Playing Madden on Xbox 360? Map the next game on your tablet.
Microsoft
Time to grow a third hand. Microsoft today announced “SmartGlass,” a new technology for Xbox 360 that turns your phone or tablet into another controller, enabling all kinds of new scenarios for video games and entertainment in general.
SmartGlass, unveiled today at E3, isn’t just for Windows, as was promised for the iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and Windows phones and tablets. A demo showed how a tablet adds to the gaming experience Madden on Xbox, because you can use the touchscreen to play diagrams with your fingers. Another demo involving Halo showed the use of a tablet to customize the player’s weapon and manage the players in a multiplayer game.
We immediately envisioned manipulating a controller and a phone or tablet at the same time, but the scenarios shown by Microsoft have players switching between the different inputs. Plus, with Microsoft’s Kinect, you can control many more aspects of games with just your voice. Football legend Joe Montana took the stage to demonstrate his calling plays and audibles for an upcoming version of Madden using only his voice instead of a physical controller.
Besides games, if you’re watching a movie on your tablet and want to resume on a TV, SmartGlass would allow that too. It would also push sports stats and updates to you while you’re watching a game, or provide cast information about the movie or show you’re watching.
Microsoft is pushing as many entertainment options as possible to the Xbox 360, with new content deals, the arrival of Internet Explorer on the Xbox and increasing use of the Kinect.
Images of a new one South Park game was shown during Microsoft’s E3 keynote
Ars Technica
A bunch of new games were previewed, including one from the creators of South Park. No one summed up Microsoft’s strategy better than South Park Co-creator Trey Parker, who said, “How many times do you have an episode of South Park and thought, “I’d like to see this on my television while I’m connected to my mobile device, which is controlled by my tablet, which is connected to my oven, while I’m in the fridge?” Well, we don’t. We’re just doing this game.”
SmartGlass is coming later this year, as is Internet Explorer for Xbox. While Bing already lets you search the web on the gaming console, this marks the first time Microsoft’s default web browser appears on the Xbox. IE for Xbox will take advantage of Kinect and SmartGlass, allowing users to surf the web on their big screen TVs using both their voice and mobile devices.
Game controllers and TV remotes aren’t great for the Internet, and keyboards aren’t for the living room, said Xbox Live VP Marc Whitten. That’s why Microsoft wants both voice and touchscreen controls for Internet Explorer on Xbox.
As expected, a new Xbox console arrived not announced today. As Microsoft has been saying all along, the Xbox 360 still has plenty of life left in it. But the technologies being introduced for the 360 today, including a new Xbox Music service with 30 million songs, will see both the 360 and its eventual successor become the central hub of millions of living rooms.
List image by Microsoft