The country's largest cable TV provider is working with video game maker
Electronic Arts. For now, the service is free for people who pay for
both Comcast TV and Internet. Customers may have to pay once a test
phase ends after at least a few weeks.
Games available include FIFA Soccer, NBA Jam and Monopoly.
Comcast says the service is aimed at casual players, including people
who play on phones, rather than hard-core gamers who already use
consoles such as Xbox or PlayStation. The games through Comcast don't
let you play online with friends or strangers, as many games allow on
consoles today. You can play by yourself or with people sitting in the
room with you, using smartphones or tablets as controllers.
Comcast wants to position its set-top box, the X1, as an entertainment
hub. The box can stream music from Pandora and display photos from
Facebook, Instagram and Flickr on a TV. Only about 5 million of
Comcast's 22.4 million video customers have X1, but the company says it
expects most customers will get it by the end of 2016. Customers who
don't have the X1 box yet can request it.
Microsoft
has a streaming music service, too — though it was mostly overlooked as
attention turned to Apple's entry into a business crowded with Spotify,
Google Play and others.
Maybe that's why Microsoft is revamping the service formerly known as Xbox Music. It's now called Groove.
Along with the new name, Microsoft promises redesigned menus and other
new features when it releases Groove with Microsoft's new Windows 10
operating system later this month.
The company said it's dropping the Xbox name to avoid confusion, as the
service is no longer focused on Xbox gaming consoles. Instead, the new
Groove can be used to manage music files on any PC or mobile device
running Windows 10.
Like the Xbox Music service, Groove will also offer unlimited streaming
from Microsoft's music catalog for $10 a month. It will work on Android
and Apple mobile devices as well as Mac and Windows PCs.
As with Apple and Google, Microsoft also offers the option to upload
songs you own to the Internet, through Microsoft's One Drive storage
service, for playback on other devices.
Meanwhile, Apple says it's honing its Apple Music service as more people
weigh in with suggestions and complaints. The company plans to restore
"Home Sharing," or the ability to stream music from a computer running
iTunes to other Apple devices over Wi- Fi. Home Sharing was disabled on
iPhones and iPads with the iOS 8.4 software update that enables Apple
Music.Brandon Bailey, AP Technology Writer
HBO's stand-alone Internet service, HBO Now, is available on Android and Amazon devices starting Thursday.
The online video service had been limited to Apple device owners and
customers of the New York-area cable company Cable vision. Google
announced plans for Android earlier, but hadn't disclosed a launch date.
If you download the HBO Now app on an Android tablet or phone or on an
Amazon Fire tablet, you get a 30-day free trial. Afterward, it costs $15
a month.
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