Halo ATLAS app + Windows Phone 7 + XBox 360 + Real time connection = About time... :)

WM Power User - Hooray! WP7 Halo Waypoint ATLAS app will offer real-time maps for Xbox 360 players

"It has been a long time coming, but it seems we will soon see some actual Windows Phone 7/ Xbox console integration.

The new Halo Waypoint app will offer many new features, including sending challenges to other Halo players.

The most interesting feature however is the ability to provide a secondary, top-down display of Halo maps in real time, featuring the location of your team and also the location of important objects in the game.

The feature will work with any Halo: Anniversary or Halo: Reach map but not custom maps.

“We tried to imagine what a Spartan in the field might actually have if they had an assisted system from the future,” explained CJ Saretto, lead producer for Halo Waypoint. They posited that future soldiers would have satellite imagery as well as floor plans for facilities, all annotated with notable information such as where weapon drops and vehicles could be found, what weapons players’ allies are wielding, the match’s score, and so on.

The maps themselves can either be viewed as satellite imagery or “what might think of as map view from Google Maps.”

..."

This is a capability I've been dreaming of since I first heard about the changes in Microsoft's Phone OS direction that became Windows Phone 7. What I wonder is why it took so long? (Also I wonder when the API/SDK will be made available for indie dev's to add this in our app's... ;)