Joystiq

Report: Internal Microsoft memo outlines 'always-on' connectivity for next Xbox

Xav de Matos — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:15:00 EST

An internal Microsoft memo regarding the "always-on" connectivity of the next-generation Xbox reveals the hardware manufacturer's plans for modern connectivity issues, Ars Technica reports. Microsoft's primary focus: specific console functions will "just work" regardless of connection status.

"There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should 'just work' regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game."

The memo also adds that Durango - the code name for Microsoft's next-gen console - is "designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's Internet."

Though the supposed memo does much to assuage fears the next Xbox system will be useless when in an offline environment, it still does not detail the depths of the console's offline functionality. Rumors of the console's always-on connectivity have persisted, leading one Microsoft employee to express his personal opinion on the matter before leaving the company after a public statement from Microsoft, which distanced itself from the comments.

Microsoft's next Xbox is scheduled to be revealed on May 21 at an event in Redmond, Washington. Joystiq has contacted Microsoft for comment regarding the supposed memo, but has yet to hear back at the time of publishing.

Report: Internal Microsoft memo outlines 'always-on' connectivity for next Xbox originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 06 May 2013 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Report: Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth no longer with company

Jordan Mallory — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:00:00 EST

Adam Orth, the Microsoft Studios creative director who caused a stir among consumers last week by tweeting his opinions on "always-on" devices, is no longer a Microsoft employee, according to "two sources" speaking with Polygon.

Last week, Microsoft publicly apologized for Orth's comments, saying that "this person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers."

We have reached out to Microsoft for a statement on the situation and will update this story if we learn more.

Report: Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth no longer with company originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Bloomberg: Next Xbox has X86 AMD chip

JC Fletcher — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST

Microsoft will match Sony's example and use an X86 series processor from AMD in its next console, according to Bloomberg's anonymous sources. The still-unannounced console is said to use a "Jaguar" CPU with integrated GPU, abandoning the IBM PowerPC tech used in the Xbox 360.

That means, like the PS4, the new Xbox will have difficulty emulating its predecessor, since it will be built on different architecture. The good news, however, is that with both of those consoles (allegedly) using similar architecture, and PCs also similarly laid out, multiplatform game development will be much easier.

Except for the Wii U, of course.

The Verge reports that Microsoft is holding some kind of event on May 21, believed to be an Xbox event.

Bloomberg: Next Xbox has X86 AMD chip originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Microsoft responds to creative director's 'always-on' console comments

Jordan Mallory — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST

Microsoft has issued an official missive (via Major Nelson) in response to the comments made yesterday by Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth's tweets regarding his opinions surrounding what he called "the drama around having an 'always on' console."

"We apologize for the inappropriate comments made by an employee on Twitter yesterday," the response reads. "This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers."

"We are very sorry if this offended anyone, however we have not made any announcements about our product roadmap, and have no further comment on this matter."

Yesterday, Orth took to Twitter to publicly dismiss criticisms of always-online consoles, likely in response to rumors that the next-generation Xbox will require an online connection to play games. As of press time, Orth's Twitter account remains under lock and key.

Microsoft responds to creative director's 'always-on' console comments originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Microsoft Studios creative director dismisses 'always-on' console concerns

Sinan Kubba — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST

Adam Orth, creative director at Microsoft's video game division, doesn't "get the drama around having an 'always on' console." Orth took to Twitter yesterday to publicly dismiss criticisms of always-online consoles, likely in response to Kotaku sources recently saying the next-generation Xbox will require an online connection to play games.

While Orth has since protected his account, his tweets were screencapped on Reddit and NeoGAF. Orth, who's been with Microsoft for 15 months having previously worked at LucasArts and PopCap, kicked off heated discussion by tweeting, "Sorry, I don't get the drama around having an 'always on' console. Every device now is 'always on.' That's the world we live in. #dealwithit" Orth went on to say he wants every device to be 'always on.'

Orth's comment caught the attention of BioWare's Manveer Heir, who tweeted back, "Did you learn nothing from Diablo III or SimCity? You know some people's internet goes out right? Deal with it is a shitty reason."

Orth responded, "Electricity goes out too." He later reiterated his 'deal with it' comment.

While Orth made it clear he was expressing his personal opinion, his comments drew a sizable backlash from online communities; his conversation with Heir made it to Reddit's front page. It all follows continued speculation the as-yet-unannounced next Xbox, believed to be codenamed Durango, will feature an always-online Internet connection as a barrier to second-hand games. In contrast, Sony Worldwide Studios chief Shuhei Yoshida said the PS4, expected this year, doesn't need to be always online.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Microsoft Studios creative director dismisses 'always-on' console concerns originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: Next generation Kinect specs leak

Richard Mitchell — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:30:00 EST

Alleged specs for the next iteration of Microsoft's Kinect sensor have popped up on VGLeaks. The new Kinect will be included with the next Xbox, according to the report, and it seems to outperform its predecessor in nearly every way. It packs a much larger field of view (70 degrees horizontal by 60 degrees vertical, versus the current 57.5 x 43.5) and a dramatically higher resolution (1920x1080 versus 640x480). The unit also features significantly lower latency (60ms versus 90ms), conceivably giving it a much faster reaction time.

It will apparently ditch the tilt motor seen in the current Kinect, as the larger field of view should accommodate most play spaces. For example, the new Kinect should be able to detect a 6' tall person at just over five feet from the television. As previous reports have suggested, it will also be able to recognize more minute details, such as whether a hand is open or closed.

For what it's worth, in the absence of verification, the tech wizards at Digital Foundry find the leak plausible, though it may not be the most current information. Furthermore, the information does seem to match up with previous reports, specifically the sensor's improved resolution and its ability to detect much finer details.

Rumor: Next generation Kinect specs leak originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: New Xbox has natural speech detection, speech-to-text

Richard Mitchell — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:45:00 EST

Microsoft's next Xbox, AKA Durango, will have much better speech detection, according to sources at the Verge. That includes natural language detection, which will allow the Xbox to process normal speech patterns, similar to Apple's Siri. So, for example, instead of saying "Xbox, play 3," you might simply say, "Xbox, where can I watch The X-Files?"

Furthermore, users may be able to turn the new Xbox on using only voice. Speech-to-text is also a possibility, which would allow users to, say, compose Xbox Live messages using only voice. The Verge also mentions a possible function that would allow the Kinect to detect the number of people in a room and suggest suitable multiplayer games (hopefully not used games).

An improved Kinect, possibly bundled with or built into the next Xbox, has been expected for quite some time now. As such, it's not much of a stretch to assume the upgraded device would feature improved voice recognition in addition to improved physical recognition.

Rumor: New Xbox has natural speech detection, speech-to-text originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: Next Xbox always online, uses Blu-ray

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:30:00 EST

Rumors on details about the next Xboxen are beginning to fly fast and furious, with an always-on Internet connection and Blu-ray drive being the latest. Edge cites sources with "first-hand experience" who rehash previously noted tech specs, but also mention the next Xbox will have an improved Kinect and an always-on internet connection to cut out the second-hand game market from the platform. The use of high-capacity Blu-ray discs seems a natural assumption since ... well, HD-DVD is no longer with us.

UK site VG247 (Microsoft UK must be a sieve) noted similar details to what Edge is putting out there last April.

Microsoft has not made any official announcement on its next Xbox, nor do we have any concrete idea of when the company plans to announce the product. Sony, on the other hand, is expected to announce the PlayStation 4 on February 20.

Rumor: Next Xbox always online, uses Blu-ray originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: Next Xbox 'Durango' specs leak

Richard Mitchell — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:15:00 EST

As E3 and the expected announcements of new consoles from Sony and Microsoft draw ever closer, website VGleaks has posted what it claims are specs for the next Xbox. Codenamed Durango, Microsoft's new console will contain an AMD-provided CPU with 8 cores running at 1.6GHz apiece alongside 8GB of DDR3 RAM. The machine will also use a GPU running at 800MHz, and feature a built-in hard drive. The structure reportedly draws from AMD's cost- and power-efficient "Jaguar" designs aimed at the laptop and tablet market.

Durango will also include a "high-fidelity" natural user interface (NUI) sensor. This would suggest that the console has some kind of built-in Kinect functionality, though the inclusion of a dedicated Kinect port seems to indicate that Kinect peripherals will still be available. Also of interest is the capacity for HDMI input, which Digital Foundry speculates could be used for recording or importing video from external sources like cable boxes and personal cameras.

DF offers up some more context for the leak as well, noting that there could be a significant performance gap between the new Xbox and Sony's next PlayStation, specifically with regards to its graphics processor. That's based on the blueprints and specs, mind you - we won't be convinced until we see competing real-time demos of that ballroom dancing scene from Final Fantasy VIII.

Rumor: Next Xbox 'Durango' specs leak originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: Microsoft considered OnLive acquisition, thinks the next PlayStation will be a GoogleTV box

Jordan Mallory — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:30:00 EST

Details continue to spew forth from the supposed leaked 52-page "Xbox 720" presentation that came to light a few hours ago. Buried deep within the bowels of the slideshow's ~~fifth~~ seventh slide, an examination of the next Xbox's potential competition potentially reveals some interesting tidbits about Microsoft's thinking back in 2010 (the slideshow dates back to August 2010).

Most notably, the document not only lists OnLive's MicroConsole as competition (along with the AppleTV and GoogleTV platforms, among others), but it also notes OnLive itself as a "potential acquisition target" - which makes sense considering frequent mentions of cloud gaming in the rest of the document.

The presentation also makes several assumptions about the Wii U (dubbed "Wii2" in the piece, showing its age) and Sony's eventual next console, specifically claiming that the Wii U will cost around $249, and that the "PS4" will be some kind of GoogleTV device, on top of being a Sony console.

Rumor: Microsoft considered OnLive acquisition, thinks the next PlayStation will be a GoogleTV box originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: 'Xbox 720' doc spills details on Kinect 2, 2013 launch, AR glasses

Ben Gilbert — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 09:40:00 EST

A lengthy business document purportedly sourced back to Microsoft showed up on Scribd yesterday. In it, alleged details about an "Xbox 720." For starters, the 56-page document claims the next-generation Xbox will launch in 2013 for $299, alongside the "Kinect V2." The doc also claims it'll come packed with Blu-ray functionality and be able to play game that are "4x - 6x" better looking than Xbox 360. If only it could promise the game themselves would be 4x - 6x better!

Beyond the stuff you'd expect, the document also claims Microsoft has Augmented Reality glasses in the works named "Fortaleza" (presumably built at Brazil-based Innovation Center Fortaleza) - the document says we won't see through MS' AR until some time in 2014, post-console launch. Additionally, it claims the "Xbox 720" will have some form of "always on" functionality, as well as the ability to run apps at the same time (read: multitasking).

Now before you go getting all excited, you should probably know that this document surfaced in some form back in early May on Nukezilla. Moreover, even if it's totally legit, the document itself appears to be rather old - dating back to August 2010 at least. That said, some of the info detailed in the document has since been announced by Microsoft (most notably Smart Glass). We've seen some pretty thorough fakes in our time, but this would be the most thorough if it were.

We've reached out to Microsoft for comment, but, well, you know.

Update: The document was removed from Scribd due to copyright infringement, at the request of a law firm named Covington and Burling. The firm worked with Microsoft as recently as this past April, when it advised Microsoft in its patent settlement case with Facebook. Microsoft still hasn't responded to request for comment.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Rumor: 'Xbox 720' doc spills details on Kinect 2, 2013 launch, AR glasses originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 16 Jun 2012 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments