Microsoft's Xbox is about to get a lot more social. Social networking sensations Twitter and Facebook, along with Internet radio star Last.fm, are connecting to the Xbox 360 videogame console online world.Twitter-Facebook Integration
The Xbox Twitter-Facebook integration, revealed at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles, will bring the two services into the Xbox Live online gaming service. In addition to the service's multiplayer functionality, you'll be able to send and receive status updates with the social networks straight from your Xbox console.
Some games will be ready to take advantage of the added options, too. An upcoming version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour, for example, will allow you to send screenshots and score updates directly into your Facebook stream via the Facebook Connect interface. You'll also have the option of inviting friends to join your games without so much as shifting your eyes off the screen. It's all expected to become available sometime this coming fall.
Last.FM Additions
Twitter and Facebook aren't the only social services being added into the Xbox world - music-streaming service Last.FM will be built into Microsoft's expanded Xbox offering as well. Xbox Live users with paid “gold level” subscriptions will be able to listen to tunes via their consoles, using the site's "personalized radio station" setup to select songs.
Microsoft also confirmed a new partnership with U.K.-based Sky TV that'll let British users view movies and live TV shows through their Xbox systems. Of course, you can do that here in the States now, too, if you know how.
Amidst all the excitement, one burning question has yet to be answered: With Microsoft's search service, Live, now officially known as “Bing”, will Xbox Live follow suit?
Console owners that subscribe to Xbox Live become part of an Internet videogame community with benefits such as being able to connect to Netflix online film rental service.
By year's end, Xbox Live members will be able to access their Twitter or Facebook accounts through consoles, posting content and connecting with friends the same way they might by using computers or smart phones.
The link is essentially a Facebook application for Xbox 360 users, and the California social networking firm is set of making similar links to online communities for Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii console users.
Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for 240 million dollars in 2007.
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