News

EA Backpedals, Games In Development For 'The Nintendo Console'

2013-05-22T14:36:00Z

Wii U owners might be catching a break. EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen made a presentation at the Stifel Nicolaus Internet, Media, & Communications Conference yesterday, offering new information on the publisher's plans for the Wii U.

Last week, EA stated definitively that it has no games in development for Nintendo's home console. Yesterday, Jorgensen gave a different take, stating, "We are building titles for the Nintendo console, but not anywhere near as many as we are for PS or Xbox."

EA previously stated it was having trouble getting Frostbite running on the Wii U. We also know that FIFA and Madden will be skipping that platform this fall. Without Frostbite, the underpinning of EA studios' next generation development, it's unlikely we'll see marquee titles on the Wii U.

[Source: Polygon]

EA Sports Ignite Engine Shown Wasn't Gameplay

2013-05-22T14:15:00Z

EA Sports' Ignite engine will be powering the division's next-gen titles, but yesterday's reveal may not be exactly what those games look like on the upcoming systems.

Polygon talked to Andrew Wilson, executive vice president at EA Sports, who told the site that any Ignite footage shown at the Xbox One unveiling was pre-rendered using in-game assets in "a format that would be usable in this style of event." In other words, what was shown wasn't gameplay. However, Wilson added: "What I'm really happy to say, though, is that our games right now are delivering on that, and in some cases more."

Here is the footage in question.

In other EA Sports next-gen news, MCVUK reports that the PC version of FIFA 14 will not be using the Ignite engine like its counterparts.

Visit our Xbox One Headquarters for complete coverage of news from the reveal.

[Source: Polygon, MCVUK]

Sorry, Indies, You'll Still Need A Publisher For Xbox Live

2013-05-22T13:38:58Z

Yesterday was a big (and at times confusing) day for Microsoft. Some exciting details about the new Xbox One console have come into focus, but there is still much we don't know.

One of the things we learned is that the divide between Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Games on Demand, and Xbox Live Indie Games will disappear (and with it growing brand confusion). Games will all be housed together, and we envision an approach similar to how Valve has structured Steam.

What won't be like Steam though, is how developers will get their content onto Microsoft's Xbox Live service. In an interview with Shack News, Microsoft general manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms Matt Booty confirmed that, as of now, developers will still need publisher assistance to get in front of consumers.

This is a departure from how Microsoft's competitors are approaching independent development, with Sony and Nintendo both opening the door to self-publishing. It's important to note that this decision may change between now and the Xbox One launch (and even later as the platform evolves).

Visit our Xbox One Headquarters for complete coverage of news from the reveal.

[Source: Shack News]

Working With In-Development Hardware A 'White-Knuckle Ride,' Says Activision's Eric Hirshberg

2013-05-22T03:10:00Z

Today following the Xbox One reveal, Game Informer editor-in-chief Andy McNamara and executive editor Andrew Reiner sat down with Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg to talk about Call of Duty: Ghosts. The conversation covered changes to multiplayer, the next-generation engine, and the story behind this new branch of the mega-franchise.

He also tiptoes around our question about underwater segments appearing in multiplayer.

Game Informer: You announced that exclusive timed DLC is coming to Xbox One first. Are you looking at a similar timing window you used for Xbox 360.

Eric Hirshberg: Very similar. It's a continuation of that great relationship we had with Microsoft.

How has the process of building a new future for Call of Duty been with new hardware that is still in development?

It's been a white-knuckle ride, to be honest. First of all, there are the complexities of cross-generation development. Period. And then there is the fact that a lot of the capabilities of the next-gen hardware are still coming online and being polished by the first-parties. So, our teams have had their hands full. What you saw today, I think that's a really good reflection of what we trying to accomplish. I hope you agree it's a pretty big change from what we've been able to do with current-gen.

For a while there I thought there would be a period where people wouldn't be able to notice a difference.

That's why we did that side-by-side video. I think in your mind's eye, the current-gen looks great. Black Ops II is a great looking game, but it's not until you see it that you really go "that's a big improvement."

That's a big investment for Activision overall, considering Xbox One's install base will be smaller than the current-gen at launch.

Of course it's a big investment. We've left nothing to chance here. The cross-generational development on its own is big, but we're putting more manpower and technology and ideas into this game. We're interested in establishing the gold standard for the next-gen like we did the current gen. That's what we intend on doing. The size of the investment doesn't just apply to this year. We're looking at establishing that gold standard for next-gen for the next decade.

For the last game, you had a lot of leadership coming from Sledgehammer games. The messaging for this game seems to be just Infinity Ward.

Infinity Ward is leading development, but as is the case with pretty much all Call of Duty games, we'll have multiple development teams contributing. We'll have more on that later. Sledgehammer is not working on this game, but they are working on some other stuff we haven't announced yet. (Editor's note: Activision followed up to let us know that Raven and Neversoft are supporting the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts.)

Microsoft didn't announce a date today, but do you think you'll be ready for launch?

They haven't even announced their date yet, so I can't have a date for us. (laughs) We're planning to be there for the launch window for sure.

You said Ghosts offers a new story with new characters. Are you wiping the slate clean with no connection to the series' established fiction? The look of the game and setting certainly sings of the most recent games.

I agree with you that it has that big Call of Duty epic scale, but saying it's familiar to those games? I disagree. You just saw a little bit of the teaser and what we're doing for multiplayer in the behind-the-scenes video. The idea of dynamic maps is going to be a game changer for us.

The map impacting change on you and you impacting change on the map becomes a strategic weapon now that can be used against you or for you. The whole idea of learning the maps and learning the flow is going to take on a whole new level of strategy. I think that's a big change. The same goes for character customization.

For the story, this is the first time the enemy has more firepower and more manpower. You're a part of this ragtag, small group that is trying to fight their way back from being crippled or close to obliterated. I think this is going to be a very new experience. That said, it's a balancing act.

We have to continue to make the game people fell in love with and know so well and also have to continue to find new ways to innovate. I think this game will find the right balance. It's Infinity Ward. They started the Modern Warfare series. They set the standard for current gen. They do this better than anybody.

If you look at the trailer, there's an entire level that takes place underwater. We've had underwater scenes before where you scuba dive from here to there, but this is a whole new thing with underwater physics and underwater gameplay and underwater weapons.

Are you bringing that underwater gameplay to multiplayer?

Hmmmm... We'll have to wait and see.

I know EA seems to be hyped with the battle coming up. What's your stance on Call of Duty versus Battlefield for next-gen consoles? Is there something to that fight. Or is it something the press just likes to get behind?

I've been pretty consistent with these types of questions. We don't focus on our competitors. We've had strong competition with Call of Duty every single year on the current-gen systems. We don't focus on that. We focus on making the best game we can.

You put a lot of focus on the writer, Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana). What is his involvement with the game creation process?

We've had David Goyer helping out with the Treyarch games for years now. It's funny how people compare movies and games. It's almost impossible not to, as we're seeing more Hollywood talent In the writing standpoint, acting standpoint, and technology standpoint. They're getting involved in it.

The thing we've done with Stephen Gaghan is he's just imbedded in this game. The way we struck the deal, he has an office at Infinity Ward. He's there into the wee hours of the night. He there's with the team kicking around ideas. The story creation, the mythology creation, and character creation are happening simultaneously and are interwoven with the gameplay design.

Lots of times those two things are oddly disconnected in the creative process, where people think first about what's going to make a great gameplay experience. That's understandable. It's a game. That's where it should start, but lots of times the story is retrofitted into the game design. In this case, it's organically grown. We want to eliminate as many creative restrictions as possible. As wonderful as the Call of Duty games are, we wanted a clean slate.

For example, you roll with one squad throughout the entire game. If you played any past Call of Duty games, you know that we've been very fast and loose with those rules. We jump to different identities throughout levels, and sometimes within levels. In this case, this is what is happening to this squad. This is what is happening to these characters. You're going to develop a real relationship with those characters. I think that will be new for the franchise. One of them is your brother. One of them is your father. You've been through hell together. You're the underdogs.

Are you going 64-player or 100-player for multiplayer?

I think Call of Duty is the best multiplayer game in the world. It's hard to argue with the number of people that play it every day and every month. We have a winning formula. We always innovate within that. We always find new ways to keep it fresh and new.

Smartglass is becoming a big part of gaming. Are you adding new functionality to Ghosts outside of Elite?

You're going to see us take that to a whole new level. A seamless second screen experience will be integral to next gen.

Xbox One Won't Separate Games Into Live Arcade, Indie, And Retail Categories

2013-05-22T02:10:00Z

On the Xbox One, all games are equal.

Microsoft's Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer spoke with Eurogamer, and clarified a question we had about the distribution of games on Microsoft's newly announced consoles. "In the past we had retail games which came on disc, we had Xbox Live Arcade and we had Indie Games, and they had their own discrete channels or discrete silos. With Xbox One and the new marketplace, they're games," Spencer said, "We don't make a distinction between whether a game is a 50-hour RPG epic or whether it is a puzzle game or whether it is something that fits halfway between the two."

Spencer continued by speaking towards how this new lack of compartmentalization will help independent developers saying, "I think we solve fantastically some of the challenges that independent developers face, particularly around discovery and connecting their game to an audience, by some of the platform features we have in the machine itself."

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

[Source: Eurogamer]

Conflicting Stories Emerge On Xbox One's Connection Needs

2013-05-22T01:42:00Z

The one thing we seem to know is that the Xbox One will not require an "always online" connection in order to function. Unfortunately, the messaging coming out of Microsoft today about what kind of connection the console does need has been confusing at best and conflicting at worst.

Today after the Xbox One presentation, a number of sites spoke with Microsoft officials about the things that weren't said on stage. Kotaku sat down with Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison and got a definitive answer about the console's connection profile. According to the article, Harrison told Kotaku that he believed a connection was required at least once in a 24-hour period. There was no indication of what would happen if that daily check-in didn't happen, but we suspect that in combination with games being tied to accounts that purchased software won't work.

Later today, Microsoft addressed Harrison's comments with Polygon, stating that "there have been reports of a specific time period — those were discussions of potential scenarios..."

Right now, we can only point out the discrepancies that continue to emerge around this issue and the the approach Microsoft is taking with used games. E3 is only 19 days away, and we hope that the company has answers to these questions when we reconvene in Los Angeles.

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

[Source: Kotaku, Polygon]

Retailers Allowing Customers To Receive Notifications For Xbox One Reserves

2013-05-22T01:05:52Z

Microsoft has not revealed an exact release date or price for the Xbox One, but for those planning to buy the system, many retailers are already allowing customers to sign-up and receive a notification for when pre-orders are available.

Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Microsoft are all accepting requests for for customers to be notified via e-mail. The closest thing Microsoft has been able to offer as far as a release date goes, is that it will be out later this year.

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

Update: Microsoft Confirms Mandatory Game Installation, Talks 'Always Online,' Has Plan For Used

2013-05-22T01:05:00Z

Update #3: More confusing information has emerged out of interviews after the reveal event. Kotaku spoke with corporate vice president Phil Harrison, who told the site that users will be able to trade games online. He also indicated that the rumored "used game fee" would be equivalent to the full retail price of the game. Additionally, Microsoft seems to be emphasizing the ability to take your games to a friends' house, while stressing that you'll need to be logged into your own account to access your games.

Update #2: Microsoft has provided comment on the used game situation.

"We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games. We’ll have more details to share later."

Update #1: Microsoft reached out to Wired, which has since updated its original piece. According to the recent information, Microsoft has a plan for used games, but it isn't ready to reveal it quite yet.

Original Story:

In an interview with Wired, Microsoft has revealed some much anticipated details about the Xbox One. These tidbits go beyond what we heard at the press conference today, but are in many ways more important to how consumers will interact with the system.

The interview goes into great detail about how users will access game content. Xbox One owners will be required to install games to the 500 GB hard drive, but will not need the disc after that. If a second user wants to access the game (or purchase it second-hand), he or she will need to pay a fee. This is the "other shoe" that many were concerned about dropping when EA announced that it was abandoning the online pass practice.

With regard to an always-online console, the Xbox One will be able to play games offline, but developers will be able to utilize Microsoft's cloud computing, thereby making individual titles require an active, constant connection. Developers have the option of whether to make a connection mandatory, but according to the article, corporate vice president Marc Whitten hopes that they do.

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

[Source: Wired]

Microsoft Promises 'Historic' Franchise Reappearance From Rare At E3

2013-05-21T23:50:00Z

Today's Xbox One presentation was light on games, but it sounds like Microsoft has surprises up its sleeves for E3. Speaking with Polygon, Microsoft's Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer confirmed that one of Rare's established franchises will be making an appearance at E3 this year for Xbox One.

Spencer said, "Fans of Rare and Rare IP I think will be pleased with what we're going to show at E3," and followed up saying, "That historic IP that they've built I think can play a real important role on Xbox One."

Rare owns a number of IPs and franchises including Banjo-Kazooie, Conker, Perfect Dark, Viva Pinata, Kameo, and it recently renewed the trademark for Killer Instinct.

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

[Source: Polygon]

The Tech Spec Test: Xbox One Vs. PlayStation 4

2013-05-21T22:19:00Z

What's a next-gen console war if not a chest-puffing match? Here's a quick look at the tech specs of the newly announced Xbox One from Microsoft and Sony's PlayStation 4 as we currently know them.

Keep in mind that there is a lot of stuff we don't know yet about either system, and that specs are just one facet of the story.

For more on today's reveal of the Xbox One, take a look at our Hub story.

	Xbox One	PlayStation 4
CPU	8-Core x86 AMD CPU (Xbox One is a 64-bit system)	8-Core x86-64 AMD Jaguar
GPU	Custom AMD GPU	AMD Radeon-based GPU
Memory	8GB DDR3 (5 GB available to games)	8GB GDDR5
Hard Drive	500GB	Built-in HDD, capacity TBA
Optical Drive	Blu-ray (speed unknown)/DVD	Blu-ray (6xCAV)/DVD
USB Ports	3x USB 3.0 (2 on back, 1 on side)	USB 3.0 (quantity unknown)
Video Out	HDMI (4K video playback, but not gameplay), HDMI input	HDMI (4K video playback, but not gameplay), Analog-AV Out
Audio	HDMI, S/PDIF optical	HDMI, S/PDIF optical
Communication	10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, 3x 802.11n radios w/Wi-Fi Direct for communication with controller and other devices	10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (EDR)
Additional Outputs	IR (to control cable/satellite receiver)	Aux (unknown)

What We Don't Know About The Xbox One

2013-05-21T22:02:00Z

We've been telling you all day what we know about the Xbox One. Now, let's look at the myriad items on which we are still waiting for information.

Price and Release Date

Unsurprisingly, today's presentation was about what the Xbox One can do for your living room, but not about what it will take to put one in your living room. We've gotten no indication about pricing or whether the rumored subscription-subsidized option is on the table.

What we do know is that the Xbox One will be coming worldwide this year. E3 might reveal information about pricing, but we don't expect a release date until much closer to launch.

Different Models

The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U all launched with multiple hardware configurations. While today's press conference seemed definitive about hard drive space and the inclusion of Kinect (and its mandatory connection for operation), it's still not clear if Microsoft will be creating two (or more) different options for purchase.

Used Games

This is one area that should have been addressed head on. Microsoft has only told us that it has a plan to allow users to trade in and resell games. The confusion stems from the mandatory game installation that the system requires. In fact, you won't need to use the disc at all once the game is on the hard drive.

Microsoft has told us that it will have "more details to share later." Can the Xbox One play used games? It seems like it. How will it work? Our Magic 8-Ball says, "Ask again later."

Microsoft Points

There have been rumors that Microsoft will be eliminating points in favor of real currency transactions. Gamers everywhere would rejoice if they were able to pay for their digital purchases without frustrating conversions.

Avatars

Avatars were conspicuously absent from today's presentation, as were gamercards. We know that gamer pictures (at least in some form) are coming back, and that achievements and gamerscore are making the leap to next-generation.

Online identities can be shared as gamertags or real names (similar to how Blizzard handles its community), and we understand that users will be able to communicate in some fashion across the generational divide (Xbox 360 and Xbox One).

What we don't know is how we'll be represented in matchmaking and party chat. Are the cute little representations and all their money-making clothing returning on the Xbox One? We don't know.

The Price Of Games

It's too early to know how much retailers will be charging for new games. We also didn't hear anything about whether Microsoft plans to move more aggressively into digital delivery with day-and-date releases via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Xbox Live Gold

We fully expect that Xbox Live Gold will carry a subscription fee. There is too much money on the table for Microsoft to walk away. What we don't know is if that cost will be rising when the Xbox One arrives and if the service profile will be shifting at all. Advertisements have been a sticking point with some gamers, and how they will be reflected in the new user interface remains to be seen.

Microsoft could open up third-party service delivery to non-Gold members, allowing Netflix, Amazon Instant, and other video apps to reach a wider audience. We do expect that any streaming services and online play to stay behind the paywall. We have been told to expect more information on Xbox Live at E3.

User-Customizable Storage

One of the big advantages of the PlayStation 3 over the Xbox 360 was the ability for users to inexpensively swap out hard drives on Sony's machine. We know that the Xbox One will be coming standard with 500 GB of storage space, but whether users will be able to slot in their own, larger hard drives remains to be seen.

Update: We now know that the onboard storage will not be removable, but that external storage solutions will be supported for all functions (including game installation).

Cable TV Compatibility

We saw a lot today on the Xbox One's interoperability with cable boxes already in the living room. We don't know which providers will be supported and which of the existing hardware options (of which there are many) will work nicely with the Xbox One. We also don't know how things will work with high-bandwith digital content protection (HDCP), which can cause issues with playback.

Xbox Live Arcade and Indie Integration

We know that the Xbox One (like the PlayStation 4) will not be backward compatible. What we don't know is how Xbox Live Arcade will grow and adapt in the new generation. We also don't know if and how Microsoft will welcome independent developers into the fold. Currently, Xbox Live Arcade requires a publishing arrangement in order for studios to have their games appear.

Update: New information has emerged regarding self-publishing. It seems that Microsoft will still require independent developers to have a publishing partner.

Visit our Xbox One Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

Xbox Live Matchmaking Evolves With Xbox One

2013-05-21T21:58:00Z

Online matchmaking is one place where Microsoft saw potential to do something new with the Xbox One. The console has been designed for multitasking, and the team wanted to find a way to reduce the tedium that can surround online matches. If it works, you may not be spending much more of your time in lobbies.

Chad Gibson, principal group manager of Xbox Live breaks down the current state of matchmaking. "In many cases, it involves a user going to a lobby and entering a matchmaking experience in a game," he says. "Because of the way that Xbox 360 works, you typically sit in a lobby waiting for the players to start your session. That leads to things like player limits on sessions, limited filters, figuring out the right people to put together."

Gibson says the new capabilities of Xbox Live and its hardware architecture will allow for a greater degree of flexibility.

Mike Lavin, Microsoft's senior product manager brings up a great example of a current problem. He likes to play the Xbox Live Arcade game Poker Smash, a hybrid match-three/poker game that came out five years ago. As you might expect from a game that came out five years ago, there's not exactly a thriving online community surrounding the game. That doesn't mean that there aren't people who wouldn't want to play, however. With the Xbox One, players can enter a game's multiplayer mode, enter the parameters for whatever kind of game they'd like to play, and then go do something else – whether that's watching a movie on Netflix or even playing another game. When the match is ready, a message will pop up.

Considering the fickle nature of online gamers and the relatively short lifespan for online multiplayer games, this is good news. While Poker Smash isn't going to benefit from this kind of matchmaking, it bodes well for developers of smaller games that don't have the worlds "of Duty" in their names.

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

Microsoft’s Bold OS Approach

2013-05-21T21:01:00Z

Do you consume your entertainment while juggling multiple screens? Microsoft knows the era of multitasking is here, and it’s designed the Xbox One to fully support that mindset.

“What you realize when you’re thinking about the next-generation console is that you have to wrap your head around the next-generation gamer,” says Boyd Multerer, Xbox director of development. “And the next-generation gamer is not necessarily the gamer I was when I was first getting into gaming. There are real differences and real changes that have happened.... It’s been eight years since we started building the last one.”

In the intervening years since the Xbox 360 was released, mobile devices have shifted from being a novelty for the hardest of the hardcore nerds to something that most people can’t imagine living without. We live in the age of apps and services, where the ability to tweak and choose what information you get and how it’s delivered is taken for granted. People are increasingly becoming adept at multitasking. And their attention spans are shorter.

Microsoft sees the Xbox One as a games-and-entertainment device, a hub where users gather to consume their favorite movies, TV shows and – most importantly for a lot of us – games. According to Multerer, the old way of dealing with console architecture is simply outmoded. The solution that Microsoft came up with was to have three operating systems running simultaneously.

“There are three virtual machines running on this box,” Multerer says. “There’s a host, there’s a shared one, and there’s an exclusive one. The host’s job is to set the other two up and manage resources between them. The shared side effectively is created and boots when you turn the box on, and it stays alive until you turn the box off. It kind of makes sense when you think about PCs, but this is really new for consoles.”

Multerer says that under the current Xbox 360 architecture, getting games and apps to run requires a complex juggling act. When you load a game, you’re essentially rebooting the entire system. “It’s kind of exaggerated to the point where in a lot of games when you’re switching between levels, every time you switch levels the box reboots into the next level,” he says. The new shared side is designed with persistence in mind.

“[T]his is the place where I can run code and the game developer can run code that is alive the entire time the box is on,” he says. “Games can come and go, but now I can have apps, which can be written by the game developer, can be written by us, or written by third parties, that are running the entire time and watching what’s happening on the box.

“The exclusive side gets the majority of the resources of the box. This is for games. This is built just like a traditional console would be built. With these apps or games, they bring their own operating system, this thing gets torn down and rebuilt every time you change a game, so the game has its environment, it’s exactly what the environment expects, it’s got exactly the amount of RAM it expects, it is very predictable. The key word is predictability. It knows exactly what it’s going to get so they can optimize the resources and they can optimize the graphics and the textures and the models and the audio to fit this box and get the best possible looking game that they possibly can. This operating system is very thin, it just does what the games need because anything more we put in there would take away from the resources we could give those games. It pretty much sits right on top of the hardware. The host is here to guarantee the boundaries between these guys.”

Since apps get their own dedicated resources, and games get their own, Microsoft says the transition between the two is seamless – and can actually overlap. Players can send and take Skype calls from anywhere, for instance, without having to quit out or go through a laborious launching sequence.

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

Microsoft Confirms Xbox One Friends Lists Will Allow Up To 1,000 People

2013-05-21T20:36:00Z

Currently, friends lists on Xbox Live are limited to 100 people. For the Xbox One, that amount will be multiplied significantly to allow up to 1,000 friends.

Confirmation of the expanded friends list comes from the official Xbox Support Twitter account. Xbox fans on Twitter asking about rumors of 1,000 people friends receieved a confirmation that simply stated, "1000 friends is indeed confirmed." This is small feature, but one that many have requested.

@clear_then_die 1000 friends is indeed confirmed :) ^JG
— Xbox Support (1-5) (@XboxSupport) May 21, 2013

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

Designing The Xbox One

2013-05-21T20:11:00Z

Microsoft put its new box on stage during its reveal event. Here’s the story behind that half-shiny black rectangle.

The new Xbox is already creating a bit of a stir, just based on its boxy exterior. Some see a futuristic device that will be at home next to any number of other consumer electronics. Others have compared it unfavorably to a decades-old cable box. Regardless of where you fit, Microsoft didn’t create the Xbox One’s shell impulsively. It’s the result of years of work and refinement. Here’s how Microsoft reached the finished product. (Click here for a look behind the controller's redesign.)

“We chose this direction because it felt understated, it felt more premium, and it felt more like entertainment,” says Carl Ledbetter, Microsoft’s senior principal creative director. “This isn’t just a gaming console. It’s really bringing a whole lot more in addition to games to people. We wanted it to feel like more about the entertainment system that people have at home and fit in with what people have.”

The system is about the same size as the original Xbox, though its 90-degree corners make it seem less monstrous. The console’s powerful innards require plenty of venting – the company clearly hasn’t forgotten about the Xbox 360’s so-called “red ring of death” – and fully half of the system’s top is designed to accommodate airflow.

The case’s proportion should be familiar, too. “This proportion is based on the cinematic aspect ratio of 16:9 and how that could be split in a 50/50 way,” Ledbetter says. The top is visually divided into two. “Half of that is a glossy finish, and half of that is a matte texture. We did exhaustive work on the vent design to create something that was more about a texture and something that felt like it could come from the world of the digital world of the UI and also allow the console to breathe really quietly.”

The box is a rich, shiny black (it’s a color that Microsoft is calling “liquid black”), and Ledbetter cracks a double This is Spinal Tap joke about the team turning black up to 11. The system lights aren’t pale green, but are instead a glowing white. “We switched to white for a couple reasons,” Ledbetter explains. “Number one is this is more than about just gaming, so we wanted to symbolize that it does more. Secondly, we wanted it to be different from 360. [The Xbox 360] has a signature green element, and this is different from that.”

Kinect 2.0’s design follows the same design cues as the main box. “In the last Kinect sensor, it had all of those camera windows in the front,” Ledbetter says. “This one is now all about feeling more clean, and we created this glasslike front lens on the front that essentially hides all the cameras behind it. What it does is it allows all this stuff to come through, but it’s not blasting you with all these details and components and technology stuff.”

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.