Wednesday, 25 November 2009 06:00
With Facebook recently arriving on the rival PlayStation 3 console, Microsoft was keen to point out the other services the Autumn Xbox Live Update added to Xbox Live dashboard. One was Internet radio site Last.fm. According to Microsoft, about 1 million XBL Gold subscribers have created new profiles for the service, which selects streaming programming based on a user's favorite bands. The company said over 120 million minutes have been streamed thus far, with an average listening session of about 40 minutes.
Finally, Microsoft said the past week saw some 1.7 million Gold and Silver XBL subscribers visit Xbox Live's video marketplace. The store, which is now branded after Microsoft's Zune multimedia player, offers films in both 1080p high definition and standard definition. (Previously, HD videos were only 720p, and not all HD videos will be offered in 1080p.) Selected HD and SD videos are now available for both download and via "instant-on" streaming similar to that of Netflix. However, streaming instant-on HD video will require a 4mbps broadband connection and a HDCP-compliant 1080p display connected to the 360 with an HDMI cable.