Microsoft has unveiled Xbox SmartGlass: a service to allow tablet computers and smartphones to communicate with its video games consoles.
It allows users to control games on the touchscreen devices and can show extra information about progress. It also lets the handhelds act as controllers for the firm's Internet Explorer web browser, which will launch on the console later this year.
The move poses a challenge to Nintendo's Wii U Game Pad.
While the Japanese company's product is specifically designed to enhance the experience of using its next-generation console, Microsoft is offering users a way to extend the functionality of its existing games machines via third-party devices they may already have.
"Xbox SmartGlass works with all the devices that you already own: the TV you already own, the phone you already own and the tablet you already own," said Marc Whitten, head of Microsoft's Xbox Live division.
"Xbox SmartGlass turns any TV into a smart TV."
A demo showed the highly anticipated first-person shooter Halo 4 using the facility to trigger maps and other data about its in-game environment.
The announcement was made in Microsoft's keynote presentation at the E3 video games trade show in Los Angeles.
Mr Whitten added that SmartGlass would also enhance television programmes and films streamed through the Xbox.
New games will need to be designed to make the most
of SmartGlass's ability to send data to tablets
He gave the example of a viewer watching Game of Thrones on their television and being able to look down at their tablets to see where on-screen characters were located on a map of the show's fantasy world.
The demonstration also showed how the linked device could bring up details about the cast and characters while the user was watching a film.
"It lets Microsoft say that you don't need to buy new hardware to have a two-screen experience," Stephen Totilo, editor of gaming website Kotaku, told the BBC.
Microsoft also promoted its device as an entertainment hub.
A new service called Xbox Music will offer "over 30 million music tracks" to the Xbox as well as Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices.
A video suggested the service would rival similar offerings from Spotify, Rdio and others. However, details were scant with no launch date or countries mentioned, and no comment about how it would affect the firm's existing Zune product.
US users were promised new content including NBA basketball games, Paramount Pictures movies and Nickelodeon children's programmes.
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