Look out Nintendo Co., Microsoft Corp. MSFT +0.35% is preparing its response to the Japanese company's next-generation console, a technology it calls "SmartGlass."
The Microsoft software, unveiled at the E3 videogame conference in Los Angeles on Monday, promises to bring together several key Microsoft products: its Xbox videogame console, tablets running the new Windows 8 operating system and Windows phone devices.
SmartGlass, Microsoft says, will allow a tablet or smartphone to stream media to a big screen controlled by the Xbox console. It also can augment videogames with additional information such as team formations in a sports game.
Microsoft says SmartGlass will be free and work with Windows phones, Windows 8 and other portable devices.
"We all go into our living room and have a touch surface like a phone or a tablet, but it has no idea what's occurring on the TV," said Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft's gaming business. The SmartGlass apps he said, by contrast will allow the Xbox to "communicate with whatever glass surface you have."
He said Microsoft spent about a year developing SmartGlass, and that it will work with devices customers already own, including Apple Inc.'s AAPL +0.59% iPad and iPhone as well as devices that use Google Inc.'s GOOG +1.33% Android operating system, aside from Microsoft's own devices.
"All they do is download the app and it knits their content together," he added.
The Redmond, Wash., company's efforts to expand its Xbox 360 game console come as Nintendo prepares to release its next generation Wii U game console later this year. The console, which has so far had mixed reactions from investors and industry analysts alike, includes a tabletlike controller called the Wii U GamePad. Nintendo says the device will use its touch screen and onboard sensors to interact with games.
There are existing products on the market that try to accomplish similar chores. Apple, for example, has a technology called AirPlay, which can stream video, music and images from an iPhone or iPad to an Apple TV.
Microsoft also updated plans to exploit its Kinect motion-sensing technology, which allows gamers to interact with games without using a traditional hand-held controller. Among the games planned for this year are Electronic Arts Inc.'s EA -0.38% "Madden 13" American football game and "FIFA 13" soccer game, each of which will allow customers to control the games by barking commands at the screen.
The company hopes that its "Better With Kinect" ad campaign will help to help juice Xbox 360 sales as the console enters its seventh year on the market. Microsoft also is releasing a new installment for its popular "Halo" series of space shooter videogames later this year as well as increasing its streaming video partnerships with companies including Walt Disney Co.'s DIS +0.02% ESPN sports video network.
Microsoft is also incorporating its Xbox branding into the Windows 8 operating system for computers and tablets. It is already being used with phones made using Microsoft's "Windows Phone 7" software, which was first released in late 2010.
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