Microsoft testing Xbox 360 Web browser

[DarkDragon]

The Xbox 360 may soon offer gamers a full, Kinect-compatible Web browser. Sources speaking to The Verge understand Microsoft is presently testing a modified iteration of Internet Explorer 9 to run on the popular home console.


The Xbox 360 presently supports Bing voice search via the Kinect, but only media results are returned. The site's sources indicate the Web browser currently in test will allow users to fully search and browse the Internet via Kinect gesture and voice control. Kinect will not be a requirement for the new Web browser, but the app is believed to be "tuned" for the motion-control technology.

No release date for Internet Explorer for the Xbox 360 was indicated, but Microsoft will make a number of Xbox 360-related announcements at its 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo media briefing in Los Angeles early next month. The arrival of a Web browser for the Xbox 360 may not be the only new addition to the platform. A Kinect exercise tracker is also believed to be on the way to the Xbox 360.

If Microsoft does add Web browsing support to the Xbox 360, it will do so lagging behind its competitors. Web browsers are currently available on the Wii, PlayStation 3, 3DS, PlayStation Vita, and PSP.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/microso...report-6376096

[Moirai]

Anything based on IE cant be good.

[TheSonicRetard]

Anything based on Kinect cant be good.

.

[Joe Redifer]

Anything built around Kinect can't be good. I wish they'd stop trying to shove Kinect down our throats.

[The Jackal]

Too little, too late.

[M4R14NO94]

Too little, too late.

Yup.

[DarkDragon]

Why so late is the question.

[Soulis]

Kinect, Internet Explorer and being late.

That's like, triple fail.

[Hidden_Darkness]

isn't it a little late to add the browser? ps3, ds , wii, 3ds, vita, dreamcast, sega saturn all had browsers before the 360.

[havok666]

I imagine whatever they are developing will be transferable to Microsoft's next console, so why not?

[EclecticGroove]

Kinect isn't inherently bad, it's only bad with the YOU MUST LOVE KINECT mantra they seem to have for games where most take the approach that you must use kinect for every single thing in the game, or nothing at all. Some of the features would be excellent to augment the controller with for a great deal of games. But the motion/voice control feature just doesn't work well enough for general game play.

As far as the browser goes... yeah, it's IE... but what would you expect on an MS console? Of course an xbox browser will be IE based.
IE9 is nowhere near as bad as the older versions at least. Still not great, but as an integrated browser I'm sure it will do fine for the limited functionality it will be intended for.

The why now? They probably intend a lot of this functionality to exist and be improved upon in their next console, so are paving the way now. Either that or they have something else that will use this sort of functionality, and this is their way of getting it out beforehand. They will probably roll similar features in with windows 8 and IE there, if they have not already.

[KnightWarrior]

I seriously hope you could use the USB Keyboard

[The Jackal]

I seriously hope you could use the USB Keyboard

The 360 supports them, so I don't see why not.

[Da_Shocker]

It's been a long time but MS said something to the extend that they didnt want to put browsers in ANY of there consoles. They were strictly for games but I guess times change eh?