Microsoft recently revealed their successor to the Xbox 360, titled Xbox One, during a televised press event at their headquarters in Redmond, Washington. After months of long running rumors and speculation many of the questions fans had built up were finally answered by Microsoft. Well, at least some of them were.
Microsoft started the show strong, with president of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick getting on stage and within a minute officially unveiling the Xbox One. To the surprise of many Microsoft actually revealed the design and even had a physical system present, along with a newly designed controller and updated Kinect hardware, which will come bundled with every Xbox One.
After the unveil, Microsoft really skimmed on providing much in terms of technical details but did offer a lot of insight into what the console will be able to do. Right away Microsoft seemed determined to make it known that the Xbox One is no longer just about games. In fact throughout the entire show video games took the furthest backseat they could have taken. Further integrating of Kinect as well as Xbox SmartGlass were at the front and center when it came to new features. Using your Xbox and Kinect as a way to make Skype calls, using Xbox SmartGlass to order movie tickets through your Xbox One, verbal commands to navigate the interface, or finding other content to watch while currently watching TV were some of the different ways they showed off the new ways to interact with the system.
Following the talk of the system’s capabilities, EA took to the stage and showed off new but expected titles that will be headed to the Xbox One. Pre-rendered UFC , NBA Live, FIFA and Madden footage was shown off in a montage, at least confirming that they will have some games ready for the launch. We were given glimpses of a mysterious new game from Remedy titles Quantum Break, as well as Forza 5. However they was nothing more than teaser trailers to whet the appetite of fans. Microsoft also did make a point of the fact that they managed to secure 15 exclusive titles which will be available within the first year of launch but did not specify whether these will be full-blown retail releases or download-only titles.
After the brief mention of games, Microsoft transitioned once again to entertainment and television. Bonnie Ross, head of 343 Industries, came out on stage and at this point everyone might have been expecting a new Halo. Instead we saw the announcement of a Halo television series, not without the touting of Steven Spielberg’s not so clear involvement in the production. Microsoft also discussed their partnership with the NFL to bring interactive experiences to Xbox Live with the ability to watch live game broadcasts and playing fantasy football with live stat changes during the game.
Microsoft closed out the show with the announcement that the next Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: Ghosts, will be coming to the Xbox One with timed-exclusive DLC. A roughly three minute clip of behind the scenes footage was presented which showcased graphical improvements and new customization features.
Right now the scheduled release date of the Xbox One is a vague “later this year”. It’s a pretty hazy release date but seeing that E3 is just around the corner, hopefully we’ll have more answers soon.