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Background Information 背景常识介绍??? 统计数字显示17岁以下的青少年中一半以上的人每周至少上网发送一封电子邮件或是一条即时信息。微软和索尼两家视频游戏机巨头最近双双推出了升级版的互联网游戏服务来争夺价值300亿美元的市场。???????????????? Microsoft brings instant chat to TV screen, through games?? Microsoft planned to announce today that it will make its Windows Live Messenger service available on its Xbox 360 game consoles, bringing instant messaging from the computer to the television.?? The move was meant to help Microsoft stay ahead of Sony, its chief rival in the electronic games business, in delivering the richest online experience for game players. It is also an element of Microsofts overall strategy to connect people across PCs, televisions and mobile devices like cell-phones.?? More than 200 million people use Windows Live Messenger to chat with friends, family members and colleagues. Separately, more than six million Xbox 360 owners are connected to the companys Xbox Live online community, an enhancement that lets people with broadband Internet connections communicate with one another.?? In the second week of May, those two worlds will begin to converge. Xbox Live members will be able to link their gamer-tag , the online identity they use within the Xbox community, to an existing Windows Live Messenger account. Players will then be able to chat with their instant-messaging contacts using a virtual on-screen keyboard or a USB keyboard plugged into the game machine.?? Microsoft executives said they hoped to offer voice chat between Xbox and Live Messenger users later this year. We feel this is a huge step in driving social networking further into the family room by allowing Xbox 360 users to IM directly from their couch, said John Rodman, Microsofts group manager for the Xbox 360, in a telephone interview last week. Now you dont have to manage two separate groups of friends online.?? Microsoft and Sony are battling to dominate the high end of the console gaming market. (Nintendo, by contrast, is appealing largely to families and more budget-cons