Microsoft is living up to their word in working to put an Xbox in every living room across the country. The Xbox's latest unveiling at this year's E3 Conference features a new app for enhanced interaction called "SmartGlass."
The new app will allow use between the Xbox console with Apple iPads, Smartphones, and Windows 8. Microsoft will bring more than video games to the screen as the app consolidates TV and movies across all devices. Available entertainment features include tracking TV shows and watching relevant additional content all on the fly. For gamers, they can manage game content or view other players while being immersed in their own game.
"With Xbox SmartGlass we're opening new doors for producers, artists and creators to develop far more than single-screen TV experiences," said , Xbox Live Executive Marc Whitten.
For Apple users, Microsoft is making its new app compatible with other tablets such as the iPad. A demonstration showed a user watching an episode of "Game of Thrones" while accessing an interactive map of the TV show's world all in one motion. The app will also allow the iPhone to be converted into a web/TV remote control. Microsoft may be utilizing an iOS developed app to enable movie streaming between its Xbox console and other Apple devices. This could be said for other Android and Windows mobile devices as well.
Microsoft's latest offerings is far from deterring Sony from its E3 showcase. Sony's PlayStation Vita made a splash with the announcement of developing games such as Assassin's Creed 3 and Call of Duty. Two hundred more titles will follow in the next twelve months according to Sony Computer Entertainment of America president Jack Tretton.
Other popular vintage games like Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider are scheduled to be available for the PS Vita via the PlayStation Network. Sony plans to utilize its cross play gaming feature with its new titles, allowing gamers to play a game on their hand held PS Vita, save their progress, then pickup from where they left off on the PlayStation 3 console.
Adding more multimedia firepower, Sony plans to unveil a new Harry Potter game into its lineup to attract younger gamers. In "Wonderbook: Book of Spells," players will use the PlayStation move controllers as a wand to interact with the game as well as flying on broomsticks in author J.K. Rowling's world of wizards.
"Wonderbook: Book of Spells is the closest a Muggle can come to a real spellbook," Rowling said in a statement.
The author wrote new stories and content for the game as players work their way through casting magical spells and solving puzzles through a variety of levels. No confirmed date or pricing has been released.
Microsoft also plans to release a Harry Potter game on its console. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment along with developers Eurocom has announced a video game "Harry Potter for Kinect" exclusively on Kinect for the Xbox 360 and entertainment system from Microsoft. It is likely to be released this fall.
The game will be based on the eight Harry Potter films. Players will join Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as they journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and beyond.
"Harry Potter Kinect is a new, family-oriented, game for the motion-controlled Xbox 360 peripheral, which promises to give you the chance to shout 'wingardium leviosa', wave your hands around and have something happen on the TV screen - yes, as if by magic," writes The Huffington Post.
Harry Potter for Kinect will be built with Kinect's scanning technology. Players will get to scan their own face to create a unique witch or wizard through the adventures of the film for the first time in a Harry Potter game.
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