Holy fuck, this Microsoft patent is seriously disturbing. Credit to @GamersNexus for bringing this to light. I went through the details, and the part that gets me isn't simply “Microsoft wants to put ads in games.” It's what the proposed system actually needs to do to make that possible. The patent describes a content-management system that can sit between your input and the application, analyze screen/video information, audio, application/game state and inputs, and determine when to interrupt you with advertising. It even discusses player/chat commentary and communication through things like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct. That isn't just an ad system. That's surveillance being wrapped in corporate language like “contextually aware promoted content.” And then there's the credit system: watch ads, earn credits, get a limited amount of time to use the software/game. I already bought the hardware. I bought the game. I may already be paying for the service. Now you want to watch what I'm doing, listen to what's happening, analyze my behavior, interrupt my experience with ads, and potentially use that information to make the advertising more valuable? At what point does the customer stop being the customer and become the product? I don't care if this is “just a patent” right now. A patent isn't proof that Microsoft has deployed this, and I'm not claiming that it has. I'm saying the fact that someone at Microsoft thought this was worth designing and patenting is fucking alarming. This is corporate spyware as an advertising concept, and I want absolutely nothing to do with it. Source: GamersNexus: youtube.com/watch?v=Smwo493I…