To me this is exciting news. Not only does it present a future use of Silverlight, only weeks ago people were saying that Silverlight had no future when up against HTML5, but it could also mean the opening up of the Xbox 360. If Silverlight is indeed coming to the box 360 then it means that Silverlight will be the first language, I believe, that will work on the “3 screens and the cloud”. This could be an even bigger incentive for developers to write apps using Silverlight as they could have their apps work in any browser, on Windows, on Windows Phone 7 and even the Xbox.

The other interesting aspect of this news is that if Silverlight does come to the Xbox then i could mean that the Xbox is opening up. I imagine that there would be a marketplace. I seriously doubt that games would be built using Silverlight but I imagine apps designed for the big screen would be built using the language. There could be some very interesting apps built for the Xbox that are designed for a TV screen. Also with the great media streaming functionality of Silverlight it could open up more ways to watch content on one’s TV with access to more services from across the internet. Microsoft already have a site called the App Hub which is the place for developers to go to download the tools and the ultimately submit their apps and games…only its only games that can be submitted to both platforms. Surely then it only makes sense that Silverlight apps (this is the App Hub after all not the Games Hub) could also be submitted to both consumer platforms easily from one place.

With a range of set top boxes now providing media streaming and some with app support it makes sense that Microsoft would be looking at bringing apps to its very successful console. I believe that the Silverlight apps on the Xbox could easily “one-up” those apps on other boxes due to Kinect. Surely Microsoft would provide a way for developers to access some of the features of the hands-free accessory for the console. This could allow for some truly unique experiences on the TV and not just in games.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft has anything to announce about this at its Silverlight Firestarter event on December 2nd. I doubt the company will say much about this but I imagine we will heard about Silverlight coming to the Xbox at E3 next year. There might even be mention of it at MIX but with Kinect and the new dashboard being the focus of the Xbox this holiday season I doubt they will mention that Silverlight will be coming to the console.

With Xbox going from strength to strength at the minute it will be very interesting to know what Microsoft have planned for it aside from new experience for Kinect and as far as I can tell Silverlight makes a lot of sense.