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Tag: next Xbox

  • The Next Xbox Gets A Name – The Xbox One

    The Next Xbox Gets A Name – The Xbox One

    During the Xbox event this morning, Microsoft announced its vision for the next-generation of game consoles and entertainment. The philosophy governing the next Xbox is everything going through one console. As such, the next Xbox will be called the Xbox One.

    The Xbox One is being designed to improve a living room that Microsoft sees as fragmented. With the next console, Microsoft hopes to bring games, TV and entertainment into one place with you as the center.

    Instead of showing games first, Microsoft decided to show how the next Xbox is going change entertainment and television. The first major change is that everything is controlled via voice or gestures. The voice commands have also become more conversational.

    The Xbox One will also be bringing a bit of Windows 8 to it with Snap Mode – the multitasking feature in Windows 8 that allows users to have two applications open at once. With the Xbox One, a user can be watching a movie and open Internet Explorer on the side. The side view can then be controlled with a tablet or phone via Smartglass.

    Speaking of television, ESPN on the Xbox One has received a substantial improvement. Fans will now be able to access their fantasy leagues while watching games. Microsoft has also entered into an exclusive contract with the NFL to provide live updates to fantasy football rosters during games.

    Microsoft has also teamed up with Steven Spielberg to produce a live action Halo TV series that will be a premium series only on Xbox One.

    The final addition to the overall Xbox experience is Skype. With it, users can make video calls with the 1080p camera that’s in the new Kinect. It also supports Snap mode so users can make calls while watching movies, and presumably while playing games.

    So, what’s powering all of this? Microsoft said that the next Xbox will sport an 8-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, a Blu-Ray Drive and USB 3.0. It’s also claimed that the machine will be cool and silent.

    Interestingly enough, Microsoft says that the Xbox One will also be powered by three separate operating systems combined into one. The regular Xbox OS will be used by game developers while all other applications will use the Windows kernel. The other OS combines the two together for when you want to instantly switch back and forth between games and applications.

    The new Kinect sensor sports a 1080p camera and more advanced tracking algorithms. Microsoft says that the new Kinect can even read your heartbeat.

    As for the proper Xbox One controller, Microsoft says it has implemented over 40 changes to the design. One of which is impulse triggers that will deliver more feedback. The company also claims to have redesigned the d-pad.

    Xbox Live is by far the most exciting part of the new system, and Microsoft seems to have noticed this. It has upgraded the Xbox Live server count to 300,000 so that players can do more. The first turns every Xbox One into a dedicated DVR capture device that lets players capture game footage and edit the footage on the console itself. Achievements will be revamped to be more about how much you play, and multiplayer games will search for matches while you play other games or watch TV.

    After all of this, Microsoft finally decided to talk about some games. First up was EA Sports with an “unprecedented partnership” that will see four franchises being released on Xbox One – FIFA, Madden, NBA Live and UFC. For FIFA 14, the game’s popular Ultimate Team mode will be exclusive to Xbox.

    Microsoft also announced Forza Motorsport 5 and Quantum Break as titles it’s publishing. The first speaks for itself, but the latter is the latest title from Remedy. It sounds like the guys at Remedy are trying to create a game that ties in with an in-game TV series. Both will influence the other or something. We’ll probably find out more at E3.

    To end the show, Activision showed off the first footage of Call of Duty: Ghosts running on the Xbox One hardware. Of course, all DLC for Call of Duty: Ghosts will still launch first on Xbox.

    As for other games, Microsoft says that there will be 15 exclusive titles for Xbox One in its first year with eight of them being new IPs. We will probably find out more about those titles at Microsoft’s E3 show in early June.

  • There Won’t Be A Subsidized Version Of The Next Xbox [Rumor]

    One of the better deals in gaming today is a $99 Xbox 360 that’s subsidized with two years of Xbox Live. Rumors suggested that Microsoft would be doing the same with the next Xbox, but those plans may have been scrapped.

    Paul Thurrot reports that Microsoft has ditched its plans for a subsidized Xbox. The news comes from a recent tweet that also said Microsoft would be showing off its IllumiRoom technology at tomorrow’s next Xbox reveal:

    For those unfamiliar with the rumor, it was said that Microsoft would be selling the next Xbox for $499 with a subsidized version going for $299. The latter would be subsidized with a two-year Xbox Live subscription at $15 a month.

    Now, this might be a good or bad move on the part of Microsoft. As Thurrot later speculates, Microsoft might just offer the next Xbox at a straight up lower price than the competition. Game consoles are generally sold at a loss anyway, but it’s hard to imagine Microsoft taking a massive hit early on just to undercut Sony.

    The more likely scenario is that Microsoft will just go ahead with its plans to sell the next Xbox for $499. That would mean the company is confident that its machine will have enough exclusive content to warrant a purchase. That was at least the line being fed to gamers over the weekend during the Major Nelson podcast in which Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg said that E3 would feature “tons of exclusives and world premiers” for the new console.

    Still, many, including myself, think it’s unwise for Microsoft to ditch its subsidization plan entirely. The rise of smartphones have warped consumers’ perception of value and how much technology actually costs. The $350 price tag on the Wii U is evidence enough that consumers just aren’t up for paying that much for what many still consider a toy anymore. A subsidized model, even if it wasn’t “cheap” per se, would still perform better as people would think they were getting a deal.

    All of this is nothing but rumor and speculation for now, but Thurrot does have a solid track record when it comes to Microsoft rumors. He reported the May 21 date for the next Xbox reveal two weeks before the official announcement from Microsoft. Even if Microsoft was ditching its plans for a subsidized Xbox, we probably won’t hear about it tomorrow. According to Greenberg, tomorrow’s next Xbox reveal will be about “the team, the people” behind the next Xbox.

    Of course, we’ll be covering the next Xbox reveal tomorrow. It starts at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.

    [h/t: Neowin]

  • The Next Xbox May Finally Ditch Microsoft Points

    I think we can all agree that virtual currency is the worst part of any digital marketplace. Often times, you’re forced to buy more points than what’s needed for the product in question, and then you’re stuck with 20 points that can’t be used for anything. One of the worst offenders is the Microsoft Points system, but it may finally be on its way out.

    The Verge reports that Microsoft is planning to get rid of Microsoft Points with the launch of its new game console. Instead, Microsoft will focus on selling gift cards that allow consumers to purchase content across the Windows Store, the Windows Phone Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.

    For those who don’t like gift cards, Microsoft will thankfully also support cash transactions via credit and debit cards. Now we can only hope that Microsoft will support transactions of any amount without having to load a minimum amount upfront. It’s pretty annoying that I have to pay $10 on Nintendo’s 3DS eShop to buy a $5 game. Microsoft would be wise to avoid that scenario at all costs.

    It seems that Microsoft is planning on unveiling its new gift card system around E3. It won’t be implemented at that point, however, as Microsoft will apparently start using the new system when the next Xbox launches. We might even see the official launch of Windows 8.1 at that time. If that’s the case, Microsoft may go all out in promoting apps and the new gift cards on both the next Xbox and Windows 8.1 machines.