Microsoft announced at X02 in Seville earlier this week that the only ADSL provider for the Xbox Live network in the UK would be BT Openworld, and now it appears that you may need to shell out for additional hardware before you can even use the network.
According to a press release on the BT website, a "home hub" will be made available, which "supplies the broadband link to push data between the TV and the Xbox" - quite why you'd want (or even need) a broadband link between the TV and the Xbox is beyond us though, and surely a mistake on behalf of BT's press office.
The only link between the Xbox and a TV set normally is the AV lead, which Xbox's come with, so it seems more likely that BT actually mean a hub which will fit between the Xbox and your ADSL wall socket, allowing you to link the machine to the network - although surely the Xbox is already broadband enabled, so we're very confused.
Apparently the "Home Hub" will allow gamers to "access the games quickly and easily", but we've been told by BT that further details of the item won't be available until October at the very earliest. Of course any cost will be in addition to the Xbox Live Starter Kit which comes bundled with the Xbox Communicator headset and two trial online games.
Xbox Live via BT Openworld will let gamers with ADSL compete against other Xbox gamers anywhere in the world when the service officially launches in Europe next March, but this news hasn't gone down too well with ADSL users on other ISP's, and of course people for who their local exchange still hasn't been upgraded by BT to allow them to get a broadband service, who are stuck with 56k dial-up modems and no way to take part in Xbox Live.
As soon as we hear more from BT about the "home hub", what it does and how much it'll cost, we'll let you know.
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