There are now two forms of Xbox Live, the free basic form ("Silver") and the premium form ("Gold"). All Xbox 360 purchases allow for one month of premium Xbox Live access free of charge.
With the basic level of Xbox Live service, players can share their Gamer Profile—comprised of user-generated information such as Achievements (rewards players have earned in games), Gamerzone (style of play), and a custom-created Gamertile (a visual icon to represent the gamer online)—with their friends in the community. And with the basic level of Xbox Live, players can send and receive text and voice messages to friends, as well as engage in Xbox Live voice chat anywhere, anytime, even if one person is playing a game while the other is watching a progressive-scan enabled DVD movie. Also available is the Xbox Live Marketplace, a one-stop shop to download demos and trailers, new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins, community-created content, and more to the detachable Xbox 360 hard drive.
Xbox Live members who subscribe to the premium service can experience the thrill of multiplayer online game play. Gamer Profiles will provide a foundation for intelligent matchmaking, so players of similar skill levels and interests can quickly and easily connect and the Xbox Live Camera peripheral will let gamers add their own faces into games and see their friends while they play. Other Xbox Live features for premium members include video messaging, online tournaments and ladders, and exclusive, original programming such as playing with celebrities online and joining sponsored tournaments to win prizes.
The Xbox 360 is also an entertainment system that lets people power new experiences. Every Xbox 360 system has built-in progressive-scan DVD movie, CD music and photo playback support. The integration of Xbox Live into the system lets players receive game invites from friends while they're watching movies or listening to music. And every MP3 player, digital camera, and Windows XP PC plugs right into the Xbox 360 USB 2.0 ports to stream music and photos through any home-entertainment system.
Additionally, with built in Windows Media Center Extender functionality in every system, Xbox 360 players can access recorded TV and digital movies, music, video and photos stored on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PCs.
Xbox 360 also opens the door to high-definition entertainment. In addition to optimizing all Xbox 360 games for high-definition, Xbox 360 will stream high-definition TV and movies stored on Windows Media Center Edition PCs starting this holiday. As high-definition entertainment becomes more pervasive, Microsoft will offer more ways to experience high-definition TV and movies in any room in the house. Whether dropping an optical disc in a drive, streaming to Xbox 360, or through broadband distribution, Xbox 360 will let players choose how to light up their HD content.
There we have it, a run down of the media centre aspects of the Xbox 360, and the "new" premium Xbox Live. PALGN will have more information on the XBox 360 as soon as it becomes available.
Loading...
