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Oh snap: Microsoft demos Xbox One's snap feature in new video
Microsoft's Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Yusuf Mehdi guided players through a demo of the Xbox One's snap feature in the latest video for the home console slated to launch on November 22. The system's Kinect-based snap commands allows players to watch TV, surf the web and check on their friends list during games like Forza 5, the racing game Mehdi happens to play during the demo. Our recent impressions of the Xbox One's dashboard features noted that the system cannot snap two games side-by-side, as the operating system gives priority to games like Forza 5 and Dead Rising 3. Besides, you'd have to be some kind of secret octopus to pull off a feat like playing two games at once.
Xbox One dashboard impressions: Finding Forza 5
The Xbox One has eyes and ears in the living room, more observant and more attuned to the human voice than ever before. Its Kinect camera can track multiple skeletons (usually inside people) and study your face for a post-workout pulse. It will understand you when you talk to it, and stop listening if you wish. And yes, you can unplug it. The new Kinect camera is not so sophisticated, however, as to detect the tinge of awkwardness that comes with press demos – this one in a San Francisco loft reserved for demonstrating the Xbox One as a platform. I sit on a couch between Xbox's Corporate VP, Marc Whitten, and Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Yusuf Mehdi, who will show me a product intended for a living room, quite unlike the cold approximation we find ourselves in. I face a giant television as they walk me through the system's standout features, never wavering in politeness and concision. They probably wince invisibly the few times a vocal command fails to register, because goddammit that's probably going into the article, isn't it? The Kinect quickly recognizes Whitten by his face and signs him into his Xbox profile. It does the same for Mehdi, and now they're both signed in on the system. Either one can summon their personal content by speaking, and the Xbox One will know which items to roll out without having to ask, "Sorry, which one of you said that?"
Microsoft exec says Xbox 360 still has three years of life in it
Even though Microsoft is gearing up to support the launch of its next console, the Xbox One, on November 22, the company plans to support the established Xbox 360 console for at least another three years. Speaking at the Citi Global Technology Conference, Xbox chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi confirmed the three year plan. He went on to call the Xbox 360 "incredibly profitable in the tall" which, translated from business speak, means "it's making impossible to believe amounts of money late in its life." The Xbox 360 will celebrate its eighth birthday in November. Outside of the Xbox 360 S remodel introduced in in 2010, Microsoft has expanded upon its Xbox 360 business with a subsidized console. Just last week, Microsoft converted its Xbox 360 funny money MS Points over to real-world currency.
Microsoft wants to sell another 25 million Xbox 360 consoles
Despite all this Xbox One whoopla going on, Microsoft hasn't forgotten about its other horse in this console dog and pony show. In fact, the company hopes to continue to move substantial numbers of the Xbox 360 over the next five years, according to senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Yusuf Mehdi. "We believe over the next five years we can break a 100 million unit installed base," Medhi said during an interview with OXM. "That's something we're shooting for, it's not a financial plan as such, it's just rough numbers if you will. To sell another 25 million, half of those will probably come from replacements, but half will come from new buyers." "The way we'll break into those segments," he continued, "is by hitting new price points, getting new classes of entertainment to come with the Xbox, and breaking into new customer segments." We're not quite sure what a new class of entertainment for the Xbox might mean, or what customer segments remain untapped after such a long console cycle, but "new price points" sure does pique our interest.
Xbox One 'Snap' mode lets apps run simultaneously
Xbox One, Microsoft's upcoming next-generation console, will allow multiple apps to run simultaneously through Snap mode. Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi demonstrated the functionality while watching Star Trek, allowing him to instantly access Internet Explorer through the Xbox One to research trailers for the sequel film, look up movie times and even purchase tickets. The ESPN app also showed off some Snap stuff, letting Xbox One users watch live sports on ESPN, then using Snap to research stats on key players by speaking to Kinect. Xbox One will even let fantasy sports fans update their teams and interact with their leagues through Snap mode.
Microsoft: Xbox 360 at 76M sold worldwide, Kinect at 24M
Microsoft has sent out a chest-thumping press release, boasting about new milestones for the Xbox 360, Kinect and Xbox Live. As of now, 76 million Xbox 360 consoles have been purchased worldwide, with a total of 24 million Kinects flailing their way into homes around the globe.The hardware numbers are bolstered by 46 million subscribers on Xbox Live. Microsoft says this new figure represents a 15 percent increase in year-over-year subscribers – both free memberships and premium Gold subscribers are accounted here.In a missive over on Microsoft's website, newly appointed President of Entertainment and Digital Media Nancy Tellem says the company is looking to launch 40 new custom Xbox interactive entertainment apps for 2013. It's quite a sign of the times if we're not counting games as "entertainment apps."
