Microsoft's entertainment and digital media president Nancy Tellem has discussed sweeping plans to turn the Xbox into an all-singing, all-dancing entertainment hub, offering the same variety and quality of television programming you'd find on shonky old terrestrial and satellite boxes. The future of media is upon us, ladies and gentlemen! IT BURNS.
Among her other responsibilities, Tellem heads up Microsoft's new television programming studio in Los Angeles, a 150-head team devoted to "[bringing] entertainment into a new era" (via Deadline). That is, "an era when interactive entertainment becomes the greatest form of all entertainment". Can I jump for joy yet? Can I?
"We'll cover it all," she said. "We're figuring this out as we go. But we certainly intend to produce things with high production value, with the same breadth of storytelling that you see on traditional TV."
Naturally, Microsoft aims to diversify its offering by calling upon Ye Olde Interactive Functions. In a panel on Monday (via CNET), Tellem gave the example of a live event that can be interacted with using the Xbox SmartGlass app for tablets and phones. Microsoft reckons children will find this approach especially appealing - "interactivity is a natural extension of what they do," Tellem observed. Having said that, she doesn't "believe in just adding interactivity for interactivity's sake", and suggests that Microsoft won't force these features on viewers who wish to remain passive.
It's rumoured that the company will also release a literal Xbox TV at some point in the medium term, possibly alongside the next generation Xbox, aka Xbox 720. It'll be a low-cost, always-on affair, allegedly.
Tickled by any of this? Fingers crossed it won't come at the expense of new videogames.
11 comments so far...
Plamsa wing on 12 Feb '13 said:
Did someone knock you over the head when writing this?
OXM ETboy on 12 Feb '13 said:
I am simply enthused about the Bright New Future of Entertainment, comrade. I trust you are also enthused. You're not a back-slider, are you?
Gazisdaman on 12 Feb '13 said:
hey if this means I don't have to pay for a new box then I'm fine with it, one question though: would I still need to pay my service provider or would the xbox live subscription cover it?
msbhvn on 12 Feb '13 said:
I'll don the suit and be a Microsoft Evangelist if they manage to get ITV Player on XBL sometime soon. Otherwise they're going to get an answer phone message of Cee Lo Green's breakthrough hit on repeat.
senote on 12 Feb '13 said:
Microsoft have been trotting out bullshit hype like this for years, they make it sound like something revolutionary is here, and then when it arrives it's actually all a bit 'meh', it's another thing MS will run with for a year and then drop when it doesn't perform as expected.
Dobs on 12 Feb '13 said:
Color me skeptical. I'm afraid all the shows will be prove strikingly similar to upcoming or newly released games: The Walking Dead, The Hitman, GTA 5, etc. Sounds interesting at first, perhaps. But too much of a good thing would be a distinct possibility. Talk about a showcase for product placement...
But if they were able to produce entertaining programming of a quality exceeding that which airs today -- not really a high bar to overcome in America -- I'd be both impressed and grateful.
As I understand it, Redbox is coming to Xbox as well.
battfink83 on 12 Feb '13 said:
lets just focus on the new console being, well, a console yeah MS? my 'shonky' old sattelite box gives me hundreds of channels, and a 'free' on demand download service with hundreds of movies on.......just saying
d4nx2y on 12 Feb '13 said:
world domination...xbox. xbox...world domination...I can't see that happening. If u don't have ur own spacestation...ur nobody!
Windowlicker79 on 13 Feb '13 said:
I'll never watch TV on a games console, simply because they're too damn noisy! I don't want to hear fans whirring away when I'm trying to watch a show.
Shamanix on 13 Feb '13 said:
...... Nah think I'll pass on that, just here for the games lol
CunningSmile on 13 Feb '13 said:
So another MS idea that will get massive support in the US and forgotten everywhere else in the world then?