Sky have now announced that Sky Player is available for the Xbox 360, and soon Windows Media Centre.

As I recently blogged about, the capabilities of Windows Media Centre and Windows 7 are being greatly extended by Microsoft, and this represents the first mainstream integration of streaming media services with a Media Centre dashboard.

The first reviews of the new interface sing its praises for how well it works and how easy it is to use. I’m much more interested in the pricing though: you can buy a seperate subscription to the service for £15/month, and purchase individual programmes for varying prices. Not only that, but it’s not a long-term contract – just pay £15 to get one months’ access to the service. If you ask me, that’s pretty awesome. (If you’re doing this on the Xbox though, you’ll need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to access the full features of Sky Player).

One of the cool things about Sky Player is the ability to watch in “Avatar” mode – your avatar and a group of your friend’s avatars are shown on a virtual sofa, enjoying the TV. Nice touch!

Let’s hope Sky Player is available for Media Centre soon.

This is a cross-post from the Microsoft Student Facebook page. Why not become a fan?

So the worldwide release of Windows 7 has happened, and everyone can now go and buy the latest operating system from Microsoft. In many ways Windows 7 revolutionises how you use your computer, and I’ve already written about the benefits of Windows 7 for students.

But what about when the work is all done and it’s time to play? Windows 7 has some fantastic entertainment enhancements, based on its legacy from Windows Vista and Windows XP Media Centre. Here’s an overview of the best bits you can expect with the new operating system.