For those of you in need of another way to waste time on the internet, the app launched in the Xbox marketplace on Wednesday. Now you can watch Vine’s mesmerizing looping videos on your big screen TV.
The Vine app organizes the most popular clips into channels including Art, Music & Dance and Comedy. To control the app, users can make swiping gestures at their Kinect motion sensor or give voice commands from their seat.
“Snapping”
Users who feel that they suffer from a lack of visual stimulation when playing video games or watching television are sure to enjoy the “snapping” feature of the new Vine app. The concept allows the app to run alongside games or TV, just in case your eyes weren’t fully occupied.
The Xbox version of the app has been built “specifically for TV”, and will only allow users to view existing Vines. If you want to record your own Vines, the free mobile app is the one for you.
This latest release fits a developing theme of varied entertainment apps that have been appearing in the Xbox app store. At an event in June, Microsoft announced that other apps including HBO Go and Twitter would be joining the store, and Reddit received its own Xbox One channel this August, the ReddX app.
Vine App for Xbox One: Multimedia solution
The Xbox One is pitched as an all-in-one solution for your media needs, and the introduction of a Vine app is significant because, like Netflix before, it is another service added to the growing multimedia family available to Xbox users.
Initial reviews of the app have not been very favorable. Matthew Buzzi of gamenguide.com is disappointed that the console version of the app does not allow users to personalize their experience, claiming that the new release has lost the very quality that made the smartphone app so “addicting.” He goes on to predict that the app will not earn regular use from Xbox owners.
