The Xbox brand is rapidly escaping from the confines of its plastic box, and never just in a single direction either.

Right now, you could play Skulls Of The Shogun in your Windows Phone, your Microsoft Surface Tablet and in your Xbox 360.

The significant portion of that’s each can play multiplayer with the opposite; they’re all part of an identical family, the identical zoo.

This, people, is where the way forward for Xbox lies.

The future is Xbox Live and it’s set to return at you from every device you own…

Next-Gen Tech: Surface

Microsoft envisions an international where tablet and console will not be at odds with each other (not that we expect they ever were), but one wherein they harmonise together.

A recent rumour even means that Microsoft can be considering launching an Xbox 360-capable table called the X-Surface.

Firstly, this could or is probably not true. Secondly, we’d like one.

Movie: 2001: an area Odyssey

Quite amazing when you consider it, but yes; in 1968, Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick predicted not just tablet computers scarily equivalent to those now we have, but additionally that they’d be connected to a bigger, more capable local computer system.

Amazing.

Next-Gen Tech: SmartGlass

Certainly, Microsoft would favor you experience SmartGlass integration out of your spanky new Surface tablet (or X-Surface), but Microsoft is just not Nintendo and it isn’t Sony.

Microsoft knows that when you truly love something, that you have to set it free, and so SmartGlass permits you to use any Android, iOS or Windows phone or tablet.

And you must form of love Microsoft back for that one. Group hug?

Movie: Real Steel

You know that bit, right, where they’re controlling that enormous robot, right?

You know, and it gets a character and does all cute things and stuff, right? Well, – they’re using SmartGlass.

Or something that appears similar to it.

This film can also be notable for holding the world’s first ever ad for Xbox 720. Check that out too.

Next-Gen Tech: Windows Phone

There’s a brand new generation of smartphone available in the market, people. It’s powerful.

We mean gaming powerful, and while phones and tables is absolutely not in a position to compete with the console experience (since any power gains in a mobile device are reflected by similar gains in devices without mobile’s restrictions).

Soon we’ll all be playing some games on our Xbox 360 or Xbox Whateverthehell’scomingnext and continuing to play them at the bus.

Mad!

Movie: Star Trek

We’re talking right the style back to the unique series, before they changed their communicators over to badges.

Here we’re one day and we’re still not talking into badges, so there’s room yet for improvement.

Next-Gen Tech: Kinect Gesture

Okay, okay; Kinect hasn’t really worked out how we might all rather it had.

Menus could be a painful backward and forward as your Xbox 360 tries to decide what that last hand-gesture was.

Were you shining it on, or were you trying to move to the subsequent menu screen? Within the fantasy way forward for our Xbox device zoo, however, waving at your Xbox is way more efficient than pressing a button.

You never know; soon that will actually be true.

Movie: Minority Report

Yeah, when Tom Cruise did all that manifulating of future events, looking in on people and determining future murderers.

He did it on gesture-reading technology, which we’ve (Kinect). On a see-through screen, which crop up at CES each year now.

With a different glove (Nintendo’s Power Glove). Fed by thoughts of people that can predict the longer term.

We’re you, Pachter. Shut up and get in that floatation tank.

Next-Gen Tech: Kinect Voice

What Kinect can do well is know who you’re. Not just that, there’s a potential here for it to benefit your speech patterns. Kinect voice is by far its best feature and is why it makes it into our Xbox Live-focused sci-fi lounge.

Sit down, discuss with Xbox, tell it about your day, ask it to recommend something. Your Xbox will handle you. It could report unusual behaviour to the precise authorities.

It will eject you into space via the pod bay doors.

Movie: Moon

Just like in Moon, the stuff you say are listened to and things are done consequently. Unlike in Moon, Kinect is isn’t more likely to a) Talk back to you, b) Sound like Kevin Spacey.