BBC brings Kinect-controlled iPlayer to Xbox 360

The BBC iPlayer service is now available on the Xbox 360 games console, bringing with it the option of voice or gesture control.

The service — which is already available on more than 450 platforms, including Sony's rival PlayStation 3 console — is available to silver and gold Xbox Live members. Silver membership of the online service is free.

"Xbox is hugely successful in the UK. Given the BBC's goal to reach its entire audience, I'm particularly excited that the BBC will be bringing iPlayer to all Xbox users at no extra cost as part of Xbox Live's free membership," Daniel Danker, general manager of BBC programmes and on-demand, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Unlike the iPlayer service accessed via TVs, PCs, other gaming consoles and mobile devices, Xbox 360 users with a Kinect motion unit will be able to use voice or gesture control to find and play back programmes.

"We're also excited to experiment with natural user interfaces made possible with Kinect, including voice and gesture control. We believe it's early days for these experiences, but see a great future working with partners such as Microsoft on innovations like these," Danker added.

On 15 March, BBC director general Mark Thompson confirmed plans for the organisation to launch a chargeable download-to-own service for archived BBC content. The project is currently in planning phase and has the codename 'Barcelona'.