Microsoft announces the new Xbox One will launch in November with a £429 price tag - and the new Halo game will come next year
Microsoft's new Xbox One gaming console will go on sale in November, it was announced today.
Speaking at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles, bosses confirmed the new console will cost $499 or £429 - and the Xbox 360 will be updated to look more like an Xbox One.
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's vice president of marketing and strategy, says the updated Xbox 360 is 'smaller, sleeker and as quiet as ever' - and would be available in the U.S. from Monday.
Microsoft's Xbox One will launch in November, it was announced today. It has improved voice recognition and gesture controls, built-in Skype features and multi-tasking Snap ModeHe added that hundreds of new games are still coming to Xbox 360, which was originally released eight years ago as the high-definition successor to the Xbox. The gaming console has outsold rivals from Nintendo and Sony for the past two years.
The new Xbox 360 product was launched today at the conference in an attempt to maintain strong sales of the ageing consoles.
More... Apple unveil revolution to the way your iPhone and iPad looks: Company bosses show next generation software that 'ditches classic interface' Is this the end of curtains and blinds? New Wi-Fi enabled windows change transparency at the click of buttonMicrosoft also announced the latest Halo game - set for release next year. The follow up to last year's smash hit, Halo 4, it is part of an ever-growing Halo franchise that includes a live-action series.
Xbox Live Gold members will also be two free games per month, including Halo 3 and Assassins Creed 2, E3 attendees heard.
Microsoft announced Project Spark - a smart glass enabled game that allows you to create gaming worlds.
The game, exclusive to Xbox One and Windows 8, it gives gamers a blank canvass to create their own gaming experience.
Attendees await the start of the Microsoft Xbox E3 2013 Media Briefing in Los Angeles. At the event, bosses confirmed the new console will cost $499 or £429 - and the Xbox 360 will be updated to look more like an Xbox OneFrom flying goblins to huge mechanical robots, Spark gives gamers an infinite number of possibilities.
It was also revealed that Xbox Live will no longer limited to 100 friends and that Microsoft points will be scrapped in favour of real money.
Phil Spencer, corporate vice president, Microsoft Studios, said: 'Microsoft Studios is committed to making Xbox One the best place to play games, with more titles in development and more exclusives coming than at any time in the history of Xbox.
'With amazing games such as Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome, Dead Rising 3, Halo Xbox One, Kinect Sports Rivals, Project Spark and Quantum Break, Xbox will continue to lead the industry with the biggest exclusives, new IP and blockbuster franchises that will delight gamers for the next decade and beyond.'
Microsoft Corp. said in a blog post last Thursday that it will not charge a fee to retailers, publishers or gamers for transferring their old games.
The new Xbox 360 product was also launched today at the conference in an attempt to maintain strong sales of the ageing consolesThis means used games will be able to be played, clearing up a worry among gamers and video game retailers such as GameStop, which trade in used games.
That means video games discs users buy will not be limited to one Xbox One device, and players can share or trade in the games they have bought for other used games, just as they have been able to do in the past.
The Xbox One,will need to be connected online at least once every 24 hours to work. Some players had been concerned that the console was going to require a constant Internet connection.
Users will be able to access their games from other consoles through an online library after installing them on their primary device, but they will need to connect to the Internet at least every hour. They will be able to watch live TV and Blu-ray and DVD movies on the Xbox One without an Internet connection, Microsoft said.
The Xbox One has been redesigned with sleeker lines. It has kept the trademark black plastic casing and green lighting. The new console has USB 3.0 connections and an HDMI In/Out port and 500GB of storage as standardWhen unveiling details of the Xbox One last month, Microsoft said it would be completely controlled using voice recognition and hand gestures, and with the new Instant Switching feature users can ask the Xbox to 'watch TV', 'open Internet Explorer' or use it to change channels quickly without having to find the remote control.
Microsoft's Xbox One also comes with a multi-tasking Snap Mode that lets users run more than one service at any one time, such as watch a film while checking emails on Internet Explorer.
Microsoft executives also touted the Xbox One as a replacement for the set-top box.
Microsoft's completely redesigned Xbox Kinect sensor uses 'time of flight' and captures 2GB of data including heart rate, weight transfer and the slightest movements of joints. Under patent plans, users may soon be able to perform certain actions - that will be recorded using the Kinect sensor - while watching TV shows and earn rewardsThe new Xbox One console will be shipped with a completely redesigned Kinect sensor.
Kinect is Microsoft's motion-sensing technology that lets you play games using hand gestures and body movements.
The new sensor uses 'time of flight' that records photons bouncing off your body.
Microsoft claims it can collect over 2GB of data per second - including your heartbeat, weight transfer, slight joint movements and more - and then uses this data to measure your movements and react to your gestures.
Xbox Live manager Marc Whitten said that voice recognition with the new Kinect sensor is 'more conversational and supports the voices of the whole family.'
Whitten also explained that the Xbox controller has similarly been redesigned with more than 40 new components and new D-Pad makes the controller 'more immersive.'