The Xbox One won’t be out until this November, but details about Microsoft’s next-gen console have been hitting hot and heavy for the past couple of months. So for your convenience, we’re rounding up all of that information and putting it right here.
As we continue to learn more about the Xbox 360’s successor, we’ll keep updating this post, so check back over the next few months to make sure you’re totally caught up with all of the next-gen news. (And check Kotaku tomorrow for a roundup of everything we know about the PlayStation 4.)
The Console
Meet the Xbox One:
It’s shiny and black — only black, for now — and it comes with Kinect 2.0 and a controller. Fancy! No word on dimensions just yet, but here’s Stephen Totilo comparing the machine to various objects he had on him at the time:
The Controller
Iterating on the Xbox 360’s controller, the Xbox One controller is very similar to its predecessor, albeit a bit wider. In the middle, replacing the 360’s Back and Start buttons, are new buttons called Menu and View. The back-trigger rumble is way improved, by all accounts, and each trigger can rumble separately thanks to two new rotors in the controller.
And then there’s this creepy tidbit, via Microsoft: “An infrared LED on the front of the controller allows Kinect to automatically recognise you, making it easier to pick up and play.” YOUR CONTROLLER WILL KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
Pre-ordered versions of the Xbox One will come with a special branded controller that says “Day One 2013.”
Here’s a video look:
The Specs
The basics:
- 8 GB DDR3 system memory, with 5 GB of that available for games (the rest is used for the operating system)
- 8-core, x86 processor
- 500 GB hard-drive
- Blu-ray drive
- Three USB 3.0 ports
- HDMI in and out ports
- A custom GPU based on AMD architecture
The Price
Four hundred ninety-nine U.S. dollars. $US499. (Also: 499 euros, or £429 for our British buddies.) Or $599 Australian.
The Games
In addition to a third-party lineup of next-gen software that currently includes multiplatform games like The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid V, and Dragon Age: Inquisition, Microsoft has secured a number of exclusives for Xbox One:
- Ryse, an action-adventure set in ancient, QTE-stuffed Rome
- Below: a quiet adventure by the folks behind Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery
- A reboot of the old fighting game Killer Instinct
- Crimson Dragon: a rail shooter designed by the creator of Panzer Dragoon
- Some sort of Halo, because of course.
- Sunset Overdrive, a colourful shooter by Insomniac, the folks behind Ratchet & Clank.
- An adventure game called Quantum Break that will blend with a TV show of the same name (not unlike Defiance)
- Forza Motorspot 5. vroom vroom.
- D4: an episodic murder mystery by the director of Deadly Premonition
- Dead Rising 3: Capcom’s open-world zombie slasher
Some other games, like Harmonix’s Fantasia and Respawn’s Titanfall, will be available for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One (and in Titanfall‘s case, PC as well).
The DRM
This one’s a doozy. For a month or so, Microsoft was all about a digital Xbox One: you’d have to connect to the Internet once every 24 hours to play games, for example, even to play them offline. Used games would also be restricted heavily.
Then came the reversal: in late June, after intense backlash and criticism, Microsoft announced that they had changed their minds. Total 180. No more crazy DRM policies.
So, long story short: you’ll need to connect to the Internet at least once before you can play games on the Xbox One, but after that one-time patch, it’ll work just like the 360 did. You’ll be able to play offline. You’ll be able to buy and sell games just like you can today.
Region-Locking
Also thanks to the big reversal, there is now no region-locking. Microsoft now says the Xbox One is totally region-free.
Kinect 2.0
The Xbox One requires a Kinect to function, but this isn’t your old body-sensing device: this is Kinect 2.0, which accommodates smaller rooms, recognises your facial expressions, and can even detect your heart rate. Some more info, via Microsoft:
It includes a 1080p, HD camera that captures video at 30 frames per second. All new, active-infrared capabilities increase precision, allowing it to work in nearly any lighting condition and expanding field of view to accommodate a greater variety of room sizes. Microsoft proprietary Time-of-Flight technology measures the time it takes individual photons to rebound off you to create unprecedented accuracy and precision. The new noise-isolating multimicrophone array filters ambient sounds to recognise natural speaking voices even in crowded rooms.
Worried about the privacy implications of having a device like that in your living room? Microsoft says you’ll be able to turn it off, although the details are still a bit hazy.
TV Interactivity
[Not available in Australia at launch]
You’re never gonna believe this, but the Xbox One ain’t just for playing games. Microsoft wants it to be a home entertainment system. I know — I’m shocked too.
At the big Xbox One reveal in May, Microsoft spent a great deal of time showing off a feature called Snap, which will allow you to multitask on your television. To quote MS:
Use Snap to do two things at once. Talk to friends on Skype, and watch the big game together. Follow what people are saying about your favourite show by surfing the Web. Listen to the music of your choice while playing the latest blockbuster game. Jump back and forth instantly between experiences without a loss in performance.
So you can Skype while watching a movie, check your fantasy scores during a football game, and so forth. Multitasking: it’s the future!
Xbox Live
Microsoft’s online service has always had a bit of a reputation for being infested with obscene thirteen-year-olds, and now the Xbox makers are going to do something about it: with their new Reputation system, players will be held accountable for what they say online.
Getting muted or banned during games will cost you reputation points, and players will be matched online based on their reputations.
Also, more friends! The friend cap on Xbox Live is now 1,000.
Achievements
Xbox One has a whole new system in place for Achievements: in addition to basic cheevos, developers will be able to give you Challenges, or timed events like, say, “a headshot weekend challenge that requires players to cumulatively headshot 1 million baddies in a 3 day period. And every person who participates and meets the challenge’s goals gets the unlock on his or her achievement history and reaps its reward.”
Achievements will also be far more malleable thanks to Microsoft’s cloud servers, and insanely enough, you’ll also be able to earn achievements by watching videos or listening to music through your Xbox One. It’s a much bigger system.
Miscellaneous
Some other random facts you should know:
- The Xbox One is not backwards compatible. “If you’re backwards compatible, you’re really backwards,” ex-Xbox boss Don Mattrick told the Wall Street Journal back in May.
- You’ll be able to record and edit gameplay footage on your Xbox One, then upload it online. You’ll also be able to stream yourself playing games on Twitch. The system will automatically record the last five minutes of gameplay as you use it.
- Although the “family sharing” plan originally announced in May is no longer a confirmed feature, Microsoft’s Marc Whitten has hinted that it could come back in some form.
- Microsoft is all about cloud processing — or processing that can be performed on their servers, theoretically lightening the load for your console and allowing for more impressive games than would be possible with the Xbox One’s processing power alone. It’s all theoretical for now, though.
- Many developers are using Microsoft’s “SmartGlass” technology to allow you to use your phone or tablet as an accessory for games. In Dead Rising 3, for example, you can use a mobile device to call in airstrikes to blow up zombies all around you.
- Microsoft hasn’t officially announced their indie policies for Xbox One, but we can expect more news on that front soon. They’ve vowed to support indies in some way or another.
Wondering when to expect more news? Microsoft rep Major Nelson says we’ll find out the Xbox One’s release date later this year.
Additional Australian information:
Comments
50 responses to “Xbox One: Everything We Know”
Now that there is no DRM i am seriously considering this console.
Can anyone (who isn’t a fanboy of either Sony or Microsoft) tell which one to get! i haven’t owned a Sony console since the first Xbox was released. Is it time for me to head back to Sony? Or stick with what i know? HELP
Wait until the date gets closer at more info is released, wait until it’s released and try it in store, check out exclusives and which ones suit you best. Are you already in a Microsoft ecosystem? (W8, WP8, Skype, W8 Tablet, smartglass, xbox music, etc…) then you’re probably going to feel more comfortable on an Xbox One.
The PS4 is significantly more powerful than the XBone, so cross platform games may perform and look better on the PS4. First party games on the PS4 are going to be amazing. Also, it’s cheaper, and you won’t have to put up with the Kinect. The PS4 is positioned primarily as a gaming platform, while the XBone seems to be more focused on all media consumption, so if you spend more time using your Xbox to watch TV than to play games, then the XBone may be the one for you. (Although, from what I understand a lot of the media functionality with regards to cable TV is only going to work in the US.)
Personally, I’m going to go with the PS4 for the price, power and exclusives.
Historically though the easier to develop for console gets the ‘best’ version of cross platform games regardless of power. More time to work on the little things and more flexibility. Time will tell but I’d say after the PS3 Sony would have to be brain dead to have not made the PS4 ridiculously easy to build for. Microsoft’s insistence on pushing Cloud support could make or break the XBOX One in that category, although I think they’d also be pushing for quick and easy development because of the Windows 8 and Windows Phone agendas.
That’s just marketing though. The PS3 made the same mistake last generation. They put media player capabilities (which neither console actually did well) at the forefront and just assumed people would know there were also games coming. The extremely negative reception may have hurt the XBOX One (I’d say almost killed) but there won’t be a shortage of games unless the console absolutely flops.
@owlix: Ultimately I’d ask yourself if you like Sony or Microsoft? If you like Sony, go for the PS4 at launch. You won’t go wrong with a PS4 this generation. If you like Microsoft/’western’ developed games hold off on buying a console until you see how the XBOX One performs. If it doesn’t flop and there are games you want to play on it, go with the XBOX One. If it does flop or there aren’t enough games go with the PS4.
[Edit: Full disclosure. I was going to be buying an XBOX One on launch day until they pulled all this check-in stuff. Now I’m almost certainly not going to by the console. With the exception of the American ‘it’s ok to shamelessly screw everyone in every possible way because you’re running a business’ attitude I definitely prefer ‘western’ consoles and games. I’ve never been a big fan of Sony although I have owned all three of their consoles (I barely played my PS and PS3 but I did own them and a few games).]
It’s going to be interesting now that they’re both on the same architecture. PS3 used to be much harder to develop for (apart from a few developers for who it ‘clicked’), but this time around we won’t see that difference and the PS4 will have a little extra grunt under the hood.
Microsoft’s Cloud is interesting, and Sony actually has a potential analogue up their sleeve which they haven’t been talking up as much – possibly because no-one in Sony/dev-land knows what they can or should try to do with it yet? Or possibly because they haven’t got Gaikai to convert their tech to allowing computation as well as streaming?
PS4 seems to have more exclusives (from my digging, anyway; wikipedia has lists of xbone and ps4 games scheduled), and more attractive ones at that, unless you’re a total Halo devotee or Gears fan, I’d say the balance tips to PS4 on games.
Me, personally? I’ll buy one of them – PS4 before a xbone, purely on principle – but I won’t be getting anything at launch. PC still holds way too much of my time and attention, being almost unbeatable on price of games, access to MMOs/F2P, and meeting other needs at the same time. With a hands-down superior control system, better ergonomics, and chat. It would take a LOT to draw me back to the living room trying to find comfortable positions for long-duration gaming sessions with inferior controller-based systems (for shooters, especially, which is one of my favourite game types), on machines that don’t match my PC on power. The new Infamous game, Halo and Destiny are the only real drawcards at the moment. Everything else good is going to be on PC as well.
That’s the crushing part. I’m not a huge Halo fan, I like the arcade drop in, shoot everything then drop out gameplay but worst case scenario I scratch that itch by going back to Call of Duty. On the other hand I’ve got Gears of War. I just can’t get that gameplay anywhere else. There are a few cover based shooters but they just don’t have the Gears tuning.
Dead Rising is sort of making that one easier for me each time they announce that it’s not quite Dead Rising. Hopefully it’ll get to the PS4 eventually but who knows?
I’m buying a PS4. There was never any doubt I’d buy one eventually so all this mess really did was push that purchase to day one. Will I buy an XBOX One? Probably. There will almost certainly be a game I simply must play on it. The real question is once I have both which will I play primarily.
It sounds weird but I actually prefer gamepads for shooters. With a mouse it’s just point and click. I can take three guys head on if I jump in and surprise them. Less precise controls forces skill and tactics into the equation more. I can still take three guys head on if I surprise them, but it’s not as certain. Higher odds of screwing it up means I have to play properly and find a way to come at them from the side, wait for them to line up close, etc.
I dunno, I just find it more engaging even if my accuracy does take a hit. I guess that’s just personal preference though.
I’ll probably end up with both as well. This gen, I started with a 360 which served me very well, and got the PS3 for exclusives (Heavy Rain, Uncharted, Infamous). 360 was the early favourite due to price point and number of games.
I liked the 360 achievement system better than trophies (probably because I had more invested in it and more of my friends were on that list), but the PSN store overtook the 360 store in pretty much every aspect every time the dashboard updated for the worse, and the non-gaming functions started becoming more attractive on the PS3.
At the end of the generation, I’ve found myself preferring PS3 to 360, to hell with my cheevos. But I need to see what happens in Halo, so that’s happening at some point. (MASTAH CHEEF + CORTANA 4EVA.)
At the end of the day, one of the nicer things about owning both consoles is being able to shrug at the fanboy-fights. “Why not get both, brah?”
“Ahem, excuse me, ‘both’? I think you’re forgetting the third contender?”
*blank stare*
“NINTENDO, duh!”
“Bwuahahahahahaha. Really? Seriously? Bwuahahah.”
If Nintendo ever release another console I’ll buy it in a heartbeat, but their home arcades just aren’t for me.
I see your point about Nintendo but one thing everyone must remember about them is that they are clearly different. Its a totally different market. This is a next gen console decision.
I love my wiiU and i love Nintendo……but they have nothing to do with this choice.
PS4 might have more exclusives, however the Xbox One exclusives such as Titanfall, Ryse, Halo V and Quantum Break have definitely won me over. I do realise PS4 also has it’s unique games, but for my choice, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid and FFXV have been made available on both consoles which is a double win!
Don’t get me wrong, after watching both presentations at E3 I was up and ready to buy a PS4 (Because Microsoft thought they could control everyone with DRM and always online). However games the games mentioned above made the difference. Not only that, I am not familiar with PSN and deciding to stay safe with XBL.
Owlix.. The whole point of this post was to say that you shouldn’t be limiting yourself by brand name like most people are. Have a thorough look at the games and which you would enjoy more yourself, or enjoy with your friends (will your friends also buy a PS4/XBone?). Ultimately, both consoles will operate at a very similar level and well, at the end of the day it’s the games you will be playing with, not the hardware.
I absolutely hate people who have the “I drank orange juice once, so I’m gonna play it safe and NEVER taste the apple juice.” such a boring human being!
You’ve still got to pay for a subscription to access absolutely anything except the short single player of a game, including the web browser, and skype, let alone Netflix which requires ANOTHER subscription for.. [So you’re now paying Line rental, your internet bill, an xbox live subscription, and on top of that, your netflix subscription] just to watch a movie on the system? If you want to empty your wallet out into a dog bowl and put it in front of Microsoft, watch them feed, by all means, it’s your money, not mine.
Also, have some amazing fun paying the extra $100.00 so you can have an “always” on camera looking at you, and remember, if it breaks or if the cable gets chewed by a some mischievous puppy, your xbox one is f***ed.
Clear some space out for that power brick, too. If you’re like me, that beast will not fit anywhere on my glass display with my wall mounted LED television.
But on being completely serious, I’m an Xbox fan, I chose the original xbox over playstation 2; and as soon as microsoft got heavily involved in all this “online” crap, they are the worlds worst company. Enjoy supporting those cowards.
PS: The Xbone now has a touch sensitive power switch, which the snobs at Microsoft with their little pinkies poking out loved to show, and it’s cool and all, but I’ve had that feature since 2006 on my Playstation 3.
Good game, Microsoft.
Aren’t the hardware specs nearly identical?
Nope. They have the same architecture, but the PS4 has 50% more graphics cores than the XBone. The RAM structures are also different (not sure which one will have the edge with the RAM). But at a minimum, the GPU of the PS4 has 50% more raw power than the XBone.
Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6972/xbox-one-hardware-compared-to-playstation-4/2
I dont know a lot about this stuff but is it possible the xbox could operate more powerfully depending how how game publishers use the system??? or is it really just a “numbers” game?
Given how similar the architectures are this generation, I think it is likely to be a numbers game. They are essentially using the same CPU, and the same GPU architecture (although more cores on the PS4). The major difference is in the RAM structure. How much of an effect that will have, I’m not sure. From what I’ve read they should have similar memory bandwidths, so I think that it will be impossible for the XBone to outperform the PS4.
It sounds like the games are the key for you.
Just take a look at both libraries and see what interests you. Base your decision on that.
They both have near identical architecture to each other and to pc’s so will all be easily interchangeable development wise.
Games will unequivocally (at least until the cloud comes full swing, and if it does at all) perform better on the ps4 since it has more RAM for games and more GPU power unless built to the lowest common denominator in which case it wont be much a difference.
However the Xbox one interface has 3gb of dedicated ram which means everything from cross game chat to video capture and everything other than the games will typically run better and more fluently than anything the ps4 will offer and could subsequently add features otherwise impossible on the ps4.
The fact that Kinect also has its own powerful components means that on top of the base game developers can get it to do all those fancy extra bits without crippling the normal experience.
So basically the ps4 has more BASE grunt for games while the Xbox one will have the superior user experience (such as UI and everything else) and the added benefit of kinect and Significant powers of the cloud, which if used could make it potentially more powerful than the ps4 in the long run (They have 300k servers already and are adding more and more).
I am getting both personally, but if you have been an Xbox man for this gen i think you’ll probably enjoy keeping all your stuff in the one spot and staying with the same brand. Otherwise its just about which exclusives you want really, now that all the BS DRM is gone.
I’m sort of shocked Sony didn’t go overboard with this on the PS4 after what happened with the PS3. I was expecting them to just find out what Microsoft had allocated for it and triple it for the PS4. It wasn’t a front line feature but not being able to go byte for byte there against the 360 caused some pretty big headaches.
Well the fact they didn’t have anything dedicated in the ps3 was the reason it didn’t have cross game chat or any type of universal interface and whatnot for friends.
Essentially, as you’ve said, they have done the same thing right now. I know personally the reason i have never bothered with the ps3 online is because of how shit it is at voice chat and everything inbetween, it was and still is a joke compared to what the 360 offers.
I feel the same thing will happen again. Sony have added in this cross game chat support like the 360 has now and some other UI improvements but the Xbox one already had that and has then gone even further.
Granted I won’t know untill i get my hands on both, but the ps4 having shared ram is going to hurt it eventually no matter how many tricks they develop.
i dont understand the issue between xbone’s dedicated 3gb +5gb (ddr3) ram to sony’s unified 8gb (ddr5) ram.
has sony revealed how much ram the OS and that is going to take up? what if it only takes up 2gb of ram? that leaves 6gb of ram for its games.
Okay i’ll explain a little more clearlys.
Xbox one has 5gb of ram for games, nothing else can use that ram. It then has 3gb of ram solely for cross game chat, UI stuff the “snap” effect, achievements, the DVR aspect where it records game play and the guide button . Basically it allows Microsoft dashboard and guide button and everything that encompasses to ALWAYS have enough power to do things, this means you wont see horrendous slow, down load times or bricking of the system like you can sometimes experience now on consoles say when its a hetic on screen moment and you hit the guide button it either freezes or takes minutes to correct itself.
The difference is that Sonys machine has 8gb of ram for games, that is ALSO shared with all those other things like chat, messages and the DVR aspect.
What this means is that without a dedicated ram for things other than the game, if i’m playing a ps4 game that hogs all that 8gm of ram or near enough and I hit that share button or w/e else. It is likely to take a large amount of time to load or freeze/ lock up the system entirely. Compared to the xbox one having a near instant effect.
It also means that the xbox will be capable of running additional things in the back ground while your playing a game that the ps4 wont be capable of, things like pause states (like on the 3ds and the Vita) and other such future features.
but it’s been confirmed that both consoles are capable of quick pause/resume suspend functions for gaming and other things, so that’s moot.
me thinks the only thing that will be affected are the platform exclusives, as the multiplatformers would be following the same structure coz of the similarity between both consoles, so unless the ps4 has exclusives on extremely high texture quality/extras, i don’t see any problems occuring with that.
plus the ddr5 that the ps4 will be handling is accounted for also.
Same here, tough call especially in Aus.
PS4: More powerful,
X1: More Unique with mandatory Kinect.
PS4: Backwards compatible through Gaikai (compelling if you don’t have a PS3)
X1: Not.
X1: More exciting launch line up (subjective)
PS4: Better history of Sony exclusives delivering interesting new content.
Price:
Here’s the rub. In US terms I’d weight in Sony’s favour, but the PS4 being $550 here makes me think the X1 is better value but still really expensive. I’d rather wait until next year to see how things go.
The backwards compatibility issue for the x1 can be solved by simply plugging your 360 into the hdmi in port at the back of the one. M$oft already confirmed that you can do it.
Sorry wrong person!
Look at the exclusives and that should help you decide. The X1 has my attention most right now and with the recent indie announcement I’m even more excited about the console.
Thanks! I really think it will come down to this. Even though they are different they are pretty similar at the same time…..can i really go wrong? i don’t think so
basically, you can get the PS4 and know you won’t be disappointed with $100 extra to spend, or you can get the xbox one with the chance of being disappointed and $100 more out of pocket.
XONE! \m/
I would stay with the XONE you already know the features the XBOX has had in the past and how well it’s always worked! Just cause MS made a few mistakes with how to come across to the gaming community but their is no right way to do something in this industry! They reversed any and all policies and are going all in with this console I can assure you! You’ll have great exclusives, a far superior controller and the XBOX has always had better features!
For me it was a close call. I like both consoles and both have merits. Partly my choice came mostly down to what family members were buying, which happened to be an X-1. But I would be happy with both in the long run. The choice also came down to games available at launch. I dont see the point buying a console on day one based on games coming out in a year. You might as well just wait a year to buy one. I think look at day one games, if you like the look of dead rising 3, killer instinct, forza or Ryse then get the x-1. I also believe with Kinect 2 there could be more innovation than with the PS4. For example in dead rising 3 the zombies will have intelligent awareness, so if you make a noise while playing the game the zombies might hear you. You can also shout out at the screen to distract the zombies or get their attention.
Having said that if you look at the PS4 games you have Knack, killzone and Infamous. So which games appeal to you the most. Watch the demos and read about the extra game features. For me the x-1 with their reversal is the console to get, for others the PS4. Look at the games and make your choice from there. If you choose only based on the games you want to play and ignore the arguments about specs, then you will make the right choice. At the end of the day both have their merits and both will have great games. Not sure if this helped but good luck.
The Price: Four hundred ninety-nine U.S. dollars. $US499. (Also: 499 euros, or £429 for our British buddies.)
What about our AUS buddies?
http://bit.ly/16b8Xrx
Title: Xbox One: Everything We Know
Article: https://www.google.com/search?q=Xbox+One
kotaku should hire us as writers too.
LOL
$600.
($599, if you feel like exposing yourself to subliminal manipulation bullshit.)
I’ll walk up, $600 in hand and be like “Excuse me, I except my $1 change” just to fuck with them. BECAUSE CUSTOMERS ARE ASSHOLES.
If you handed over $600 in cash, they’d cheerfully give you your dollar without thinking anything of it, though. Because that’s what the machine tells them to do. 🙂
But at least you’d have been mentally prepared for a $600 hole in your bank account instead of a ‘five hundred and something‘.
I’m really anal about my bank accounts. I have having weird amounts of cents at the end.
For a long time I used to make sure I’d put stupid descriptions in to every transaction I performed, even if it was only transferring money between accounts. Descriptions like, “7lbs of human teeth,” or, “Replacement monkey,” or “Cleaning lady’s silence.”
Just in case someone was ever casting an eye over them. So I could really freak them out.
My rent payments to my boyfriend is called “boob augmentation.”
I wonder if that has the desired effect.
“Oooh, new entry on my statement. Boob augmentation? Nice! Ohwait. It’s just rent. Aw.”
We should be thankful we don’t get screwed like the UK peeps, 430 pounds is like $660 US +.
Besides forza 5 I feel no need to buy the xbone. which feels wierd to say considering how much I used to love my 360..until they both decided to stop working.
The only other incentive is Halo but I dont like the way 343 are taking the franchise.
Looks like its still PS4 for me…but more tham likely ill find a way to justify a new console just for forza5.
Wait a year before buying one I say. Dont buy hardware day one*
*spoken by a former Dreamcast and Gamecube early adopter
Easier said than done when you are a passionate gamer. Hard to say no to new consoles with new possibilities :p
Depends if your PC can hold out til then. A LOT of the good launch titles are going to be on PC.
MS are telling me they only put 8Gb of RAM in the system and 3GB is going to the OS? 37.5% of the system RAM is not going to help games? Doesn’t the PS4 also have 8Gb of RAM, surely Sonys OS won’t use 3Gb of that.
I’d like to stick with MS, not for love but a sense of familiarity. I prefer the Controller but quite frankly this seems to be a monumental design flaw. Imagine buying an 8 seater Minivan and 3 seats are just off limits from day 1. It’s essentially a 5 seater sedan, but they still advertise it as 8 seater.
There’s rumor of two new retail versions next year (probably depending on how well the 1st version is selling – as to when/if they try the cut down versions).
1st: Kinect + 500GB HDD
2nd: No Kinect + 500GB HDD
3rd: No Kinect + Smaller HDD (60?)
So, if they do go this way, Kinect won’t be mandatory for use of the console.
http://youtu.be/HvXZsufIS5U
Wouldn’t be surprised if they do end up finding that international folks aren’t making use of the kinect at all, and we get a 1-2yr re-release without it. Plus maybe more grunt under the hood.
Just think about how many times the 360 has been re-released with new specs or form factors. There’s no way the xbone they launch is the xbone we’ll be looking into buying in 1-2 years.
I’m sure that I’m in the minority on this site, but I’m getting both. The X1 at launch and the PS4 as an exclusives box. I cant deny M$ofts servers far outweigh sonys this gen and I dont believe that sony will invest enough to compete. Updates on my ps3 take forever, servers and lobbies are empty, while i can jump on my 360 and have party chat with irl mates and full lobbies in games that I like to play. (GTA IV atm, cant wait for September).
As I said, i’ll still get both (and both XBL and PSN+) because Im a gamer, but I think the X1 will be my main console next gen.
*looks dreamily into the distance* “Servers…”