Microsoft plans to shut down the Xbox console companion app, removing the only direct first-party option to import screenshots from console to PC.

Time was, you could plug a vast assortment of portable devices - including an iPod into your Xbox 360, and it would not only recognise the hardware in question, but also stream media from it.

Coupled with the news that the Xbox 360 is getting full-on TV, WP7 Phones will join in with a new Xbox Companion app. Everything you’ll want to watch will be controllable right from your smartphone.

Building on the existing Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone, Microsoft used a chunk of its pre-E3 conference in Los Angeles to unveil a fresh cross-platform service, Xbox SmartGlass. The new tool ...