From the Microsoft press release entitled we learn Instant
Messaging Comes to Xbox 360, Expanding the Largest Social Network on Television
Beginning the week of May 7, 2007, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will provide Xbox
360 owners worldwide with access to Windows Live Messenger features, broadening the
communication options on the Xbox LIVE social network. Members of the 6 million-strong
Xbox LIVE community currently send more than 2 million text and voice messages a day
and can now use Windows Live Messenger to text chat with up to six people on their
contact list at one time, while playing games, listening to music or watching movies.
Text chat adds to the variety of options friends and families already have to communicate
with on Xbox LIVE, including voice and video chat.
Current relationships on Windows Live Messenger and Xbox LIVE will be unified on
Xbox 360 and users will see at a glance if their existing friends on Windows Live
Messenger have gamertags, instantly expanding the breadth of connected experiences
they can share online.
Although I didn't directly work on this feature, I sat in a couple of meetings with
the XBox folks a few months ago to brief them on how to integrate with certain parts
of Windows Live Messenger and I'm glad to see that the ball kept rolling and we're
bringing this functionality to our users. Being aware of other's online presence and
being able to communicate with them from any device or application is a worthy goal.
Sitting here in Abuja, Nigeria using Windows Live
Messenger to send text messages to my girlfriend's cell phone in Seattle, Washington
while she gets ready for work brings into sharp relief the importance of bridging
communication forms and online presence in applications across several contexts.