The Xbox 360 was originally designed as a video game system, although the console is now one of the most popular video streaming platforms in the United States.
And now it seems as if Microsoft may be ready to give people who have no interest in video games yet another reason to purchase the new and cheaper $99 Xbox 360.
According to sources cited by The Verge, Redmond has coded a modded version of Internet Explorer 9 for the Xbox 360.
As an added bonus, the Xbox version of IE9 is rumored to support Kinect, meaning gamers will be able to control their Internet browsing from across the room with simple gestures.
Personally, I can see this working quite well with a swipe left for backwards, a swipe right for forwards and so on.
I think most gamers would be able to pick up on gesture controls for surfing the web for rather quickly, as two taps to load a page or a wave to refresh a page would be fairly intuitive.
Unfortunately, the sources didn’t indicate a specific launch window, but if there’s any substance to the rumor, with E3 kicking off next month, we are sure to hear more within weeks. It’s also worth noting that the Kinect accessory isn’t actually required for browsing, so IE9 for the Xbox 360 should support a standard controllerl. If the above-mentioned report is true, it would obviously be very good move on Microsoft’s part and could help significantly improve Internet Explorer’s standing in the ongoing browser wars.
