Saturday marked the debut of the restartedXFL’s season. The American football league characterizes itself as a “reimagining” of the sport, focused on more action and fun. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that the XFL is already making inroads to appeal to video game fans. The league’s official Twitter account posted a photo from yesterday’s Tampa Bay Vipers vs. New York Guardians match that shows an official using anXbox controllerto review footage.
The XFLsocial mediaaccount makes a joke out of the photo on Twitter with the caption, “When you are in the middle of officiating the third ever #XFL game but gaming is life,” for the photo– the joke being that the official is fitting in some video game time between reviewing game calls.
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What the official is actually doing seems like a much more interesting topic, though. TheXFLofficial has a screen in front of them with what is, presumably, live footage at the center of the screen. Around the live footage are what look to be all of the different camera angles from the exact same moment. If necessary, the referee can likely pause the footage and rewind, fast forward, or even add a slow-motion effect. This footage can be shared with the on-field referee in case of a challenge or necessary review of a call.
That all of this is potentially being done with anXboxcontroller is very impressive. The Xbox One controller is well-known for being versatile and is commonly used by PC gamers who prefer a controller to a mouse and keyboard. The controller’s triggers could control rewinding or fast fowarding, while the bumpers could handle slow motion speed. The joysticks could even be used for finer control of the speed of the footage. Then there’s the directional pad to choose which camera angle, plus enough buttons extra to fit the needed purpose.
It’s all a very clever arrangement. The controller itself is a great idea, but it only works effectively if the application the XFL is running for viewing livegame footageis designed with a controller in mind. A lot of work had to have gone into getting the Xbox controller set up for this purpose, as well as a lot of training for officials.
The XFL’s capitalizing on fans noting the Xbox controller is a smart decision. Video game fandom very often crosses over with football fandom. And given that the XFL is an American sport, it makes sense for them to target Xbox fans, as polls have previously shown that theXbox brand is more popular than PlayStation or Nintendo in the USA. All the XFL needs to do next is make a football game to compete with EA’sMaddentitles.
TheXFLbegan this weekend, with matches every Saturday and Sunday through the rest of the season.
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