Every fall manufactures battle it out to capture the attention, and wallets of consumers, this year for Microsoft that means the pending launch of their Xbox One gaming platform which takes over for their Xbox 360. This isn’t your dad’s Atari (or ColecoVision – remember those??), Microsoft will be rolling out their next generation gaming system, or more accurately an “all-in-one entertainment system.” Microsoft One will be able to connect to just about any Internet enabled device that you own, and as part of that you can stream content (audio, photos, video) to and from the device. Microsoft held a media preview last week on Monday to show off the Xbox One and other Microsoft products and their ability to integrate into the entire family’s life and all linked with you Microsoft account. During the night they held a private party to further show the Xbox One and how it can deliver the next level of home entertainment, pictures below.
As part of the walk through, Karl Moukarzel, Student Marketing Lead, Marketing & Operations Group at Microsoft walked us through their Surface device which he added is looking to “conquer the market of being productive on a tablet.”
Another cool service that Team Microsoft had on demonstration is their Xbox SmartGlass, which allows you to turn your mobile phone or tablet into a second screen that interacts with your Xbox 360 (or Xbox One). With the second screen in play, users could be watching a movie on their Xbox, and on SmartGlass will serve up complimentary content from sites such as Wikepedia, or photos from Bing. There are currently 40 apps available for the Xbox One including Rogers Anyplace TV, CinemaNox, Crackle, DisneyXD (Astral), and Netflix.
With Skype deeply integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem, the new Xbox One comes ready with 3 processors that will allow you to take a Skype call while watching a movie or playing a game.