![Xbox Live Avatars][2]Alright, so maybe they weren't lonely, but we'll bet that, after this [Xbox 360][3] Dashboard update, players friends list will _magically_ grow. [Microsoft's][4] Major Nelson, or Larry Hryb, made the announcement earlier this week that the next major Xbox update will hit Dec. 6 [on his blog][5]. Come the week after next, players will be able to share to Facebook straight from the Dashboard.
But the updates go a bit deeper with the addition of Beacons, which allow players to broadcast status updates to their friends that share what games they would like to play with anyone interested. These open call-outs for in-game teammates can be pushed to players' Facebook Walls too. Other changes include cloud storage for games, meaning more space on players' hard drives and access to games from any Xbox 360.
In a way, you could say that makes games more "social" as well, lowering the barrier to playing games with friends in person (IRL, if you will) ever so slightly. But we can't help but notice [Microsoft's growing focus on social][6], and wonder if it's a response at all to the arrival [potential game changers like these][7] to Facebook. It may only a matter of time before that competition heats up.
[Via [Inside Social Games][8]]
**Are you excited at all by these changes to Xbox gaming? Do you think Xbox-like games could ever be popular/successful on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. [Add Comment. ][9]**
[Permalink][10] | [Email this][11] | [Linking Blogs][12] | [Comments][13]
[![][14]][15] [![][16]][17]
![][18]
[1]: http://blog.games.com/category/news/
[2]: http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.games.com/media/2011/11/2739927-7699524-thumbnail.jpg
[3]: http://blog.games.com/tag/xbox+360
[4]: http://blog.games.com/tag/microsoft
[5]: http://majornelson.com/2011/11/22/xbox-360-dashboard-update-coming-december-6th/
[6]: http://blog.games.com/2011/11/09/xbox-com-social-update/
[7]: http://blog.games.com/2011/10/04/facebook-games-unreal-engine-3/
[8]: http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2011/11/25/social-gaming-news-roundup-disney-playdom-lucky-space-facebook-social-game-hack/
[9]: http://blog.games.com/2011/11/25/xbox-360-dashboard-update-facebook-beacons/#disqus_thread
[10]: http://blog.games.com/2011/11/25/xbox-360-dashboard-update-facebook-beacons/ (Permanent link to this entry)
[11]: http://blog.games.com/forward/20114697/ (Send this entry to a friend via email)
[12]: http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&fc=1&url=http://blog.games.com/2011/11/25/xbox-360-dashboard-update-facebook-beacons/ (Linking Blogs)
[13]: http://blog.games.com/2011/11/25/xbox-360-dashboard-update-facebook-beacons/#comments (View reader comments on this entry)
[14]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LarrysCorner?d=qj6IDK7rITs
[15]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LarrysCorner?a=xyvCjwdUvv4:ES9uoPjwIV4:qj6IDK7rITs
[16]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LarrysCorner?d=yIl2AUoC8zA
[17]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LarrysCorner?a=xyvCjwdUvv4:ES9uoPjwIV4:yIl2AUoC8zA
[18]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LarrysCorner/~4/xyvCjwdUvv4
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LarrysCorner/~3/xyvCjwdUvv4/
No comments:
Post a Comment