Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Xbox Live update adds 40 entertainment apps, Kinect voice and motion controls, cloud storage, and more

Andrew Couts
By
xbox-live-update
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Tomorrow, December 6, your Xbox will transform from a gaming console into a full-blown entertainment center.

Microsoft has announced the details of its upcoming overhaul of Xbox Live, which will give users access to dozens of new entertainment services through their dashboard. The update includes live TV, as well as the ability to control their new “all-in-one” entertainment hub simply by speaking via Kinect’s motion- and voice-control functionality, among other new features. The Xbox Live update will begin rolling out on Tuesday.

Recommended Videos

Resembling the tile design of Windows Phone 7.5 Metro, as well as the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, the dashboard update is the most major overhaul of Xbox Live in the past five years. Microsoft has billed the update as the “future of TV,” and from the list of new features, they may just be right.

What’s new

• Metro design: New tile design that makes it easier to navigate through the massively increase number of media options.

• Improved Kinect voice control: Kinect voice search using Bing (Just say: “Xbox, Bing X-Men,” and all content related to “X-Men,” from both the Web and your Xbox 360 console, will show up as a selectable option.) Every app is now Kinect-enabled.

• Kinect motion control: Swipe through and select content on the dashboard simply using Kinect motion controls.

• Live TV: Users will now have access to live TV from a number of providers, including Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse.

• Beacons: Let users know you’re up for some multiplayer action at a specific time by posting messages to Xbox Live and Facebook. Friends can then join in on the gameplay straight from the beacon.

• Cloud storage: Users can now save their games directly to Microsoft’s cloud, rather than to the Xbox 360 hard drive, making it possible to load a saved game from any Xbox 360.

• Entertainment apps: Microsoft is adding 40 new entertainment apps globally. The release of new apps will start tomorrow, with many more to follow in the upcoming months.

• Xbox Companion: Also out on Tuesday is a free app for Windows Phone devices, which allows users to control their Xbox Live dashboard directly from their phone.

Upcoming entertainment apps (global)

Dec. 6:
• EPIX. United States
• ESPN on Xbox LIVE (ESPN). United States
• Hulu. Japan
• Hulu Plus. United States
• LOVEFiLM. United Kingdom
• Netflix. Canada, United States
• Premium Play by (MediaSet). Italy
• Sky Go (SkyDE). Germany
• Telefónica España – Movistar Imagenio. Spain
• TODAY (MSNBC). United States

Later in December:
• 4 on Demand (C4). United Kingdom
• ABC iView (Australian Broadcasting Corp.). Australia
• AlloCiné. France (AlloCiné), Germany (Filmstarts), Spain (Sensacine), United Kingdom (Screenrush)
• Astral Media’s Disney XD (Astral Media). Canada
• blinkbox (Blinkbox). United Kingdom
• Crackle (Sony Pictures). Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States
• Dailymotion. Available in 32 countries globally
• Demand 5 (Five). United Kingdom
• DIGI+ (CANAL+). Spain
• GolTV (Mediapro). Spain
• iHeartRadio (Clear Channel). United States
• Mediathek/ZDF (ZDF). Germany
• MSN. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom
• MSNBC.com. United States
• MUZU.TV. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
• ninemsn. Australia
• Real Sports (Maple Leaf Sports). Canada
• Rogers On Demand Online (Rogers Media). Canada
• SBS ON DEMAND.Australia
• Sky Go (SkyDE). Austria
• TMZ (Warner Bros.). Canada, United States
• TVE (RTVE.es). Spain
• UFC on Xbox LIVE (UFC). Canada, United States
• Verizon FiOS TV. United States
• VEVO. Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
• Vudu (Wal-Mart). United States
• YouTube. Available in 24 countries globally

Early 2012:
• Antena 3 (Antena 3 de Televisión). Spain
• BBC (BBC). United Kingdom
• CinemaNow (Best Buy). United States
• HBO GO (HBO). United States
• MLB.TV (MLB Advanced Media). Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States
• Telenovelas/Sports (Televisa). Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom
• Xfinity On Demand (Comcast). United States

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Andrew Couts
Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Best gaming chair deals: Save on Corsair, Razer, and more
Razer - Iskur Gaming Chair.

Sitting down to play video games for hours and hours can be a lot of fun, but it can also be pretty bad for your health. Beyond just the lack of circulation, most modern chairs are not really made to have us sit in them for long periods, and so they don't offer things like lumbar support or breath to help keep us cool. Luckily, gaming chairs have come to the rescue, and if you're looking to at least help keep your body safe and healthy, going for a gaming chair can make a big difference. That said, gaming chairs can be quite expensive, which is why we've gone out and found some of our favorite gaming chair deals for you to pick from.
Homall Massage Gaming Chair -- $85, was $170

The Homall Massage Gaming Chair is affordable, but it will get the job done of keeping you comfortable while playing video games with its ergonomic design and high-quality PU leather materials. It's got head and waist pillows with a massage function that sets it apart from other cheap gaming chairs. The backrest can recline between 90 degrees and 180 degrees so you can find the perfect angle, and it also has a retractable footrest for an extra sitting position.

Read more
All Fallout games in order, chronologically and by release date
A woman and a dog leaving a vault in Fallout 4.

War never changes. The retrofuturistic apocalypse world of Fallout has graced fans with pretty regular releases since 1997, letting us explore the North American wasteland in the aftermath of a nuclear war in a variety of regions.

It can be a little hard to keep track of the series' timeline if you aren't listening to every holotape in every game and keeping your own log of events. On top of the best Fallout games, we now have to consider where the new Fallout TV show fits in the timeline. We aren't going to get into every timeline detail here (the series' lore is surprisingly deep and detailed) but we will let you know exactly what year every mainline titles takes place in and how you can play them in order.
Fallout games by release date

Read more
Best PS5 deals: Console bundles, top games, and accessories
A person plays Crash Bandicoot using a PS5 DualSense controller.

The PlayStation 5 is probably one of the most popular gaming consoles right now, especially with the recent PS5 Slim release. It has a lot of great exclusive games to play, including some of the best games on the market, such as Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and  Elden Ring, so its no surprise that folks are looking to get their hands on the console. To that end, we've gone out and found some of our favorite gaming deals, and that includes everything from the PS5 console itself, to games and peripherals, so be sure to check out all our suggestions below.
Best PS5 deals

The PlayStation 5 has recently seen a great revision with it now slightly slimmer than before and also offering more storage space with 1TB of internal space resulting in 842GB of it being usable. You still get the impressive DualSense controller along with all the benefits that the PS5 offers. With the arrival of the new revision, there are some great bundles around, including a free digital copy of Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Read more