with either interface.  If you can't learn your way around the menus after a day or two, you probably have no business playing video games. 

And finally.....Yes, you had to make an avatar to use NXE.  Since the avatars seem to piss you off so badly, answer me one question.   Except for the first time you made your avatar, how much did it really effect ANYTHING you do in NXE after that?  Seriously, how much?  How much time do you actually have to spend dealing with that avatar when you sign on to play a game?  Do you sit there for 10 minutes before you play and stare at your avatar thinking about how much you hate it because you were forced to make one when you got NXE?  I hope not, because THAT is a colossal waste of time if I've ever heard one.  And that goes for NXE too.  How much time do you spend while you're gaming thinking about how much NXE is ruining your experience.  Is it really THAT hard to deal with?  If so, I suggest you turn off your console(s), PC, and cell phone, and spend a few hours outdoors to get a little perspective on things. 

Ads suck.  Big companies suck too sometimes.  (ALL of them, not just the ones whose consoles you don't own.)  Lots of things generally suck.  But many people, mostly fanboys, seem to forget that there is not one gaming company on earth that is not in it to make money.  They aren't there out of fan loyalty.  They don't make sequels just because they think you would enjoy a follow up to the first title.  They aren't going to remove ads just because you're pissed.  And they aren't going to give you free games, OS software, or anything else.  The only thing they want is for you to open your wallet and give them the money that's inside of it.  It's up to you to choose when you do that and when you don't.

1. I use a certain Firefox extension (which I cannot name here), so I don't have to deal with ads (I might see 1 in 1000 that gets through, then I kill it). The only time I might have to actually pay attention to an ad is if Hulu or a TV station's website is the only source where I can find that video (LOST, ect.), which 99% of the time it isn't... So I just stick to YouTube, Dailymotion, and Veoh.

2. I know what you are talking about with the amazon stuff, but even if you get 13 months for $50, It's still paying an expensive price for a service that could be free, and is free on other consoles (and PC), without ads.

3. I have to see it every day... It hurts me to look at it (/sarcasm). But seriously, It really does annoy me to have to see it on everything... but that was more of a minor annoyance. No I didn't stare at it for 10 minutes, but every day when I check the marketplace, there's "look, new sunglasses", ect. Then they are put on many other things, such as D/L drawings and other such things. They simply bother me because of the thought that they were just ripoffs so MS could try to capture the casual crowd... Also, I spend plenty of time outside. I'm a XC Runner.

4. I own all three consoles, and I acknowledge the weakness of all of them. Yes, also the gaming corps are there to get money, but MS taunted at E308 how people are willing to pay for gold because of how great and seamless is, and then they go and plop this on us, It's like a hot girl shaking her ass in front of you, and then she just farts in your face and walks away. It blows, and if Sony gets their online act a little more shaplier (Just forget about Nintendo's online) by putting ads on but keeping it free, I might end up not keeping my XBL gold subscription (although this is HIGHLY unlikely)... Same with the next generation... They continue to make online more and more necessary. Why doesn't KZ2 have splitscreen? To push online. Why couldn't HVS put LAN on the Wii? To push online. Why does Gears only have 2P splitscreen? To push for paid online.

Well said Domicinator.

Your bitching about something you never noticed. You dont have to watch  and doesnt pop up full screen like PSN. It's intergrated into the actual normal windows. LOL.

It's like complaining that Corranation Street is on BBC 1. You know what, filck the channel you have a choice to watch it. LOL

Wait what?
It's on BBC now?

What about Lofty is he still in it?
It's been a while since I watched it.
Auntie really is desperate to win those soap awards.

PSN is FREE. XBL is Paid for. Any comparisons of that type are moot.

What the hell Is BBC?IS it some secret TV channel that only Europeans get? And I don't know what Corranation street is, so I'm lost in your comparison. If it was free to use this site, but you had to paying a yearly fee to be on the forums, and then they started putting ads on all user's pages, even the users who paid, wouldn't you be a tad bit upset with that?

Here's an example (Note that I don't even use this site anymore):

Myspace hosts your webpage. Myspace is free, but much more limited. Myspace has their ads that you can't get rid of.

GoDaddy lets you host your page for a yearly fee, and you can put whatever you want on it, no ads (or you can put your own on there, it's your choice).

What if GoDaddy started forcing it's clients to put third-party ads on their pages, keeping the same fee, and not giving out a slice of the pie? Needless to say, some people would be a tad bit upset. Myspace is PSN, and GoDaddy is XBL.

You don't know who the Beeb are? Really?


XBL is free. You pay for extras.

L.C.E.C your comparisons are terrible.