Microsoft's new Xbox 360 UI has Bing voice search across Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and live TV
Quick refreshing of Microsoft's E3 landing page has apparently revealed some of the things it will be announcing within a couple of hours at its E3 press conference, including new features for Xbox Live like Voice Search and new look for the service. With the explosive popularity of the Kinect add-on, it looks like the system is being refashioned with support built in from the ground up as opposed to the current menu system that's more of an afterthought. Also mentioned on the page are Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports Season 2 and most importantly, two new Halo games. One is Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary which appears to be the HD (& possibly 3D) remake leaked by Joystiq previously, while the other is Halo 4 -- no explanation needed. We'll surely find out everything when the press conference kicks off live at 12:30 p.m. Eastern and of course we'll be covering all of the news live right here.
Update: Microsoft's just confirmed some of the leaked information onstage at its E3 keynote, with demonstrations of a deeply integrated voice command setup powered by Kinect. YouTube has been announced as an Xbox Live partner, while Bing is coming to the console to let users search across Netflix, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Hulu all at once.That universal search also extends to new live TV partnerships with Sky, Canal+ and Foxtel.
Update 2: Want a better look at the revamped Xbox 360 UI that blends in more of a Metro look with the old Kinect UI elements? Look no further than the gallery below.
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[Thanks, q & Pradeep]
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Bing on Xbox: You are The Controller
The Bing Team
6/6/2011 12:00 PM
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The future living room does more than give you great entertainment; it helps you find what you're looking for and helps you decide what to enjoy. It gives you simplicity, discovery and personal choice. Today at E3, we are excited to preview a new way for people to find movies, games, music and other entertainment: voice search with Bing on Xbox.
Today's announcement opens up your living room entertainment in the same way search engines opened up the Web by indexing it and making it discoverable. When you think about the state of your entertainment media, the challenge of finding what you want is similar. You have games, movies, music, TV shows and other content on your console, through services like Netflix, Hulu, and Zune, and programming and on-demand options available through cable and satellite providers. Xbox alone is growing from hundreds of thousands of pieces of content to millions. By combining all this content with the power of Bing's deep search expertise, Microsoft Tellme's voice technology and the magic of Kinect, we'll be able to provide instant access to the expansive catalogue of entertainment options on Xbox Live. You say it, Xbox finds it, and you can enjoy it faster. Voice search works across media types and across apps so you can focus on deciding what to enjoy rather than where and how to find it.
Just saying: "Xbox Bing Lego" or "Xbox Bing X-Men" will give you all the available options for the movie, music, game and other matches around those titles.
You can select, browse or refine your search using voice and hand gestures so that you find what you want in a fraction of the time it currently takes.
Because you may have several viewing options, in this case, Xbox will prioritize your choices based on what you own or the services to which you are a subscriber, such as Netflix. Bing on Xbox will help you decide by giving you other options to consider such as High Definition and purchase price.
Bing on Xbox will initially be available in English in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, and we're committed to bring voice search to as many languages and dialects as possible in the future.
Bing on Xbox gives you ultimate control. Bing on Xbox means you spend more time enjoying your entertainment, and far less time hunting for it. Bing on Xbox combines your voice and all your entertainment to make TV more amazing -- you are the controller.
Yusuf Mehdi
Senior Vice President, Bing
