My Gadget, Game & Gizmo Obsession

Ok, so normally I don’t gush over big companies looking out for the little guy, but today is an exception.  While I haven’t looked into every single new feature coming, one particular piece of the “New Xbox Experience” (NXE) has me extremely excited.

I have a 360.  I have Xbox Live.  I have NetFlix.  I love movies.

The NXE is going to actually bring all that together for me at no extra charge or change to my current setup.  Once released, the NXE will allow NetFlix subscribers to stream their ‘Play Now’ libraries directly to their Xbox as opposed to their PC.   This is huge for me.

Granted, it’s not all charity.  NetFlix is trying to keep up w/ constantly changing media consumption preferences and distinguish itself as a bigtime player for the consistently predicted but yet to arrive on demand/download movie revolution.  Microsoft wins in that they 1) further distinguish Xbox Live as the premier online service and 2) improve on an already huge selling point for MS gaming platforms now and in the future.

And just when I thought that was all, a nice little announcement came out detailing a deal between NetFlix and Starz to allow the streaming of Starz content to NetFlix subscribers.  Grande, as this is basically handing out a pay channel for free.

Is this a big deal to anyone else or am I alone on this little wagon ride?