Hryb downplays Silverlight Live ad splurge

Microsoft's Larry Hryb has played down suggestions that the addition of Silverlight advertising to Xbox Live this year will transform the dashboard "into something that looks like Shibuya Crossing".

The addition of Silverlight support to the Xbox Live ad blocks will enable advertisers to reuse ad 'creatives' across various media, but after a report on Monday provoked concern among the Xbox faithful, Hryb posted on his blog telling people they "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," he wrote.

"Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the [New Xbox Experience] 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."

Judging by the original report, it's more likely that Silverlight will be used to add whizzes and bangs to existing advertising boxes. That said, we do have to applaud the Kotaku art department's wonderful vision of a possible future.