Your Thoughts on Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone?

I think I want!

Very excited to learn more from MIX, hope they blow us away and apple!

You mention “make a business from”, who could we talk to regarding this?

Will be able to send & receive messages to our friends? Text, audio, pictures or video? What about cross-game chat? Will we be able to access our Xbox Live friends from the People Hub? Will be able to compare games, achievements, avatars & leaderboards of our friends or other people we’ve met on Live? Will we be able to purchase Live Arcade or Live Indie Games on the Xbox that will unlock free versions to be used on the phone? Or will it be similar to Game Room where we have to pay extra for versions that can be played on multiple platforms? Will we be able to purchase Avatar items & see them on our avatar before purchasing? Will we be allowed to purchase any Xbox Live Marketplace content to be queued for later download on our Xbox(like Xbox.com)?

@Ozymandias Looking forward to async two player games like chess, and xcom #WP7dev

The features are interesting, but not enough to get me onto a Windows Phone. I would love to see at least some of these capabilities go over to other mobile platforms, like an official app for customizing your avatar and reading Xbox messages in one place.

It would be cool if you could select certain Leaderboards to watch, and have Xbox Live send you an IM/SMS/email when a friend beats your score. Not sure if something like that could be done without changing game code, but might be an ideal bit for Game Room.

And speaking of Game Room, having that on mobile devices would be great too.

@SeNiLe: you’d need to have an idea, demo, and real product to be able to get facetime with folks here. The challenge is that MS is big enough that many original ideas might already be under investigation here. You’d want to have something “real” that would spark people’s interest enough to be able to spend the time to chat. Make sense?

@AzBat360: Great questions! I need to go dig into some of them, and also figure out what we’re able to say. I will say that conceptually, many of the ideas you have are along the lines of what we’d like to see. Time and space will tell when – but hopefully I can get more specific in a bit!

Thanks for your consideration. Can’t wait to read your response!

@Derek: No worries, everyone has their tipping point. Out of curiousity, what *would* be enough to tip you to wanting a Windows Phone? Is it Xbox LIVE functionality? Games? Something completely different? Or is the phone just not something that gets you excited?

Windows Phone 7 looks great.

This idea is not necessarily for Xbox Live, but for the Zune Video marketplace. I was originally thinking about this for the ZuneHD, but it definitely makes sense with the WP7 with 3G data. It would be great if you could hook the phone up to a TV via HDMI/Composite cables through a dock and stream video content from your Zune account. This could be either through a wireless connection, or the phone’s data connection. I am not sure the phone data would be fast enough though. This would basically allow you to have your entire movie collection on the go. In a hotel? Hook your phone up to the tv and connect to the hotel internet and have access to any of your purchased content. This would be great for the ZuneHD as well.

Access to some Primetime stuff on the phone might be neat. Perhaps allow 1 vs 100 to be cross platform. Not sure what else is in the pipe for Primetime, but being able to not miss the scheduled programming when away from home would be cool.

With Natal coming out, being able to connect to friends and have voice/video conversations with them would be awesome. Not just messages, but actually be able to talk in real time. Phone wouldn’t really be able to send video, but it would be neat to connect with XBox friends in that way.

Perhaps, you could offer a UStream type service that would allow any of your XBox friends to join your streaming video. It could show up on your status that you are hosting a stream.

I will have more in a little bit, my wife is screaming for me to do the dishes

@Ozymandias hint: I would be totally into playing 1 vs 100 via my Windows 7 phone…

@Ozymandias and when I buy Fable 3 limited edition, I expect a ringtone and WP7 theme on the little XBOX live codes that come with it!

@Ozymandias oh, and, I would love it if the WP7 becomes an optional controller for “touchscreen” XBOX games and/or Natal.

Here are some more ideas:

How about a set of achievements for visiting certain places around the globe? While logged into a Live account, if the GPS gets within a certain area, perhaps around the Eiffel Tower, the achievement unlocked sound emits from the phone 5 GS.

Perhaps a GPS enabled game where it is the people in your region, versus people in another region. Somewhat like the Toy Soldiers game on Facebook, but instead people attack your region and your region can attack other regions. You can rank up in your region and be able to get more functions the higher rank you are.

I would make two suggestions:

1) Make avatars optional, on present and future Live platforms, for those of us who are not as enamored of them as others. I’m not asking for their elimination, just for the option to turn them of locally for my account.

2) Move to an account-based model, not an account/hardware-based model, so that my licensed content can be accessed wherever I can access my account, regardless of platform. This is, for me, the holy grail of gaming. You already have the architecture (Live) that can be accessed from various platforms (console, PC, phone). The next step would be to allow customers to access licensed content on any/all of those platforms, cutting the licensing ties to hardware. Accomplish this and you will have earned my continued loyalty as a customer.

Hi bud! One thing I’d really like to see are games which have an externally-published API which would interface with the Windows Mobile 7 phones much like EVE Online has EVEmon for Windows or the equivalent iPhone app. Looking down the road, if there was anyone who could pull of an MMO-style game on the 360 or similar type game in which people would actually WANT to monitor their persistent stats, that’s the direction I’d take it in.

This is exciting stuff, I wish I was working on it!

~Brandon J. Clark

I was wondering if it were possible if the Win Mobile phone had Wifi to form an adhoc connection with the Xbox 360 console via Wifi? I was thinking:

1. Being able to sync up/backup data on the phone to the Xbox 360.
2. Make calls over Xbox Live (VOIP) Us
3. Recieve calls over Xbox Live/Natal.

I have a friend with a severe physical disability who is interested in Windows mobile because of the clean interface, but he can’t afford to make phone calls over the cell phone networks as its very expensive in my country (New Zealand)

Just make sure the games are storable on a storage device as opposed to the phones internal memory if downloaded from the phone. Losing games because of upgrading is a pain. This is a non-issue if the games can be downloaded on the PC from the Zune marketplace or something similar.

Off topic, but this is my favorite spam caught so far in the spam filter… thank you Akismet!

“Advantageously, the post is in reality the freshest on this worthw hile topic. I concur with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your next updates. Saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the extraordinary lucidity in your writing. I will right away grab your rss feed to stay informed of any updates. Solid work and much success in your business dealings!”

You know, I really like this idea. Imagine taking it a step further and making it a psuedo-RISK type game. Friends could join a ‘game’ together and vi for control of the nation simply by being where they are. More people in your group means adding to your army, so to speak.

I think there’s a lot of GPS-enabled gaming ideas out there and it isn’t talked about enough.

I wonder how difficult it’d be to integrate GPS into Live and tie it to your account.

Here’s what I would like: a Java-based application for ANY phone that’ll let me sign into my account and see who’s online/offline, check people’s profiles, compare games, read & send messages, check the marketplace and add stuff to the download queue.
Basically what the mobile version of Xbox.com should be offering but doesn’t.

[Blog] Your Thoughts on Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone? http://www.ozymandias.com/your-thoughts-... #Ozymandias

RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] Your Thoughts on Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone? http://www.ozymandias.com/your-thoughts-... #WP7 #WP7dev

I know that you can’t confirm, but I think that XNA is coming to Windows Phone too:)
Shawn Hargreaves posts about supporting different platforms, Xbox Live coming to Windows Phone and the need to have a open and famous app store like Apple have, let me think that we [XNA developers], in a short time will make Windows Phone Games too:)

@joelmartinez Oh yeah – Xcom! Good call… keep seeing rumors of a reboot. Hope they’re true – that was a strategy classic!

I just want to see an XBLIG type marketplace on the phone. Anything beyond that is a bonus to me! Some more questions:

- assuming we have an XBLIG marketplace, will they have access to the internet?
- In the current ZuneHD extensions, there’s no access to the Tegra chip for any 3D graphics. Will this be changed, or is it 2D-only for now?

@linne Cool ideas! Be sure to capture them in a comment at the blog – that’s where folks will be referring to. Love the 1 vs. 100 idea!

I think that is a great idea. The phone would act as a memory unit of sorts, not for storing save games and such(although maybe that is possible), but for storing the gamertag. If you go over to someone else’s house, no need to restore your gamertag to the system, the XBox notices your WP7 and gets the profile from there.

As well as the social Xbox Live features I would like to see integration between the WP7 and Xbox gaming experience, using the phone to expand and enhance the game further.

To be able to use it as a second screen or controller while playing Xbox to either display maps, in game communication device, separate HUD, inventory or as a rear view mirror in driving games. Also to be able to view and controller the Guide and therefore music (inc LastFM) while in game.

And when away from the Xbox be able to still advance a games experience/story/gamescore through the phone.

i will be checking latest news about xbox live and will be playing 1vs100 on it

All the features sound amazing, but unfortunately I have an iPhone. I wish the API and network supported non-microsoft devices.

RT @Ozymandias: RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] Your Thoughts on Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone? http://www.ozymandias.com/your-thoughts-... #WP7 #WP7dev

the stuff that’s been announced is compelling. seeing who’s online and what they’re playing is a good baseline. text-based communication with folks that are online is certainly more interesting, but if you could pull off voice chat – from my phone to your xbox live headset – that’d be stellar.

i’d love to be able to browse the xbox live marketplace and get games/demos/DLC and add them to my 360′s download queue remotely.

games on the phone itself seem to be a natural fit – hopefully a larger & more interesting library than my zune HD currently offers. scaled-down versions of existing games (say, geometry wars) or apps that offer connectable functionality to larger games (say, mass effect 2 planet scanning, or forza 3 car customization) are what one expects from the gaming perspective of a portable XBL experience. plus phone-specific games – independent of the xbox platform, but that offer Live functionality, achievements, etc – would be great.

finally: love to access some of the spotlight content – the inside xbox videos, movie trailers, etc. thanks for asking, oz.

I think there’s almost limitless potential for this, frankly.

I also think that Microsoft would get a lot more mileage out of their investment if they made a ‘lite’ version of the XBL services for non-WinPhone devices.

Say I have an Android phone. If I only _hear_ about all this cool stuff that the kids with WinPhone are doing, that’s nice, but if I can see for myself some of this cool stuff, and all I have to do to get the rest of it is switch to Windows Phone, I’m vastly more likely to consider it.

Additionally, I think that turning the Zune into something more akin to the iPod Touch (i.e. a windows phone unit without the phone parts) would be a good long-term way to address this.

I love the ideas that windows phone 7 has, but to be honest I really enjoy my droid as well. For me personally the fact that anybody can program something for the android os is my phones best feature. Would the windows phone have its own dev kit for free? (Similar to the adk)

I like the look of this Xbox Live integration, but I have absolutely no intention of using Windows Phone 7. I’m very happy with Android and this is not enough to get me to switch. If this mobile Xbox Live is going to take off, it really needs to be cross-platform. Windows Phone 7, Android, iPhone, Blackberry and maybe even Maemo or Symbian. If Microsoft is too lazy to make apps for these other platforms, at least publish an API so other developers can do the work to make these apps.

Other than the fact that Windows Phone Seven Series is arguably the least catchy name that any consumer product has been given in the past 10 years… I look forward to Xbox integration into a mobile device.

I think the WinPhoSevSer OS looks really slick and I’ve long awaited XBL in my phone… but I fear that it is coming out a little too late for me and others who I’ve talked to. As much as I love my Xbox 360, I’m just as invested in the dozens of apps (for fun and for work) that I have for my iPhone.

However I would not hesitate to pick up a Zune if it had the WP7S OS and could basically be to me what an iPod Touch is to people who don’t want the phone functionality of an iPhone.

I’m all over this the idea of XBL in my pocket though.

^ .02

@McZiggz

How about direct interaction between Windows Phone and an Xbox 360 game? Something that isn’t too lag-sensitive could let you control an X360 game from the phone, or else let you see secondary information such as a map or stats. All you’d need is to be on the same local network.

Also, I’d like to see games that are basically the same and “share” gamerscore: for example, you could have Hexic on the phone count towards the score for the Xbox 360 version and vice versa.

It would be fantastic to be able to add a “comment section” for your friends list- in which you can add their real name. So many times I am playing with someone and can’t for the life of me remember their name. For the windows phone you could add a section on your address book, but this is definitely a feature needed for the xbox.

I like the idea of turn based multiplayer! I have an iPhone tho /-)

Currently I’m an iPhone owner but the UI on this Windows 7 phone is very attractive to me. I love Xbox Live and my 360 so I’m seriously considering trying something new when it comes to a phone. As for features I’d like…I doubt I’d play games in this app but 1 vs 100 is really the only thing I’d like to see. I love my achievements but I’m not sure what I could do to earn achievements on my phone. The GPS idea is nice but I’d feel like most people aren’t going to make it to Paris in their lifetime.

The only feature I wish I had on my phone now is notifications and friends list options. I want to know when the app is closed what friend just got online. I want to be able to open the app and see who is online and what they’re playing (could look like it does on the dashboard and I can swipe to see who’s on). Also, a favorites area of my friends list would be nice. I could sync my xbox live friends with their contact info on my phone and send a mass text/email to these select friends when I want to get a game going online. If they’re online then obviously I could use the message feature on xbox live. Also, I would like a Xbox Live feature where I can update my status and it shows it on Xbox Live next to my Gamertag (not Twitter or FB).

I also wouldn’t mind a tab where it lists only the achievements that I STILL NEED for each game. I do like seeing my achievements but it would be nice to see what ones were left and a short description of it separately. You could even highlight a few where when I click on the achievement on my phone, a short video comes up on how to obtain it. Maybe do a few of those per game for the hidden/difficult achievements.

@Roland: Too bad this’ll never happen as Microsoft has to push their crappy phone OS on people instead of being free and open to all. :/

I’d love for an X-box Live application to come to Android. Too bad it’ll never happen.

@OP: X-box Live isn’t enough for me to consider a window’s phone. It’d be nice if I could play Ikaruga on the go, but that is a pipedream and the only thing that interests me from this announcement.

Personally, not keen. I like my phone, and it’s not a Windows one at the moment. I don’t see why I should have to migrate back to that platform.

Yep, I got suckered onto the iPhone which has OpenFeint, Plus+ and others. I’d be partial if they built in an XBL extension…

…however…

it is just muddying the waters of Gamerscore even more, stretching it out over DLC and more platforms. I much prefer the days when a game was worth 1000GS (200GS for arcade) and that was it. When a game was finished it was finished.

Knowing that working towards a full 1000GS with the “well DLC will put it up to 1250GS for an extra $10 in a months time” leads to just not bothering about it anymore at all.

RT @Ozymandias: RT @Ozymandias: [Blog] Your Thoughts on Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone? http://www.ozymandias.com/your-thoughts-... #WP7 #WP7dev

I would like to see a Live app for the iPhone. I’d like to be able to access my account from work, xbox.com is blocked here, but the web app doesn’t like the iPhone. An app to access our account, manage friends and messages, enter codes, and access the marketplace to add items to our dl que would be nice.

Actual hardware game controls. Capacitive touch screens are only good for a limited amount of genres. I really have to stress that *hardware* game contols are a neccessity if you want to fully leverage your synergy. Which brings me to my next point: just like in game room where we can buy for the 360 and you upsell for a little more $ to also have it on your PC, you should do the same XBLA and XBLIG. Paying a little bit more and have the ability to play on a mobile platform as well FTW. Please please please consider hardware game controls on Windows 7 phone. It’s truly the only way you can share the energy that the 360 has given you.

Firstly, let me navigate the 360 marketplace and queue content to be downloaded to my console.

Secondly, let me add 360 games as favorites and notify me on content updates, news, screenshots, videos, etc…

Thirdly, give access to Inside Xbox videos include archive.

I am excited for it. But will there be a version of xbl for wm classic?

I’d like to be able to enter codes on my phone to add MS points and spend them in the store, all from my phone.

I’d also like to be able to set up notifications of new content appearing on XBL, for example I check out almost all new XBL Arcade games to see if they’re my cup of tea. So a notification that says: “New XBL Arcade Game: is available” then have a single click-type add the trial version to the list of downloads pending on my account would be very convenient for me.

Finally, how about a nice slick UI to set up future gaming sessions? I periodically play Left 4 Dead 2 with some online friends, would be great to be able to say select “L4D2″, “Tonight”, “7PM”, “, ” and it notify them by XBL message, SMS or e-mail depending on their preferences then deal with replies.

I hope these suggestions are useful to you!

I think building XBL exclusively for phones is rather naive. Let’s face facts: Windows Mobile has become the whipping boy of the mobile devices industry. I’m not saying, “don’t try,” but the ROI on this decision doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Your XBLA gamers are a diverse market. If the expectation is that well all run out and get Windows Mobile 7 devices to get XBL Mobile, then you’re way off the mark. It smacks of the decision to make DirectX 11 a Vista exclusive in the expectation that gamers would flock to it from XP; that didn’t work out either.

You need to go where your gamers are. You’ve already lost me as a customer for mobile phones, so limiting XBL Mobile to your devices guarantees you’ll never see a red cent out of me in the mobile gaming market. If you won’t step up and compete on the iPhone and Android devices, you’ll have lost yet another golden opportunity.

That first line should say “exclusively for Windows Phones”.

Chat, party chat, voice message, and text message from the phone to friends on the console or another phone.

Right now I can use XNA to make games for my Zune HD, but there is no official distribution channel for those games. If Microsoft is making a big deal out of putting XBL on these devices and if XNA will extend to Windows Mobile 7 devices ( I believe it will), then I really want to see an equivalent of the Xbox 360′s Indie Games feature on the Zune HD and WM7.

And the ability to queue downloadable content to the console. So you could schedule downloads of demos, videos, etc from the Xbox area of the phone, not just by going to the browser.

That’s sounds great. It would be nice if you could play your arcade games You have purchase on Xbox on the phone too.

A few thoughts:
1. Make WP7 work as a Wifi bridge for the 360, those adapters are waaaay expensive.
2. Realtime asymmetrical multiplayer – e.g. player 1 plays FPS on 360, player 2 guides NPC’s via RPG/RTS on the phone.
2.b. Alternatively as a versus scenario, player 1 plays RPG on 360, player 2 plays “Dungeon Keeper” on WP7

I’d like to be able of playing my Xbox live arcade games on it or at least I’d like to see games with a huge quality and not a terrible tetris game!!!

While I’d like “realistic” applications for the Xbox Live service such as comparing games, communication with your Live Friends (text based messages and/or voice messages and/or live voice chat), I’d also like to expand on this into using the phone as an additional controller or info screen.

Like some years ago, the Gameboy Advance being used on the GameCube in Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles:
Four players played locally on the TV screen, each with a GBA as a controller. One player had a map of the level on his GBA screen with treasure locations. The other player had a map with enemy locations etc, and each player could manage his inventory on the GBA while the others could continue playing on the TV screen uninterrupted.

Also access to the Live Marketplace would be nice. I’m on vacation, and no internet cafe in sight. On the phone I read about a cool “Deal of the Week”, and could buy this right there on the phone and let the console download the game later.

As a whole, the OS looks pretty nice, and mobile Xbox Live is awesome. I wish it weren’t just cellphone games with achievements tagged on, instead being a proper portable video game console, but I’d hope the platform will evolve in the future.

That being said, where’s the Mac love? Mobile achievements have me frothing at the mouth, but there’s no way in hell I’m switching to a PC to get some additional gamerscore (or installing Windows under bootcamp and migrating all my media over, for that matter). As long as the Mac support is absent, I won’t so much as try a Windows Phone – there’s no point as long as it’s not possible for me to use one.

I’d like to see account information access, to the degree where I could edit my e-mail, address, etc. As well as be able to re-up my XBL gold account. I’m sure most people would just do it all on the Xbox like they always have, but I’m the type of person where I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it…and I’m sure there are those who would agree

Some things I think you guys probably are already doing or thinking of doing:

Be able to see your friends and their current status.
Would our status be considered ‘mobile online’ compared to online when on the xbox?
Be able to send and receive messages to our friends – be it text, audio, or video.
Be able to chat with a friend or xbox player.
Be able to be in a party.
Zune party.
Be able to compare games, achievements, leaderboards.
Be able to purchase from the game marketplace.
Be able to purchase avatar items as well as alter your avatar.

The ability to communicate with Xbox contacts via messages (being able to send messages and check your Live mailbox) would be great.

Location is certainly an interesting aspect of the mobile world today… just look at FourSquare, and other location-based apps. Riff on this a bit more – what interesting games or entertainment scenarios can you guys think of that utilize location?

I am thrilled at the new WP7 platform. I have been waiting for a reason to replace my aged HTC Tilt and the all the features of the new platform are spectacular. Since the announcement of LIVE Anywhere waaaay back when, I had been waiting for this idea to come to fruition – I think WP7 /w LIVE access will be awesome. Game and keep up with friends, all on the go. I like that LIVE is an integral component of the WP7 experience. I don’t believe, with the varying capabilities of other devices, that a LIVE app would maintain the high level of features and experience that it would as a component of a WP7 device. Having tight reins on where the experience is available, gives the ability to maintain a high quality experience. Kudos to the WP7 team, I can’t wait. My current plan is purchasing devices for myself and my wife at launch – just waiting to see what WP7 offerings HTC will have.

@Roland: why Java? Are you aiming at portability here? Or are you really asking for availability for your hypothetical app across other, non-Microsoft devices?

@Kevin: what do you imagine when you say Xbox LIVE should be crossplatform? What would you as a developer really want to see?

So far what i have seen the XBL and Window Phone 7 Series looks amazing! The UI looks very intuitive, brings thing together into logical groups. Look forward to seeing if any carriers pick it up in Canada. I was looking for a new phone this year, i think i’ll wait for Windows Phone 7 Series.

Phones are great, xbox live mobile is great. But what about those of us who can’t get a WP7S device.

Personally i’m an android fan. I’ll most likely never buy a phone again if it doesn’t have android. That and T-Mobile has great service and plans for me and android.

Even if microsoft was able to sell it to be used data only, the phone will probably cost $400+ along with the $30 data plan. Bit unacceptable to me.

I think microsoft should go after the DS and the PSP. Make a unit that takes out the phone parts, and turns into a true portable xbox. This UI is pretty awesome, and the Zune support is great as well. But many people won’t really care to get a new phone just for xbox mobile.

So my advice to microsoft is for next years E3, have an xbox portable unit ready for the sub $200 range. (preferably around $160 or lower) and give the rest of us a way to get xbox mobile.

Also, if you guys really want that portable xbox to sell, make it so we can transfer and play all of our arcade/indie games on it. Guaranteed seller right there if you do that. I know me and everyone of my friends would buy it if we could take our arcade games on the go.

Now is the time to implement Live wide functionality for cloud based screenshot and video clip storage. You could view your own and your friends screenshots/movies from the phone, pc, or tv. The videos would be viewed via Silverlight.

Perhaps, Live could also offer a platform for spectator modes in games where people can view games in progress from pc, tv, or phone. This of course would be difficult to handle as either the fully rendered images would need to be transferred or the game data would be transferred and the receiving device would need the game engine to render it.

Bring it to the Zune HD!

User generated scavenger hunts would be pretty neat. There would need to be ones for a wide variety of locations so that people are not completely left out. Set up a system where consumers could easily tag a location on a map and assign clues. A “hunt” would consist of a series of these clues. There would need to be a repository for people to search for “hunts” in their area. There would also need to be an incentive or reward to get players to participate. Perhaps you could tie MS points to the “hunt” and define a number for the first X number of people to finish the hunt get the points. MS could sanction special “hunts” that have cool prizes and such. Perhaps leading to a special event location that MS is putting on. A little bit of marketing, mixed with people having fun.

And by video clip, I mean ones ripped from games and stored straight to the cloud. I don’t mean creating another YouTube where any clip can be uploaded.

To see what friends are currently on or not. To control what demos I download to the xbox. Hey, if Xbox has wake-on-LAN capability, why not use the phone to turn it on before you get downstairs…I am impatient and don’t like waiting for the power cycle .

Notifications when friends log and out of Xbox live would be cool. That way I could think about stopping what I am doing and join them for a play session.

Being a recent purchaser of a Zune HD, of course anything that comes up for WinMo 7, I’d like to see on the Zune as well.

The biggest obstacle I have to upgrading my phone is the cost of data plans, though. I currently don’t have any plans on getting any smartphone, be it WinMo, iPhone, Blackberry, or Android, if adding data doubles my monthly cell phone bill (which it would; I pay less than $30/mo/line for my wife and I for what we use).

So it’s hard for me to say what I’d like to see, considering I won’t be able to participate (unless it comes to the Zune HD).

A definite wish is being able to buy content once and play it anywhere, though. The promise of the upcoming Game Room, where you can buy an arcade game that you can play on the 360 and PC, is a step in the right direction. More of that = good.

I want the Xbox Live app to come to the Zune HD. If its already done why not release it now?

Also please make a Zune HD phone. Just tweak the case to make it a phone. Im not so into the current device.

Open the app store to anyone. What the heck is wrong with you guys keeping it at a 1 on 1? Do you like losing to Apple? Seems like it.

i’d like to see the ability to add stuff to the xbox 360 download list

Will the windows 7 phone be on verizon? Also this is sick live ona phone!

Let’s see.. I suppose if it did this stuff I would have to take a serious look:

1. An amazing handset with a flawless, responsive touchscreen
2. Have Zune Marketplace support for Canada (actually, will windows 7 phones be sold outside of the US?)
3. Allow any developer to publish to an official and/or unofficial marketplace without approval, like Android or the Nokia N90 stuff
4. Sync media from *and* to my iTunes library, without trying to make me use Windows Media Player (i don’t like either app very much, but the iTunes UI is the least offensive)
5. Extensions and/or user-replacements for the core applications. For example, I saw a video of someone doing a “send a quick message” on win7phone that let them set their status on Windows Live and Facebook, but not Twitter..

1 vs 100 would b awesome. awesome games that are better than scrabble would be nice, like the psp has awesome games or even the ds has good games that should implemented into this phone. i love the idea of this phone but i cant wait for 10 years in the future when i can play halo at the airport.

It can’t get here quick enough. I will be trading in my current phone as soon as the first Windows 7 phone is released!!

I am curious what the achievement structure will be for the WP7/LIVE games. Will they follow the existing XBLA model (12ach/200gs) or will a model unique to the WP7 platform be used?

I know what I want and I’m sure 99% here would want, is an accessory (the likes of an Xbox 360 controller) that the WP7S (that name needs to be changed) snaps into that gives you real physical gaming controls instead of touchscreen buttons and controls. I am so over having finger’s in the way playing games (see pic http://tinyurl.com/yfwagah) and not having the feeling of real buttons.

There are tons of games on the iPhone I would have bought if there was an accessory the likes of an Xbox 360 controller that the iPhone snapped on to. Make it happen Microsoft and it will be Game Over for the competition.

I like the idea of mike_w regarding video clipping – very nice.

@Matt: we did announce that Verizon would be adding Windows Phone 7 Series devices to their portfolio. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/feb10/02-15MWC10PR.mspx

Since it has a mic, I’d like to be able to send and receive xbox live messages (voice and text). Access to marketplace and being able to edit your avatar on the go would also be a plus.

That said, I’m really excited about what has already been announced and I can’t wait to hear more.

I like where this is headed but would like to know what type of games is coming to the phone and would they be the same games that are on XBL and PC like Game Room compatibility? Also will there be a box marketplace? to buy Avatar clothing, games, and videos? I would also like to know if I am able to send and receive Xbox Live messages from my friends. Lastly it would be cool at some point to be able to use my phone to some how talk to my friends on Xbox. Like while they are on a party chat I can still talk to them via my phone.

And like many other people will we see some form of this on Zune HD.

I’m still waiting for a good XBL iphone app.

Honestly, the service was presented as “Live Anywhere” in 2006 and I was soooo excited because I’ve used a PDA with Windows Mobile at that time. Finally the service it found it’s way to Windows Mobile 7 but over the years I did not hear any comment of Microsoft about it why this is no big deal any more.

There are tons of apps for the iPhone and Android already which have the functionality which is mentioned above. Furthermore Windows Mobile Phones and Zune players do not have a critical mass in Europe (on some markets not even available) why this service is moribund for this market.

Maybe interessting for the XBOX Live fellows in Northern America and definetely a good news for all XNA developers.

Bring this to the iPhone and (among many others) will be all over it.

However there is no Windows phone in my future.

Not so much wanting the phone for gaming, but I think it’s a great opportunity to boost the not-often-used messaging options (video/voice/text) between XBL gamers. I think MS could really make that a useful feature — and if there’s some way (either on the phone or via the Xbox) to post or share your XBL pics, videos and clips to your Facebook or Twitterpic — or to a social profile created on XBL (like a more gaming-oriented Zune Card)? — then that would be a real achievement for integration.

I’m assuming the Xbox marketplace is going to be enabled? So I can queue up new XBL content for download, add pts, etc.? This assumes too that XBL is going to push update notifications to me regarding the games I’m got in my Played Games history?

As a Zune owner, I’m happy that my Pass subscription should carry over to the phone. And the HD’s UI is brilliant, so I’m thrilled to see a modified version take over the face of my phone. Whomever designed that interface should be the recipient of a very large promotion.

I’m looking forward to a tie-in game like Fable Pub Games did with Fable 2. Some WP7 game that you can play on the go that will help you in a bigger game on your home console.

Please don’t limit these features to Windows phone. Some of us prefer to buy each of our devices on their own merits, and not just all from the same company. Just because I prefer to use say an iPhone for my phone doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t like to be able to manage my Xbox Live while away from my 360.

I would like to see marketplace in a smaler scale, so I can put things on my download list. And send messages pluss get some kind of notification when you recive a message on xbox live. Can’t wait to get me a phone with windows phone 7 os!

I think it is going to be a great idea.

Please don’t take offence:
As long as you guys make the accounts work smoothly with each other.
Allow a one time Gold account purchase on Xbox360 or others, be automatically Gold account on all the other connected devices of course.
Please don’t be the lazy bum zune devs “no offence guys but your just stalling for that paycheck” & actually release apps/games/programs quickly, not 6 months for one sad Facebook app, that is truly just pathetic.
Allow 3rd party apps/programing.
& Please!! Please don’t do another ZUNEHD launch move, Please would you launch the device in Canada I seriously don’t understand why the Zune team can say launching in Canada is not a good business plan for the first year or two “thats what they told me”.

I really want to point out the fact that every partner you showed at MWC is pretty much every country other then Canada, no we don’t have AT&T or Sprint or T-Mobile, we got Rogers.ca but they always take a while to move from the usa to Canada. So please partner with one up here, use Bell the fasted fiber optic, cellular network in Canada they helped host the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

I really really want a reason to replace my Sonyw580i & say no I don’t want an iPhone I want a 7 Series, I can’t do that if you make us wait 1 year after launch for it to slowly crawl over the boarder.we got like 2 WMP us here I have only ever seen 2 or 3 in a store “futureshop/bestbuy”, not sure why, I’d really like that to change though.

Oh and could you pretty please make the 3rd chassis like a Sony Ericsson w580i, I want a vertical slider, but not massive in size, i want it to hide in my pocket not fill it with no more space like those bulky HD2′s & iphones. I want a cell phone not a TV remote in my pocket.

Okay I’m done talking for now, please don’t take offence, and please try and launch 7series in Canada around the same time as the rest of the world is getting it.

Would like to see small tie-in type games on it, akin to the Sega Dreamcast’s VDU piece. Nothing required, but still a cool feature.

Be able to watch all the videos I’ve bought off of live on the device as well.

1 vs. 100 would also be awesome on the device, even more games if MS has any other ones planned. Would be easier to participate while going about the house or such.

Share netflix video, like through xbox so me and friends can watch the same video.

@Ozymandias Will we be able to dev on WP7 hardware (maybe HTC HD2?) b4 WP7 is generally available? Hard to test a game in an emulator!

Hi the only reason I am not going to grt this phone because I can not pull my xbox live account because I forgot my live I’d password I wish they add a different way to pull account like credit card number or somthing if I can get my xbox live I’d in that phone I buy 2 of them thanks

It absolutely needs the ability to see which of your frinds are online while you are at it beat the folks who are responsible for th GFWL client for the same thing.

@Tommy: Funnily enough, I feel the same way…

@UberToast: I don’t think we’re going to be breaking what’s obviously a pretty good model… think you’ll be happy.

So what do you want to see in an Xbox LIVE iPhone application? Are you talking about games on the iPhone that connect to Xbox LIVE? Or a companion application that lets you access your friends, content, etc? Or something else?

@Bazfum: Similar to my earlier comment – what does “manage my Xbox LIVE while away from my 360″ mean to you?

@Jeffrey: No offense taken. It’s great to hear your interest… and I’ll pass along the strong Canada interest. if it’s any consolation I’m Canadian by birth myself – Toronto.

I like the sound of live on mobile but don’t like the windows 7 mobile OS. I would love to see live on Android, that would be so cool. The ability to check your gamertag, chat to ppl on live, play specially created phone live games on a android phone against users of windows 7 phones.

Seamless integration of Xbox live features between Xbox 360 and window 7 phones…Party Chat, Text and Voice Messages, Zune video and music purchases.

Imagine that you turn on your window 7 phone and sign into the Live service. You see that your friends are online playing a game. Send them an invite to an Xbox live party chat. Your friends join in on their Xbox headsets and you talk to them on your phone. When you login to your Xbox, the party chat continues on your Xbox 360 headset and you can join their game.

I would love to be able to play 1vs100 on a Window 7 phone while my friends are playing on there Xboxes.

Allow user customization of the information they want on their mobile device.

The current incarnation of LIVE has about 6 useful panels of stuff I use regularly with another two dozen plus panels and even entire blades that I could really care less about. If it was customizable, I’d remove over half of the choices so that I could a) reduce the click-count I have to go through get to useful panels and b) minimize the information to noise ratio.

I could understand if Silver (i.e. free) forced me to have an ad-filled UI, but with gold? Not a fan. At all.

So what does this have to do with mobile? You guys are entering a space that Apple controls the mindshare of with a very clean presentation and simple UI. Yes, it does not let me do things I’d like (folders, seriously), but it wins in many other ways. In non-tech ways. Sure, your phone will likely offer complete access to the memory and all other kinds of “techy” things that will appeal to only a fraction of the users you’re after. The masses you want that will push your device don’t care as much about that as a good and easy to navigate user experience.

So if you take anything from LIVE, take the idea of it (friends & achievements) in a boiled down state, but not the presentation of LIVE and manners of accessing it. A touchscreen immediately makes people think that the blades / panel UI scheme would work well, and yeah, cover flow proves that it can work, with emphasis on can, not does. If the current amount of fluff panels was implemented on a mobile I’d love to see my roaming data charges for downloading pages of marketing videos, ads, and other fluff on my phone. No, I’d really not love that, actually.

Yes, I’m being overly pessimistic, but I’m spoiled by Apple’s device and annoyed by LIVE’s control of information, especially for paid users. Consider me a naysayer… for now.

Also, having free development tools and a consolidated and secure store environment is a huge plus for Apple. That’s not something I’ve ever seen MS offer. Maybe that’ll change with the MS phone?

@Adam: Lots of good thoughts… and of course, you hit on a bunch of stuff I can’t talk about. Good work.

I will say that I think the next few weeks will be interesting to you… and that dinner offer is still open.

@Tony: I rather think the GFWL folks are a bit tired of me beating on them… seriously. But will definitely pass along the feedback!

Xbox integration with WP7. What I want is simple:

* Some very nice online multiplayer games are already available when WP7 phone is released.

Not just tech demo or trailers NOW, but never (not yet) materialized on time when the consumer has WP7 phone.

That would be certainly a let down.

Btw, you mentioned turn-based multiplayer game, does it mean that MMORPG games like “Ragnarok Online” is NOT possible? Because that would be awesome, MMORPG games on the phone. I imagine some kind of “WoW” would be possible

@Gordon: You will see games at launch. I have no doubt of that – lots of great interest (and action) from partners!

MMORPG games are certainly possible – all it takes is the right partner with the right idea… but the platform can absolutely support it. Time and space… time and space.

I do love that Live will finally be on a mobile device. However, limiting it to what will be a very small minority of mobiles, of witch very few will be available in Australasia is kinda sad. So no portable Live for me.

Hi all

An other good reason to put off getting a new phone, I had a WinMob 6.1 phone (idiot/friend dad the idea that putting it under her car was a good place to keep it safe, then she ran over it. Funny now, but not then) I am using a LG viewty in the mean time, that’s just say it is a bit of a downgrade.

So roll on the 7 Series, there are some good ideas posted here, hope some of them make it in.

@adamUCF Hey Adam – we have no announcements to make yet about dev hardware for WP7. Stay tuned and follow @wp7dev for more info…. #WP7

Good to see you are asking our opinion!

Xbox live button: number of friends on line not including messenger. No avatar.

Inside app first page:
list/button of friends showing the total.
Below that a list/button of things new in marketplace (mobile only) showing the total.
Below that a list/button of things new in marketplace (xbox 360 only)showing the total.
Obviously there could be other lists/buttons but this is the upfront information I would like to see without a swipe.

Ability to use the phone as a optional keypad for weapon selection or as a hud

Customization is definitely something you need all alerts, menu positions and messages should be able to be altered (I understand turning off is probably not a option for menu items because of branding but changing order would be good). I would also suggest the ability to trim down download intensity as some places around the world you still pay by the MB no GB.

@Lyndon: I’ll just point out that as we launched Xbox LIVE for Xbox we had similar conversations with folks like you. And although we can’t do everything right off the bat, we certainly can prioritize based on the interest we hear. I would not be at all surprised to see a lot of these ideas eventually come to be over time. One of my favorite (and probably overused) phrases is simply “time and space” – give us a bit of that, and I think we’ll for for WP7 similar grand things as we did for Xbox LIVE over the last seven years.

@Ozymandias I put a comment on yesterday with 3 suggestions but it looks like it didn’t make it through moderation

RT @Ozymandias: Great Q&A/feedback on what you want from #XboxLIVE on #WP7. Dev team reading – bring it on! (w/thanks!) http://www.anysurfer.be …

@Ozymandias Alas, I was about the 5th comment and I remember the ones above me. No matter, I’ll repost them tonight!

@Ozymandias Urg, no ignore me… failure to comprehend website strikes – you got ‘em

Ozy, one more question:

Do we really need to have an Xbox to be able to use / enjoy the WP7 Xbox hub?

What if the multiplayer game is hosted on Xbox live? Do we need to have Xbox Live account, meaning we must own an Xbox to have that account.

I would love an iPhone app that lets me browse the equivalent of the dashboard. Let me see friends, send messages, view/compare achievements, view leaderboards, browse/queue up/buy marketplace content, check my purchase history.

Obviously I’d love proper Live-integration in games as well. While there are things like OpenFeint (which work really well), it would be great to have actual Live functionality with achievements and everything on platforms other than Windows Phone 7 series (can’t see myself moving to the platform, sorry).

Great Q&A/feedback on what you want from #XboxLIVE on #WP7. Dev team reading – bring it on! (w/thanks!) http://www.ozymandias.com/your-thoughts-... #WP7dev

@andy_brodie Can you check again? Be sure to click on the “older/newer” comments link at bottom… all non-SPAM comments should be there.

@andy_brodie Great – glad to hear we got your comments! Thanks for taking the time!

Are we going to see a further evolution to the New Xbox experience to closer match the hubs in the Metro interface?

It would be nice if there was some commonality in layout/functionality between screens.

I’d like to see integration over XBOX LIVE to the Microsoft Surface platform. The way I see this working is as follows:

1) Each phone has a unique MS Tag

2) When a XBOX Live/WP7 game session is started, the player logs in by starting the game on the Surface table and their XBOX Live app on the WP7

3) The XBL app shows the MS Tag, and the player sets their phone face down on the Surface table. The Surface reads both the MS Tag and the shape of the phone. The user is now connected to the game running on the surface, and the phone auto-downloads whatever app is needed to connect to the game and display information

4) The user is prompted to flip their phone over to see the screen; the Surface table can keep track of the phone’s location by it’s shape.

5) Through the XBOX Live connection, the Surface game can send the W7 Phone any needed information. For example, a character bio sheet for a D&D like game, a control surface/location marker for an RTS, or a way to show “something else” over what is being diplayed on the surface table (i.e. the table is showing a sattelite image, the phone is showing an infa-red image of whereever the phone is).

Here’s what I’d like to see in an Xbox Live app (or hub, or whatever)

1. NXE-type interface – I do realize the current screenshot is based in the hub system (which is pretty much NXE, but in a different way), but it would be nice if both were consistent, whether it’s the Xbox that gets the Metro UI or at least only the Xbox Live on mobile getting the NXE (though I’m guessing it’s not likely at the moment)
2. WP7S version of at least popular Xbox games – Hopefully, game developers can jump onto the WP7S bandwagon, so we can have multiplayer games everywhere (it’s kinda my dream to see MS connect gaming everywhere, via Xbox, PC, Zune, Web, Mobile, etc.)
3. Each game has a similar ‘hub’ UI – Until MIX10 happens, I have no clue how app development will work. I’m hoping though, that each game will utilize the hub system, similar to the ‘artist pages’ work on the Zune HD (like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trokair/3960226424/in/set-72157622342746357/ ). Instead of panels for songs, albums, bio, and other stuff for each artists, you’ll have panels for play, about, leaderboard, store (for in-game extras & purchases), settings and more for each game. “Play” could allow you to launch your game with a screenshot of where you stopped, your current stats, or a new game. About can do what the Zune HD does for each app, listing what category it’s in, version, publisher, brief description, and such. I could go on and on, but couldn’t you envision how each game can do the hub/panel approach that Metro is based on?
4. Xbox Live Marketplace and game trials – Would be convenient to able to download from your phone instead of having to download on the desktop software, and sync. Trials ranging from an hour to a whole day would be nice if game developers allowed their content for certain trial time restrictions to entice people to buy it. Also, you can have FULL access to the catalog, and pre-buy stuff to download onto your Xbox once you get home and turn it on (like Live Mesh?).
5. Xbox Live Chat and Party support – Would be nice to use the phone’s voice/text/video features to be extended to Xbox Live (and Windows Live!) users. Hopefully you can still have a ‘Party’ and just watch on your mobile device.

Anyway, the sky is the limit to how much Xbox integration can go into a mobile app/hub. I hope Microsoft really does work hard on the Xbox aspect of WP7S, because it’s a MAJOR advantage Microsoft has over the other smartphone platforms, where a popular video console system can connect to a potentially popular mobile version of it.

I’ll keep this short.

Most important feature of XBox Live/Windows Phone integration would be alerts when your friends are online.

With ability to set “do not disturb” times.

As a bonus with ability to only alert for a particular game.

Thanks for considering.

RT @Ozymandias: Lots of new followers – welcome all! Quick heads-up, looking for feedback on #XboxLIVE on #WP7 – dev team reading. http: …

It’s been announced that WP7 will only support asynchronous (turn-based) games over XBox Live. However, for years, it’s been possible on the Zunes to have live, synchronous implementations (such as in the Pong demos) using XNA over a local network. Will that support still be possible? I’d really like to see realtime synchronous support in games over local WiFi in WP7 (phone to phone, especially).

I’m very interested to see some RPGs, RTSs, and some classic games come to the X-Box on Windows Phone 7. Games like Civilization, Age of Empires, Final Fantasy, Fable, and even Pac-man and the like would be great to fill out a game catalog.

RT @Ozymandias: Lots of new followers – welcome all! Quick heads-up, looking for feedback on #XboxLIVE on #WP7 – dev team reading. http: …

Lots of new followers – welcome all! Quick heads-up, looking for feedback on #XboxLIVE on #WP7 – dev team reading. http://www.ozymandias.com/your-thoughts-...

Hey Ozy,

Just saw the application screen and was wondering if that was configurable because I don’t think a straight up and down single file list would suit the amount of apps that I would use.
Would it be possible to give a few options like:
- Hexagon list like 6.5
- list like contacts list (ie filter by letter).
- a user creatable folder view (work,drawing,fitness,etc)
It would be cool if these could be turned on and off in combinations. For example I would probably do hexagon but have folders.

This is everything I suggested Zune should have years ago!!

Dont forget a unified custom soundtrack interface like iphone has!

Oh, make sure there is some interface to use PC controllers. Be it bluetooth or 360′s wireless thingie

“NXE-type interface”

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Or even have the 360 wireless dongle built into a TVout dock
This would mean a required port on every device, which unifying it now would be very smart and beneficial. Use ZuneHD’s port for example.

Letting us plug the device into a 360, and have it show up as a destination for games/music/videos/downloads (you’ll have to actually enable copying stuff off the 360). Have the 360 be able to play games straight off the device.

@Vando: Looks like you were right about XNA.

All of the previous suggestions are great. I thought of a cool perk for WP7S owners who also have Live Gold accounts. You know how your Avatar can have accessories (the Modern Warfare 2 UAV would be a good example)? Allow the avatar to have a WP7S device to signify ownership. Maybe cheesy, I know, but could be a neat little differentiating perk for those that actually bought a device.

I would like to see the phone work as a remote control with the xbox. There is nothing more annoying for my wife then navigating movies on netflix with a controller. You could add some functions to the remote control app like checking what your friends are playing without interrupting your movie as well as add movies to your instant que in netflix.

There’s no denying the tie-in of Live with the Windows phone software makes sense from a business perspective (another “feature” to bullet-point on the box). But as a consumer, the ability to play a-synchronous games and see my avatar will not get me to buy a Windows phone over, say, an Android one.

At the same time, a cross-platform application (I said Java as it ought to work on most mobile devices, but then again, I’m no programmer) doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense for Microsoft. Unless of course they want to offer it as a Gold subscriber perk (oh look a new bullet point) and make it functional but not as awesome as the same things are on a Windows phone…

I can’t help but think that this Windows phone stuff is the real reason why the mobile version xbox.com is such a joke.

[...] had a lot of great responses to my “Your Thoughts on Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone” post – well worth reading if you haven’t already. That said, over the last few months I’ve [...]

do you appear online to your xbox live friends when you are signed in on your windows phone