Microsoft has said social networking sensations Twitter and Facebook, along with Internet radio star Last.fm, are connecting to the Xbox 360 videogame console online world.
The announcements on Monday came on the eve of a major Electronic Entertainment Expo trade gathering in Los Angeles and as Microsoft jockeys to put Xbox 360 consoles at the heart of home entertainment.
Console owners that subscribe to Xbox Live become part of an Internet videogame community with benefits such as being able to connect to Netflix online film rental service.
PHOTO: AFP
By the end of this year, Xbox Live members will be able to access their Twitter or Facebook accounts through consoles, posting content and connecting with friends the same way they might by using computers or smart phones.
“This is a Facebook experience customized for your living room,” actress Felicia Day said as she demonstrated the new Xbox Live feature at a Microsoft press conference.
The link is essentially a Facebook application for Xbox 360 users, and the California social networking firm is set of making similar links to online communities for Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii console users.
Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for US$240 million in 2007.
“We expect to be working with all the consoles and platforms,” Facebook director of platform marketing Ethan Beard said.
“It really is about making games more social. Gaming is incredibly popular on Facebook itself,” he said.
Microsoft also announced that it has enhanced its Xbox Live video offerings in the US and arranged to let Xbox 360 owners in Britain and Ireland watch Sky TV through the videogame consoles.
An Xbox executive referred to streaming live television through a gaming console with no additional hardware as “a watershed moment for the gaming industry.”
Microsoft said music from online radio station Last.fm would be streamed to consoles free of charge.
Meanwhile, Microsoft said that it has been secretly developing technology that lets people play videogames using natural body movements instead of handheld controllers.
The US software giant revealed a prototype of a project codenamed “Natal,” a system that combines cameras and voice and face recognition software to recognize people and their actions.
“The gamer in me went out of my mind when I got to be interactive with this,” film director Steven Spielberg said. “I got a feeling I was in a historic moment. What Microsoft is doing isn’t re-inventing the wheel; this is about no wheel at all.”
Natal lets people play driving games by simply moving hands as if turning a car steering wheel. In-game characters in boxing, skateboard, soccer and other sports titles mimic the body movements of real-world players.
The system scans faces and voices to determine who is playing, a demonstration showed.
Xbox 360 consoles equipped with Natal will be able to respond to spoken commands for actions such as playing movies or connecting online with friends for video chats.
An expected completion date for Natal was not disclosed.
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