There"s been lots of rumors about what Microsoft has planned for its Xbox Entertainment Studios division in Los Angeles. At the moment, the only show that"s been confirmed as in development by the division is a live action Halo TV series. Today Deadline reports, via unnamed sources, that Microsoft has given the go ahead for another show, and this one is about as different as you can get from a sci-fi action franchise.
The series is called Every Street United and has been described as a reality show centering on local street soccer players, with each episode in the eight part series traveling to a different country. The story states that one player from each episode could later be sent to the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro where all eight players would compete in a 4 x 4 soccer match during the tournament.
Variety is reporting that the show will be produced for Microsoft by Mandalay Sports Media, a division of the movie production company Mandalay Entertainment. Neowin sent over an email to Microsoft"s PR reps and got this response from a spokesperson: "This series has not been announced and we do not have any specifics to share at this time. We’re excited to be working on several projects and look forward to providing additional details soon."
Recently, Neowin community member Anonymf asked Microsoft"s head of Xbox Live programming Larry Hryb if the company could launch a revival of the now cancelled animated TV series Futurama via Xbox. Hryb replied that he thought that would be a great idea and promised to pitch it to the powers that be in Microsoft. Naturally, there"s no word on if Microsoft will be interested in such an idea.