ESPN3 comes exclusively to Xbox 360
By Richard Lawler 
posted June 14th 2010 1:20PM
posted June 14th 2010 1:20PM
Update: Wondering if you'll have access? Check the list of ESPN3 affiliates to see if your ISP is playing ball.
Today, from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) stage in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced plans to revolutionize sports entertainment in the home through an exclusive deal with ESPN.
This November, do more than just watch the sports you love – connect with friends and share your sports experience in brand new ways with ESPN on Xbox 360:
· A World of Sporting Events: Xbox LIVE Gold members who have high-speed internet service from an affiliated service provider will enjoy more than 3,500 live sporting events from ESPN3.com – ESPN's 24/7 broadband sports network – including college basketball, college football and bowl games, MLB, NBA, international soccer, tennis including all four Grand Slam tournaments, golf majors and more. Watch out-of-market games and access on-demand ESPN.com video clips, refreshed daily – all completely free to Xbox LIVE Gold members.
· Social Interaction Only Xbox LIVE Can Deliver: Connect with friends and rivals coast-to-coast and declare which team you're rootiAng for, participate in community polling, trivia and game predictions, all tailored to the game you're watching. Even pull up current scores and stats and easily switch between events without "changing the channel."
· The Magic of Kinect: Through the power of cutting-edge gesture and voice technology, Kinect for Xbox 360 tracks your body movements and gestures, giving you full DVR control, no remote or controller required, and a brand new way to interact with your sports entertainment.
What about other ESPN?
yay one more step closer to ditching cable all together!
@kongmw oops how did this end up there?
@techlord
The Ocho?
@kongmw Several Steps actually -
NFL on non-traditional devices? Nope
College Football on other networks besides ESPN (which shows mostly Big Ten Mornings and SEC Games in Prime Time) - Nope
NBA streaming games yet? - Nope
Speed2 Online yet? - Nope
Discovery Networks? - Nope
Solve these and you would be about 95% there.
@kongmw
already have! xbox, netflix is all we need in our house. THis is a huge added bonus
@dj4monie
acc just did a deal with espn. Pretty much every conference in the bcs is on espn at some point. And the NBA streams live games online and has an app for that - league pass. MLB does too. NFL is the only hold out cause they still got the deal with sprint. But can get the local games over the air so cable not required.
@DucatiTorrey
+1, we do the same, netflix and xbox
@Iamperfect2 I think there's one big thing missing.
When am I gonna be able to do this? I'm just sayin'... the world cup is underway
Also, NBA streaming would be great for free, like everything on ESPN3
Bring other ESPN, so i can dump my cables.
@techlord ESPN3 is just the name of the streaming service. What ever is on ESPN/2 is often available. It's not a separate new channel.
So this is partly why ESPN got a bunch of developer 360's way back when.....
@Calijoefornia
Also maybe why ESPN 360 changed it's name to ESPN 3, hmmmmm?
@oproski no 360 would make a whole lot more sense because it is exclusive to the xbox 360. BUT 3 lines up better on the product itinerary for laymen who'll log on to watch the sports.
3 has a much better synergistic flow to it.
and since they were reserving that for an actual espn 3 channel that they canned it makes sense too
Please come to Windows Media Center.
@GraffitiKnight Likely....
We are so close to a cable-free existence! Hulu needs to get on a settop box, and it is all over.
@cashmonee You could just hook your PC into your television and you're done
@cashmonee its coming to the xbox soon! ESPN + HULU FTW!-
Will it actually work for someone on Time Warner? I don't even care if they charge, just give me the freaking option already!!!
@lfeuln
literally word for word what I was going to type. +1 for you.
Fuckin. Awesome.
This is big. The only reason for me to consider re-getting cable come Fall has been voided. AWESOME!
@neomits I'd rather you could pay for it. ESPN is using the same scheme it's using on cable networks (and the same scheme that's helped make cable TV prices sky-high): it's collecting from cable companies, not from users, a per-subscriber fee. So the price of ESPN3 is basically part of your internet bill, and it raises your price whether or not you watch ESPN3. I'd rather just pay for the darned thing myself, if I want it (like I do with the MLB.TV online package) instead of having it passed onto me as an unitemized fee.
@OldNewOne I don't think you saw the announcement? This is free for Xbox Live Gold members.
@neomits Also, you should be happy if its done that way...that means people who don't use ESPN3 would be subsidizing your cost :)
"but beyond having a TV provider / ISP that's signed up for the package, there's no additional charge."
I have Time Warner cable and they do not support ESPN3, and I doubt they will anytime soon. Don't get too excited until you check your service provider.
@hays315
Yup, Brighthouse cable in central florida is a no go for ESPN 3 as well. shucks!
@hays315 Works on Comcast.
A lot of us are using htpc's and already use espn3.com -- I'm excited about the better interface and higher resolution!
@txphisher That's great, but for the people whose ISP does not pay ESPN some cash, they can't access ESPN3, either by PC or Xbox. Looking at the list, I'd say at least a majority in the U.S are blacked out.
I'd be willing to pay a couple more bucks through a gold membership to access it though. TWC will never it. Too much of a threat to their local monopolies.
@hays315 Dang, that takes some wind out of my sails. Ironically, we do get ESPN3 at work since AT&T is our ISP. So unless something changes (or the article is wrong), I'm back to VPN'ing into work on my laptop to watch ESPN3 stuff.
@hays315
Nonsense. Games that play local will be blacked out. Everyone will have access to ESPN3 who has an Internet connection.
@Joao I hope you're right, but that's just not what the post says or how it works right now if you try to use it today on a computer.
@hays315
Unfortunately I have Time Warner too...my god do I despise that evil company.
Even if TW ends up getting on board with this whole Internet thing, I just really, really hate them.
@derspiess
If you create a myespn account and link to to espn3 from your work computer, you can log in from home and watch the games without having to VPN
This exclusive crap has to stop. Locking your media to a particular hardware manufacturer doesn't bode well for the long term.
@nrb LMFAO - so you're a soppy PS3 owner then? Go cry with your BlueRay and your free PSN subscription
Win some and Lose some... Personally i'm STOKED that I opted for the xbox360 over the Wii last august :)
I absolutely don't care about ESPN. If I wanted it, it's available on any DLNA compliant device via PlayOn. If I'm going to lose some, this is the one I'd rather lose.
As a general principle, exclusivity to a given manufacturer is bad for everyone in the long run. Next, you're going to need a television from Toshiba for one channel and Samsung for another.
@nrb What makes you think this won't be on the PS3? Guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow. Its just ESPN3 anyway, if you can't watch it on your laptop or you PC connected to your LCD/Plasma TV then I guess you don't wanna watch it bad enough.
@nrb Again stop being negative, that's not likely to happen. You can watch Netflix on Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Windows Media Media Center, Roxu, Connected Blu-Ray Players and connected TV.
Sour Grapes, ahhh should we call the Waaabulance??
@dj4monie "What makes you think this won't be on the PS3?"
They used the word "exclusively". :)
@dj4monie This will be exclusive to the 360....so no, it won't be on the PS3. Also, it will be in HD, ESPN3.com does not stream in HD.
This partnership is full of win!
Please bring this to the UK, Microsoft! Getting the Premier League in glorious HD would be amazing, and I'd be able to enjoy it from the comfort of my bedroom instead of having to rely on my SD Sky digibox downstairs!
@addz93
you can get espn already with the sky player. although not in HD. I'd love it though if ESPN did there own thing so i didnt have to pay for the rest of sky. Most rugby union matches are on epsn next season anyway.
Yay, something else that will never be available in Canada.
Now this is something worth getting excited about if ESPN puts a LOT of their content on there.
I use the netflix 360 option probably every night
@Binkious
They are going to have pretty much every World Cup match on there. I think the only ones missing are the ones that air on ABC.
I don't have cable TV, so this is pretty cool. Hopefully it means I get to see Sunday night football or whatever game it is they have.
Please nhl don't pretend to be the NFL and hop on this ASAP.
@Robhimself
Seriously.
NHL needs to be on there.