Wednesday 22 May 2013
Xbox One: "around the world, later this year"
"Xbox, on".
Microsoft's moment of truth has arrived, and so did it with its next-gen entertainment console Xbox One. The immediate distinction in this year's announcement was evident as voice-controlled capabilities and its further branding on being an all-in-one entertainment system for your living room was repetitively emphasised.
No longer is gaming the central focus for Microsoft and its Xbox brand, but the evolution of gaming towards entertainment as a whole could be evidently spectated during its global live broadcast. Movies and music were already introduced onto the Xbox Live system, but this next-gen will signify the complete transition of the Xbox into a more comprehensive and practical living room entertainment system with the addition of a live TV.
Of course, Microsoft being Microsoft and with its family of consumer technology already on hand (cue, Windows 8), the Xbox One will feature some familiar features and design. One, for example, is Snap Mode which basically allows you to multitask with two apps (say a movie and a web search) together side-by-side, hand-in-hand.
Make no mistake though, the Xbox One, similar to its PlayStation counterpart, boasts a hell of a giant gaming powerhouse with (here we go again) cinematic realism, in-depth colouring/shading, super-bazinga particle effects... and well, you get the idea, superior graphics.
But again, I would say where the Xbox One shines is at its integrated voice-controlled capabilities and judging only by how it worked so superbly smoothly and how quick their responses were during the broadcast, I'm convinced.
Regarding its pricing and availability all Microsoft had to say, and in I personally find a would-be possibly interesting quote,
"Around the world, later this year." - Microsoft on the Xbox One launch
