Phil Spencer of Microsoft has announced exactly what I thought they would announce during E3 and that is that moving forward all first party Xbox 360 titles will support their new Xbox SmartGlass.
It’s been a tactic of Microsoft already with Kinect that they force all the first party titles, and any other title that wants some of their marketing money, to include some Kinect functionality and now with Xbox SmartGlass if you are using Microsoft’s money to develop your game or if you want Microsoft to market your title you are then going to have to ensure that your title supports Xbox SmartGlass.
This tactic has two possible results, one that we are going to be flooded with annoying SmartGlass tie ins that really have no point or that these developers find a way to ensure that the game is supremely better with SmartGlass.
It’s likely that we are going to get a mix of the two with sporting titles and strategy games really benefitting from SmartGlass while the next Forza title will have little to no use of it other than as a rear view mirror or mini map. Both of which are useless in a linear racing game.
Last Updated: June 11, 2012
