Xbox One goes World Cup-crazy with free Brazil Now app

[Ironman273]

Xbox One goes World Cup-crazy with free Brazil Now app
Reality TV series, FIFA Ultimate Team part of Xbox's "Destination Brazil" push.
by Sam Machkovech - June 2 2014, 5:08pm EDT
 

 

Xbox One's promise of integrated, specialized media apps has yet to see a wealth of content, but the company's Destination Brazil initiative, launching on June 12 alongside the World Cup, sees Microsoft edging closer to the new console's multimedia aspirations. The whole thing, announced this morning, will revolve around Brazil Now, an app that collects your cable TV data and then tailors itself to your favorite team to deliver system notifications and deliver a statistics overload via the "snap" side-of-screen information panel.

 

It's similar to the Xbox One's NFL app, which debuted last fall and allowed users to pull up the snapped version of the app while playing games or watching media apps, but Brazil Now's root system integration, particularly its ability to pop up notifications, is an improvement?and a feature that should have been in the NFL app in the first place. Even better, in light of the Xbox's welcome transition away from the Live Gold paywall, Brazil Now won't require a subscription to use (but will lose a lot of its luster if users don't have a cable TV subscription).

 

Additionally, neither Live Gold nor cable subscriptions will be required to watch Every Street Unlimited, a soccer-scouting reality series that marks the first-ever offering from Xbox Entertainment Studios. The show will debut on June 15 within the Destination Brazil hub, where Microsoft will also advertise the latest Ultimate Team trading-card add-on for FIFA 2014, which went live for the game's owners this morning and added a World Cup-themed Ultimate Team mode. The "free" update hinges on virtual coins, which can either be earned in gameplay or purchased through "player pack" microtransactions.

 

Source: Ars Technica

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Not a fan of football but stuff like this will be a big hit in EU, especially if they continue on the football trend and get something out in time for the premier/champ leagues.

 

Would love to see something for F1 in future.

[Ironman273]

The site Microsoft did with ESPN is pretty nice too: http://essentials.espnfc.com/

 

They're really backing the World Cup this time around.

[spenser.d]

Sports apps during tournaments like this is where being able to snap apps can really shine. I was playing titanfall with the NFL draft ticker snapped and it was pretty slick. If I was into the world cup I'd do the same here.

[trooper11]

I may not be a huge soccer fan, but I can definitely see this will be a big deal to many users. I know things like the ESPN app meant a lot to me.

[spikey_richie]

Looks neat, but as the others say not a fan of football. As Andrew says an F1 tracker like that shown on formula1.com during the race would be nice to have as a sort of PiP.

[Ironman273]

I've been using the Brazil Now app for watching games and I really like it!  I actually missed it a couple times when I was not watching the game at home and I wanted to see information on a player or simply how many shots on goal have been taken.  The one thing I would wish for is that it was a little more timely to update. Sometimes it's quick but other times it won't show a goal or replacement for up to a minute.

 

I also enjoy the questions that come up as you watch.  I have about half of the 96 cards so far.  I noticed you can get doubles so I imagine it'll be more difficult to complete as you approach the 96.

 

Anyone else using Brazil Now?

[neoadorable]

I've been using the Brazil Now app for watching games and I really like it!  I actually missed it a couple times when I was not watching the game at home and I wanted to see information on a player or simply how many shots on goal have been taken.  The one thing I would wish for is that it was a little more timely to update. Sometimes it's quick but other times it won't show a goal or replacement for up to a minute.

 

I also enjoy the questions that come up as you watch.  I have about half of the 96 cards so far.  I noticed you can get doubles so I imagine it'll be more difficult to complete as you approach the 96.

 

Anyone else using Brazil Now?

 

Downloaded it but haven't used it yet...missed the Ghana match, score made me happy, go Brooks. Next up Portugal. I expect a thrashing :wacko: