Xbox One – The Overview

After what we can assume has been months of planning – and following a similar announcement from Sony – Microsoft have finally unveiled their next generation games console during an hour-long press conference, held last night : the Xbox One.

Not to be confused with the original Xbox, released way back in 2001, the name is supposed to represent Microsoft’s vision for its console being the “One” device you’ll need hooked up in your living-room. To this end, a significant part of the presentation focused on the ways that the Xbox One will deal with content outside of gaming, going as far to say “You and your TV are going to have a relationship.”

This was best shown with a speedy tech-demo, where the Xbox One was able to switch between a game, Internet Explorer and a live-feed of American sports network ESPN, all through the use of simple voice commands. It was unclear how these subscription services will function (if at all) outside of the United States, however.

But as gamers, you’re probably more interested in the console itself. Thankfully, Microsoft saw fit to gave us an extended look at the Xbox One hardware. With sleek, hard-edges, it’s immediately reminiscent of the Windows 8 Metro interface, though the console looks to be significantly bulkier than the Xbox 360.

Apart from major increase in graphical power, the console will also feature a slot-loading Blu-ray disc drive, a large internal hard-drive, standard networking connections (such as WiFi) and a HDMI pass-through for television services. Every Xbox One will also ship with the new version of Kinect, which is now so precise it can apparently track a user’s heart-rate.

The new controller, meanwhile, is an evolutionary take on the standard 360 controller, with a re-designed D-pad and a thicker casing. Promising reports from the show-floor say that the recessed D-pad is far more comfortable and accurate than its predecessor, which was commonly criticised for being stiff. One impressive new feature comes in the form of rumble-enabled trigger buttons, enabling developers to explore new ways of delivering force-feedback.

Microsoft didn’t announce a price or date for the Xbox One, though they promised it would arrived before the end of this year, presumably during the holiday period. Stay tuned to Ready Up for a follow-up news post highlighting the technical specification of the new hardware.