The image above, courtesy the New York Times, is from Xbox Live’s interactive adaptation of NBC’s now defunct gameshow “1 vs. 100.” An article published in the New York Times today outlines Microsoft’s focus on providing more content like that – and more- through it’s Xbox Live service. This content however, isn’t just interactive video game adaptations. According to the article, they’re working with various media outlets -including Disney- to bring more film and television content to your living rooms through your broadband/Xbox connection. Xbox already allows users to download Netflix content for a fee, interact with Facebook and browse Xbox’s online mall of movies and TV episodes. Basically, it’s looking like they’d like to take on cable at some point which I see as a natural progression of things. At some point in the future the attempt will be made, however successful, to integrate all of your entertainment media into one deliver system. Pardon my geekiness, but “Several services and one box to rule them all…”
Of note are some numbers from the article:
“Nearly 60 percent of American homes now have at least one console, according to the consulting firm Deloitte, up from 44 percent three years ago….Microsoft said this month that it had sold 39 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world. About half sign into Xbox Live each month…The company says it regularly counts more than a million concurrent users — and topped out at 2.2 million at one point during Christmas week last month. That compares favorably to some of the top channels on cable, like TBS and the Cartoon Network, which reach about one million viewers at any given time, according to the Nielsen Company.”
With numbers like that it’s easy to see where this is going and I’m excited to be alive to watch all of these things changing and evolving around me and my family. But that change and evolution is also why we need to be savvy parents and raise savvy children because with the increase in content delivery comes, well, an increase in content delivery…..both good and potentially objectionable for your younger children.
The full article can be read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/business/media/19xbox.html
