It's been a week since Xbox Live launched access to Facebook on its online service - and the numbers are in. Two million players logged on to Facebook through their game consoles.
This is a big deal.
Xbox Live was already a thriving social hub, combining gameplay, community, and chat. Now with Facebook/Twitter access, it's unstoppable. What's Microsoft's big plan? To build "the largest social network connected to the TV," as a spokesperson puts it.
It wasn't long ago that Microsoft was the new kid in console gaming - taking on Sony and Nintendo. I remember going to the Microsoft campus months before Xbox launched, and leaving with the feeling that this was not just a console but a trojan horse to "own" the living room. Now look at what's happened. Sony has been dethroned, and Xbox Live is by far the coolest console community online.
David Kushner is the author of many books, including Masters of Doom, Jonny Magic & the Card Shark Kids, Levittown, The Bones of Marianna, and Alligator Candy. A contributing editor of Rolling Stone, he has written for publications including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine.
