It appears Microsoft is already aware of Richard Kastelein of Agora Media's warning that television's gatekeepers are changing.

While much of the press is focused on the smart TV assault – Google, Samsung et al leading the line – Microsoft too is looking to get into the game, plugging gaming experiences directly into television shows via Kinect.

Relentless Software is one of the studio's tasked with making this vision a reality, working on an game that slots into episodes of National Geographic's Expedition Wild.

Kinecting the dots

The episodes are delivered via Xbox 360, with standard video interspersed with interactive play and augmented reality.

According to studio co-founder and executive director David Amor, TV games such as these can be part of the next stage in television's continuing march forward.

"The evolution of television hasn't come to an end," said Amor.

"There's an opportunity for the next stage to be entirely interactive."

Step by step

Amor said television remains an unproven medium for gaming, making designing games effectively a problem.

Users playing with their smartphones or tablets while watching TV shows is also a problem, as it risks killing any engagement.

While some developers are to use such devices to act as 'second screens' to enable TV interaction, Microsoft clearly believes Kinect, too, can keep viewers on board in a similar manner.

TV times

Indeed, interactive television as a whole has many advantages, namely expanding gaming's userbase just like smartphones did - almost by stealth.

"Where we were content with 125 million people playing games on consoles, we're now used to 250 million people playing games on smartphones," he concluded.

"It's completely put consoles in last place. Also, people didn't buy their phones to play games, but now they have them, they think they're really good entertainment.

"What's going to happen in the next couple of years is that there are going to be cheap platforms emerging for television that people buy to watch HBO, say, but all of a sudden their televisions become interactive as a result.

"The commercial opportunities are huge, and interactive television is ripe for development."