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Xbox 360's ESPN3 app updated with more voice control, split screen and more
The PlayStation 3 may have NFL Sunday Ticket but the Xbox 360 still has exclusive access to ESPN3's slate of games, shows and replays, and today the app was updated with a new look and a few new features. Viewers can designate their favorite sports and teams to bring related content right to the front, while a new mini-guide gives easy access to other streams while you watch. If you're trying to keep track of more than one game there's also support for split screen viewing (with independent control of each stream) and upgraded voice control for Kinect owners. Other tweaks include a college football scoreboard to keep track of all the games at once, reminders, live alerts on score changes and the addition of ESPN's BottomLine. Unchanged is the restriction that you need to subscribe to a TV provider that includes ESPN3 in its package, but if you do have the service (and shell out for XBL, of course) it should be available the next time you load up your console. Check out the YouTube videos embedded above and after the break along with a press release for a runthrough of some of the new features.
SportsCenter changes up the formula starting August 11
The daily SportsCenter rotation marks time for many a sports junkie, but starting this fall, everything will be different. Timed for the start of the Beijing Olympics, SportsCenter is switching to a live edition from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. News vet Hannah Storm will host from 9 a.m. until noon each day, in an effort to balance with ESPN2's morning programming and ESPNews. Smaller tweaks include a continuous Bottom Line news ticker that scrolls headlines throughout the show and commercial breaks, and an ESPNews-style Rundown vertical listing of upcoming stories. Next spring ESPN takes the wrapper off its Sony-powered LA studio, debuting a 10 p.m. PT / 1 a.m. ET live SportsCenter broadcast skewed for the West Coast. Endless reruns of SportsCenter throughout the night and early morning have been a fixture for more than a decade, this adjustment strikes us on the level of political unrest, a weakening dollar and global climate change. [Via Variety]
ESPNews HD set for launch March 30
Right on schedule, ESPNews HD is coming March 30. With carriage agreements previously reported with DirecTV, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, we expect (read: demand) to get it day one. As seen in the graphics, ESPNews' traditional BottomLine now frames the top, left and bottom of 16x9 main video space. Everything's been tweaked -- it appears ESPN has learned much from the launch of its first two HD networks -- from a more moderate (and hopefully less prone to burn-in) steel blue color scheme, redone music with an orchestra-performed theme and all-new set backed by ESPN's multimedia newsroom. Called a "milestone concept" and "must have" for its exclusive HD content (a first for ESPN) ESPN VP Bryan Burns thinks it's hot, check more pics after the break then decide for yourself at 8 a.m. Sunday, March 30; if your carrier isn't up to speed, check out the simulcast on ESPN HD for the first hour, then ESPN2 HD in 30 minute chunks at 11:30 a.m. and p.m.
