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It should be obvious by now that Microsoft is doubling-down on sports apps. The company recently confirmed that ESPN is coming to Xbox One, and it inked a deal with the NFL to bring fantasy football to both Xbox and Windows. Until now, details have been scarce, except that Microsoft’s partnership with the NFL would include not just fantasy games, but also Surface apps coaches could use on the sidelines.

Finally, though, Microsoft is giving us a proper walk-through: it’s showing off ESPN and NFL for Xbox One, NFL for Windows 8, and not one, but two coaching applications. And according to company officials, that’s just the beginning: David Jurenka, Director of Sports for Xbox Entertainment Studios, tells us his group would also like to port over Yahoo and ESPN’s fantasy football apps, ideally sometime in 2014. In the meantime, those NFL and ESPN apps will hit the Xbox One in November, around the time it goes on sale, but we’ve got a sneak peek after the break. Oh, and even if you don’t plan on upgrading, you might still want to pay attention: NFL for Xbox 360 and Windows 8 are both available now.%Gallery-slideshow77128%

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Source: Microsoft

We can’t believe it took until 2013, but Yahoo has finally filled in a major missing feature on its fantasy sports platform: the ability to participate in a live draft from a mobile device. Many thousands of leagues (including our annual Engadget HD Podcast group) run on Yahoo, and until this year that has occasionally meant bringing laptops into awkward places or sitting chained to a desktop at the appointed time. The updated iOS and Android apps also include support for mock drafts, so you can prepare for any possible draft-day surprises while on the go. Hit the links below to install the free apps and remember, friends don’t let friends autodraft.

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Via: Yahoo Fantasy (Twitter)

Source: iTunes, Google Play

Microsoft is clearly determined to sew up some of the best content for the Xbox One: it just revealed a special, multi-year partnership with the NFL. The two are working on an optimized experience that better integrates fantasy football, including score displays, onscreen updates and Skype. They also promise exclusive content, naturally, including a lock on translating many of these experiences to tablets. The partnership will extend to the real arenas, too — among other technologies, Microsoft will bring Surface tablets to coaches and players to improve their communication and play calling. There aren’t many more details so far, but it’s evident that Microsoft wants to cater to football fans with a lot more than just its existing ESPN app.

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So your fantasy football team just clinched its spot in the virtual Super Bowl. There’s now a better way to rub it in everyone’s noses than snarky message board posts: Google has just teamed with the NFL to integrate Google+ Hangouts across the league’s fantasy football pages. The multi-person video chat is now just a step away, whether you’re trading players or checking the latest results. Google is even bending the rules slightly to allow for a full league’s dozen players in one session, instead of the usual 10, and will help host talks between commentators and league participants. Hangouts at the NFL pages are already up and running — that gives us just enough weeks to hem and haw over linebacker choices before the real NFL’s schedule gets going.

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NFL adds Google+ Hangouts to fantasy football leagues for extra-personal trash talking originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 16:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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