14 DAY TRIAL // A leaked Windows 10 build showed the Xbox app coming to PC, to act as a gateway to Xbox Live and Microsoft's gaming services.
The app is set to function as a gateway to the entire Xbox experience, complete with access to achievements, friends lists, activity feeds and everything else, including the store.
At the end of last week, Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, teased gamers that there would be a lot of exciting news regarding gaming on Windows during Microsoft's scheduled consumer experience event in January next year.
Microsoft is getting ready to showcase a new preview build in January, but certain people got their hands on a leaked early technical build of Windows 10. We at Softpedia played around with the new Xbox app, and you can see how snazzy it looks in the gallery below.
Windows 10 is set to put together desktops, laptops, tablets and phones, to unify the experience and enable users to seamlessly transition from one device to the other, and this time around, Microsoft's intentions seem to include the Xbox One computer entertainment system and its video game ecosystem.
A long time in the making
Windows 10 and everything that Microsoft hopes to achieve with it are a culmination of the company's recent efforts, which have not been as concerted as they could have, regarding tying together Games for Windows Live and console accounts, as well as unifying the Windows 8 store and Xbox Live.
The Windows 10 Store will bring everything together in one place, from video games to music, film and television content, which users of both Xbox and Windows 10 platforms will be able to make use of and enjoy no matter what screen they're looking at.
Not the only ones
Valve is also making strides toward cross-media support with the recently released Steam Music initiative, meant to offer gamers a new place to browse for other types of entertainment content.
It is highly likely that, within a few years, we'll be browsing through several of these multimedia marketplaces. Hopefully, Microsoft's store will sell Steam keys, so we don't have to fragment our libraries even further.
Phil Spencer said that it was time to talk about gaming on Windows (a bit late to the party, granted), and hopefully that won't simply mean what Microsoft's past announcements would indicate, being able to see what's happening on Xbox and talking about it. In any case, we'll know for sure in January.
Other neat features in Windows 10 include Cortana, Microsoft's answer to Apple's Siri, the voice-controlled annoyance amplifier. Because that's what obnoxious people who don't care enough to remove sounds from instant messaging apps and on-screen keyboards really need: more ways to attract animosity from hapless victims of their self-centered attitude.
