If watching television via your game console is how you like to roll, then you’ll be pleased to know that come this holiday season the Xbox Live platform will be enabled to stream programming from more than 40 different content providers, just like Netflix and Hulu.
A long rumored addition to the Xbox Live line-up, the set-top-box capabilities of the Xbox 360 were originally mentioned nearly four years ago with an IPTV update. The holiday 2007 release never happened, though, but that didn’t mean plans to stream television content through the Xbox Live dashboard was all hogwash. The entire streaming option simply hit a few delays but now it’s back on track to make a 2011 debut, or so…that’s what Microsoft is saying.
According to CNET, Microsoft made an announcement this morning pertaining to the new streaming content service, with Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, stating that…
"Today's announcement is a major step toward realizing our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy,"… “Combining the world’s leading TV and entertainment providers with the power of Kinect for Xbox 360* and the intelligence of Bing voice search will make TV and entertainment more personal, social and effortless.”
Working in conjunction with Kinectivity, gamers, movie buffs and entertainment enthusiasts alike can easily switch between functions of the console simply by using Kinect to tell the system what sort of activity you would like to partake in next. It’s as easy as taking a peek under a summer dress on a windy spring day.
Some of the services provided will include Xfinity, Verizon, and the Crackle network that includes popular shows, original content and movies such as Seinfeld, Samurai X, Step Brothers, Why it Crackles, The International and tons more. All of the services are Kinect enabled as well.
Eric Bruno, vice president of consumer and mass business product management for Verizon also had a few words to share on the new entertainment experience for the Xbox 360, saying…
“FiOS TV on the Xbox 360 is an excellent example of how we’re working with market leaders to erase old technology borders to expand the FiOS TV experience and taking advantage of unique new features including voice- and gesture-control of live TV entertainment via Kinect. This holiday, Verizon will bring a selection of popular live TV channels to Xbox 360 and will be a leader in delivering live, multichannel streaming HD TV, integrated with Kinect, via Xbox.”
Well, so long as they deliver this time I don’t think there will be any problems whatsoever. If you’re keen on wading through a lot of the PR talk to find the good parts about features, functions, costs and all the other bells and whistles, feel free to check out the entire press release regarding the matter over at the Official Microsoft Website.
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