Home Tech

Top Ideabooks

Appears in

Life

Media Rooms

Top Ideabooks

Appears in

More Rooms → Living Rooms

Man Spaces

Top Ideabooks

Appears in

More Rooms

Quit Playing Around With Your Game Console

Gaming systems can do so much more than just run games — they can streamline your home activities and improve your life

Mike Elgan October 23, 2012

Houzz Contributor. I'm a Silicon Valley-based writer, columnist and blogger, covering technology and culture. http://elgan.com

Houzz Contributor. I'm a Silicon Valley-based writer, columnist and blogger, covering... More

Comment6

Click "Embed" to display an article on your own website or blog.

Popular game consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii U and Microsoft Xbox 360, aren't associated with elegance or minimalism. They're more associated with all-night, caffeine-fueled shoot-em-up video games. But game consoles are actually extremely versatile, powerful, all-purpose computers designed expressly for integrating into living rooms and dens, and they can help you streamline your home computing and entertainment systems. They even offer activities that can fundamentally improve your life.

Plus, there are some very powerful and fun things that only gaming consoles can do.

Nintendo

Nintendo Wii U Deluxe Set - $349.99

Nintendo has announced plans to ship its next-generation game system, called the Wii U (pronounced "we, you") on November 18, 2012.

The Wii U should be a fantastic gaming platform — and an unusual one. Unlike the current Wii, which is operated by a motion-detecting controller that looks like a TV remote, the new Wii U will feature a controller with buttons and a touch screen. The handheld touch screen can be used for controlling what's on the TV. But it can also be used instead of the TV screen. So the Wii U will be a full gaming console and a somewhat portable gaming unit all in one.

Wii U owners can become members of an upcoming Nintendo Network, through which Nintendo will maintain an app store (which Nintendo is calling an eShop) for downloading all kinds of software that will work with the gaming system.

In addition to all the usual stuff you'd find in a controller — gyroscope, accelerometer, haptic feedback and so on — the Wii U controller will have a built-in microphone, speakers and camera, as well as electronics that will enable you to use a wireless credit card to make purchases. It will also support stylus input, so you should be able to sign things and draw pictures.

It's this combination of controller capabilities and an eShop that makes the Wii U so full of promise for non-gaming applications. The gaming system will probably enable the control of your existing TV and movies using the touch screen and buttons on the controller. While watching TV, for example, you should be able to move the show to the controller and take it with you all around the house.

You can also expect a lot of online shopping applications, where you can quickly scan through products and buy by tapping your credit card on top of the controller to make the purchase. And finally, it's almost certain that the Wii U will be able to replace your telephone, functioning as a speakerphone for online calls and a videoconferencing system at the touch of a button.

Microsoft

Xbox 360 Media Remote - $19.99

Unlike the brand-new Nintendo Wii U, Microsoft's Xbox 360 platform has been around for years and is ready to go right now with many nongaming capabilities.

An Xbox unit, which starts at $199, can play movie DVDs on your TV like a dedicated DVD player does. It can also show you movies, TV shows, music videos and Internet videos via Netflix, Hulu and Microsoft’s own content service, much like an Apple TV device does. It can play PC movies on a home Windows network or via a standard USB flash drive, like a PC. And it can get ESPN3 sports content — even allowing you to watch two games at once — much like satellite networks do, if you have a $50 annual Xbox Live Gold subscription.

You can interact with this all-in-one home entertainment system using an Xbox controller if you want, but you probably won’t want. Instead, you can buy an Xbox-specific remote control, such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Media Remote. You can also search for movies and other entertainment using voice search.

Xbox

Xbox can replace an entire music collection. Microsoft this month announced Xbox Music, a new service for downloading digital music to Xbox consoles and playing them over home music systems.

Xbox Music costs $9.99 per month and enables ad-free music streaming from its catalog of 30 million songs and 70,000 music videos. Best of all, it has a feature that gives you an artist-based radio stream, like Pandora does. So you pick a band or a singer, and Xbox Music will play not only songs from your selection, but other artists with a similar style.

If you have old music CDs in your collection, you can put those in the Xbox and play them as if it were a CD player.

Microsoft

Nike+Kinect Training - $49.99

An Xbox can even function as a personal trainer. Microsoft plans to release an Xbox program called Nike+Kinect Training at the end of October 2012. The software uses your Xbox, plus a Kinect sensor, to access your performance and form while exercising, and it will even personalize your workouts according to your abilities and progress.

Microsoft

Kinect for Xbox 360 - $149.99

In order to use Nike+Kinect, you’ll need a $149.99 Microsoft add-on called Kinect for Xbox 360, which is a sensor that uses cameras to track your movements as you use Kinect-supporting games and software.

Microsoft

Xbox 360 Chatpad - $29.99

Xbox can even replace your telephone, giving you communications capabilities right out of the Jetsons.

When you have the Xbox Kinect, you can use it and your TV to have live video chats with family and friends who also have Xboxes. A service called Video Kinect uses one of the cameras in the Kinect add-on to broadcast you and your living room into the home of the other person on the call.

But Xbox gives you many other ways to communicate as well. You can chat, which is like text messaging, and use Twitter and Facebook, with the social networks appearing on your TV. Communicating on Xbox is a lot like communicating on your computer, but you’re relaxing on the couch and the communication is taking place on your big TV.

Some of this communication requires a keyboard, so it’s a good idea to buy an Xbox 360 Chatpad, a small, wireless keyboard designed to be held as you type.

Comment6

Home Kendall Counter Stool, Gray by Kosas Home, 24"

$105

Davie Counter Stool by Kosas Home, 24hx15wx15d

$82

GDF Studio Jalen White Leather Bar Stools, Set of 2

$262

GDF Studio Filton Quilted Leather Counter Stool, Ivory

$204

Daxton Faux Leather and Wood Bar Stool, Gray and Black, 26"

$159

Madison Park Belfast Saddle Counter Stool Backless Barstool, Navy Blue

$101

Comments (6)

See 3 more comments

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo

thesunshyn

I was not happy when I found out a Gold subscription was needed to use the Xbox 360 to watch Netflix even when one already is paying for a Netflix subscription. I'm much more impressed with the Playstation 3 as an entertainment device because I don't need a 2nd subscription for Netflix and it is a blu-ray player as well.

1 Like October 24, 2012 at 2:16PM