Microsoft
A few months back, Sony had a conference to reveal their upcoming console, the PlayStation 4. It was highly anticipated, thanks to the massive environment of leaks and rumors swirling around it. Well yesterday, the day had finally come for Microsoft to make their big reveal as well, the announcement of the Xbox One. As it turns out, the fate of their conference was relatively similar.
The conference started out with a video explaining that the whole point of the system was to integrate more of “you” into it; personalization to the point of where you have “a relationship with you TV”. Don Mattrick took the stage and begun the obligatory cheesy monologue, which turned out to be a clever bit of foreshadowing to the name. The mission: to design an all-in-one system which runs your entertainment center. Thus, the Xbox One. Yeah, that’s the name they went with. Taking a page out of Nintendo’s book, they’re only going to cause more confusion with this name.
Now, there was one very, very nice thing about this conference, something that Sony failed on. We actually got to see the console, in all of its shiny industrialized glory. Gone is the ‘futuristic’ curvature of the Xbox 360 in favor of a much more boxed out, traditional and simplistic look. It looks less like a game system than it does a computer, or dare I say, Blu-Ray player. We also got a nice look at the redesigned controller and Kinect – which will be bundled with every console.
Yusuf Mehdi took the stage to demo the new system. It all began with two simple words “Xbox On”. This ability to power on your system with voice recognition is something gamers have been asking for since the introduction of the Kinect years ago. What was more exciting, however, was the fact that the Xbox quickly recognized Yusuf and automatically logged him in, then took him straight to his personalized homescreen. The homescreen featured a familiar design with the addition of a larger “recently played” section that allows you to jump between everything you’ve recently accessed.
To no surprise, the addition of live TV was unveiled. The thought process is that everything is quicker now, because there is no need to switch inputs. To a degree, it is quicker. Mehdi displayed the new quick switch feature, which allows users to instantly switch between games, movies, TV, internet, music, and more. There’s also some nice new Kinect gestures, and a fully interactive guide to help out. Quick switching isn’t the end though, there’s also the ability to ‘snap’ two items side by side so you can multitask (Windows 7 users should be familiar with this feature). This means you can watch a quick video while you’re waiting for matchmaking or Skype with your friend halfway across the country while you watch your favorite sports team together.
Sports are taking another stride forward with ESPN as well. Fantasy sports have exploded in the last decade, and now it’s integrated into the system. While watching sports, you’ll get live updates on your players, scores, and standings. Pop up notification will inform you of the changes, and give you the option to quickly snap the standings to the side if you wish.
Next came the technical mumbo-jumbo portion courtesy of Marc Whitten. What you need to know is it’s faster, more powerful, and finally features a Blu-Ray player. The Xbox One will utilize three separate operating systems, which will be part Xbox, part Windows, and part system management. Basically what this means is everything happens quickly and seamlessly. The Kinect is higher quality, much more accurate, and recognizes the controller now. The new controller is more ergonomic and features force-feedback in the triggers. Xbox Live is getting another upgrade too. If you’ve ever wondered where your Xbox Live Gold money goes, it’s into servers. Right now, it’s running on about 15,000 servers. The next generation of Xbox Live will run on 300,000 servers – more than the entire world’s computing power in 1999. Again, this is to make everything as instant and personalized as possible. It will also allow for much bigger matches and worlds online.
Finally, the conference shifted to games. Andrew Willson from EA Sports proudly unveiled a brand new engine which will be features in the next FIFA, Madden, NBA Live, and UFC. Entitled “Ignite”, the intent is to further blur the lines between game and reality. Dynamic worlds, significantly more intelligent AIs with instinct, and, of course, gorgeous graphics. Holy helmet reflections, does it look good… but that was only to be expected. Consoles are playing catch up with PC graphics again finally, but graphics are only a part of the story anyway. Games such as “Minecraft”, “Fez”, and Telltale’s “The Walking Dead” have proved that graphics aren’t everything. That’s why the engine allows for ten times more animation depth and detail. The new engine will feature 3D crowds, dynamic sidelines, and daily streams of updated data on Xbox Live. As a final side announcement, Willson also mentioned that Ultimate Team in FIFA 14 will also have exclusive content for the Xbox.
The exclusives don’t stop there, though. Phil Spencer came on stage to please the gamers with the announcement of 15 Xbox exclusive games throughout the launch year. This includes eight, count ‘em, eight brand new franchises. What are they? Well there was a part live-action, cryptic announcement teaser for the new Remedy title “Quantum Break”, but outside of that… nobody knows. Sure, this conference was supposed to be about the console, not the games, but this is supposed to be a “game console” after all. Fortunately, it sounds as if we’ll only have to wait until E3 to hear about some of these new titles.
Next came, arguably, the most exciting announcement from Nancy Tellem and Bonnie Ross. For years and years, Halo fans have been begging for a Halo movie. They got a taste of what was wanted with the incredibly successful web mini-series “Forward Unto Dawn”, and now it’s expanding, in the best way possible. A full blown live action TV series is on the way, with legendary director Steven Spielberg at the helm. Plenty will have their doubts, but “Forward Unto Dawn” proved the potential of a TV series, and with Spielberg directing it, it’s hard to imagine much could go wrong.
The conference came to a close with one last game announcement: “Call of Duty: Ghosts”. Although technically being a world premiere, it was leaked earlier in the month, so it didn’t come as much as a surprise. All content for it will be a timed exclusive again. However, what was a surprise was the details revealed. Much like EA, Activision had a new engine to unveil which will power “Ghosts”. It features an all new story with all new characters. Yes, another Call of Duty… but think carefully about this one. It’s really what people have been asking for, because this one is going to be insanely different, thanks to the new engine. So there’s no more complaining about the ‘rinse and repeat’ formula of the last set of titles, because things have become prettier, smoother, more customizable, and more unique. All-in-all, it served as a gorgeous tech-demo for Xbox One.
So the conference had a few peaks, but much like Sony’s conference, it left a lot of unanswered questions. We didn’t get a price, and Microsoft didn’t touch a lot of rumors, including the online-always requirement, lack of backward compatibility, or the lockout of used games. We also didn’t get a firm release date outside of “later this year” – basically meaning Q4 of 2013. Overall, the conference was OK, but it still really seemed to lack the “wow-factor” of systems past. Perhaps it’s just because of how technology has advanced over the years, or maybe this gamer is just getting old. All I know is that neither of these conferences have given me any reason to give up my current generation and buy either on day one. Hopefully for Sony and Microsoft, E3 will give them the opportunity to change that.
Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you
