Microsoft reveals the next generation with Xbox One.
Microsoft revealed their next-generation gaming console May 21 at a press conference in Redmond, Washington. With live streams online and fans and press in attendance, the technology giant revealed Xbox One, hyping it as an all-in-one entertainment system that will create a “relationship with your tv.”
“There is a lot to like with the Xbox One,” Sean Cahill of GamingNexus said in their reaction article. “I love the look of it and how it meshes with today’s home theater designs. It’s sleek and doesn’t have any kind of weird design.”
Gamers watching in the building and across the world online soon began to feel disappointed in the announcement. Much of the press conference covered television integration and entertainment as a whole, leaving the gaming aspect virtually untouched until the finale. And even then, all they had to hype was EA Sports games and a new Call of Duty.
It is possible gamers are overreacting to the press conference and their over-hyped talk of entertainment integration. While Microsoft officials touted their new system and all of it’s features while failing to delve much into the gaming aspect, what fans and gamers seem to be forgetting is that gaming is still the Xbox One’s core.
Before getting into the specifics, think about this in a business sense. Gamers know the Xbox is going to be a gaming console. It’s going to have an update operating system and hardware and graphics, and it is still going to rely on gaming as it’s primary function. Perhaps that fact is why Microsoft spoke little of the gaming element.
Gamers should know that gaming will be at the Xbox One’s core.
TV and Internet integration
Voice integration and the use of Kinect will make the Xbox One expereince something unique and futuristic. Using voice commands, a user is able to power the console on and off, hope on a game and even switch back to live TV without having to hit an input button on the remote or TV itself. A cable box is able to run directly through the Xbox One and then into the TV, making it easier to switch between the two.
Sports fans will be happy to know that ESPN programming will still be available to watch through the Xbox One (albeit you could just turn on the TV to do so). This fact is further enhanced by fantasy sports features, allowing facts and stats to be brought up on command for NFL or MLB games, for example.
Using Kinect, the Xbox One will also be able to handle Skype phone, video and group calls in game and out of game. In addition, Internet Explorer and Bing search engines will be utilized for web functionality.
Xbox One big time hardware
The Xbox One will house a CPU with over five billion transistor and will use 8GB of RAM. The next-generation console will include USB 3.0 ports and a Blu-Ray drive, perhaps taking a page out of Sony’s book and the success it rom had with PlayStation 3.
One downside to the new hardware in the Xbox One is that it wil not be backwards-compatible, meaning Xbox 360 games will not function with the new device. The new Xbox One controller will also be similar to past controllers, but different in a slimming new way.
Xbox One will feature three different operating systems to improve overall functionality of the device. The first is an Xbox OS, being gaming centric, and the second is Windows-esque while the third is designed to intertwine the first two. Xbox Live will be bumped from 15,000 servers used today for Xbox 360 online experiences to 300,000 servers, more than the entire world’s computing power in 1999!
The Cloud features will also be more central in the new Xbox One, allowing games and music files, among others, to be accessed from anywhere in the network as long as Internet is available.
What comes next?
Microsoft will release more information, including price and release date, over the next few weeks. Officials for the company said in the press conference that they will release more information in a few weeks at the E3 convention.
“I would’ve liked to see more of a presentation with games at the reveal, but I also understand when we’re only weeks away from E3, and you don’t want to tip your hand completely,” Cahill said. “Microsoft brought out the big guns in the form of EA Sports, Halo, and Call of Duty, showing that they do understand and know their audience.”
With gamers stumbling over themselves in disarray over Microsoft’s lack of gaming information at the initial reveal, it is all but possible that Microsoft is waiting for the biggest gaming and technology convention in E3 to reveal details about the gaming core. If E3 comes and goes and less is revealed about the future of gaming with the Xbox One, then it could be cause for panic.
For now, everything sounds oh so good.
“People need to relax about the lack of games being shown at the reveal,” Cahill added. “This was one show that was an hour long focusing on the hardware and the entire gamut of what it represents.”
