40 Days #16: Let gamers schedule Marketplace downloads remotely
Once Microsoft puts in place some of the infrastructure features like the connected standby power mode and a web-based version of the Xbox Live Marketplace, the resulting combination logically culminates with a need for a method to remotely tell the waiting console that you want to download a particular item you are looking at in a browser on your PC.
Remote downloading is a feature that Sony already has working through their PSP/PS3 remote play integration. Microsoft themselves showed off a prototype version of a mobile means of remotely scheduling downloads when the company showed off their Windows Mobile Live Anywhere client. Better yet, Microsoft already has such a system working elsewhere: it's exactly what their MSN Remote Record service and client do for Media Center PCs. The system consists of a small client that connects to a web service, and the TV guide program listing website, which lets you schedule individual and recurring series recordings right from your browser, even when you are away from home. The Xbox version would work pretty much the same way: the console would be turned on or in the online standby mode, be connected to a download web service, and add items to the download queue as necessary.
However, MSN Remote Record has two shortcomings. For one thing, it doesn't really work from a typical Windows Mobile device, because the mobile browser just doesn't get along with the TV guide website. Also, the system is pretty one-sided. While you can see past recordings you scheduled through the website, the Media Center doesn't send back information about recordings scheduled directly on the PC, so you never know if you may already be recording a show just by looking at the website.
Both of these shortcomings could be easily remedied for the Xbox version. The Marketplace website could be made mobile device friendly, so that the limited mobile browsers found on phones could access essential functions like scheduling a download. Obviously, Microsoft could just also release the dedicated mobile Live Anywhere client with this functionality. Hint, hint!
The 360 should also synchronize locally-initiated downloads back up to the website. This would update the downloaded flag of the online Marketplace items as well as keep the two download queues in sync. And speaking of the online download queue, it could actually improve the dashboard's own download manager. Since the online queue could potentially be much longer - say, even 50 items or so - it could extend the dashboard's own limited queue size. You could keep adding items to the web-side queue, and the service would just send new items down to the 360 as and when slots opened up in the console's queue.
Ultimately this is one of those "lazy" features. It's not really necessary, and gamers can definitely wait until they come home from work or school to start a long download of the hottest new demo. Wait, who am I kidding, of course they can't! So let us be away from our consoles, yet queue up downloads of the latest and greatest content so that we can jump right in as soon as we get home.