One Xbox to rule them all, one Xbox to bind them…

Microsoft announced earlier today that the 360’s successor would be the bulky, albeit powerful, Xbox One. Sure she’s not much to look at but with a blu-ray drive, 500 gb hard drive, 8gb ram, 8-core cpu, and 64-bit architecture, the Xbox One is poised to contend. Throw in a tuned up Kinect (that can sense your heartbeat?!?!) and touched up controller and all of the sudden the PS4 has some hefty competition.

The true trick up the sleeve however seems to be the new “Snap Mode” which lets you run multiple applications at a time (such as watching TV and surfing the web in a sidebar). The feature alone could add some unique elements to future games such as searching for real information online to solve a puzzle or scenario in a game.

This particularly becomes amazing when one starts to think of what this could mean in terms of developing games around social justice or breaking news. For instance, sandbox games could announce through in-game bulletins if there is an Amber Alert or natural disaster. They could then reward players who simultaneously went online and posted the Amber Alert to Facebook or donated to the Red Cross.

In short, the “Snap Mode” provides a beautiful opportunity to further bridge the fictional worlds of games to the events of real life. 

E3 is exactly three weeks from today and Microsoft has already announced that there will be a dump truck more of information at their press event. The next generation of consoles is swooping in with a bang and I’m nothing short of ecstatic about the opportunities that the new era has to offer! In the meantime however, make sure to hit up Wired for their exclusive look at the Xbox One and the new Kinect!