Microsoft has a penchant for building suspense. At its Reveal event back in May, Microsoft teased its fan base with a brief–though admittedly more in depth than initially thought–look at its next-generation gaming console, the Xbox One. Later at E3 in June, Microsoft not only graced its fans with a slew of new games, but also with a highly-anticipated release date and price: November 2013 at $499 in the U.S.
Microsoft is set to launch the Xbox One console in 21 countries in November of this year. Others, dubbed tier 2 countries, like Japan will have to wait until 2014. As for perpetual rival Sony and its PlayStation 4, those users will have to wait as Sony has only hinted at a Q4 2013 release date.
Xbox loyalists will surely be impressed by the specs and new collection of hands-free cues as Microsoft has strived to create the perfect all-in-one entertainment hub. The Xbox One will run on an 8-core CPU, feature 8GB of RAM, offer 500GB HDD, boast a Blu-ray drive, and connect through a peer-to-peer encrypted Wi-Fi direct and an HDMI input/output.
As for what other goodies the Xbox One will be carrying, hands-free seems to be a recurring motif. Simply saying “Xbox on” powers up the One and avoids any unnecessary login hoopla and updates.
From the startup screen, there are a number of options available for the user. By activating Trending, the user receives a snapshot of popular entertainment based on favorites by friends and the entire Xbox One community, including games, music, and TV and movies.
Instant Switching, a voice activated function, lets the user seamlessly switch from live television to gaming to movies. Hand cues such as extending arms towards the Kinect camera and grasping and minimizing in mid-air selects the screen and subsequently minimizes it for the ability to toggle between screens.
Snap Mode similarly lets the user split the screen between multiple entertainment platforms. Yusuf Mehdi demonstrated Snap Mode by using the new sports offering as an example. Users can watch their favorite sports game all the while receiving live stat updates for their favorite Fantasy athletes as they watch highlights and update their roster–all on the same screen.
The Xbox One Guide lets users take advantage of the same voice recognition technology to find, watch, and keep up with their favorite shows. Favorites and Trending likewise lets users navigate through television channels to find shows they love and make it easy to stay up to date with the latest drama.
Skype will also be available on the Xbox One. The Kinect cam allows for group video calls on TV during Snap Mode. When the notification appears on the top of the screen, all the user has to do is say “Answer call” and Snap Mode will run, splitting the screen between whatever entertainment you’re engaged in as well as your Skype call.
All of these new features and operations are made possible with an updated Kinect. The motion-sensing 1080p camera lens understands joint rotations, balance and weight distribution, and even reads the user’s heart beat which of course will be great for using Xbox One for exercise, but it also bolsters the fact that motion-detection for navigating the One will be silky smooth.
