XBox Live alerts to mobile phones in 6 months

[Vandenh]

BBC has a story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4534356.stm) about the plans of Microsoft to support Live alerts (and maybe more) on mobile phones next year.

The alerts would be sent over the internet via Xbox Live and come to a mobile over the air as an instant message.

"It just pops up saying 'Dinky Dave wants to play Project Gotham Racing' with you," said Mr Langridge.
I guess full integration with all other MS products is the ultimate plan.

[Parsifal]

The new in-word is "ultimate"!

[Borys]

This just in:

MS wants to control your software no matter where you run it (home, office, car) and what you run that software on (mainframe, desktop, mobilephone).

And if you happen to use some 3rd party solution you're outta luck. Upgrade to MS application or else.

In other news:

Water is wet! Scientists puzzled.

[bapenguin]

I fail to see how this is a bad thing. The only negative is that right now they are saying only on phones that support MSN.

[Ludoc]

I'm still annoyed there is no MSN Messenger/Live messenging system integration.

[CapnAJ]

Nerds will now seem to be very popular, getting many text alerts a day...

[Grimgrock]

Nerds will now seem to be very popular, getting many text alerts a day...

That's not all bad.

"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in."

[Twinkie]

I'm still annoyed there is no MSN Messenger/Live messenging system integration.
There used to be. I had it back when I played live alot. It would just be an xbox logo tab on the side which went to your friends list. And it must have been official, because it would always advertise the 'hottest' live games above my friends list. I'd help you out more, but this was a while ago, and i need to get to work.

[benson]

I thought there was already a way to get your Xbox Live alerts via text message. At least there used to be. There was a column somewhere about it - some guy took the day off work, and was online playing games. I'll have to look around and find it.

[Reanimated]

WTF, I've been getting Live alerts on my phone since LAST year.

[benson]

WTF, I've been getting Live alerts on my phone since LAST year.
There you go. I thought there was a way to do it, and I did it for a while.

[Reanimated]

Yeah, I mean I turned it off because actually it was just pointless and annoying, but I was getting them. The only worthwhile alerts were the ones for Live updates. Alerts for game invites and friend requests are just utterly useless. I mean if I'm out with my cell phone, it's about a 98% chance that I can't drop what I'm doing to run home and help you kill velocitygurl. And even if I could, by the time I got home you'd probably be offline.

[Roc Ingersol]

friend requests would make sense if you could send/receive/authorize them from the phone. if it's just notification, that's lame.
game requests would make sense for a massmog... not much else.

[rein]

I have never understood the need for this. As it has been pointed out. What are you going to do? Drop everything and run home? When I have time to play games on Live I am usually playing on the 360. That is my game time. I sure the hell don't want people bugging me when I am living my life.

[Gamewatcher]

I thought there was already a way to get your Xbox Live alerts via text message. At least there used to be. There was a column somewhere about it - some guy took the day off work, and was online playing games. I'll have to look around and find it.

Yes, you're thinking of my Rant from June 2004, I think:

Hey, aren't you supposed to be at work? (http://www.gamestay.com/stories/2004/06/09/heyArentYouSupposedToBeAtWork.html)

This is nothing new, folks. It's the restoration of a feature that existed for the original Xbox, though possibly expanded to more service providers.

There's a yin and a yang here. The good news is that you can see when you buddies are online. The news is that your buddies can see when you're online. Of course, now anyone with an Xbox Live account and a Passport can see your online status (unless you mask it) or watch to see if your gamerscore magically goes up on your work-at-home day.

[benson]

Yes, you're thinking of my Rant from June 2004, I think:

Hey, aren't you supposed to be at work? (http://www.gamestay.com/stories/2004/06/09/heyArentYouSupposedToBeAtWork.html)

This is nothing new, folks. It's the restoration of a feature that existed for the original Xbox, though possibly expanded to more service providers.

There's a yin and a yang here. The good news is that you can see when you buddies are online. The news is that your buddies can see when you're online. Of course, now anyone with an Xbox Live account and a Passport can see your online status (unless you mask it) or watch to see if your gamerscore magically goes up on your work-at-home day.
Yep, that's the one. Good article by the way. I remember reading it and thinking it was rather hilarious.

[ruceree88]

What is the point? If im receiving messages on my cell it usually means im not home, hence not next to my system.
So now when I'm out in the real world i can get pestered by my phone telling me that "LeetGamer wants to play LeetGame with you" its totally meaningless to me as im not at home. Do people really need to be THIS connected with the people they play online games with?

[Twigz'N'Berries]

Hey, it isn't for everybody, but I would take advantage of it.

The only problem i see is that if you don't have unlimited text messaging, it could add a couple of bucks to your cell bill.