Microsoft announces "Xbox One"

[nsane.forums]

Microsoft announced its next-generation Xbox One gaming console at an event Tuesday morning, finally revealing the console that's been the subject of rampant speculation for months.


Microsoft's next-generation Kinect, Xbox One and its controller.

Microsoft announced its next-generation Xbox One gaming console during a press event held at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters Tuesday morning, finally revealing the device that's been the subject of rampant rumors and speculation for months.

Xbox One combines Microsoft's Xbox operating system with the kernel of Windows, bridging the gap between the company's console gaming platform and other entertainment services and applications offered on its flagship operating system. The console's 64-bit architecture enables users to switch between the two environments on the fly or multitask between them. Users can snap separate programs or services to different sides of the screen, as in Windows 8 – a demonstration of this capability showcased a user simultaneously watching a movie and video chatting with a friend through Skype.

Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, called the console "the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system" that provides a plethora of gaming and entertainment capabilities.

"Today we put you at the center of a new generation in the living room – where your games look and feel like nothing else, where your TV becomes more intelligent, where all of your entertainment comes alive in one place," he said.

Microsoft's presentation focused heavily on television capabilities provided by the console, including the ability to integrate itself with set-top boxes from television service providers through the use of an HDMI input port, though that capability will only be available in the U.S. at launch before a global rollout. A collective program guide combines listings of live television with trending entertainment from friends and the Xbox Live community.

Despite the emphasis on television, Microsoft representatives said the company is investing heavily on the console's gaming capabilities as well. Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, said the company plans on releasing 15 exclusive games for the console's launch, eight of which are new franchises.

"To jump-start this new generation of development, Microsoft Studios is investing more than ever in studios around the world to create new and original [intellectual property] for Xbox One," he said. "In fact, we have more titles in development now than at any other time in Xbox history."

One of those new franchises, Remedy's "Quantum Break," blends the console's two major features – gaming and television – by featuring gameplay that impacts an in-game television show.

An eight-core CPU and 8GB of RAM power Microsoft's new console, which also has a 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive, USB 3.0 ports and built-in 802.11n WiFi. Three methods of input let users control Xbox One: a physical controller, the next-generation Kinect motion sensor, and SmartGlass apps available for tablets and smartphones. Both a controller and Kinect sensor will come bundled with all Xbox One consoles.

Kinect's voice commands and physical gestures were touted extensively at the event, as the sensor will allow users to wake the device from standby by simply saying "Xbox on." The next-generation Kinect's camera provides 1080p motion capture capable of reading a user's heartbeat and tracking more joints than the current-generation version of the sensor. Additionally, the sensor can instantly recognize users as they interact with the console.

In addition to the upgraded Kinect, Xbox One's controller will be overhauled from the Xbox 360 version to provide dynamic impulse triggers, allowing developers to program varying levels of feedback directly into the controller. The controller's directional pad, a feature of the Xbox 360 controller that has often been complained about, has also been overhauled with improved resistance.

Unlike the current-generation Kinect, the sensor that comes bundled with Xbox One can work together with the console's controller to provide two forms of input. Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, said the combined input provides a "lag-free experience," a stark contrast from the current-generation Xbox sensor that has often been chastised for its slow input recognition.

Xbox One's launch will be accompanied by an updated version of Xbox Live, which will rely heavily on cloud services, allowing users to play games as they're installed in segments in the background. Microsoft claims a "smart match" system will result in faster matchmaking and essentially eliminate waiting in game lobbies.

Mattrick said Xbox One will launch "around the world later this year," though no specific release date or price was announced.

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[DKT27]

Xbox One won't be backwards compatible with Xbox 360 games

Microsoft's Xbox One will usher in a new generation of games - but while the new console features a range of upgrades, it won't offer backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games.

Microsoft have just announced the Xbox One, the newest version of their supremely popular console at a press event in Redmond. A new version of the Kinect hardware will ship with every One console, and a new generation of games, some of which were previewed by EA Sports, will be offered to take advantage of all the new hardware.

One of the things that Microsoft failed to mention, however, was the lack of compatibility with older Xbox 360 games. This means that Xbox 360 disks won't work, as well as downloaded Xbox Live Arcade titles.

Engadget spoke to a Microsoft rep who confirmed the news, saying: "We care very much about the investment people have made in Xbox 360 and will continue to support it with a pipeline of new games and new apps well into the future, [but the Xbox One is designed] to play an entirely new generation of games - games that are architected to take full advantage of state-of-the-art processors and the infinite power of the cloud."

This news will hit those who've invested heavily in the Xbox 360 hard, but it is an unavoidable issue considering the need for higher resolution games to match the new PlayStation 4. Although, just because you buy a new console, this does not mean that your old console will burst into flames, you can still play older titles with your console. Additionally, being able to allow the Xbox One to be able to play legacy titles would likely require additional hardware that would raise the MSRP of the console when it is released, later this year.

View: Original Article

[DKT27]

Xbox One packs a Blu-ray drive, 8GB of RAM, and lots of buzzwords

5 billion transistors, 64-bit architecture, other impressive-sounding numbers.

Lots of numbers. Not many details.

Compared to Sony's earlier PlayStation 4 reveal, Microsoft's Xbox One event has been light on technical details so far. Of the rumors that were flying around before the event, Microsoft has only confirmed a few of them: the new console will have 8GB of RAM, USB 3.0 ports, built-in 802.11n, and support for Wi-Fi Direct.

The reveal has also been big on buzzwords like "5 billion transistors" and "native 64-bit architecture" that don't really mean much without any context, but Wired's Gadget Lab has some more information for us: much like the PlayStation 4, the One uses a custom-designed APU from AMD (hence, 64-bit), and this APU apparently brings the CPU cores, the GPU, the memory, and the other necessary controller chips into a single 40nm SoC (hence the sky-high transistor count).

And, finally, the Xbox One includes a Blu-ray drive, a piece of Sony-backed technology that never made it to the 360. For a brief time, Microsoft sold an HD DVD add-on drive for the 360, but that format's eventual failure left the 360 reliant on its standard DVD drive for the rest of its life cycle.

Microsoft's reliance on slick buzzwords and the lack of specific information about the hardware is annoying, but it's perhaps understandable given the intended audience. We'll hopefully be able to dig further into the specific system architecture soon.

View: Original Article

[DKT27]

Xbox One uses the Windows Kernel

Microsoft announced that the Xbox One will run on the Windows kernel and that now means that Microsoft has that platform running on phones, tablets, laptops, servers, and now the Xbox.

Having a unified platform has its obvious advantages for developers and Microsoft. With one, cohesive ecosystems, cross-platform development becomes easier and it also makes it easier for Microsoft to maintain as it's one core sub-component on all of their platforms to drive their products.

The Xbox One completes Microsoft's next generation platform and finally completes Microsoft's ecosystem to be not only in every room of your house, but also in your pocket and at your office. We will be quite curious to see how Microsoft is able to leverage this cohesiveness going forward but we know this unification has been years in the making. Seeing that the Xbox One, Windows 8 and Windows Phone are only just now getting started, Microsoft has a powerful platform to deliver content.

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[Sonar]

If you see a truck saying microsoft - be sure to play GTA! visit your nearest cliff and put a brick on the gas pedal.

I'm sure i wont be alone saying there's got to be an attraction to play with it! now that thing is ugly and only 8 gig of ram? - not really a beast....

[DKT27]

Xbox One: not always on, not backwards compatible

Two big questions are addressed definitively, but some remain about secondhand sales.

Microsoft has at long last provided confirmation that its next generation console, the Xbox One, will not require an always-on Internet connection.

The company says that it will require an Internet connection at least some of the time, however. The console will use its "mostly on" Internet connection to perform system management tasks such as downloading updates in the background, backing up game saves to cloud storage, and synchronizing things like the TV shows or movies that you're watching between consoles so that you can start watching a film on one device and pick up where you left off on another.

Games will also be required to be installed to the hard disk and won't need optical media to play.

This has implications for secondhand games. Games will be tied in some way to Live IDs. If you install the game with a second Live ID, there will be some facility to pay money and use the game with that second Live ID; both IDs will then have full access to the game without needing the optical media.

That's fine for concurrent users but isn't appropriate for secondhand sales, where the original owner forfeits their right to use the game and the new owner acquires that right. Microsoft says that it has designed Xbox One to "enable customers to trade in and resell games" but won't say any more on this subject or how that will work until later in the year.

Update: Well perhaps things aren't as definitive as they seem. Wired, which had extensive early access to Microsoft and the Xbox One, states unambiguously that both people will have access to the game ("the new account would also own the game"). One of the official Xbox support accounts on Twitter, however, is saying explicitly that there will be no fees. But with Microsoft still not explaining how secondhand sales will actually work, it's difficult to know if both Wired and the Xbox support are talking about the same thing.

Update 2: It looks like they were indeed talking about different things. Kotaku is reporting that multiple people will be able to install the game from one disc, with the second and subsequent installers paying online to activate their copy. This price will be consistent with the then-current retail price. Kataku's information came from an interview with Microsoft Corporate Vice President Phil Harrison. This confirms what Wired wrote and what we originally reported. However, in addition to this, there will be some as-yet unspecified system for performing license transfers, which is to say, secondhand sales.

The new console also won't be backwards compatible with the Xbox 360. This is entirely unsurprising given the change in processor architecture. Software emulation of the Xbox 360's three core, six thread, 3.2 GHz PowerPC processor on an eight core, x86 processor expected to run at around 2GHz is technically unfeasible.

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Sonar, on 22 May 2013 - 03:46, said:

I'm sure i wont be alone saying there's got to be an attraction to play with it! now that thing is ugly and only 8 gig of ram? - not really a beast....

8GB RAM is OK. But the console itself is quite ugly - from what I saw in the PS4 teaser, PS4 might be really good looking / better looking than XBOX One. What I'm little disappointed is that Xbox One has only little innovation on the looks and feel of the controller - sure, why change it if it's the best in the world? Controller's D-pad has been changed sure, but the looks and feel could have been improved, but no, Microsoft concentrated on the ecosystem and movie thing, more than the gaming feeling. As for the power, as mentioned, 5 billion transistors is missleading, I'll like to hear what CPU / GPU it will be using (for example, PS4 is rumoured to be using cheap AMD Radeon HD 7790 graphics processor).

[Matsuda]