Enjoy lots of new entertainment options on your console

Mar 28, 2012 18:21 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just unveiled a series of three new entertainment apps for its Xbox 360 console, in the form of Comcast’s Xfinity TV, HBO’s Go, and MLB’s streaming service.

The Xbox 360 is becoming more than just a games console nowadays as after last year’s dashboard update, Microsoft is banking heavily on the console’s entertainment capabilities.

In order to show this off, a huge series of partnerships were struck with entertainment providers from all around the world and, as a result, lots of Xbox 360 owners can download apps through which they can view their desired entertainment content.

After seeing all sorts of apps, three of the most demanded ones have now appeared, in the form of the Xfinity TV one from Comcast, HBO’s extremely flexibile Go service and MLB.TV.

All of the new apps have complete support for the Xbox 360 and the Kinect sensor. Check out all the details below, straight from Microsoft.

- Comcast launched the Xfinity TV on-demand service on Xbox 360, bringing its huge library of when-you-want-it entertainment to a console for the first time, including the new Streampix library. With Kinect, you can control it all with your voice or a wave of your hand – however you like.

- HBO Go on Xbox 360 launched their entire catalogue of live and on demand original content – that means every episode of every show, from the latest hits like Game of Thrones, to older favorites like The Sopranos. With Kinect, you can voice search the entire HBO catalogue.

- MLB.TV transforms sports entertainment by providing live and on demand games in HD, coupled with exclusive personalization features only found on Xbox 360 – jump between the action via the Mini Guide and watch two games at once with Split Screen. With Kinect, you can pause and rewind live games and highlights using just your voice and motion controls.

This is certainly good news, as new statistics have showed that a lot of Xbox 360 owners are spending more time devouring entertainment than gaming on their console.

The apps are available in the U.S., at the moment, but maybe Microsoft will be able to bring some of them, like MLB or HBO, to other territories.