The Xbox 360 will soon be pimped with Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm accessibility straight from your dashboard. According to Xbox 360 spokesman Major Nelson, you won’t be able to get that functionality if you’re under 18.
Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm will all be tied into the service, allowing you to automatically update your various social networking statuses with what you’re playing or listening to at any given moment, amongst other functionality.
Writing on his blog, Major Nelson said: “As some of you might be aware, those under the age of 18 are not able to access Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm in our public preview. I want to you let you know that this will remain the case when it launches to the world soon. We made this decision because as it stands now, parents aren’t able to use Family Settings to customize which of these applications their children can access. In order to offer an age-appropriate environment for everyone, we decided to turn off these applications for those Gold members under the age of 18.”
He also added, “As expected, this has been a hot topic with the preview users. We want to make sure everyone was aware, however, that the development team is working on an update that gives parents the choice of which social applications their children can access. This means that Xbox LIVE members between the ages of 13 and 17 will be able to use Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm as long as their parents approve. The team hope to roll this out several weeks after launch and I will update you on the exact date as it gets closer.”
We presume it’s all done to protect young gamers from online predators and Internet bullies ( ?Last.fm? ), by giving their parents the right whether they want their child to use the service or not. So as long as their parents grant them use then they’re free to poke their buddies and update their status. Facebook, Twitter and LastFM would be coming to Xbox 360 on November 17th.
