Microsoft to include SmartGlass support in all future first-party games
Phil Spencer, corporate VP of Microsoft Studios, has said SmartGlass support will be included in all the firm's first-party titles once the new app is released in the fall.
Speaking with Joystiq at E3, Spencer said the SmartGlass will sync with a players' XBL Gamertag, and providing the game or show you are watching supports the app, it will enable various features based on what you are immersed in at the time.
"It just makes so much sense for a developer who wants to supply, maybe not time-critical information, like 'that enemy is getting ready to shoot you,' but information that augments what's happening on screen," Spencer explained, using the Halo Waypoint Atlas app as an example of how SmartGlass shares information without impeding gameplay.
"You're even going to see situations like with Ascend, where there's actually gameplay that happens on the phone, even when you're away from your television and that interacts back with the online game that's happening," he said. "So I think you'll see information sharing, context sharing while you're in the room, with video and with games, as well as gameplay happening in more distributed environments.
"You don't have to log in and out of each app – you know, 'I'm gonna start the Mass Effect app, and now I'm gonna start the Game of Thrones app.' So you have this surface, this smart surface that sits on any device that you already own that's always in sync with what's happening on the television, and it knows where to go and grab the right content to display at the right time, to make sure that if you're playing Halo, then the Halo surface is available on SmartGlass."
SmartGlass connects your devices and console together, and will allow you to send a movie from your tablet to your Xbox and pick up where you left off on your 360.
So, say you are watching Yor: Hunter of the Future on your smartphone while on the train, you can pause the movie once you get to the station, hit up SmartGlass, and when you get home, turn on the television and pick up where you paused.
The app will support Windows 8, Windows Phone, and other portable devices such as smartphones, PCs and tablets.