Microsoft announces its next console, the Xbox One

It’s “the ultimate, all-in-one home entertainment system.”

Kyle Orland – May 21, 2013 12:09 pm | 329

Microsoft officially announced its next-generation video game console, the Xbox One, at a press event held at its campus in Redmond, Washington today.

In terms of hardware, the new console has “5 billion transistors,” 8GB of RAM, a 64-bit architecture, USB 3.0, a Blu-ray player, and “variable power states.” Microsoft also announced a new Kinect sensor that supports more conversational speech and is more sensitive to gestures, which will be an integral component in the new Xbox experience. The new Xbox One controller has updated ergonomics, an integrated battery department, and a redesigned D-pad joystick.

Microsoft also emphasized the new importance of Smart Glass, the app that allows third-party smartphones or tablets to act as remote controls. The company noted that the app will work with the Xbox One natively for a “lag-free and complete experience.”

Microsoft showed off a revamped dashboard for the Xbox One. The system remembers what users were last doing and allows them to browse content including TV, music, and movies. The voice command “Xbox on” turns the console on, while “Xbox home” returns the user to the home screen.

A demo of the console used similar commands to swap fluidly between entertainment vectors on the console as well as live TV. Gestures can also be used to control the Xbox One: a pull-together gesture minimized a movie playing to show the dashboard, and a pull-apart gesture maximized the movie again.

A demo showing the Xbox One swapping seamlessly between types of content.

Microsoft showed off the console as a vector for Skype calls, and the company also showed the new system’s ability to overlay on-console services on live TV (for instance: showing a fantasy basketball league interface over a live basketball game). The Xbox One can change TV channels with simple commands: “What’s on HBO?” pulls up a guide, while “Show NBC” tunes the screen to NBC. The live TV features work via an HDMI pass-through connection, so users will still need a cable or satellite set-top box and subscription in order to view live programming.

The Xbox One will include a DVR and editing tools that will allow users to record and edit their gameplay.

Microsoft announced that four games from EA’s slate of sports series (Fifa, Madden, NBA Live, and UFC) will be coming to the console, which will include “live environments” that affect gameplay.

The presentation also included news about an updated Call of Duty title, which will take advantage of the Xbox One’s new graphical capabilities. Additionally, Microsoft announced that it has teamed up with Steven Spielberg to produce a live-action Halo TV series.

Don Mattrick, president of interactive entertainment business at Microsoft, called the system “the ultimate all-in-one system.”

Though Microsoft has yet to announce a specific launch date (other than “later this year”) or price point for the system, Microsoft said it is aiming for a synchronized worldwide release during this holiday season.