Microsoft announces the Xbox One

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Video Games

At today's #XboxReveal event, Microsoft announced the Xbox One. Don Mattrick took the stage and said that Xbox One is a truly "all-in-one" box that is "simple, instant, and complete." From the looks of the device, it sports a dual-toned black color scheme with a slot-loading (goodbye, tray!) Blu-ray drive. We also get the standard Xbox power button with the ring of light surrounding it. 

When looking at the Xbox One hardware, it looks akin to an older set-top box. It's pretty wide and pretty tall, likely because of all the high-end guts on the inside. Speaking of specs, the Xbox One has 8GB RAM (up from 512MB in the Xbox 360,) an octo-core processor, and ships with a 500GB hard drive. A Blu-ray drive is included as mentioned, along with USB 3.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi (no 802.11ac for a console that will likely be around for 5-8 years?)

The next generation of Kinect ships with Xbox One, now sporting a 1080p wide-angle camera that is now even more precise and can even sense slight twists of the wrist and shoulder. The new Xbox One controller sports 40 design changes and triggers that support force feedback. Kinect even recognizes the Xbox One controller specifically, allowing for even more interesting gaming experiences when they work together.

The Xbox One uses Kinect for even more voice integration. For example, saying "Xbox On" will actually power on the console, bringing you in to a Windows 8-like start menu. Instant switching allows you to go from game, to music, to movies, to live TV, and back again, all as instantly as you would change channels on your cable box.

Looking at what Microsoft has done here, Xbox One is all about being a living room console, with strong ties to entertainment. Microsoft says that Xbox One will launch around the world later this year.