Microsoft laid out a grand plan to turn your Xbox 360 into an even stronger hub for everthing from television shows and movies to music at E3 this year. That dashboard update launches tomorrow, bringing with it the ability to use your Kinect to search for content across every service you have connected to your system, as well as Microsoft's digital storefronts on Xbox Live and live television.Unfortunately, not all of Microsoft's content partners will be ready for the service's launch tomorrow. HBO Go won't be available until early 2012, nor will Comcast's Xfinity on-demand library.
I’m no gamer. I fall well outside the target audience for an Xbox 360 – or a PS3, or, despite what Nintendo might hope to convince me about “casual” gaming, a Wii – at least until today. And yet, Microsoft’s comprehensive roadmap of content partners (notable for not limiting itself to merely the US audience, too) has me reconsidering. The straightforward Kinect-based control holds no small amount of appeal, too, since anything I buy for home entertainment purposes has to satisfy that all-important spousal-approval factor. Microsoft isn’t alone in that, mind. Apple’s television intentions are well-rumored, with the latest batch describing a Siri-powered trio of HDTV sets that use the virtual personal assistant technology to streamline navigation through cable, free-to-air, on-demand and recorded content. Google TV, meanwhile, has had the advantage of being on the market, but that’s about the only positive thing you can say so far. Its complex first-gen interface could well have been all the inspiration Microsoft required to push ahead with Kinect-powered speech and gesture control. A Siri-powered TV isn’t here yet. Google TV v2.0 is yet to convince that it can deliver not only on usability with its pared-down but still technically-focused UI, but on content and access deals with providers that have proved to be wary of the Google-powered free-for-all. An Xbox 360 costs $299.99 with a Kinect thrown in the box, and you can buy one today.
Here are the services that will be available tomorrow, along with which market they will be active:
- EPIX. United States
- ESPN on Xbox LIVE (ESPN). United States
- Hulu. Japan
- Hulu Plus. United States
- LOVEFiLM. United Kingdom
- Netflix. Canada, United States
- Premium Play by (MediaSet). Italy
- Sky Go (SkyDE). Austria, Germany
- Telefónica España - Movistar Imagenio. Spain
- TODAY (MSNBC). United States
The search functionality that allows you to look for content across a variety of outlets and apps is fascinating, as is the ability to control the service by waving your arms if you own a Microsoft Kinect, but the real power of these deals is the emphasis they place on Microsoft's hardware. By bundling all our digital subscriptions and content through the Xbox 360, Microsoft wants to make sure your gaming console is at the heart of your entertainment center. Xbox Live subscribers and subscribers of these digital services won't have access to much in the way of new content, but it will all be centralized in one location.
This is different than the Apple TV's strategy of offering content such as television shows and movies as discrete items and selling or renting them directly to consumers as well as streaming your existing content. Microsoft wants to be the box you turn on when you want to watch anything, whether it's live or streaming, no matter what content delivery service you're going to be enjoying.
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