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Microsoft: Xbox One won't be a Windows Media Center Extender

If you own an Xbox 360 console and a PC with Windows XP, Vista or 7 installed, you can use the console as a Windows Media Center Extender to stream content from a PC to a big screen television. However, that same functionality will not be supported for the upcoming Xbox One console.

In IGN's regularly updated "Ask Microsoft Anything" column on the Xbox One, one of the questions pertained to the Xbox One having the same Windows Media Center Extender support. In his answer, Microsoft Xbox executive Marc Whitten offered up some bad new for fans of Media Center:

Xbox One isn’t a native Media Center Extender. We’ll continue to work to enable more ways for everyone to get the television they want over the life of the program.

It's possible that Microsoft decided to not add this feature to the Xbox One due to the fact that most of its capabilities are offered in the console's operating system; additionally, Windows 8 offers Media Center support as a paid add-on to the OS, which may have factored in the decision. In any case, it would appear that Microsoft is concentrating on its Xbox SmartGlass features to stream content from tablets and smartphones to the console, which is due to be released sometime in November.

Source: IGN | Image via Microsoft

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