Windows Live Messenger Comes to Xbox LIVE

[Peench]

May 8, 2007

Windows Live Messenger Comes to Xbox LIVE, Uniting Friends and Families on the TV, PC and Mobile Phone

Starting tomorrow (May 9, 2007) more than 6 million members of Xbox LIVE can instant message with people on PCs and mobile phones, one of the hundreds of enhancements coming with the Xbox 360 Spring Update

Beginning May 9th, Xbox LIVE, the most interactive gaming and social network available, is once again expanding with the arrival of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360. This new feature, available as part of the Xbox 360 Spring Update, will connect people across Xbox 360 consoles, Windows PCs and Windows Mobile devices. Xbox LIVE members will be able to socialize with people on their unified friends list, including their contacts from the more than 260 million Windows Live Messengers across the world. With Instant Messenger, Xbox LIVE members will have the ability to:

· Chat via instant messenger with up to 20 contacts in a single conversation, and have up to six different conversations at the same time with people on PCs, mobile phones and other Xbox 360 consoles.

· Instant message while playing games, listening to music or watching movies or TV shows downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

· View at a glance if friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags and add them to a unified friends list.

· Utilize the virtual keyboard on the Xbox 360 to text chat or connect a USB keyboard to the console. Launching later this summer, the Xbox 360 text-input device accessory will connect directly to the controller to support instant messaging.

In addition to the availability of Instant Messenger on Xbox LIVE, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will bring with it hundreds of other features and enhancements to the console. Here are just a few:

· On-screen pop-ups that immediately display the name and gamerscore value of a just accomplished Achievement, allowing gamers to see their progress without leaving or pausing the game.

· An even safer way to communicate through Xbox LIVE with enhanced family settings that enable different default settings for video chat and voice chat.

· A new, standalone Xbox LIVE Marketplace blade houses all Xbox LIVE Marketplace content in one easy to navigate space.

· Xbox LIVE Arcade enhancements that showcase what games friends are playing directly from the friends list. Boasting about high scores, comparing progress and checking out leaderboards are all easier now as well.

· Faster access to free, trial version of Xbox LIVE Arcade games through an improved Auto Downloads feature.

· The ability to fast-forward, pause and rewind video as it is being downloaded on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

· Owners can now set their consoles to turn off after downloading content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace to help save energy, and download speeds have been increased.

The Xbox 360 Spring Update is free to all Xbox LIVE members. For more information, please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/...07/0408-im.htm.
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Allow me to be the first to say, these new features rock!!!

[Justintiime]

sweet!

[KingAndyXVII]

I've heard that the windows live messenger feature on the 360 can only be used if your at least 18. Been looking around a number of sites today and theres tons of complaints about people under 18 not being able to use messenger on their 360.
I haven't tried this out yet but if it is true it is an absolutely massive cock up on microsoft's behalf, making a service that is mainly used by teenagers...unavailable to teenagers !...

Way to go MS

[Peench]

Wow - that's odd. I hadn't heard about that "feature." I wonder if there are settings in the parental control tab that would circumvent that or allow you to change it?

[ZoomZoom71]

The contract w/ the Xbox Live service is meant for adults. Seems like what Peench suggests about the Parental Control thing could be true, but we'll see.

[KEEZY]

Now that you have had a few hours to play with the new dashboard update, some folks have asked some questions about the new Messenger integration. Let me see if I can help clear a couple of things up:

Q: I don't want to automatically sign in to Live Messenger on my console;how do I turn it off?
A: Sign in to Xbox LIVE, go to the Xbox LIVE blade, then select your gamercard and press A. Go down to "Auto Sign-in"; and press A. You can set your preference for Xbox Live and Windows Live Messenger separately here.

Q: The email address assigned to my Xbox LIVE account is different to the email address I use on my PC for Windows LIVE messenger. Is there a way for me to still access my messenger account?
A: Not at this time. We are working on the ability to allow users to change the email address they originally used when signing up for Xbox Live. The feature will be available in an upcoming release.

Post any other questions you may have and I will try to track down answers. Also, I am in meetings all day, so I will only be able to check in a few times today to see how things are going.

Interesting. I have my yahoo account tied to my XBL subscription, but after reading this, I went to Xbox.com to change it to my hotmail account (which is what I sign into Live Messenger with). I find it interesting that Major didn't mention you could just change it at Xbox.com. Maybe he was addressing those who don't have a hotmail account, and those who want to change it directly from the 360's Dashboard?

Has anyone else experienced any issues with this? I guess I'll find out Friday when I get my box back.

[BrewCityUpstart]

Maybe its not a 'whoo-hoo' for me since I don't use MSN. ??

[Peench]

There are other features in the update that are cool. My personal favorite is telling you exactly how many points you are getting and the name of the achievement when you get it. Awesome.

[Islanti]

I'm taking a bold step in making this my second post, but I didn't see anything similar in other threads.

For those of us with big friends lists the new Dashboard is a big win. It allows you to have up to 500 additional contacts via Messenger. While it's not perfect, it does make it easier to track more people on the 360 and PC.

The biggest issue is you need to have the email account that's linked to your Gamertag added to someone else's linked Messenger account. Since not everyone uses their primary email address for their Gamertag it can be tricky to figure out what address to use.

If you're interested in having your Gamertag / Messenger account for other members to add, please post it to your site profile and reply here!

Mine is linked!

[Peench]

Great idea Islanti! And yes, Major dropped hints of the need to harmonize your email address for messenger months ago. This is the reason for those hints.