So today, right now, as I'm writing, Microsoft are ready to reveal their new X-Box. I'm sittin' back with a couple of good friends and watching the stream - and I'll update this post if they reveal anything interesting, I'll put it here. So, depending on how much Microsoft is ready to put out there, this'l be a very long or very short post indeed.
Edit 1: And there we go. The name is Xbox One. So no 720, sadly. The thing is beautiful, by the way - it's a whole lot more angular and boxey in its design, but having never liked the look of the 360, I'm down with that. The Kinect that comes with it is kinda fucking huge, though, which might not look too neat on top of your TV.
The controller LOOKS to be sweet.
Edit 2: Slogan: The All in One Experience. Seems they'll be working with the whole multi-media thing.
The speaker, Yusuf Mehdi, just turned on the thing by saying "XBox on", so there'll be voice control, and, seemingly, motion control of the menues. They're already profiling the machine as catering to all your entertainment needs: TV, music streaming, Skype, friends' activity etc.
Instant Switching: Apparently you can instantly change between all sorts of entertainment instantly through voice commands - games, music, TV, and, of course, Internet Explorer (let's hope CHrome comes out for it too, eh?)
The motion controls for the thing can also go back and forth to menues and programs, and it looks kind of impressive.
"Snap mode" allows you to layer programs - you can watch a movie, yell for your IE, and google facts about the movie at the same time - through voice commands.
The voice command seems to be really well done. They just presented Interactive TV.
Edit 3: Trending feature on the TV, showing the trends in the whole XBox live community. "The beginning of truly intelligent TV", they're calling it.
Edit 4: "Under the hood" - this went by a bit quickly, but if I heard 'em right:
8 GB Ram, 500 GB HDD, USB 3.0, Blu-Ray. New, redesigned Kinect - voice, gestures, all that shit. 1080p on the Kinect, 30 FPS, and generally improved software on the Kinect, and more. Kinect seems to come much more central in games, so it's a good thing it's probably been improved.
SmartGlass.
Xbox Live: Going up from 15000 to 300.000(!) servers to power that shit. They better not have fucking lag.
Edit 5: Aaaaaaaaand EA just took the stage. Prepare your bricks!
Really though, news on games.
EA Sports Ignite: designed to "blow the line between real and virtual" - instincts, decision making, agility, speed, living worlds. Games "to launch within 12 months": UFC, FIFA14, NBA Live 14, Madden 14.
They claim they'll add "10 times more animation depth", and make the audience and surrounding game worlds of EA Sports more dynamic.
They plan to say more about the new companionship between Microsoft and EA "in a couple of months", apparently.
New FIFA mode: FIFA 14 "Ultimate Team" - Only on Xbox, apparently!
Forza Motorsport 5 just got announced - and shown. More on E3 - and it's a launch game.
Quantum Break, a new game from Remedy. Pretty impressive trailer without actually revealing anything. The tagline is "Time is the fire in which we burn" if that tells you anything.
Apparently, they already have plans for -15- exclusive games. FIFTEEN. In the first year.
Edit 6: Apparently Xbox is becoming "the new water cooler". So it's probably the new place to meet.
Or it actually dispenses water. Maybe it's why it's so big.
343's Bonnie Ross just entered the stage. Is HALO coming up?
Edit 7: Nope - but they just announced a Live Action HALO TV show. With Steven Fucking Spielberg behind it.
Edit 8: Live NFL and fantasy league combined? That's pretty neat.
Edit 9: Release date is...
Psyche. No date. But this year. So I guess the date will be out at E3?
Promises for E3: Many exclusive games revealed.
Early CoD DLC promised for the Xbox, along with a look at CoD: Ghosts - the first next-gen one.
Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) is apparently writing, and the story will apparently situate the player as an underdog soldier in an America that got its ass kicked - you're part of the remnants of the special forces.
Next-gen Engine - and it does look good.
Dynamic maps in multiplayer - earthquakes, traps.
Character customization.
Edit 10: The CoD: Ghosts trailer...
Eh. As extremely mediocre as it gets. It's pretty, sure, but... eh.
And that's the streaming done with! E3 should bring us more news.
But, as a Playstation loyalist...
It actually looks pretty good.
EDIT 11: It seems that Microsoft are glorious, GLORIOUS trolls, at least if these rumors are true. Apparently, they themselves will put a fee on pre-owned games; if you put a pre-owned game in your disc, claims are you'll have to pay a fee to play it.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/407912/microsoft-confirms-pre-owned-fee-for-xbox-one/
If this is true... well, the Internet is angry, Microsoft. The Internet is very angry.
Also, it's not backwards compatible with the 360, but I don't think people were actually expecting that.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/407910/xbox-one-not-compatible-with-xbox-360-games/
But really, if the fee thing turns out to be true - which hopefully, it does not - that is a D-bag business model, and Microsoft will be in for a shitstorm of size.
I mentioned they apparently are working closely with EA, right?
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