E3 2013 Microsoft: Xbox One, Xbox 360

Evan Griffin

11 years ago

What we already knew.
A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft tried to hit the ground running to give us an idea of what to expect for E3 this year by showing us in a one hour live stream presentation of their next generation console: The Xbox One. You can see our coverage of that event here.

Of course, like after any event of this kind, fans were left with more questions than answers, leaving many people frustrated and confused with new policies and features that make people feel like their enjoyment of their consoles will be highly limited.
Xbox One will limit ability to buy and trade used games, it will require internet connection every 3 days, it will require a Kinect at all times, and people are certainly not happy with the implication that the Xbox One will, primarily, be a cable box that can play games. We have a detailed explanation of the answers of these questions here.

Today at E3, however, the folks from Microsoft were “all about the games” as they like to say.

Before showing off all the new Next Generation titles on Xbox One, we got a little treat for people who want to purchase a new Xbox 360 console before the release of the Xbox One this Holiday. It was revealed that there is an updated Xbox 360 console based on Xbox One architecture, that is available to purchase today in the United States, UK, Canada and Australia. This sleeker, quieter model of the 360 is being released in a basic 4GB (no Kinect) edition for $199.99 and a 250GB model priced at $299.99. A 4GB system that includes the Kinect will cost $299.99.
Also revealed for people who are still not convinced to own a 360, Xbox Live Gold members will begin receiving two free games per month available to download, the first two of which have been announced to be Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3. This offer will be starting in July. Looks like someone’s been paying attention to PlayStation Plus?
We were then left with a guarantee of hundreds of new games to 360 in next year including Grand Theft Auto V, which will be releasing this September.

We were also shown a game called World of Tanks, initially a PC game, and it’s now being custom ported it to Xbox 360, this will also be available to download for free.

When the details for Xbox One came about during the show, most everything was all brand new games. However, we were also given a taste of how the next generation of games will make for a better experience with Xbox Live.
Xbox SmartGlass was used to show off features for Ryse: Son of Rome, where you can see yours and friends progress on timeline, enter games, checking stats and matchmaking etc., showing that Microsoft wants in on the “second screen” experience from every angle.

Upload Studio on Xbox is a new program that can personalize recorded win and adding commentary- sharing to the cloud with friends. They also announced a Twitch partnership, that lets you connect live stream games with friends, and instantly broadcasting gameplay, along with a streamlined text chat.

Another detail on Live subscriptions with Xbox One, is that you will no longer limited to 100 friends, and the company will be moving from Microsoft points to real currency.
Quite possibly the biggest news involving the new version of live is Xbox Live Gold Sharing, implying that everyone that is a user of an Xbox One will be able to access Gold Subscription features if another user is a member.

The Xbox One will be available for purchase in twenty one markets this November 2013, at the price of $499 in the United States, and £429 in UK.

More details from E3 2013 will arrive soon!