Microsoft introduces the Xbox One console, with live TV, voice control and gesture support

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Today at an event at its Redmond headquarters, Microsoft introduced the Xbox One.
Microsoft’s don Mattrick took the stage early on to say that the new Xbox “puts you at the center of a new generation of the living room.”
The console announcement was preceded by a video that had Xbox team members, filmmakers and executives touting the new capabilities of the device that would ‘allow you to have a relationship with your TV’. The tech is apparently designed to use sensors to recognize and personalize your experience
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Mattrick then recapped the past decade of Xbox history including the original and Xbox 360. The motion sensing Kinect also got a shoutout. Mattrick says that E3 will be where Microsoft will share ‘what’s next’ when it comes to software on the new Xbox.
“Can we improve a living room that has become too complex, too fragmented and too slow,” questioned Mattrick. Simple, instant, complete and personalized were keywords used in his intro.
The new Xbox is voice controlled, and responds to the words ‘Xbox on’, with no manual login and no waiting on system updates. There is live TV viewing, and Microsoft demonstrated a way to swap between games, music and live TV as fast as flipping channels.
 
   The Xbox One also has a set of gesture controls that are accessible anywhere on the device. You can  grab items like movies and stretch the to fill the screen or shrink it. There is also a ‘snap’ mode that allows you to pop a browser or other sidebar app into the window while you’re watching a movie or playing a game.

 

The new Xbox One also has a guide which allows you to see your television programs in a similar manner to a cable box, but with additional features that include trending shows and more.
 

The Blockbuster sequel

The hopes for the next version of the Xbox are no doubt high for Redmond, as the the previous version has met and broken every continuous best-seller record to become the top-selling living room console of its generation. Though the console market ticked down to 42 percent when compared to the same period in 2012, the Xbox still managed to move 130K units last month, putting it on top of the sales charts for an insane 28 months in a row. That’s over two full years of dominance over the PlayStation and Wii consoles, the only other big name contenders.
This next Xbox also has a chance to make strides given that the Wii U has faced poor sales and dwindling support by big name publishers like EA. Nintendo took a gamble with the Wii and it paid off, but the Wii U is getting far less slack. And the PS4 announcement had its own set of quibbles, not the least of which was that Sony didn’t even show the console itself.
Microsoft has nothing but opportunity with this latest iteration, and it seems poised to deliver if early word is correct.

Easier development and indie appeal

A unified code base for the next Xbox was heavily rumored previous to its release. The combining of the core Windows Phone, Xbox and Windows 8 code would have huge implications for the games market. Developers would be able to build games whose core components (if not interface and mechanics) would work on every major Microsoft hardware platform. This opens up a lot of opportunities to conserve effort and will make the Xbox a more appealing platform to indie developers who have limited resources.
This was one of the main components of the PlayStation 4 announcement that seemed so lacking. Sony seemed unwilling to concede that developers would flock to the platform if they were able to sidestep the expensive development kit scenario and build using a simple, inexpensive hardware SDK. It has since taken some steps to improve this scenario by eliminating the fee for the software development kit for PlayStation mobile, but there is still plenty of gap for Microsoft to wedge the Xbox into to establish it as the dominant platform for independent developers.
If Microsoft seizes the opportunity to mitigate or eliminate costs for developers looking to publish on the Live Arcade and to make it easier to write once and publish everywhere, it would crush the opposition. Add to that the fact that Microsoft also seems ready to unify its payment systems across Windows and Xbox with the elimination of points, and you’ve got yourself a perfect storm of developer appeal.