If you just agreed with me, go grab a sandwich while I talk about this. Facebook has come along way from just a portal for people at different scholastic locations to connect. I've kept in touch with more people from school, work and various social events better via Facebook than Myspace ever could have done it, and I did it completely without crappy glittery, sparkling gif images posted on my wall. Access to our network and the news feed of our friends will definitely enhance the Xbox Live experience and is completely viable in answering the question of how we ever got along without it. For instance, if while waiting on a match or party to load and you check Facebook, you see there is a friend staying home or going out to a party via the news feed, then you've just been posed with a few options. If they're staying home and have the ability to hop on to Live, it would be incredibly cool to be able to write on their wall telling them to come join your party before the next round of Horde mode or Firefight begins. If not, at least you know they're at home and won't mind too much when you call them telling them the exact same thing. But what if you have an event invite or now that there's a party somewhere that you could, in theory, be attending at this very moment? Will you be so bold as to log off Live now that you've been provided with this information? I don't know about you, but I would. After all, we can't stay on Xbox Life forever, can we? I'm certain that Microsoft has made it easier than ever and will continue to do so as long as players are certainly afforded the opportunities that these new Xbox Live additions will offer with the new update.
The most important addendum to the service as far as I see it though is the ability to stream my music to the 360 via Last.fm. Simply said, say you don't want to rip all the music you own to your 360, which would be a relatively timely task despite the ease the new 250gb hard drives would make as far as storage is concerned. But really, who wants to pay for an overpriced hard drive? On the other hand, you could stream music from a Zune, iPod (ironic, I know) or even a remote storage device like a usb enabled external hard drive. But again, what if all your music is on your computer and you really don't want to go through the hassle of rigging this up to your 360 or you've been playing Rock Band and all of the usb ports are currently being used? Short of having a home network via a program like PlayOn, Last.fm via Xbox Live is the next best thing. Essentially, by using a plug-in via a program like WinAmp, Last.fm listens to what you're listening to and upon creating an account on their website will build an online library and database of the music you've listened to on your computer, which will then become accessible at any given time and streamed to just about anything with an internet connection. Honestly, with a Last.fm application on my G1, it was only a matter of time before it finally came to Xbox Live and the ability to stream my music through my 360 makes this latest update come together in a neat little package that few Xbox owners should really be without.
Since Microsoft has effectively tied together three of the most popular online sites currently accessible on the internet, it's a huge win for Xbox Live members. Twitter, being the API service that has been faster in some cases that certain news sites will definitely appeal to those information-philes who always need to know the latest development in whatever may be of interest to them at the time or the latest headlines to remind them that there is in fact a world outside of Xbox Live that has little to do with Nazi Zombies. Conversely, Facebook integration will allow players to remind themselves that they have more friends than those players in the last round of Modern Warfare 2 while at the same time allowing for an exceptional enhanced user experience for both of the services creating a new social dynamic. While previously unheard of, it will be a combination of two of the greatest social tools currently available via the internet. Ultimately though, Last.fm will give users the ability to listen to their music from the convenience of their Xbox 360. I don't know how exciting this sounds to everyone else, but the ability to listen to my tunes without having to rip them to my 360 or have the disc tray being taken up by a music CD just inches us closer to a complete social experience all contained in that little game system tucked under or next to our televisions. Thus, I can't wait to see where Xbox Live goes from here; if this is any indication whatsoever, I'm extremely excited to find out and will be hanging on to my Xbox 360 - utilizing Live for many years to come. Thanks to these new additions to the Xbox LIVE service I honestly think Microsoft has a good chance of coming out on top of Sony (even with PS3 Facebook inclusion).
Today Microsoft sent out a press release with some interesting statistics regarding Xbox LIVE and the addition of Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm - seems to add credibility to my argument; read it by clicking here.
