XBox One

The new Xbox One is to be released later this year, and the reveal impressively shows how it has been created to be, “Where all of your entertainment comes alive in one place,” as Microsoft’s Don Mattrick stated. Live TV, movies, music, games, and Skype are all available on Xbox One by using voice commands or hand gestures.  The device switches seamlessly between what you’re watching, and what you want to watch with a simple voice command or by displaying the guide.  There is also a command used to show “Trending,” which is what is currently most popular with the user’s friends, and the whole Xbox community.

Xbox One has 8GB of ram, a blu ray drive, 500 gb hdd, HDMI in/out, 802.11n wifi, an 8 core CPU, and USB 3.0.  Microsoft’s Marc Whitten states, “The soul of the new Xbox is the Xbox One architecture — it’s like 3 operating systems in one.”  The systems includes a new Kinect that captures the world with a 1080p camera.

Part of the way through the reveal, some game enthusiasts seemed bothered by the lack of information on gaming on Xbox One.  So when Microsoft Studios’ Phil Spencer took the stage he jumped right into the content topic.  “As the head of MSFT studios, I oversee the work of talented teams around the globe. These teams are hard at work right now, using all of the power brought by Xbox One, to amaze you and your friends and your family. All of you Xbox fans will get new, innovative games than ever before, along with all of your favorite franchises reimagined.”  15 new games will be coming to Xbox One within the first year, including 8 new franchises.

“XBox is about to become the next water cooler,” stated Nancy Tellem, MSFT’s entertainment and digital media pres as she discussed the TV functionality of Xbox One.  She also introduced Bonnie Ross of 343 to talk about Halo.  Steven Spielberg joined them, via video conference, to build excitement around the upcoming  live action Halo television series.  Nancy also announced that Xbox One will be available around the world “later this year.”