Starting today, Xbox 360 owners can access content from cable giant Comcast, TV channel HBO and Major League Baseball.

Microsoft announced apps for entertainment services HBO Go, Xfinity and MLB.TV are available now to console owners. All three will take advantage of gesture and voice controls.

The HBO Go app adds the cable network's entire catalog on demand, featuring series such as Deadwood, Entourage and Game of Thrones.

"We've fully enabled the Kinect and (its) user experience including voice navigation," says Otto Berkes, senior vice president of HBO's Consumer Technology Group. "We tried to take full advantage of the functionality of Xbox."

The Xfinity app includes Comcast's On-Demand library, which features a variety of television shows and films, all searchable with either gestures or voice controls.

MLB.TV offers access to over 2,400 games and includes interesting touches such as the ability to shift to a splitscreen view to watch two games, then say "Switch" to flip between games.

"They bring a lot of fantastic content," says Yusuf Mehdi, chief marketing officer for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business. "They really bought in to the ease of use to help consumers find and enjoy what they want."

Microsoft has slowly transitioned its Xbox 360 from a traditional video game console to an all-in-one entertainment device. Several apps are already available on the Xbox, including Netflix, Hulu Plus and ESPN.

Microsoft says the use of entertainment apps has doubled year over year and, for the first time ever, more Xbox 360 users were firing up their consoles for entertainment purposes than multiplayer gaming.

"We've really seen this amazing explosion at Xbox the last four months that's honestly even surprised our own hopes and aspirations," Mehdi says.