Despite the fact that Sony’s PlayStation 4 has grossly outsold the Xbox One in Europe, Microsoft appear to be working hard to re-invigorate interest in their current-gen console.
Yesterday saw the company take to the stage at Gamescom to deliver a slew of new announcements around the Xbox One – including mentions of highly anticipated features such as backwards compatibility and a new interface.
1) Backwards compatibility: available in November
While Microsoft first announced that the Xbox One would soon be compatible with select Xbox 360 titles at E3 this year, the company announced yesterday that the service would officially roll out in November this year, alongside 100 titles at launch. Additionally, all forthcoming Xbox 360 games in the Games with Gold program – which offers free games to Xbox Gold subscribers – will additionally be backward-compatible. Read all our all-you-need-to-know here.
2) New interface release date
Similarly, Microsoft also confirmed November as the release date of the Xbox One’s forthcoming software overhaul. Following the launch of Windows 10 on July 29th, the new Xbox One dashboard will follow suit by emphasizing speed, performance, and stability, and will include Cortana integration for Xbox One systems with Kinect.
3) DVR capability
While Microsoft officially announced that over-the-air TV would soon reach the Xbox One in the US earlier this year, the firm additionally announced yesterday that the console will gain DVR capabilities – enabling users to record television through an over-the-air tuner. Further, the service will also be able to stream content to any Windows 10 device.
4) New chatpad
Microsoft unveiled a brand new chatpad for the Xbox One controllers that takes a large inspiration from the models available for the Xbox 360 – however, the firm’s new chatpad will arrive with new audio buttons on the side and programmable keys, which can be used to execute functions such as taking a screenshot or recording in-game DVR clips.
5) A new limited-edition 1TB console
Microsoft wasted little time in unveiling a new Halo game – Halo Wars 2 – in addition to a brand new limited edition console that comes equipped with 1TB of internal storage. The console itself comes with a matching controller, and a digital copy of Halo 5, which releases this October.
What are your thoughts on Microsoft’s latest Xbox One announcements? Will it be enough to resuscitate interest in the console? Let us know in the comments below!
