Microsoft is pre-announcing its intent to lean over the advergaming market, boasting of extra capabilities deliberately built into the upcoming Xbox 360, due out in the fall, according to AdAge. The console, hooked up to the internet, has a marketplace on which game publishers can sell new titles and add-ons to existing games. Special competitions can also be held, with tens of thousands of Xbox 360 spectators looking on, presumably at competitions garnished with Saturday afternoon sports TV-like sponsorships.

Microsoft said it hopes to sell a billion consoles. To date, Xbox has sold about 20 million units over three years. While 10 percent of those units are subscribed to the Xbox Live internet connection service, Microsoft said it expects fully half of the new units' buyers to subscribe.

Subscribers give a great deal of personal information during the subscription process. One Microsoft executive called the collection "state of the art."