M$ sink to new low, literally breaking the law now

This weekend, word started leaking of a new promotion offering Machinima video partners an additional $3 CPM (i.e., $3 per thousand video views) for posting videos featuring Xbox One content.

To qualify for the campaign (and the extra payments), Machinima partners had to post a video including at least 30 seconds of Xbox One game footage that mentioned the Xbox One by name and included the tag "XB1M13."

According to a leaked copy of the full legal agreement behind the promotion, video creators "may not say anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One, or any of its Games" and must keep the details of the promotional agreement confidential in order to qualify for payment. In other words, to get the money, video makers have to speak positively (or at least neutrally) about the Xbox One, and they can't say they're being paid to do so.

The arrangement as described might go against the FTC's guidelines for the use of endorsements in advertising, which demand full disclosure when there is "a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement."

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/01/stealth-marketing-microsoft-paying-youtubers-for-xbox-one-mentions/

i seriously cant stand these scum bags. this isnt promotion or advertisement anymore, they are literally bribing.

major nelson taking proactive steps in spreading love and peace, 'The hate that infects gaming in the online space needs to go away' hahaha

gaming journalism folks, a very unbiased and non corruptible profession haha wat a joke

gee i wonder why?

yeah i agree ghost warrior it creates a conflict of interest.

good point mate.

this is nothing new.

sad MS really sad

MS is scam

Why is it surprising that companies want to pay to have their product promoted? Isn't that just business?

All these shenanigans and they are still getting destroyed by PS4 worldwide...tsk tsk.

SDC (Sony Domination Continuation)

MDC (Microsoft Desperation Continuation)

Machinima svcks MS c0ck, we know

This is no news. Hell, Machinima exists because of Halo if I'm not mistaken, and gave Halo 4 GOTY in its respective year. They have some good videos but I never saw them as a credible source of information.

no, this is illegal. read the article and ftc guidelines. this is bribery 100%

@Crypt_mx: this is what we call lying to your costumers misleading advertisement

is short MS scam

Absolutely scandalous.

wait a second.

legally, if they include the tag on the video XB1M13, could one argue that they've disclosed it being a promotional video?

eg: because of ghostwarrior kindly informing us, we're now fully aware of which videos are promotional 'advertorials'.

but i also think this information could slip by a lot of plebs, your average human is pretty thick. so there's still potential to mislead a lot of people.

i dont even go to machinma or youtube gaming channels but alot of kids do and this is pure deception. companies shouldnt be allowed to get away with bribery as blatant as this.

You are very mistaken.

im hoping they dont get away with it on a technicality like that and i dont think they will because they are intentionally deceiving people. maybe if every promotion vid name started with 'xb1m13' it could be legal. i hope not

This is why your system sucks.

ok

lol.

boo hoo.

they broke the law, just like every other company that does it as long as they can get away with it.

nobody has clean hands these days.

The link says that it "might" be breaking said FTC law. Your title is a little melodramatic.

Now, the fact that they are specifically linking themselves to MS via the publicly visible tag, sort of undermines the point.

Why does this surprise you guys? This is M$ we're talking about. Sony and Nintendo wouldn't have the balls to be so blatantly obvious with bribery.

Good thing their shadiness isn't helping them outside of US. Sony is literally smoking them on every front and will continue to do so. Instead of investing in better first party or better hardware they chose this route lol, and lems still support them.

LOL @ Major Nelson having the balls to come out and tell us that the hating in the industry needs to end then turn around and do shit like this. This and DRM are the reason why PS4 is destroying Xbone everywhere as we speak. This is the reason why Xbone is a laughing stock outside of the US, and this is the reason why they will lose this gen.

you would have to be a little more transparent than a damn tag. here is a specific example related to gaming by ftc

http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press...ure-guidelines

Example 7: A college student who has earned a reputation as a video game expert maintains a personal weblog or “blog” where he posts entries about his gaming experiences. Readers of his blog frequently seek his opinions about video game hardware and software. As it has done in the past, the manufacturer of a newly released video game system sends the student a free copy of the system and asks him to write about it on his blog. He tests the new gaming system and writes a favorable review. Because his review is disseminated via a form of consumer-generated media in which his relationship to the advertiser is not inherently obvious, readers are unlikely to know that he has received the video game system free of charge in exchange for his review of the product, and given the value of the video game system, this fact likely would materially affect the credibility they attach to his endorsement. Accordingly, the blogger should clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the gaming system free of charge. The manufacturer should advise him at the time it provides the gaming system that this connection should be disclosed, and it should have procedures in place to try to monitor his postings for compliance.

Wow this is pretty low, sony had a bad start last year and accepted the wounds this is pretty scumbagish

who gives a shit? No one but a few cows around here. Thats it.

@ghostwarrior786:

How is MS decieving people?? What exactly is MS doing that is deceptive??

I am Curious because it seems a bunch of Sony fanboys are over reacting to what is essentially advertising.

Like people are surprised... It's how MilkingSoft does business, trying to sell a half assed console like the Xflop.

Now you know why they've been kissing Sony's ass. Yusuf Mehdi, Larry Hyrb, Marc Whitten are the three stooges of "entertainment".

A tag is pretty transparent, especially given the fact that it's publicly disclosed that one must show said tag. This seems to be an argument of semantics, in which Microsoft seem to be quite free and clear. This could come down the other way, if legal action was taken, but i'd call that fairly clear. All-in-all, this seems pretty black and white.

Lol, seriously. There are so many companies doing stuff like this its outrageous. Its marketing, pain and simple in the real world of big business. People are searching for the next great conspiracy and take YouTube far to serious.

If it's illegal then why is no one stopping them?

hahahha and here they come, a stampede of lems. i have to admit lems make sw entertaining

because they have to be reported first. the promotion is new and the full details have only been leaked a few hours ago.

so advertising makes them sink to a new low? this forum's posters are so dumb its not funny

i mean you guys ever heard of this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Manning_%28fictitious_writer%29

personally have nothing against sony or MS using "cheap" advertisement tactics because it falls on the idiots who believe them. if you are sold by advertising you are dumb, period. Also sony has been sued for several illegal business practices, its not like they don't do this stuff too

Sony wouldn't have the balls. This is the same company that put malware on their own devices and told you to get a second job to afford a PS3. I don't agree with the practice, but I'm far from naive enough to believe only MS is doing this. Big corporations engage in so much shady shit if you tried to look it all up you'd end up not buying anything from anyone. A non-issue.

Lol, seriously. There are so many companies doing stuff like this its outrageous. Its marketing, pain and simple in the real world of big business. People are searching for the next great conspiracy and take YouTube far to serious.

dumbass, i have had a playstation every gen it has existed and will have another as soon as the library builds up this gen.

you are crying over some stupid bullshyt that makes no difference to anyone.

did the rootkit scandal hurt sony in the longrun?

and if they got away with that anyone can get away with anything.

I bet these baboons are also in agreement with NFL players to say good things about the Xflop One all you ever hear them say on Twitter is all about the Xbox One.

Dez Bryant bought fans PS4s in Dallas, than you hear him talking about the Xbox One on Twitter near the end of the season,.

Good marketing strategy, but I bet majority of them who recieved an Xflop probably through them in the garbage.

MS know they are losing the discussion online. They are trying to bribe their way back in the game. Pretty ugly stuff, hope the YT:ers falling for this get outed and put to shame.

@Riverwolf007: what does owning a ps console have to do with being a lem? i own x360 and currently 0 sony consoles, does this mean im actually a m$ fan? hahahaha and part of the reason i didnt buy ps3 until the very end (have sold few months ago) is because of their arrogance last gen.

I have never seen anyone get paid for endorsing anything, and got to say negative stuff and still get paid. You already hated this company, TC, so even a fart is magnified to be the anti Christ by people like you.

seriously the worst offender is geoff keighley. he never stfu about titanfall no matter what the topic is, watch the latest bonus round episode. its literally, titanfall!! why are u not buying x1? titanfall!!! does it matter sony is winning? skype!!!

Read my post again. I said, "Sony and Nintendo wouldn't have the balls to be so blatantly obvious with bribery."

This does not mean Sony doesn't get involved in shady practices it means that they aren't brave enough to have such practices so obvious to the public. Microsoft is the only company out of the big three that can pull off something this blatantly obvious. They tried it with DRM and not even a year has passed and they are up to more obvious shadiness. I'm not calling Sony saints because they are not but they are certainly not as obnoxious as M$ is.

I'd imagine that MS lawyers have probably worded the contract to avoid actually breaking the law

@ghostwarrior786: damn and yet you are here complaining about ms and sony actually since you sold off your ps3 .. lame dude lame get a new hobby, its not like it really matters to you or will even remotely do anything to you.. lay off the internet and just enjoy the meaning of gaming ffs lol.. cows these days are really something special.. let it go, 8/10 threads on page one is about ms or x1 .. you guys should be embarrased.. anyhow have a good one :)

Also: why is it bothering you this much if i may ask ? (Asking in general *this, sales and so on) its not harming you anyway or are you a shareholder ? Its just pure hatred towards a company, and i might think that you are just following "the hate wagon" without evening knowing a damn thing (like most cows/sony fanboys) just pure "hype" hate again towards a company.

Dat damage control.

When you can't cover up for M$ blame it on the "cows". Typical lem comeback.

you've gotta take the bruises with your lumps MS.

for shame.

Can't say I care.

Yes, I posted. Buy a dildo and pleasure yourself.

Its a dumb company that made a dumb and useless console for dumb people that buy american products because they're american OR a stupid/blind fanboy.

This is rather surprising, considering how powerful MS's legal team is. I'm more inclined to believe that I have missed something or misunderstood some part. US law is not exactly my forte. Anyway, § 255.5 does provide several examples of where a material connection must be disclosed. Of course, the key is on whether there is a "material effect on credibility", not any given circumstance in particular.

Example 7: A college student who has earned a reputation as a video game expert maintains a personal weblog or “blog” where he posts entries about his gaming experiences. Readers of his blog frequently seek his opinions about video game hardware and software. As it has done in the past, the manufacturer of a newly released video game system sends the student a free copy of the system and asks him to write about it on his blog. He tests the new gaming system and writes a favorable review. Because his review is disseminated via a form of consumer-generated media in which his relationship to the advertiser is not inherently obvious, readers are unlikely to know that he has received the video game system free of charge in exchange for his review of the product, and given the value of the video game system, this fact likely would materially affect the credibility they attach to his endorsement. Accordingly, the blogger should clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the gaming system free of charge. The manufacturer should advise him at the time it provides the gaming system that this connection should be disclosed, and it should have procedures in place to try to monitor his postings for compliance.

However, MS hasn't technically broken any law yet, since the ad campaign has not yet started (I think), and no video has been posted for the campaign.

It's incredibly unlikely that Microsoft's legal team would mess up over a small matter like this, so I think there can only be two possibilities:

1. The whole thing is fake. MS did not in fact propose such a deal.
2. We are all ignorant and wrong, and MS's legal team actually got it in the bag.

Xbox One is a great machine and the guys at machinima do a great job of objectively looking at video games.

hahahhahahaha this is hilarious, lems in complete meltdown. as you can see from above, the 3 lems have all taken different routes of damage controls. our dear friend strutten attacks with ad hominem, freedomfreak is still in denial and cainetao well this kid is just confused.

News the other day "online hate needs to go away", news today "we will pay you too make this happen"

so whats wrong with giving fans or whomever a chance at the marketing budget?

how are thy bribing? its simple. make a x1 ad and every view gets you towards to bigger check. dont like it dont do it