Microsoft’s Don Mattrick is on stage right now in Redmond. He’s just unveiled the Xbox One, a big black slab of a console that’s very shiny and very square. It’s quite pretty, in a utilitarian kind of way.
There’s a new Kinect, too, redesigned to match the console. Voice control is in, they’re pushing a connection with your whole living room ecosystem and assuaging fears over the dashboard by plonking your latest activity squarely in the middle of a redesigned dashboard. It’ll link to US cable subscriptions like Comcast and switch between that and your games, music and other media on the fly, to saved states within each application.
The new controller, while not a huge early focus, looks like a fairly substantial redesign, with a new cross-shaped D-pad (thankfully) and a slightly more angular look.
Yusuf Mehdi took to the stage to show multi-tasking, with Internet Explorer running in “Snap Mode” alongside a movie trailer. Skype is present, as expected, with a very brief but suitably cheesy call-in conversation before leading into showing off fantasy sports teams alongside ESPN. All the TV stuff comes with a snazzy guide, too, although it’s unclear just now how any of this stuff will work outside of the US.
We’re still waiting to see some games but the system itself looks pretty slick so far. Stick with TSA for more news as it breaks and our usual convenient round ups after the show is over.
Some hardware specs have just been touted, too:
- Wireless 802.11n
- 8GB RAM
- 500GB hard disk
- 8 core processor
- Blu-ray
- 5 billion transistors (I’m not sure why that matters?)
- Xbox Live accounts will carry over, naturally
- 300,000 Xbox Live servers for Xbox One
- Kinect Camera is full colour, 30fps at 1080p
- Kinect has Time of Flight tech to make it ultra-responsive
hazelam
i can’t see many of those interactive features making it outside the us.
cam the man
Just what I was thinking.
Don’t like the look of the console either.
bunimomike
Like a black Sony PSX.
KeRaSh
It reminded me of a flat PS3,to be honest.
KeRaSh
Yeah… I was surprised they didn’t mention any regions for the media stuff. They spent half of their unveiling on features that seem to be US only…
They said they are saving the games for E3 but I feel like they had to push the release to this year because of Sony and that’s why they are behind on their first party game schedule. There was no mention of any release games, just the number of games that will release in the first year, which sounds fishy.
All in all, I’m not impressed but I honestly didn’t expect anything else…
Btw, Gamespot said the One won’t have backwards compatibility.
KeRaSh
Also, apparently the One will not require a constant internet connection but Kotaku insinuates used games will be blocked? dun dun duuuun…
ico
Xbox One?!? Seriously?! No one predicted that name (with good reason, it’s pants). Look forward to further news though when TSA has had time to digest.
gazzagb
The name is a bit misleading, and it’s not the nicest looking thing I’ve ever seen.
cam the man
Quickly brushed over the blu-ray drive, I wonder why!
hazelam
from the looks of it, they want everything done online.
theturtleking
There’s a sony employee rubbing his hands together and laughing.
hazelam
half an hour in till we see the first games. o_O
theturtleking
I can tell you them. Forza, Fable, Halo, Gears and an exclusivity deal with EA for bonus content.
Jones81
Half an hour in and it’s been nothing but a load of boring twaddle and the machine itself looks awful!. I’m calling it now- Microsoft have lost it
Jas-n
But is it GDDR5?
beeje13
Just DDR3 apparently, with 3GB to do all the tricks with the OS and TV
KeRaSh
They would have emphasized it, if it was GDDR5.
damoxuk
They could have gone to 16gb DDR3 as 8gb GDDR5 would be more expensive than even 32gb ddr3.
hazelam
“how the games will look and play on Xbox One”.
am i the only one who thought they wouldn’t be showing real time stuff after that?
just something about the way it’s phrased set off alarm bells in my mind.
deadwelsh
I like the look of the box, nice replacement for the DVr I get from virgin, exactly where I expected MS to be targeting tbh, the pay wall is the deal breaker for me
beeje13
VGleaks were right with the specs as they were with PS4. Just wonder about always-on now… Half of the console seems to depend on it, especially the new features and TV.