Microsoft unveiled some new information on its Xbox console during the company’s CES 2010 keynote. For gamers that love the classics, the Xbox Live Game Room feature sounds like a great addition. Microsoft marketer Major Nelson described it in his blog:
Later this Spring, ‘Game Room’ will come to Xbox Live. This is a destination for the classic arcade games. You can buy once and play on both your Xbox 360 and Windows PC. A new game will be released every week. You’ll be able to invite friends through Xbox Live and share your custom arcade and show off your personal collection.
In news that’s incredibly exciting for only a portion of Xbox 360 owners, the company announced that connectivity with AT&T’s U-Verse is on the way. For those of you not familiar with U-Verse, it’s an AT&T television offering that competes with cable and satellite. Gamers will be able to use the Xbox 360 systems as set-top boxes that can control and record U-Verse programming.
From what I’ve heard, AT&T provides fairly capable boxes for U-Verse customers; supposedly they’re on par with TiVo and way better than what most cable operators provide. With that in mind, I’m not sure what the point is. Sure, you’d have one less box in the living room, but it also adds more stress your Xbox 360. While reliability has improved, I don’t know about adding more to my 360’s workload.
Let me know what you think of Game Room and U-Verse connectivity for Xbox 360 (please)!
U-Verse sound cool. A friend of mine in Florida uses it so I should probably tell him about this next time he is on.
UVerse is bad if you like to play games. The latency is not gamer friendly. Pass
It seems like this is a good thing if you have the U-verse but i don't. My friend does but he doesn't have a 360 but can you view tv programming or can you just set up your recordings? It seems like if it can stream tv programming that it should be a big plus especially if you're "leasing" the equipment from at&t. You can save yourself a little bit of money and save your programs to your 360. If you can just setup your recordings through it then its more like, eh. I'm sure there are smartphone apps for that or you can do it online. do you really need a 360 to do it as well.
@Smartguy You should note that U-Verse Internet service and U-Verse television service are separate. I'd gladly take U-Verse over the cable companies I've had in the last decade — Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner.
UVerse Internet still has the latency issues since there is a simultaneous HD feed in the lines. I hate Charter, but their Internet offers me lower latency than strictly data uverse.
AT&T seems concerned with delivering tv with the service and not an improved Internet experience. Hence the 3 Meg or 1.5 Meg offerings.
U-Verse arrived down here in South Florida a few months ago and I am curious about it. Unfortunately, they do not yet cover my area… they do cover my parent's house, though. Maybe I should get them to switch and use them as my guinea pigs. They currently have Comcast.
-M
@Smartguy Yes, but that's a different discussion. Some people reading this might not be aware that U-Verse has Internet and television offerings. The Internet service has nothing to do with the product being discussed in the article. I don't want anyone to be confused.
With added HDD space the U-verse could really be a good idea. Maybe one day I'll have only one piece of equipment sitting below my TV. Ha!
One thing I would like to see corrected is the issue of Lag between Audio and Video on HD channels for cable companies, I've had both Dish Network, and Comcast and experienced the issue. Even with new receivers and new TVs it can't seem to be fixed.
@smartguy
I agree at&t, keeps trying to get you to bundle your tv service while their internet is subpar. Comcast may be horrible with customer service and prices but their internet service hasn't let me down. It's funny that Rpad mentions that at&t is trying to compete with satellite services, yet if u-verse isn't available in your area they referred you to a dish provider.
@Ray
their data and tv are on the same pipe. I think I understand where you are coming from but I know first hand that the uverse Internet is subpar. We'll discuss at another time if you want.
@tokz_21 Satellite still require another service for uplink communication, does it not? In those cases, AT&T would be banking on customers using a phone or DSL line for the uplink. Either way, U-Verse is definitely a competitor to satellite.
@Smartguy No, no. I don't mind the discussion. I just wanted it clarified so everyone can understand. U-Verse is relatively new and limited, so a lot of people don't know about it.
@Shockwave – as long as the cable system has been upgraded, the only lag you should see TV wise would be if you had two boxes at once, and in that case the program would appear in order of the least technical box (standard, HD, and then DVR). There shouldn't be any other lag at all.
Larcenous, yes, that is an issue at times but I was referring more to the Audio/Video not matching up on HD channels
@Rpad
I don't think you need internet or a phone line for satellite communications. Isn't that what the dish is for? Cable gets their feed from a centralized area where the Nodes are located that pass the transmissions all through coaxial cable but with satellite services the coaxial cable from your home or apt is connected to the satellite and that satellite is pointing the where direct tv or dish is transmitting their feed from. isn't that correct?
I wish Comcast would give me 1.5mb and all of the HD channels all the time, I'd be happy. If U-Verse comes to Memphis, I'm switching providers.
@sandrock
I agree. i would be happy with 1.5mbs over the 6.0 mbs i pay for now, if the prices were more consumer friendly.
@tokz_21
I pay for 6-12mb and get >1mb and my HD channels aren't there half the time either. Sorry Comcast, but that isn't worth ~$200 a month.
@sandrock
yeah big time issues with service, either the lines or the equipment but the "techs" they send out are competent enough to get it fixed. My HD DVR gets all the channels but some are scrambled. My box is old so i may just need to get a new one. I'm just too lazy to wait in line.
@tokz_21
It is the line under my yard. The techs are smart enough to tell me that, but they can't fix it and the ones who are supposed to fix it never show up or don't fix it.
@Comcast – no issues with my HD DVR but the DVR in the bedroom is the worst, sometimes channels won't show up or if I hit a button on the remote it pretends like i hit another button. I never know what the "replay" button is going to do. sometimes it goes back 1 minute, 5, or other times it goes forward… I think we just need a new box for that room.
My biggest gripe with comcast is the lack of HD programming and the pitiful HDD space on the DVRs
Out of the three cable companies I used in the last decade, Comcast was the best, but the DVR was a joke compared to TiVo.
@sandrock
Hahaha. I meant they aren't competent not they are. just like you said they know what's wrong and how to fix it. Whether they are going to do it or know how do it is another thing. I feel for you. I'm glad that my line comes from the utility pole.
@Shockwave – I would get a new box and a new remote for the room. You should just be able to change them out. Most of the time, the DVRs tend to be a little button laggy, but that's a manufacturer fault rather then a programming fault. Try replacing the batteries in the remote if you haven't done that yet as well, you'd be surprised at how many issues that fixes with responsiveness.
thanks larcenous – since my girlfriend works for comcast and we practically get everything for free I'm not really complaining much. plus, On Demand is sweet, especially for people who prefer movies over TV like us
Here here raymond, maybe I should just get a Tivo and use it with comcast…. wait, is that possible?
@Shockwave562 The downside to TiVo HD is that it uses cable cards, so you can't use On Demand or PPV (unless a new model came out that I'm not aware of). I love On Demand and boxing requires PPV.
@Ray – ya unfortunately I couldn't give up on demand myself. supposedly the Comcast DVR is supposed to use Tivo Software one day. but it seems like comcast has been talking about it for 3 years now
@satellite
No, you do not need a separate uplink anymore for satellite internet. They are two way transmitters now which is why they have to be installed by someone who is licensed to do so.
@UVerse and Sandrock
ATT will rob you blind for a paltry connection and a sparse HD lineup on their lowest tier. UVerse will be at least $120 per month in addition to the $150-200 installation charge. What I was talking about with Ray earlier is that UVerse at its core is a tv service from ATT. They are able to give you 12meg (they advertise 18 but you need to live on the VRAD) which shares the pipe with their HD feed. This creates a lot of latency since each HD station is using about 5mhz of bandwidth per channel.
A friend of mine down the street couldn't get DSL, but ATT would sell him UVerse. He dropped DISH network and went with UVerse. He wound up calling Charter for internet and getting DISH back simply because the UVerse internet was poor for his gaming habit.
As far as their HDTV quality is concerned…it's comparable to FiOS tv, but not superior. Their any room DVR is a nice touch.
I'm going to have to look more into this soon because I will have uverse next school year in my new apartment (tentatively). So I'm a little more interested in it now. However, nothing compares to verizons cable service. Verizon fios is superior to any other cable offering I have seen anywhere. I wish this was more widely available, because if it were I would encourage everyone I know to switch to fios (who am I kidding I already do).