Project Orapa from Microsoft headed for E3 announcement?

The E3 Expo that will begin on June 7th might just see Microsoft make an announcement for Project Orapa. To clue in the clueless, Orapa is actually the working name for a combination of Xbox Live and Microsoft’s Mediaroom IPTV. It would open the door for Microsoft to turn the regular TV in your living room into a service which is capable of delivering content to Xbox customers first, followed by Windows, Windows Phone and set-top-box customers at a later period in time. Hear what Microsoft has to say about their vision for the Xbox console after the jump.

“The vision for Xbox is straightforward: All of the entertainment you want. With the people you care about. Made easy. That is why you’ve seen us invest in partnerships with ESPN, Netflix and Hulu. That is why we’ve baked social directly into the experience with Xbox LIVE – connecting gamers, friends and families across the globe. That is why you’ll see Xbox marketed more as an entertainment brand this year. And that is why we’re investing so much in Natural User Interface technologies (speech, touch, gestures) to make the entertainment experience that much easier—and more fun. With Kinect, we’ve made NUI real for millions of people, and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible.”

This might just sway even more people over to the Xbox camp, and with Sony’s recent troubles with hackers and a group bent on attacking Sony relentlessly, things might be looking even brighter than ever before for Microsoft in the gaming industry.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: E3 2011, e3 tradeshow, Microsoft