Remember when Bill Gates actually came to E3 to talk about "Xbox Live Anywhere" back in 2006? Well, the "Live Anywhere" moniker doesn't seem to be in place, but Microsoft finally seems to be moving forward with its plan to extend the Xbox Live network to mobile phones. At the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, the company announced that the new Windows Phone Series 7 will incorporate Xbox Live functionality.
These new smartphones will "deliver the first and only official Xbox Live experience on a phone, including Xbox Live games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer's avatar, Achievements and gamer profile." The new Windows OS on these phones will supposedly be much more user-friendly and easier to navigate with touch input, similar to the OS for iPhone.
Microsoft already seems to have tremendous support from the mobile industry. Operators on board include AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone; additionally, from a hardware perspective, manufacturers like Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm have all signed up.
Although the exact Xbox Live mobile gaming details aren't so clear yet, the possibilities for multiplayer interaction and boosting gamerscores, or unlocking bonuses for the console version of a game could be exciting.
As for the Sony camp, at the same mobile event in Barcelona, Sony CEO Howard Stringer has confirmed that the PlayStation Network will be extended to Sony Ericsson phones [thanks Lost Gamer via Edge]. Sony views PSN as its "not so secret weapon" and is looking to leverage the network across its electronics business, not just games.
"Leveraging PSN we are building a new network service that will connect many more network enabled products including Sony Bravias, Viaos and Blu-ray players," said Stringer. "To satisfy the demand for more open systems and to broaden the array of network enabled devices connected to our network services we are committed to extending that service to Sony Ericsson mobile phones. And as part of these initiatives we are also exploring consistent user interfaces across Sony and Sony Ericsson products to ensure a seamless and integrated experience for the consumer. Sony's unique position as a company with global assets and expertise in entertainment content, as well as hardware and software, will continue to benefit these initiatives."
SCEA boss Jack Tretton recently announced that Sony has over 40 million PSN accounts.
2 Comments
February 16, 2010
I'd definitely like PSN brung to Vaio and Bravia. They really need to display PS3 games in Media Go. Currently they only show ps one and psp games.
lol at live on Sony Ericsson. What is wrong with the divisions of sony? Do they not communicate?
April 9, 2010
Does this mean that the Sony Ericsson phones running Winmo 7 will have xbox live and PSN support? .... because that what that sounds like to me.