At last night's E3 press briefing, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, making his first appearance at an E3, announced Microsoft's Xbox Live Anywhere, a version of XBox Live that supports cross-platform gaming between the Xbox 360, Windows Vista and mobile devices.

"By opening the Xbox Live entertainment network to the entire universe of Windows and mobile gamers, we're creating unparalleled gameplay opportunities that will drive incredible growth of the online community," said Gates. "Our vision is to deliver consistent, compelling experiences that make it easy for consumers to jump in and play, from any device at any time. It's a vision that only Microsoft can deliver."

For Microsoft, this is certainly a radical departure from initial Xbox Live plans which were firmly rooted on the console and the use of a private, walled-garden network. The original Xbox Live did not support online gaming between the Xbox and the PC, a deliberate design decision on the part of Microsoft, and the concept of allowing access to Xbox Live games via mobile devices was one that was actively derided.

The idea of cross platform gaming has been around for a while, and I've spoken about the subject to developers myself, so it's nice to see online gaming service providers finally opening up their networks to other gaming platforms - even if, in Microsoft's case, it's to Microsoft-based platforms.