Sitting down with IGN, Scott Austin, Microsoft’s director of digital games, walked through what we all can expect of the latest upcoming revisions to the Xbox experience. Replacing the Xbox Live Video Marketplace will be the Zune Video Marketplace, offering a few new features beyond a simple name change. Players will have the option to search for wanted videos through a text field, and stream video previews of their content live and in high definition when available. Streaming videos can also be paused, fast-forwarded, and rewound as desired. Anything purchased through the Marketplace will, naturally, also be portable to a Zune of PC without an extra purchase.
Facebook and Twitter were also demonstrated, with integrated menus from both services added to your friends lists for immediate social updates. The most noticeable change to the console will come as Last.fm (a service offered in the West only,) a music streaming service available to all Gold subscribers. While you can’t stream music while running a game, but any played song will load up supplemental information; like artist bios and various sales statistics; as well as offering multiple screen-saver like options for casual listening. No concrete release information was given, but interested Xbox owners can park their avatars at Elder-Geek.com for any further details.