I know what youâre thinking. âBoy, I wish I could use my iPad to control my Xbox 360.â
Whatâs that? Youâre not thinking that at all? You just want to play video games? You donât care about ridiculous control schemes or hardware gimmicks?
Well okay then. At least this oneâs free: Microsoft released a new update last night for the iPadâs My Xbox Live app that allows you to use your tablet as sort of a makeshift remote control for your console.
I played around with the new update this afternoon, and it works as promised: once you link your iPad to your 360, youâll be able to use it to navigate the dashboard, select games, and control media.
(Note: Youâll need to enter your Windows Live login/password to hook up your iPad. If youâre like me, you probably havenât touched Windows Live in years. If youâre really like me, youâll log in and find out your account has apparently been hacked by somebody named âBoone Garza.â Youâll start to worry, then realize that Windows Live is pretty much irrelevant to your life. And youâll change the password.)
Sadly, it doesnât seem you can use the app to play any games. I loaded up Minecraft and Spelunky, neither of which would let me use the iPadâs ugly virtual controller (below) to play.
But that might be possible soon enough: when Microsoft releases Smart Glass, weâll indeed be able to use our iPads to interact with games. For now, itâs neat to be able to use your tablet to control your Xbox, although I canât see myself doing that much. Itâs a novelty. A free novelty.