Multiple reports have Microsoft unveiling a premium subscription television service at this years E3 and that seems to support the claims Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s vice president for corporate communications expressed on his company’s blog earlier this week. Shaw stated that 40 percent of all Xbox activity didn’t involve gaming at all and that the average gamer watches 30 hours of video on their Xbox each month. While gaming might be the main activity for the majority of 360 owners right now, Shaw expects that to soon change. His claim may warrant merit if adding more content to the already plethora available on Xbox Live (Netflix, Hulu Plus, ESPN, Last.FM, etc) in the form of a television service is true.
The premium TV service has been reported on in the past and isn’t actually a secret but it seems that Microsoft may actually pull the cloth from over it and unveil it at this years Electronic Entertainment Expo. With Microsoft focusing to market it’s Xbox platform as an entertainment brand much like Sony markets it’s Playstation 3; Project Orapa is a bit more ambitious than anything Microsoft’s competitors are showing. Project Orapa is the codename used by Microsoft that would combine Xbox Live and Microsoft’s Mediaroom IPTV. Theoretically it could allow Microsoft to offer TV to Xbox Live customers and possibly even Windows Phone owners through use of an application.
Some are reporting the service as Xbox Live Diamond, some call it “Fusion” but regardless of what it’s called one thing remains consistent; Microsoft plans to market the Xbox as an entertainment platform and this service is definitely one of the cornerstones. Microsoft has expressed interest about becoming a “virtual cable operator” in which they could become the gateway to deliver content over the Internet for a monthly fee. The idea being that cable companies could use the Xbox to authenticate existing cable subscribers to watch shows and ultimately taking the place of the consumers set-top box.
A quick Google search shows that Orapa, is in fact a town located in the Central District of Botswana which is coincidentally one of the largest diamond mines in the world. Xbox Live Diamond, flag it as rumor but something tells me where there’s smoke…
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I hoping that PS3 get’s a service as well so that pricing can be competitive.
I doubt MS could beat the cable companies. If they initially charged $180 for a 120gb HDD then imagine what the initial price of this service would be.
Microsoft’s goal isn’t to beat the cable companies, they want to operate as an extension. Meaning depending on what providers are cooperating with Microsoft you could then watch whatever programming they’re offering without a set-top box (with use of a Xbox 360).
But why switch to this service if it will cost you more than cable or satellite and probably with less channels?
Why do you keep assuming? How difficult is it to just simply wait for the actual information and details to be released at least. HBO Go pretty much finished it off along with having HD off-air antenna, Hulu+ & Netflix. I don’t think alot of people care about how many channels they can get vs what they actually watch. I don’t watch every single channel that Directv offers. My family do not watch tv all day and with all of those services that cost less than Directv, I am saving money and everyone is still happy with what is available. If this service cost in the range I am willing to pay then I might just be for it.
Competition is always good but i would count on Sony jumping in just yet. Microsoft has been working on this for years while Sony hasn’t expressed interest in this for the PS3 at all. At least not in the same magnitude that Microsoft has.
Competition is always good but i would count on Sony jumping in just yet. Microsoft has been working on this for years while Sony hasn’t expressed interest in this for the PS3 at all. At least not in the same magnitude that Microsoft has.
I hoping that PS3 get’s a service as well so that pricing can be competitive.
That’s cool, but what about games? I bought an Xbox for exclusives, I buy all multi plats on my PS3. I haven’t played my Xbox since September of last year when Reach came out and I won’t be turning it on until September of this year when Gears 3 comes out. I’m waiting for exclusives to play on my Xbox but I’ll be going A WHOLE YEAR without even turning my Xbox on. It’s in the box in my man cave closet right now. I don’t care about Skype and a cable tv service MS, give me games!
Microsoft sees their platform as an entertainment hub, not just one where games are played. While you may have purchased your Xbox solely for video games they want you to use it for much more. We are in a time where devices are multifaceted, where cell phones aren’t used just to make phone calls, MP3 players aren’t used to listen to music and where video game consoles aren’t used to only play games. Devices may have a primary function or purpose but the appeal may come from the secondary features. Besides im sure there are others who choose to do the polar opposite of what you currently are, that is buying all their multi-plats on the 360 and thus having long gaps of usage with their PS3. I’m certain microsoft can integrate this into Live and still have games that are exclusive to their platform.
“Microsoft sees their platform as an entertainment hub, not just one where games are played. While you may have purchased your Xbox solely for video games they want you to use it for much more. We are in a time where devices are multifaceted, where cell phones aren’t used just to make phone calls, MP3 players aren’t used to listen to music and where video game consoles aren’t used to only play games. Devices may have a primary function or purpose but the appeal may come from the secondary features.” Understood, but I bought MY Xbox for exclusives. If it can be play on PS3 then that’s the system I buy it for. If it can be done on the PS3 for free then that is the system I do it on, like access to Netflix, online gaming, etc. Since I rarely play my Xbox I sure as hell won’t pay for XBL so I only have access to the single player portion of Xbox games and that’s fine. I rented Halo Reach last September and beat it in a few days and that was the last time my Xbox was used. I agree with you that consoles are multifaceted now but I’m not paying for XBL to access these multifaceted features that are free everywhere else.(Facebook, Twitter, online play, access to Netflix and Hulu+, etc.) “Besides im sure there are others who choose to do the polar opposite of what you currently are, that is buying all their multi-plats on the 360 and thus having long gaps of usage with their PS3.” Exactly. But no one, especially me, has a problem with that so why is it such a problem for some people when I state that I buy all multi plats on PS3 leaving my Xbox barely played? Look at how butt hurt this other idiot is by my console preference. He goes so far as to call me a liar because what I wrote hurt his/her soul deeply. I’ll never understand fanboy idiots like that. “I’m certain microsoft can integrate this into Live and still have games that are exclusive to their platform.” Of course. Gears 3 is coming. It would make my day if Killer Instinct 3 is finally announced but that’s highly unlikely. I hate motion control gaming so Kinect does not interest me. And for all you Xbots out there like the idiot above, no I don’t have a Move controller or a Wii.
Microsoft sees their platform as an entertainment hub, not just one where games are played. While you may have purchased your Xbox solely for video games they want you to use it for much more. We are in a time where devices are multifaceted, where cell phones aren’t used just to make phone calls, MP3 players aren’t used to listen to music and where video game consoles aren’t used to only play games. Devices may have a primary function or purpose but the appeal may come from the secondary features. Besides im sure there are others who choose to do the polar opposite of what you currently are, that is buying all their multi-plats on the 360 and thus having long gaps of usage with their PS3. I’m certain microsoft can integrate this into Live and still have games that are exclusive to their platform.
So you say: “ I haven’t played my Xbox since September of last year when Reach came out and I won’t be turning it on until September of this year when Gears 3 comes out. ” - I find this comment rather perplexing. Reach was released on the 14th of September. So lets assume that you purchased the game day 1 on the 14th of September since you so anxiously await only the exclusives on the 360 since that is the reason as to why you purchased the 360 as you stated. There are 30 days in September. So are you telling us that you stopped playing Reach as of September 30th, having only played Halo Reach (an exclusive that you so eagerly were anticipating) for 17 days and then haven’t turned on your 360 to play that exclusive game since September 30th? I am going to have to throw the BS flag on that comment especially if you think we are going to believe that for those 17 days of playing the game, that was all you did and had no outside life. Seems odd that you would only buy exclusive games on the 360 and yet only play them for such extremely short periods of time. Do you play your PS3 exclusives for the same insignificant time frame? Paying $60 + Tax on an exclusive games only to play them for less than 3 weeks seems like a misplaced use of expendable funds. That breaks down to about just over paying $2 (including tax) a day for 17 days. That means you only played about $38.42 worth of the game that you originally payed $60 + Tax for. God forbid you buy Limited editions. For someone who only plays exclusive games for under 2 weeks shouldn’t be too excited for games like Gears 3. You will just play it for 2 1/2 weeks and then complain that there are no other exclusives available and then start complaining on how long you have to wait and that your 360 hasn’t been turned on since (release date of latest 360 exclusive + 17 days). I think you are full of shit and are just jumping on the Sony bandwagon making comments like: ”I haven’t played my Xbox since September of last year when Reach came out and I won’t be turning it on until September of this year when Gears 3 comes out. ” You know you can play exclusives for longer periods of time.
Oh yes. They’ll flog this latest abandon-ware to microcomputer makers (who else buys Microsoft products?) in their crapulously successful chain of retail stores, right next to the Zune and the Kin. I can predict a mighty collective yawn; tepid sales to whatever non-buyers can be strong-armed into even carrying the items on their catalog. Microsoft is a victim of its own BS. Hey! Monkey Boy! You rode into town by illegally bundling your software to PC manufacturers because you were relieving them of having to create and maintain an OS, but what you were actually doing is breaking up the IBM computing monopoly, and accountants rejoiced. You and the horse you rode in on were an afterthought; the manufacturers’ problem, not the end-buyer. That’s why you’re still supporting versions of the OS years after you’d EOL’d them. Don’t think you can save your simian posterior by switching to retail sales like Apple. First you have to make something, next you have to get it right the first time (not the third fourth or fifth,) because consumers don’t have deep pockets and deeply care about actually using what they’re paying for.
You made me smirk with the brief excursion down memory lane and anyone with an unbiased outlook can agree that Microsoft has victimized quite a few companies. You listed IBM and we can not forget about how they killed Sun with the Java/Browser war fiasco. They also buried Novell’s Netware and almost took them completely out of the market… But that aside this is a completely different issue and topic in which the past we reminisced on holds no real relevance. You list the Zune and Kin as crapulously successful but what about the featured product Xbox 360? or Windows Phone 7? One is extremely successful and the other is seeing modest success in a ever changing market. While the Zune may not have been wildly successful i own one and consider it the best MP3 player i’ve ever owned to date including over an ipod touch. I say let’s see how far Microsoft plans to take this service and what their plans are to integrate existing technologies with it. Innovation has been Microsoft’s achilles heel if anything, they need to break away from the status quo…
Wonderful! Something else I won’t buy.
I have a feeling this won’t be released in Canada. XBL in Canada didn’t go up with the XBL membership fees because some features that are in the USA are not available in Canada. Either way, this is a service I have no interest in as I don’t use facebook or Twitter.
Hmm, I am confused. I could swear this article is about rumor dealing with MICROSOFT and their XBOX 360. How the hell did SONY and their PS3 get mentioned? And people say this site is not overrun by fanboy “supporters” and “fans”. hahahahaha!
Hmm, I am confused. I could swear this article is about rumor dealing with MICROSOFT and their XBOX 360. How the hell did SONY and their PS3 get mentioned? And people say this site is not overrun by fanboy “supporters” and “fans”. hahahahaha!
man this community makes me laugh at times, an article about IPTV turns into Sony exclusives discussion, the next Gears 3 article will have Uncharted 3 mentioned no doubt, the next Halo article will have Killzone mentioned,the next Killzone article will have BF3 mentioned and the next Nintendo Cafe project will have PS3 mentioned. The insecurity is ridiculous, insecurity over pieces of plastic and they wonder why people have a go at them? its not because they are butt hurt, its because they are probably sick of insecure kids or men who should know better spouting unrequired horse shit.
yep and people wonder why the PS3 fanboys get judged more…..everything is against them back against the wall like crazy banshees
we only have one more day until they confirm these and other rumors.lets see what the big 3 do before we start talking crap about what they might talk about or not. also live arcade games count as exclusive also guys.
Hmmm im not sure about other places but they have it in Canada with one of the companies where you can send stuff from your Receiver to your xbox to watch tv shows etc… kind of like an extension to the main hub… you can send stuff from your PVR etc. It is with Telus its part of their Optik internet package er something I think http://telus.com/content/tv/optik/services-hardware/hardware.jsp There it is.. it attaches to a PVR so you can stream the shows through the optik wires…. Im sure there service was a bit different but that shows you some of the things that are going on.
Hope they have some games to show this year.
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