The move to bring Windows Live Messenger to Xbox 360 is widely seen as a strategy to stay ahead of Sony's PlayStation 3. By offering the richest online experience for game players, Microsoft hopes to beat Sony ahead of the holiday season. The Windows Live Messenger will debut on Xbox 360 on May 7.

Microsoft's premier instant messaging tool is used by over 200 million people to keep in touch with friends and relatives or simply chat with other buddies. On the other hand nearly six million Xbox 360 users frequent the Xbox Live online community, which allows console owners to communicate with one another.

Microsoft has decided to combine the utility of the messenger with Xbox 360, making it an instant-messaging tool on a large scale. Players can use their online identity on Xbox Live called “gamertag” for linking up with an existing Live account and chat to fellow gamers using a virtual on-screen keyboard or a U.S.B. keyboard plugged into the console.

“We feel this is a huge step in driving social networking further into the family room by allowing Xbox 360 users to I.M. directly from their couch,” said John Rodman, Microsoft’s group manager for the Xbox 360. “Now you don’t have to manage two separate groups of friends online.”

Jerry Johnson, product unit manager of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft agreed with this assessment. He said the move made sense for the folks at Redmond, "For our growing community of 6 million on Xbox LIVE, using Xbox 360 is a very social, connected experience. They are using Xbox 360 to play games, music and movies while simultaneously communicating with one another through video, voice and text chat," he added.

Some of the other new features on the Spring Update for Xbox 360 include
* Enhanced family settings that allow for setting separate defaults for video chat and voice chat.

* The background download functionality has been refined to allow owners to automatically shut down the console after a download is complete.

* Better access to the free, trial-version Xbox LIVE Arcade games via a new option in Auto Downloads section.

* Xbox LIVE members have the option of comparing the leaderboard scores with friends on their list
 

Comments (2)

2. 20-04-2007 07:45

Looks awesome, but xbox were already ahead of PS3 when the xbox 360 was sold. 
 
So they have no fear of PS3 taking over... not a chance  
 
Nice review though, i will be keeping my eyes peeled for this update and also did you guys hear about the mini keyboard attachment that would clip to the controllers though the head set port

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