According to The New York Times, ESPN has met with Microsoft, and the two companies have held in-depth talks about bringing ESPN programming to Xbox Live.
Here's how the NY Times' unnamed, inside sources described the potential service:
"For a per-subscriber fee, ESPN could provide live streams of sporting events, similar to the ones available through ESPN 360, a service that is available from some high-speed Internet providers. Microsoft could also create some interactive games in association with ESPN."
No agreement has been announced, so there's no time-frame for when/if this will happen, but let's talk about it anyway. While I definitely think streaming of games themselves would be awesome, I could completely do without the rest of ESPN's programming -- I don't need to hear ex-jocks desperately trying to be entertaining as they talk about the game that I just saw. But if ESPN streams, say, NFL games, I'm on board.
This is all part of Microsoft's effort to make the Xbox into an entertainment portal as opposed to a game system. We see it now on our dashboard (Last.fm, Facebook, Netflix, etc.), how do you think it's going? Do you use your 360 as an entertainment device? Personally, I notice more and more of my Xbox friends are "playing" Netflix everyday.
Source: The New York Times
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Notafanboythatiknow
Why only bring it to the XBox 360, what about the Wii (the most sold "console") and the PS3. Why do these big corporations think that we are in 2007, when the XBox 360 was the undisputed number 1 console for gamers. Things have changed.
z26mb4027
it would be cheaper for me to pay for this then to pay for cable at college. id use this to watch sports and hulu to watch everything else. oh and netflix for reruns.
InHumanMarine
Why, so I can listen to the d-o-u-c-h-e bag Chris Berman? Yeah, no thanks.
GIROUXRA
I love the idea, I currently dont bother with cable because its just too damn expensive. The only thing I miss about cable is sports, I do agree though on just streaming the games, I dont need all of the other junk. Hope this happens.
dominion76
It could be a good move. My fiance isn't a gamer, but she will have me fire up the xbox to stream something from netflix. I'll convert her just yet!!!!!!! Between netflix, and my favorites tv shows online (heroes,supernatural) I really can't see why I would pay a high price for cable tv. It's not like I could watch all the channels. Now if a cable company got creative and let customers pick every channel they wanted for a basic price, and not the bundle of crap channel packages, then they could compete with the internet tv, the future s on the horizon. just my two cents
jedimasterchief9
If they allow me to watch any game airing then I'd pay for it. But if I am forced to watch my local teams, I am out. I don't need to see the Raiders lose again and again, when I want to watch the Jets. So as long as I can watch any team, play there games I'm all for it, even if it comes at a price.
GingerKid
Here I'll beat you guys to the punch on this story from IGN
Infinity Ward still has work to do with Modern Warfare 2.
According to several posters on the developer's official forums, a new hack for the game is going around on certain Xbox LIVE servers that gives players negative experience points for kills, which results in a drop in your rank.
A youtube clip has surfaced (spotted by Joystiq) showing the hack in action, which gives unsuspecting players -5,000,000 XP per kill.
"Me and my clan (SC) went into a game of HxC SnD, we found a group of tenth prestiges, we thought they were merely boosters, we were very wrong," one poster wrote.
"We knew something was wrong when they just waltzed out of their spawn in Highrise and let us kill them. After we won that round, they said 'AWW look at the level 1s' and we noticed..."
"Killing them made us LOSE xp.... we won the match because they ended it. Match Results: -899999453xp," the poster added.
It appears for now this hack is only widespread on Xbox 360 versions. We contacted Infinity Ward - have yet to hear back.
G4gamefanUSA316
espn on xbox live i'm will be in!
m1michael
I will not pay extra for the content that I currently pay for (too high as it is for what we get) on directtv or cable. It is another way ABC/and its affiliates to get their hands on your dollars. But at the same time the days of internet TV are on their way and when it's clear what we pay for or part of a package we can pick that's when it will be real.
GingerKid
Way to be on the ball G4, this story was posted on almost every other site yesterday, I'm really starting to think all you guys do is wait for IGN or Gamespot, or in this case New York Times, to post their stories and then you just copy them.
clorin12
I like this idea. But if the NFL network went for it I would buy 2 more 360's for my other tvs.
G4Sterling
AT&T already subsidizes my ESPN 360 account. I'd hope they'd extend that to Xbox Live.
Regardless, I'd kick out $3-4 a month to be able to watch my soccer matches in one place without having to stalk a bunch of pirate streams b/c FSC and GolTV aren't showing the games I want to watch. Also, I'm sure the resolution will look significantly better on my TV running through a 360 than it does when I hook up my netbook.
JohnnyRotten73
Great, another service that gets left out for Canadians......yay......
osubluejacket
While I am a big sports fan, I don't think I'd pony up for this... at least not until I hear more details.
On the flip side, Netflix is one of the ONLY (along with "1 vs. 100", "Rock Band", and "Scene It") reasons my fiancee likes the 360 (and consoles/games in general).
joshdale
Netflix, Last.fm on the Xbox 360 = the best thing since sliced bread...internet TV will be the future for all our entertainment needs, and if Microsoft gets a head start on this media, who knows what the future might hold for the next gen gaming/entertainment/multimedi a/computer system
Displaying 1–15 of 15