E3 2010: ESPN on XBL details

by: Jeremy - posted: 6/17/2010 9:49:00 AM

One of Microsoft’s big announcements during their press conference was a new partnership that has been formed with ESPN. The partnership between the two will bring a slew of new features to Xbox Live Gold members through their Xbox 360 interface.

Xbox Live will now act as an access hub to over 3,500 on-demand sporting events that include college football and basketball, NBA, and MLA. A large majority of the content will be offered in high definition. Viewers will be able to pause, rewind, and replay portions of the programs using the 360 interface and even via voice commands with use of the Microsoft Kinect.

While you watch your favotire sports, the system will also give you access to live statistics and scores from around the world of sports as well as real-time trivia and poll questions. Xbox Live Gold members will be able to access all of these things starting in November 2010. The content stream of the service is expected to be updated on a daily basis once it launches.

As good as all of this sounds, the best part is that it is being offered as a free service to Gold members. Currently, there are no plans to charge extra fees for access to these features.