I may never turn off my Xbox 360 again.
At this morning’s Microsoft E3 press conference, ESPN anchors Josh Elliott and Trey Wingo announced an exclusive deal with Microsoft that will bring the sports network to Xbox Live. The first year will see more than 3,500 live sporting events aired on Xbox Live, most of them in HD. But whereas the PlayStation Network has an agreement with MLB.TV, ESPN on Xbox Live will offer a wide range of sports: college football and basketball, Major League Baseball, NBA basketball, and soccer.
ESPN integration includes Kinect support — during a high-definition playback of an Ohio State-USC game, Elliott, a USC fan, simply said “Xbox: replay” after a touchdown to show it again, to the dismay of Ohio State supporter Wingo. “Kinect is gonna make taunting even easier,” said Elliott with glee. Another Kinect application allowed Elliott to vote for who he thought was going to win the game by saying “Xbox: switch to USC.” Finally, you’ll have access to a full array of scores, statistics, and video highlights from ESPN.com…without ever leaving a live broadcast.
No release date was announced, but they did note that all of this content will be available at “no additional cost” on top of your Xbox Live Gold membership.
[Update: Since this agreement essentially brings ESPN3 to Xbox Live, the content will only be available if your ISP includes ESPN3. Many of the nation’s major broadband players, such as Comcast, Verizon, Cox Commnications, and AT&T (DSL and U-verse), already support ESPN3, but one of the biggest — Time Warner Cable — doesn’t. Check out the full list of affiliated ISPs here, courtesy of Engadget, and pray that yours is included. -Thanks, Joe!]
[Update 2: According to the New York Times, ESPN3 will make its Xbox Live debut in November.]
