Xbox 360 Gets IPTV

With the Xbox 360 now just getting its baby teeth, Microsoft is adding more and more media capabilities to the their console. Since the system was released back in November 2005, MS has improved the Xbox 360 by adding the possibility of downloading TV shows and movies (HD or regular) onto your Xbox hard drive, and also introduced the ability of playing HD-DVDs by purchasing an external disc drive.

By the looks of it, Xbox 360 have something more to look forward to. According to GameSpot, Microsoft will add another feature to the system, IPTV functionality to be exact. This new feature will be available by the 2007 holiday season, and will allow users to use the Xbox 360 as a digital video recorder. You will be able to play games online, while recording your favorite TV show in the background, or chat with out friends while watching a program. The possibilities of this upcoming service are immense, picture in picture channel browsing, program searches by actor or director as well as movies and videos on demand.

To bring IPTV to Xbox 360 users, Microsoft has teamed up with five important companies: AT&T, British Telecom, Deutsch Telecom and Swiss Telecom. Robbie Bach, head of the Entertainment division at Microsoft revealed that another 11 telecom companies are "in trial or evaluation".

This may sound pretty cool and many of you will probably get excited, but just wait to find out how much will this service cost and how will the channel line-up look. Hardcore gamers will probably bash Microsoft for this move, and accuse them of drifting away from their main goal, games on consoles and turning the Xbox 360 into a multimedia machine.