XBOX ONE Reveal 2013

     The XBOX ONE Reveal just ended at just over 1 hour long.  There weren't too many surprises, but I was glad to finally just see what the thing looked like.  It's a sexy beast that I will be happy to have on my gaming desk.  It reminds me of what the 80's thought "modern" looked like.  Not a bad thing in my opinion. 

Release Date: "Later This Year"-  Well, isn't that just a crock of shit.  I have anticipated that it will release with the PS 4 "this holiday" at least.  Maybe this means it will be sooner.  Lots of details were teased to be releasing at E3.  I hope the release date is one of them.


Specs: 8GB RAM, USB 3.0 and Wifi Direct, 300,000 servers, 1080P HD Camera on the Kinect, Cloud Content Saves

The gist of The Reveal:

     Powering on the Xbox also powers on your TV.  Saying "Xbox ON" turns it all on...and pretty quickly too.  It recognizes individual users so you don't need to log in; each user will have their own individual Home screen with their own relevant content.   It loads with a Windows 8-ish screen and your most recently played game is featured, with recent music, movie, and TV show/channel displayed alongside.  It uses universal commands across media so that you can "grab" your current screen and minimize it so that you can use other apps and features at the same time. They called this "Snap Mode".  The example given was the user playing a game, minimizing it, telling his Xbox that he wanted to watch a movie, and -boom- movie playing where he left it off at right beside the game.  Want to watch a football game and keep an eye on your Fantasy Football league?  Done.  It even updates your fantasy score in real time. I don't see myself needing that type of multi-tasking (or is this the new definition of multi-playing?!), but it's neat tech all the same.
     Watching TV seemed neat, too.  Flipping channels was quick in the demo whether by swiping, telling your Xbox to go to a certain channel, or telling the Xbox to switch from TV to your game to your music, etc. I was surprised by how quick it looked.  There is also an app for your TV listings.  You can also set your favorite shows and look at what's trending.  The biggest TV-related news IMO, was the announcement of the live-action HALO Television Series!
Sir Steven Spielberg himself via a pre-recorded video, told us about his involvement. That's super spiffy :)
     So- Blah, blah, blah...native Kinect features...better controller... near silent running...native Smartglass...Cloud saves...8 new franchises, 13 Xbox Exclusive titles in the first year...
     There will be inherent gameplay DVR editing and sharing which is pretty cool.  There's a lot of times I wanted to capture gameplay or screenshots for my blog or to share on FB or Twitter, but I didn't want to have to buy another contraption for that so this will be great!  They didn't go into much detail but I was intrigued by the way Achievements will be changing.  It seems achievements will somehow be able to better show how you play and not just what you did.  Like anyone really looks at other people's achievements.  It's still cool beans in my book.  It was also teased that many games will be able to support persistent worlds.

    There was some info from EA Sports but I don't really care about that so I ate a sammich.
I was, however, interested in the news concerning Call of Duty: Ghosts.  I already knew some things (like it will release w/ the new console) but I will share some key points.  It's a new world with new narrative and characters. Okay that's cool and all, but I was super stoked to find out that there will finally be character customization!  I didn't see any babe-ettes so I might still have to play as a handsomely rugged dude, but it's a start.  Guess what? You're going to be able to see hair on his arm while you are holding the gun in 1st person! And blood and bruises! Well, they were more excited about that than me.  There's also going to be dynamic maps, i.e. you can roll logs down a hill and crush your enemy.  Also, more dogs.  The one they showed in his mo-cap suit was awesome!

     To finish: The new XBOX ONE (aka Xbox 3/ Xbox 720) is coming out soon. We don't know exactly when I should be expecting an Xbox-shaped package or how much it will cost my husband.  There will be more-better stuff that you can do while doing other mo-betta stuff AT THE SAME TIME!  J/k  but not really...jus' sayin ;)
See you at E3 for the rest!