Kinect’s next trick – interactive ads

In news that could well agitate devoted Xbox followers as much as it excites commercial partners, Microsoft has unveiled a brand new interactive advertising platform for Kinect.

Called NUads (Natural User-Interface Ads), it will allow brands to get gamers engaging with their ads either on the Xbox 360 dashboard or in-game.

Users will also, if they choose, be able to command their Xbox to open up its Twitter interface so they can spread the word of their commercially funded frolics through social networks.

In addition they can request marketing emails by simply saying "Xbox more". Whether such a feature will be widely used is another question entirely.

Consumers will also be prompted to request things like maps to local retailers or reminders of events to be either emailed to them or sent to their mobile phones.

When you have highly interactive people and a passive medium, they are interacting with their phone or their laptop while watching TV,” Microsoft’s general manager of advertising business Mark Kroese told The New York Times.

"The new ads will create a natural way for the user to engage with the TV.”