User Manual
23
Using Windows Live ID to Access Your Social Networks and Other Services
Xbox Live Parties, video chat, Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm access, and
some other unique features.
TIP Microsoft also has a related service called Games for Windows – LIVE.
This awkwardly named service is essentially Xbox Live for Windows PCs, so it
uses the exact same Windows Live ID that you use for Windows Live, Zune, Xbox
Live, or Windows Phone. You can nd out more at
gamesforwindows.com/live.
Xbox Live Marketplace: 3 Microsoft’s online store for gamers provides a way to
purchase full games electronically, Xbox Live Arcade games (which tend to be
smaller than full games), as well as free game demos and other content, game
add-ons, and more. It’s analogous to Zune Marketplace, except that the focus
here is gaming instead of digital media. (That said, the two stores are merging
and a lot of Zune Marketplace content is available via Xbox Live Marketplace
as well. As you can imagine, having a single ID to access all this content is
pretty convenient.)
You don’t have to be a hard-core gamer to appreciate Xbox. In addition to expand-
ing the audience for its gaming wares with the Kinect add-on for Xbox 360 (which pro-
vides Nintendo Wii–like motion sensing controls as well as voice control and opens the
door to a new generation of more casual games), Microsoft has brought its Xbox Live
service to Windows Phone as well. So you don’t even need an Xbox 360 to take advan-
tage of Xbox Live. (I examine the Windows Phone gaming features in Chapter 7.)
To sign up for an Xbox Live account, visit xbox.com in your PC’s web browser and
click the Sign In link at the top of the page.
If you already signed up for a Zune account, you will simply need to accept a new
Terms of Use agreement. That’s because the Zune Tag you already created will be used
as your unique Xbox Live identier, which is called a Gamertag. (I discuss this more
in just a bit.)
If you skipped the Zune account sign-up (and really, shame on you for that), you’ll
need to ll out a form and create what’s known as your Gamer Prole. This is essentially
your online game-playing persona.
This Gamer Prole consists of a number of attributes, some of which you’ll need to
specify right up front. These include:
Gamertag: 3 This is essentially the name that will identify you to others while
you’re playing games on Xbox Live. (And that’s true whether you’re playing
games on the Xbox 360 console, a Windows-based PC, or via your Windows
Phone.) This Gamertag is identical to your Zune account, so check out the
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