Microsoft to add IPTV to Xbox 360
Microsoft used its keynote address at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show to announce the IPTV on Xbox 360 service.
Expected to be available by the 2007 holiday season, IPTV on Xbox 360 will allow owners to use their game system as a digital video recorder, with some integrated features of both. For instance, users can play games online while recording TV programs in the background, or watch a TV program while chatting with someone from their friends list. Microsoft also touted picture-in-picture channel browsing, movies and videos on demand, and program searches by actor or director as features of the system.
As for how gamers will get their hands on these capabilities, the IPTV on Xbox 360 service "will be offered by providers that are deploying TV services based on the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform."
As for the Xbox 360 as it currently exists, Microsoft's Robbie Bach dished out the latest sales figures on the system during the company's keynote. According to Bach, Microsoft sold a total of 10.4 million consoles through the most recent holiday season in 37 countries, with the majority of those being new to the Xbox platform. On top of that, Microsoft now touts an Xbox Live member base 5 million strong, with more than 100 million pieces of content downloaded for the Xbox 360.
As for games, Bach touted the Xbox 360's current library of 160 titles, saying that figure would reach 300 games by the end of 2007. Gears of War earned a specific shout-out, as Bach said it had reached sales of 2.7 million copies, going so far as to call it "a Halo-like franchise" and an "evergreen property" that drives hardware sales.
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