Author: The enConnected Team

Microsoft’s Xbox One will require the use of an upgraded Kinect sensor according to an FAQ posted to Xbox Wire, the company’s new public relations destination for all things Xbox.

“The all new Kinect is now an essential and integrated part of the platform. By having it as a consistent part of every Xbox One, game and entertainment creators can build experiences that assume the availability of voice, gesture, and natural sensing, leading to unrivaled ease of use, premium experiences and interactivity for you.”

As every Xbox One will come with a Kinect sensor, it won’t cost users anymore than the cost of their initial hardware purchase, however those who prefer to not use the Kinect, or are who are a bit nervous about having a sensor that’s always listening may not be to thrilled with the requirement.

Users will even be able to use the Kinect sensor when the Xbox One is in it’s powered down state. During today’s press event, Xbox general manager Marc Whitten actually began the presentation by turning on the console with only his voice.

While we continue to comb through all the latest information coming from Microsoft about the new Xbox One, we’ve gathered all of the decent photos of the console we could find for you.

Xbox One with Kinect

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 7

We’ll continue to add images as we receive them. You can read more about the Xbox One, Microsoft’s next generation entertainment console here.

Pictures: The Xbox One

Microsoft’s Xbox One will require the use of an upgraded Kinect sensor according to an FAQ posted to Xbox Wire, the company’s new public relations destination for all things Xbox.

“The all new Kinect is now an essential and integrated part of the platform. By having it as a consistent part of every Xbox One, game and entertainment creators can build experiences that assume the availability of voice, gesture, and natural sensing, leading to unrivaled ease of use, premium experiences and interactivity for you.”

As every Xbox One will come with a Kinect sensor, it won’t cost users anymore than the cost of their initial hardware purchase, however those who prefer to not use the Kinect, or are who are a bit nervous about having a sensor that’s always listening may not be to thrilled with the requirement.

Users will even be able to use the Kinect sensor when the Xbox One is in it’s powered down state. During today’s press event, Xbox general manager Marc Whitten actually began the presentation by turning on the console with only his voice.

Xbox One Will Require Kinect to Function

Microsoft will debut a Halo live-action television series as one of it’s first projects out of it’s new Microsoft Entertainment Studios.

The show, which will take some creative direction from famed Director Steven Spielberg. So far, the company is only describing the show as a “premium series”.

Microsoft didn’t announce an exact date on when Xbox LIVE users can expect the show to debut.

Xbox Entertainment Studios will debut live-action Halo Series

Microsoft has just taken to the stage to debut the Xbox One, the Xbox 360′s always on successor.

The system will be powered by a revamped Xbox LIVE that will allow users to record and share video game content. It will also let developers use the service’s servers to create bigger and more complex games by offloading computations to Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. Microsoft will finally do away with the friend limitations of the Xbox 360. Instead of 100 friends, users will be allowed to have 1000 friends according to the console’s Twitter account.

Every version of the Xbox One will come bundled with an upgraded version of the company’s Kinect sensor which should please users since the company says the Xbox One will require the use of a Kinect sensor to function. Using Kinect and the console’s new power states, this Xbox will always be on in various states. In fact, during today’s presentation Marc Whitten actually began the presentation by yelling the command “Xbox On”, implying that the console is always listening, even if it isn’t fully powered on. The device will instantly boot as well, a feature that it might have picked up from it’s shared core with Windows 8. The device will have multitasking, and will allow users to snap applications to one side of the screen, similar to the way they are able to do so on Windows 8 machines.

The Xbox One will also fundamentally change the way users purchase and play games. Game discs purchased in stores will essentially only act as the way games are installed on the console. Once installed, users won’t need to place the disc in the system’s Blue-ray drive anymore. Instead, the console will store the entire game on the it’s hard-drive and possibly tie that game install to the Microsoft Account of the user.

It’s unclear how that would effect users who purchase a game and want to use it with more than one Microsoft Account. More recently reports have indicated that this isn’t not the case however, so we’ll continue to monitor and report any additional information when come across.

Microsoft will releases the Xbox One sometime this year. We’ll have more about the new experiences that users can expect with the new Xbox One as it becomes available.

Microsoft Debuts the Xbox One (Updated)

For true hip-hop heads, there’s nothing better than returning to genre’s heyday in the early to mid-1990s. In that same vain of going back to the days when the Notorious B.I.G ran the rap scene and Smokey Robinson’s The Quiet Storm ushered in late night slow dance sessions across the country, The New York Times has a terrific interactive photo essay on what’s happened to the neighborhoods that rap’s biggest stars once walked the streets.

The feature includes a look at the New York City neighborhoods made famous by the rhymes of Biggy, Gang Starr, the Beastie Boys, Biz Markie, Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, EPMD, Foxy Brown and Black Moon.

Sure, if you’re not into any of those guys already you may find the piece a bit fluffy, but hey -you needed more hip-hop in your life anyway.

The Culture: The NY Times Profiles the Hipsterizaton of Hip-Hop’s Most Historic Neighborhoods

Microsoft has announced that the Surface Pro, it’s tablet/laptop hybrid running a full version of Windows 8, will arrive in new territories over the next few weeks including the United Kingdom.

According to a post on the company’s Surface Blog, the Surface Pro will arrive in the United Kingdom on May 23rd. On May 30th, the tablet will debut in a Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Span, and Switzerland.

The company is also making it easier for those users to get their hands on the Type and Touch Covers that compliment the Surface family of products. Until June 30th, those who purchase the Surface RT tablet will receive a free Type or Touch cover in black, white or cyan. This offer is restricted to those in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In other words, users in the United States need not apply.

The Surface Pro pricing currently begins at $899  while the Surface RT begins at a more modest $499 in the United States.

Microsoft Surface Pro Making it’s Debut in Europe on May 23rd

You know that feeling of random nervousness you get every time you think about the features that could be coming to Microsoft’s next generation Xbox? One way or another that’ll end tomorrow during the company’s Xbox Revealed event and we’d like you to digitally hold hands with us during the experience.

We’re LIVE

I and many of enConnected’s contributors will be at enConnected headquarters watching and chatting about whatever Microsoft has up it’s sleeve tomorrow, and the party won’t be the same if you guys don’t show up. Unlike those other guys doing liveblogs, we’ll be here with live feedback and a bucket for all the tears that will well up in your eyes as Microsoft potentially blows the roof off the place. Per our usual modus operandi, we’ll also hijack the feed so that you can chat with other users and watch at the same time.

The fun starts at 1:00 PM EST or 10:00 AM PST if you’re one of our friends who’ll be watching from the West Coast of the United States.

In the even you can’t tune in, we’ll also be piping in the latest reactions from our follows on Twitter.

Join Us for Live Coverage of Microsoft’s Xbox Revealed Event at 1PM EST

If you’d been longing for the days of fan focused music television shows like MTV’s TRL, on what we suppose used to be the Music Television channel, you are in luck. Microsoft’s new two-part video show The Music Room may be right up your alley.

According to Edge,The Music Room will debut on May 29 at 3p.m EST with host Laura Jackson, and showcase a few choice musicians including Carl Barat of the Libertines, Everything Everything, Don Broco and Swim Deep.

Those watching at home will be able to take part in “interactive polling” to change what happens in the show’s finale in real time, though the company remains mum on just what factors will be up to the viewing public. As is the case with all of the Xbox’s entertainment applications, users will need an Xbox LIVE Gold account in order to watch the show.

The arrival of the The Music Room seems to be Xbox’s latest move at helping users get used to the idea that it’s Xbox LIVE is equal parts online entertainment network and gaming service, though the company already tried to blend the two with 1 vs. 100 with little to no success. This is also the first show to premiere on Xbox LIVE since Microsoft announced that they hired former CBS executive Nancy Tellum to head up a new content studio based out of Los Angeles, California.

Microsoft did not announce if the show would be available for Xbox LIVE users to download after it airs.

Microsoft launching The Music Room, an interactive video show on Xbox LIVE

Xbox 360 users are in for another Xbox Dashboard update, according to sources who talked exclusively with The Verge.

Reportedly, this dashboard update for the Xbox 360 would “enter into a public beta in late June or early July, with changes and updates in preparation for the next-generation Xbox”. These changes would include a slightly refreshed design with smaller Live Tiles, and ‘themes’.

The Verge also believes that this update will remove Microsoft Points from the console, and will replace them with the localized cash price of items in each individual country.

We’ve got just about a day left before Microsoft pulls back the curtains on it’s next generation Xbox console. While most of us are busy working ourselves into a tizzy about the possibility of new features headed to upgraded hardware, the reality is that for many users the Xbox 360 will remain their only gaming console for some time.

The Verge: Dashboard Update for the Xbox 360 Coming