Tsunami Set to Flood Xbox Live with New Features

by David Worthington

Tsunami, the code name for the latest iteration of Xbox Live, is about to inundate users with a flood of compelling new features like online storage. Other additions enable gamers to send in-game voice messages, organize into teams, enter into competitions and, as of late May, fully integrate Xbox Live with MSN Instant Messenger.

As first reported by Microsoft Watch, Tsunami has been brewing since late February. Even though the service's 24-hour update is completed, users will have to continue playing the waiting game until developers program Tsunami support into their upcoming titles.

Explaining this scenario, a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews, "Integration of the new features of the latest Xbox Live update, including title-managed online storage, is up to individual developers to support in their upcoming games. At this time we don't have a definitive calendar we can share regarding games that support these features."

It has been speculated that the next generation Xbox may shed its internal hard drive in favor of some form of online storage. Tsunami, or a future derivation, could potentially fit this bill. But a Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the company's future plans.

This week, Microsoft cited reports from industry analyst GfK claiming that sales of the Xbox had overtaken Sony's PlayStation2 for the first time. In GfK's analysis for the week ending April 18, 2004, Xbox took 50 percent of the console market as Sony trailed with a 35 percent share.

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