All about Xbox:
With new features, game console plans to work on tablets and smart phones
At E3, Microsoft bets the house on its core gaming system.
LOS ANGELES — Having already made its way onto 67 million televisions, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 platform is making the leap onto smart phones and tablets.
On the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft showcased its aggressive effort to make Xbox the center of its users’ digital lives. At an event at the Galen Center in downtown Los Angeles, the company highlighted a variety of new features and services designed to bring last year’s best-selling game console to a broader range of devices.
“We’re going to take Xbox beyond the console to your phones, PCs and tablets,” Don Mattrick, president of interactive entertainment for Xbox, said Monday.
Microsoft calls the centerpiece of its new services SmartGlass. The free application, which will work on devices from Microsoft, Apple and Google’s Android platform, moves content easily between screens. A user could start watching a movie on her tablet and pull it up on her Xbox 360 once she gets home — at which point, the tablet will automatically display information about the movie, its cast and crew.
In some ways, the service resembles AirPlay, the Apple technology that lets users stream audio and video from one device to another. It highlights the way technology companies are increasingly selling hardware on the basis of the Internet services they deliver through those devices.
“It’s not just moving content from device to device — it’s making devices smarter by having them talk to each
other,” said David Dennis, director of program management for Xbox.
Challenge to Wii U
Another SmartGlass demonstration showed game developers using tablets as second screens for popular games like “Halo.” Eventually, users will be able to use the tablets they already own as secondary controllers for their games.
The new feature threatens to steal some thunder from Nintendo, which has made a touchscreen tablet controller the chief selling point of its forthcoming Wii U console. Where Microsoft’s users will be able to use almost any tablet on the market to use its new features, Nintendo’s controller will work only with its own console.
Nintendo will demonstrate new features of the Wii U, which is scheduled to go on sale this year, at an event Tuesday.
Other Microsoft announcements Monday included Internet Explorer for Xbox, which will allow users to surf the Web using voice controls from its Kinect peripheral; additional sports packages, which will offer subscriptions to full seasons from the NBA and the NHL; and more entertainment offerings for Xbox Live, which will let paying cable subscribers access Nickelodeon, Univision and other channels
through their consoles.
Xbox Music to debut
This fall, the company said, it also will debut Xbox Music, a new service offering users a range of ways to download and stream music. That seemed to position it somewhere between Apple’s iTunes store and streaming services like Spotify.
“Think of it as a hybrid model that gives people options — whether it’s subscriptions or download to own,” Dennis said. “We’re going to have multiple options and multiple tiers to choose from.”
The service will launch in conjunction with Windows 8, the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system for PCs, tablets and smart phones.
New games, ex-49er
Despite the focus on new technologies, Microsoft also offered plenty of red meat for gamers Monday.
The company showed game-play footage from some of the most hotly anticipated titles for the coming year, including “Halo 4,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,” “Resident Evil 6” and “Tomb Raider.” “Halo” is a franchise exclusive to the Xbox, and Microsoft signed deals with publishers of the other games to ensure that downloadable expansion packs are available first on the Xbox.
The company also brought out former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana to demonstrate new voicecontrol features in the upcoming version of “Madden NFL,” the long-running football franchise from EA Sports. Montana called out several plays and quickly led his virtual team to a touchdown, to cheers from the audience.
"This is actually pretty sweet,” he said.