Tweet while you watch TV, all on your Xbox One

By Will Fulton June 4, 2014

twitter watch tv xbox one miniguide 052914 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As part of the lead-up to its Xbox presentation at E3, Microsoft has announced more than 45 new entertainment apps coming to Xbox One and Xbox 360 globally. The announcement is part of a concerted effort to solidify the Xbox as the only entertainment device you’ll ever need hooked up to your TV.

“Xbox fans are spending more time than ever on the console, spending more than five hours a day on Xbox One,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Devices and Studios at Microsoft. “Today as we announce new commitments from dozens of our partners, including deep integration with experiences like Twitter and Vine, we hit an important milestone in our journey to deliver unique experiences on Xbox. We’re thrilled to break new ground in social TV experiences like we’re doing with Twitter on Xbox One.”

Front and center on the list is Xbox One’s integration of Twitter into the live television experience. Communal discourse through Twitter has become a central feature for modern television watchers, recreating something of theater’s liveness by reconnecting disparate audiences that had been isolated in their living rooms. This dialogue will now be woven directly into your live TV-watching experience, with a live feed of relevant tweets displayed on-screen with your favorite shows. The community buzz will also be integrated into the TV listings section of OneGuide, allowing you to sort shows by what’s trending right now. Your once-aimless channel-surfing can now be guided by the collective will of the masses.

Other apps on the announced list include popular entertainment channels like HBO Go, Showtime Anytime, Syfy Now, and Comedy Central. Building on the success of the Major League Gaming app for Xbox 360, the eSports network will be releasing a similar app for the Xbox One so you can keep tabs on the growing world of professional video gaming. Xbox One will also be getting an app for the popular video-sharing service Vine.

This announcement is a well-timed follow-up to the recent revelation that entertainment apps would no longer be locked behind the Gold paywall, and instead be available to anyone with a basic Xbox Live account. A full list of the coming apps can be found here, and of course you can expect a lot more next Monday, June 9 at the Xbox E3 presentation.

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Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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