It's not hard to see why Microsoft would have a vested interest in the integration of social networking behemoths Twitter and Facebook to their gaming platforms. The real problem they've been facing is just exactly how to do it.

Twitter functions as you would expect, as you can update your tweets and check on everyone else's. It performs well enough and is easy to navigate. Facebook is pretty much the same but with the added benefit that you can also view photos. Being able to display the photos on your TV screen or watch them as a slide show is actually very cool. I could easily see myself having friends or family over and show them pictures from a recent holiday or weekend using this feature. You may also update your status, check your friend’s list, see basic information on people's profiles and leave comments.

Unfortunately both Facebook and Twitter suffer from the same problem on the Xbox - typing. Using the controller to type on the virtual keypad is slow and annoying. It would be far quicker for me to use my laptop or phone to quickly update my status or get out the latest tweet. So unless you have the attachable keypad for the controller or plan on plugging a keyboard into your Xbox I do not see many people updating their Facebook too often on the console. However, checking out photos is something I could imagine many people doing.

 

The Zune HD Movies On Demand feature is pretty cool, however not too competitively priced for older movies. This feature works similarly to the iTune’s rental service. It allows you to rent movies straight from your console and either download or stream them straight on your TV. This is pretty handy, especially if you are bored at home and feel like watching a random movie. You don't have to leave the house and it is easy to browse through the list of available movies, choose what you want, pay for it, and begin watching. I should mention that when you first download the movie you have 14 days to watch it. However, as soon as you start watching it, you only keep it for a further 24 hours. You may watch it as many times as you like within that time, but once that time is up, it is gone. So what this means is, you do not have to rush to start watching it as soon as you get it, but when you do press play it becomes a one-night rental.

In regards to pricing, old movies are NZ$6 (360 MS Points) and new movies are NZ$7 (420 MS Points).

 

To watch a movie in HD - provided such an option exists - costs an extra NZ$1 (480 MS Points for newer movies or 420 for older ones) and about 6-9 extra gigs to your bandwidth, so I hope you have an excellent broadband connection. In truth, many Kiwis will probably not be able to use this feature for some time, as many of us have a limited amount of bandwidth each month and downloading 1-9 Gb for a single movie is not realistic. For those of us who can use this feature, it is good that there is the option for most movies to either be streamed or downloaded fully before watching. As for the quality, it is what you would expect. There's a noticeable difference in quality between SD and HD, so honestly, if you have the speed and bandwidth for it, I would recommend paying the extra $1 to watch your movies in HD.

Something that I should mention is the competitiveness of their pricing depending on the movie. If you are planning on watching a more recent movie then $7-$8 is about the same you would pay at any video store. However, if you are going to watch an older movie, paying $6 for what is basically a 1-night rental is ridiculously overpriced. Most video stores have older movies going for about $5 and would hire them to you for a week. Also, "Cheap Tuesday" should be kept in mind where many video stores would let you take the older weekly rentals out for $1 without any effect on your bandwidth. Unfortunately the coolness and convenience of doing it all from your Xbox is not worth that price for some of the older films.

 

However, there is a decent list of movies to choose from, both new and old - some going as far back as the early 70's. Curiously though, there are some strange occurrences when it comes to sequels. For example, they have the first Rocky and Rocky V but no sign of Rocky II-IV, which makes the catalogue feel like an incomplete service. To be honest, I also would have hoped for more options, as I saw a lot of great older movies I would enjoy watching again but the list of more recent movies was a lot smaller than expected. Hopefully this is something Microsoft will improve on with time but for now, the pickings are not as good as you might be hoping for.

So, what have we here? Essentially, Xbox Live has simply been equipped with a few more services. Not everyone will use them, and they will not suddenly make Xbox Live the best online service in the world. However, they are definitely welcome additions to the console, and only serve to make Xbox Live that much better.