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The Next Generation Xbox, We Have Questions
We are now only one day away from Microsoft’s May 21st event that will begin at 10 AM PDT on Xbox Live, Xbox.com and Spike TV. This event is where the next generation Xbox is to be unveiled and of course we are all just filled with anticipation and feeling anxious as we await any new details about the PS4’s competition. If you haven’t already you can check out Major Nelson’s latest podcast which will fill you in a bit on how things are going come together in the next few weeks for Xbox.
Here’s few questions to get us thinking about the next-gen Xbox:
Many Xbox fans are hoping that the new Xbox isn’t “Online Only” and there are a few rumors that say it won’t be and hopefully that’s the case. I think a console that locks you into online only mode at this point in time is self destructive, I don’t think that the gaming community is ready for that yet.
Will Microsoft include a Blu-Ray player in the Xbox (infinity, 720)? There’s no way to know unless they tell us but I’m rooting for “yes”, because it makes sense and it would be nice to have the extra benefits of being able to play Blu-Ray movies on your console along with having the extra capacity for gaming media.
Will there be Skype integration? This would be a great social feature to add into the mix and I hope it makes it’s way in. Besides, Skype and Microsoft are now one in the same.
Will there be Solid State Drives? I haven’t heard any rumors on this but it would be really nice to have an SSD onboard especially with an increased focus on downloadable content. Faster load times and just overall better performance, let’s keep our fingers crossed.
What about a new version of Kinect, what will it look like and how will it be integrated? Some rumors say it will be built into the console itself. If you missed our earlier post you can check out Illumiroom, which is an augmented reality device that projects images around your television and it works with Kinect technology. This could very well be an accessory for the new Xbox.
Finally, what will it look like and what will be under the hood? Will Microsoft show off the goods? How much muscle with the new console have and will it best the PS4? Maybe we will see a console this time, Sony has yet to show us the PS4’s hardware, which is kind of a let down, even though it probably shouldn’t matter but heck, we want to see it!
Be sure to check back with us as we will be rolling out a rundown of the next-gen Xbox in the days to come.
Next Gen Xbox Tech: IllumiRoom
IllumiRoom is an augmented reality device that projects images around your television. The projector is meant to sit on a coffee table and fill the room with visual content form your video games. Microsoft shows off a demonstration of IllumiRoom in action and it’s pretty amazing. I can see a ton of potential in something like this and it’s definitely one of those features that makes a statement, something we haven’t really seen to much of in regards to console tech lately.
The project works together with Kinect in order to analyze the area around the television so that it can auto-adjust it self to better work with your surroundings. Besides making the images appear outside the limits of your television, it even has the ability to change how things near your TV actually look. The video above shows exactly how all of this comes together. This could easily become the biggest feature of the next-gen Xbox, which is due to be announced on May 21st.
Next Xbox To Be Revealed in May
We have been patiently waiting to hear details about Microsoft’s answer to the Playstation 4 and it looks like we will finally get some details in May. The next-gen Xbox was supposed to be seen by the masses in April but instead it will be May 21st according to The Verge.
We actually know very little about the next-gen Xbox, codenamed Durango, but we do have an idea what’s in store for Xbox fans. It is likely that the software in the new Xbox will be very similar to Windows 8 and it’s possible that the console will require an “Always On” connection to the internet. That last bit has some gamers a bit on edge and even has them considering other consoles if Microsoft actually employs this strategy.
As always we will keep you in the loop when more details emerge about the next Xbox.
Unreal Engine 4 Shows Off Infiltrator Demo
The latest version of the Unreal Engine is showing off some of it’s capabilities in a new “Infiltrator” Demo that is being rendered in real-time. The demo was unveiled at GDC 2013 earlier and it looks absolutely stunning.
Unreal Engine 4 will be running on the next-gen PlayStation 4 and most likely the next Xbox. Unreal Engine 4 seems to actually have a “wow factor” to it and it helps to remind us that although at times it feels like games can’t get any better looking, they can and will continue to evolve. The final verdict on the this next-gen technology will only come into play once we see this stuff on our own TV screens. Until then, we have to keeps watching demos of what’s to come. You can see the official announcement at Unreal.