Redmond, Wash.At Microsoft's Xbox Campus today, the company gave a first look at its next-generation console, the Xbox One, which is coming out later this year (obviously in time for Christmas). Microsoft clearly noticed the drubbing Sony got a few months ago when that company unveiled the PlayStation 4 without showing off any hardware and learned a lesson. Xbox hardware was definitely shown today: a rectangular vented box with glossy black panels accompanied by a new Kinect that will come standard with the console, and a controller that looks very much like the existing one.
Many of the capabilities of the new Xbox were leaked ahead of time, including the eight-core X86 processor, Blu-ray drive, and new HD Kinect. But it's far more convincing to see it all work in a demo. On stage, Microsoft president of interactive entertainment Don Matrick booted up the Xbox One with an "Xbox On" command. The interface uses the familiar Microsoft Live Tiles, but now integrates a Trending category that combines items that are popular with your friends with those favored by the Xbox community at large. With a command of "Xbox Watch Live TV," Matrick called up "The Price Is Right," then switched to an interactive, voice-controlled TV programming guide called OneGuide that puts every cable box to shame.
This is a new strategy for Microsoft, which for years has been trying to work with cable companies to integrate a tuner into the Xbox. Now the company has obviously abandoned that strategy in favor of an HDMI passthrough with an informational overlay similar to Google TVthough it's worth mentioning that, at first glance, the Xbox UI seems far superior to Google's. That probably means the Xbox One will have no access to your cable box DVR. But the 500 GB on board might allow Xbox to act as its own DVR, a possibility that would undoubtedly unleash an army of lawyers.
Xbox One allows instant switching between games, music, movies, and TV. It even plays live TV within a live tile on the home screen. It also has a Snap Mode similar to Windows 8 that can display additional content next to TV programming. For instance, Xbox has worked out deals with both ESPN and the NFL that will integrate extra angles, real-time commentary, and updates of personalized content such as fantasy leagues while you watch the game. This content can also be pushed to second screens through Microsoft's Smart Glass software that already exists for tablets and smartphones.
Snap Mode also can support Xbox One's integrated Skype client, which works with the new 1080p camera in Kinect. Prepare for a new era of divided attention spans as video calls can coexist on your TV screen as you switch back and forth between TV and games. The Kinect accessory has advanced significantly, hardware-wise. Its camera array can handle 1080p at 30 fps and has active infrared sensing and time-of-flight measurement for individual photons. The company claims that the camera tech is sensitive enough to measure a player's heartbeat, which, when you get past the visceral creepiness of the idea, could be enormously useful for exercise games.
It took a while during the presentation to get to gaming, but a demo of upcoming EA Sports titles was jaw-dropping. Both EA and Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward have created new game engines that produce super high-fidelity rendering of human movement as well as textures that dwarf the capabilities of the current generation of consoles. In addition to EA Sports franchises, demos today included a preview of the next Forza racing game and a sneak peek of Call of Duty Ghosts (now with a playable special forces dog), which will all launch exclusively on the Xbox One.
And that's not the only exclusive content. Microsoft also announced that Xbox will be a platform for original TV content. Xbox Entertainment Studios is teaming up with Steven Spielberg to create a live action series based on the popular Halo franchise.
The crowd here was definitely impressed, but there are still are plenty of unanswered questions and a few caveats that could dull the anticipation for the new console. The biggest question is price. If Microsoft can't bring this thing in at under $500, it will be a tough sell as a mass-market consumer device. Also, what about the content that will be allowed to play on the device? Early word had it that the system won't allow play of used games, which are a big market on existing consoles, allowing people to snatch up older games at a discount. Also, from what we can tell, the new console won't play any games designed for the current Xbox, which will severely limit the available content at launch. Finally, it's about time that Microsoft stopped charging for Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, which put much of the online service's best functionality behind a paywall. The company gave no indication that was going to change.
If Microsoft nails the pricing on Xbox One, they've got a hit on their hands. At least it seems that way from here.
Read more: The New Xbox One Is AwesomeBut at What Price? - Popular Mechanics
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