Microsoft Touts Xbox's Entertainment Potential

In a recent post on the official Microsoft blog, the company points out some interesting statistics regarding the use of the Xbox 360 when it's not in gaming mode.

Corporate VP of corporate communications Frank Shaw penned a noteworthy read on the blog, claiming that the Xbox 360 has been quite a success story. And when he touts numbers like 53 million units sold, 30 million Xbox Live member registrations, and 10 million sales of the Kinect motion camera, it's easy to agree.

The Xbox 360 sits in an enviable position in the industry right now. Unlike the Wii, it has stood the test of time and managed to remain relevant years after it launched in 2005. And just as the PS3 was beginning to question the Xbox 360's position in the market, it fell victim to a massive hacking attack.

Thus, Microsoft is sitting pretty nicely in the gaming console wars right now. "For the last 10 years at Microsoft, we’ve been turning up the heat on how we think about Xbox," Shaw wrote.

But it's more than just gaming, he says. "While people are still playing a ton of video games, 40 percent of all Xbox activity now is non-game. Put another way, we’re seeing an average of 30 hours of video consumption per month per Xbox, a number that is growing fast. And people are expecting more – more options, more games, more videos, more entertainment."

Indeed, the idea of having a dedicated gaming machine is beginning to seem like something of a relic. With the PS3 able to play Blu-ray movies and the Wii heavily advertised a Netflix streaming device, it seems all consoles are turning into entertainment platforms these days.

So what is it that Shaw thinks makes the Xbox 360 stand out? He didn't say much other than anecdotal evidence that the 360 is being used for other purposes - which, of course, is the case for its competitors as well.

But, he teases, "Next week at E3 you will get a chance to see how far we’ve come."

Microsoft has the opportunity to really dazzle people at next week's event. There's a lot of attention on Nintendo, since it will revealing a Wii successor, as well as Sony because of the turmoil it has suffered over the last month and a half.

But there hasn't been a lot of pre-show buzz for Microsoft. There was a fleeting rumor that it would be showing off a new console, which was quickly shut down (but some still suspect it might happen), though for the most part, it's not expected to make a big splash.

And thus, if it does drop some huge announcement, it will come completely out of left field and could steal the show.

Shaw isn't suggesting anything like that, but he may be planting some sort of seed. We'll know for sure when Microsoft kicks off E3 as the first company to present its pre-show briefing next Monday morning.

Via Microsoft Blog

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