Free Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone 7 tomorrow

By Robert Purchese Published 5 December, 2011

Search and even control Xbox Live content.

Microsoft will release a free Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone 7 tomorrow to coincide with the autumn 2012 Xbox 360 dashboard update.

This lets you track friend activity and search content on Xbox Live.

Better yet, the Xbox Companion can act as a remote control and launch movies, TV shows or game apps on a connected Xbox 360. You can play, pause, rewind and fast-forward media content, too. Think of the possibilities!

You'll even be able to "initiate media purchase", i.e. buy things, according to the press release.

Tomorrow's Xbox 360 dashboard update introduces the new Metro user interface and Bing search functionality. There's also improved gesture control for Kinect. The dashboard update paves the way for media content providers like Lovefilm, Muzu, 4oD, Demand 5 and YouTube, too.

But BBC Xbox 360 content will be held back until 2012.

Xbox social marketing manager Graeme Boyd couldn't specify when tomorrow's update will roll out.

"Best answer I can give is tomorrow," he wrote on Twitter. "No specific time I'm afraid."

"The best advice I can give you is to relax, hold tight, and rest assured that it'll pop up during the day.

"Play Skyrim or something," he added with a smile.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Baban_Iesu #1 6 months ago

    I love my WP7. There's nothing like being part of an exclusive club that people like to patronise. It's why I'm also a vegetarian.

  • Ror1984 #2 6 months ago

    I also love my WP7. But I think people that like to feel superior to others based on what type of phone they have really need a new hobby.

    I'm quite looking forward to this app. I already use the XBL integration to see what friends are doing and to message them, so more features are always welcome. It'd be nice if it was an extra pivot in the Games Hub though. I like having everything related in logical places; one of the reasons I love my Omnia.

  • orangpelupa #3 6 months ago

    imconfused how the remote able to work?
    i mean, Xbox 360 dont have WiFi.

    Yes it have wireless 2.4Ghz transceiver for the gamepad but its using different standard with WiFi.

    Maybe the article mean --> the Xbox Companion can act as a remote control and launch movies, TV shows or game apps on a connected Xbox 360 S (all S version have WiFi).

  • Toothball #4 6 months ago

    It was the promise of Xbox live connectivity that swayed my phone decision making for three handsets. Those were all WM6, which unfortunately for me was deemed too old to bother with when they eventually got the mobile version of Live.

    After seeing what it could do with games, I wasn't overly concerned with getting phone based achievements to show up on my Live account. But this remote control stuff sounds like a much more useful proposition. However, as with the release of WP7, I managed to upgrade my phone shortly before the news of what it could do emerged, this time to an Android one. I guess we can hope they'll take pity on the rest of the phone market and come up with some kind of app for everyone else, but it doesn't seem likely. Otherwise, I guess I'll check back in a year or so when I next switch phone.

  • rotmm #5 6 months ago

    @orangelupa,

    I'm assuming (and it's entirely possible I'm wrong) that it'll have it over the network, so it'll only work for Xbox's that are connected to the home network via either cable or wifi and that the phone has to be on the same netwrok.

  • Tomnd #6 6 months ago

    I and the 5 other people who use this phone thank you very much M$.

  • braydee89 #7 6 months ago

    From what I've seen, this app looks pretty cool. You can check out your libraries whilst actually playing your game. It's like having a dashboard available in game.

  • DwarfyP #8 6 months ago

    @Baban_Iesu
    Agreed, except for the vegetarian part, that is just wrong :)

  • mastablasta #9 6 months ago

    Will be trying this out tomorrow. Will come in handy when watching films as my room is very large and It will save me getting up for the remote.

  • RodHull #10 6 months ago

    I took the plunge to a Lumia WP7, partly because my mostly reliable BlackBerry was replaced by a barely functional iPhone 4S (anyone who considers Siri a valuable piece of IP must have a better relationship with the retarded version sitting in my phone). So far I much prefer the interface, it crashes less and Zune is far preferable to the detestable hunk of unpleasantness that is iTunes. The biggest drawback is of course the scarcity of apps, with only about 1 in 10 of apps and games appearing on WP7. Hopefully people who never liked the static tiles of iOS and Android phones will come and join the family, and nifty this will hopefully help.

  • Toothball #11 6 months ago

    @RodHull

    I have taken more than a few lustful glances at the Lumia 800. If the price for an Xperia Play hadn't crumpled I'd probably be bothering my phone provider for an upgrade about now.

  • Quixz #12 6 months ago

    I love the WP7 OS the hardware stops me from getting one. I would have liked to get this. Maybe next year. :(

  • berelain #13 6 months ago

    And right after I traded in my Windows Phone 7 for a Samsung Galaxy S II. I almost regret the decision... but no, actually, I don't. I loved WP7, but I craved the customisation of Android too much.

    As for the remote control thing, the Xbox 360 does have WiFi - the control pads use wireless frequencies, so I'd assume that the phones can latch on to the same frequencies.

  • Baban_Iesu #14 6 months ago

    @DwarfyP ...for example.

  • braydee89 #15 6 months ago

    @lollage Xbox live is coming to Windows 8 next year. As for other apps, it might make sense to eventually make some form of XBL compatibility available at a later date, but this is the kind of exclusive feature which might draw people to the windows phone. It's actually what google do with their services.

  • Xboxfanuk #16 6 months ago

    @Ror1984 I also have an Omnia 7 but am on Orange and seem to have all sorts of connectivity issues. 3G doesn't always pick up or becomes a crawl, phone calls don't always connect. Is this Orange or Wp7?

  • rudedudejude #17 6 months ago

    I'm sure soon enough it will go the way of the Zune...

  • Gastrian #18 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:05 08-05-2012

  • Ror1984 #19 6 months ago

    XBoxfanuk - I'm also on Orange, and my 3G signal occasionally throttles or drops out altogether. But not as much as it used to on my previous phone on the same network. I rarely had a usable signal on that phone. My guess is it's Orange (and maybe my last phone was a bit shit, adding to the problem). I know someone on Orange with an HTC Mozart and they have similar problems every now and then, as did another friend with a Nokia 5800.