#XboxReveal – just a couple of details of the Xbox One

Here are some key points from today’s Microsoft announcement:

  • Name: Xbox One
  • Snap Mode (multi tasking)
  • App Switching
  • Live TV Integration
  • Gesture and Voice Controls (Kinect sensor included)
  • Skype on the Xbox
  • USB 3.0, Bluray, 8GB RAM, 500GB hard drive,
  • Kernel of Windows
  • Halo TV Series
  • NFL Partnership
  • Call of Duty Ghosts
  • Price unannounced
  • Release date unannounced (later this year)

Wired Magazine has a nice spread of press photos of the new console and controllers.

Will #XboxReveal mention Windows 8?

Tuesdays are my tech articles, and I admit I’m behind on a few articles over the last few days, but I had to pop in and remind people that the #XboxReveal is today. You’ll be able to watch it live at Xbox.com/Hub. I’m also interested to see what Microsoft does.

There will be a new console, but I’m almost wishing they would blow people’s minds and say no box! “Xbox” should become a service on the PC, comparable to Steam. And I don’t mean the “Xbox for Windows” games that we see in the Windows 8 Store, but really an environment that you load in to, much like the Games app, but from there it exists as its own platform, and any game available on the console, is available on the PC. Okay, I highly doubt that will happen, but there needs to be some kind of seamless integration among the Windows 8/RT, Windows Phone, and Xbox platforms – and I hope they give some great detail on that today. E3, next month, June 10th, will talk about the games. Today? I’m expecting some general media and entertainment information.

I plan on having some follow up comments on this later today or tonight, and I promise I’ll bring back some regular posts to the website, but I’ve had some hectic days, lately, and I don’t expect things to calm down – but I assure you, I’ll make time for you folks!

Spider-Man games: is it just me?

Call it a guilty pleasure, but there is something about Spider-Man games that I just can’t get enough of. Spider-Man games have always had a certain “free-roaming” quality to them. Even the platformers like Maximum Carnage on the Super Nintendo, which was a “Beat’em Up” in the vein of Final Fight or Double Dragon. But you still had the feeling that you could move more freely. And the web-slinging has been down-pat and accurate since Spider-Man debuted on the Atari 2600.

The most modern revisions have tempted me in to playing each iteration. Spider-Man 3 and Spiderman: Friend or Foe gave you a huge sandbox to play in. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows gave the game a darker, grittier feel, similar to the X-Men Origins: Wolverine game. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions allowed you to experience Spider-Man spin-off characters who have never had their own games before. I plan to continue that theme in Spider-man: The Edge of Time before moving on to the latest movie tie-in game, The Amazing Spider-Man.

I, for one, can’t wait to sling webs around giant open worlds, free fall, and catch myself with a quick tap of the trigger. These games are fun, and I spend more time exploring than “playing the game.” Call me crazy, but I’m glad they just keep coming – and, of the titles I’ve played, at least, they just seem to keep getting better!

Windows Phone: hold out hope or abandon ship?

I’ve been holding out for a good Windows Phone. Windows Phone 8, so far, isn’t drastically different from 7.8, from what I’ve seen. Sprint’s lack of Windows Phone 8, or what people are calling poor or sloppy CDMA support from Microsoft, is also killing me slowly. I’m long overdue for an upgrade and have been tempted by the beautiful design of the HTC One, or the refinement of the Samsung Galaxy S4. But I continue to wait. I want to invest myself in a single ecosystem, to be embedded in a platform. I’m not interested in a Mac, and a Chromebook is laughable.

Recent experiences with Windows Phone have put a sour taste in my mouth, and after watching the Google I/O 2013 Keynote, I’m reminded how important it is to constantly be improving your platform. I hear rumors of “Windows Phone Blue” but just a name. More about iOS7 changes being drastic. But Windows Phone? The changes seem like they never come, and even when they do, the poor end users either wait forever or are forced to hack the update onto their phone.

I feel like I’m grasping at straws, anymore. Microsoft talks about how they have 80% of the top 25 apps, and thousands more. But the Windows Phone Marketplace is tiny. And finally getting the apps is different from having had those apps. Seeing the radical improvements in Google Now, even since its launch, just make me wonder what it is that my phone is doing in my pocket all day? It could be doing much more.

I just wonder if I’m missing out on substance, or buying in to hype? I think I’ll see what iOS7 offers up, and wait for some more news on Windows Phone Blue before I commit to this generation of devices… which still seems like a life-time away in the technology-timeline, but it will just have to wait.