{"id":29179,"date":"2011-12-08T12:08:18","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T10:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=29179"},"modified":"2011-12-08T12:47:29","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T10:47:29","slug":"xbox-live-theres-an-app-for-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/29179-xbox-live-theres-an-app-for-that","title":{"rendered":"Xbox LIVE: There’s an app for that"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you find that you’d like to be more sociable over Xbox LIVE, but it’s always such a pain dragging your Xbox 360 and HDTV around with you wherever you go?<\/p>\n

That’s how I feel – but thanks to the good folks over at Microsoft, now there’s an app for that.<\/p>\n

Literally appearing out of nowhere – no big hoo-haa, no parades and confetti – an official Xbox LIVE app has hit the Apple iTunes store – and it doesn’t cost a damn thing. The App is beautiful to look at and use – and if you’ve updated your Xbox dashboard, you’ll see how it fits into the picture.<\/p>\n

Predictably, the app isn’t available in the South African iTunes Store, but I can’t stress this enough – stop even trying to use it, and get a US account.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Spotlight lets you access a whole bunch of added content<\/p><\/div>\n

Here’s what the app does and gives you access to when you’re on the move.<\/p>\n

Spotlight<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first thing the app will show access to on the home screen is Xbox LIVE’s Spotlight – which lets you browse and view videos (trailers, interviews and promos) and take part in polls, get tips and tricks and other Xbox-y stuff.<\/p>\n

Social<\/strong><\/p>\n

The app is an amazingly useful way of keeping tabs on what’s going on with your LIVE account and your Xbox LIVE friends – letting you check and send messages, add friends, view profiles and work around with your account.<\/p>\n

You can even head into the avatar editor and make changes to your little digital self.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Why yes, I do own a pet T-Rex. Tarryn has a Ticker. And now I have the jealousies.<\/p><\/div>\n

Game Library<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can also have a look at your entire game library, which shows all the games you’ve played on your account as well as the achievements you’ve unlocked.<\/p>\n

If you’re feeling a bit competitive, you can also compare your library with your friends, which will show your libraries head-to-head, and who’s the more dedicated (read: better) gamer.<\/p>\n

Beacons<\/strong><\/p>\n

The beacons feature lets you put up an alert for your friends as to what you would like to do.<\/p>\n

So say you want to play a bit of Assassin’s Creed Revelations Multiplayer – putting up a beacon will let your buddies know that you’re keen to play, and when one of them becomes available, the app lets you know, and away you go.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Only 30% of AssCreed achievements, Quinton? For shame.<\/p><\/div>\n

What’s not in the app, however, is a way to add or spend Microsoft Points – there’s no marketplace whatsoever, not even for your avatar. It’s most likely to do with Apple’s stringent restrictions to in-app purchases – because even though it’s all to do with Xbox LIVE, it’s going through an Apple app.<\/p>\n

Imagine for a second how awesome it would be if there was cross-platform access to select Arcade games, or the ability to use the iApp in conjunction with your 360, somehow. Hmmm? HMMM!?<\/p>\n

‘Tis but a dream.<\/p>\n

If Microsoft are aiming to extend the social aspect of Xbox LIVE, then this is probably the best thing they could have done – I’ve owned an Xbox for 5 years, and of the three messages I’ve ever sent – three of them I sent today.<\/p>\n

Now if Sony would develop a PSN app, I think my journey to being a social gamer whore will be nearing completion.<\/p>\n

If you’re an Xbox owner with an iDevice, then this is for you; get the app now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Out of nowhere, a wild iOS Xbox LIVE app appears<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":29184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[1483,21,1484,89],"class_list":["post-29179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-xbox","tag-app","tag-headline","tag-social","tag-xbox-live"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29185,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29179\/revisions\/29185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}