(Image source: Kotaku)

BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

You're watching multisource video news analysis from Newsy.

Attention Xbox gamers with iPhones. On Wednesday, Microsoft released an Xbox Live application for iOS devices.

The official announcement came from Microsoft’s Larry Hryb, better known by his gamer tag, Major Nelson. The app is called My Xbox Live, and it ties into the social components of Microsoft’s online gaming services.

Dan Moren at Macworld says -- this is a great improvement over the online portal to Xbox Live.

“For Xbox gamers who are also iOS users -- such as yours truly -- this day has been a long time coming: Previously, we’ve had to rely on using Xbox Live’s clunky Silverlight-laden Web interface, or turn to lackluster third-party apps, all of which were limited by not having full access to Xbox Live.”

The Verge had some hands-on time with With My Xbox Live, reporting users can interact with friends, customize avatars, and compare achievements in a familiar-looking interface.

“And by ‘interface’ we mean ‘Trojan Horse for a complete Windows Phone 7 experience on the iPhone’... Sneaky stuff, Microsoft.”

VentureBeat says this is a bit of a change in strategy for Microsoft.

“Microsoft launched similar functionality when it launched Windows Phone 7 software a year ago. But making the app available on the iPhone means that Microsoft is no longer religiously promoting its own Windows software.”

That’s all well and good, Kotaku says. But the Windows Phone app still does more.

“It's great to see that Microsoft isn't limiting Xbox Live apps to their phone, now they just need to bring the rest of the Windows Phone features over.”

My Xbox Live is free in the App store right now. So is the Newsy app-- check it out to keep up with the latest tech news on any of your devices.