Microsoft unveils new Xbox gaming console

Microsoft Corp has unveiled the “Xbox One”, its first new gaming console in eight years, and its strongest push so far to dominate consumers’ living rooms with an array of exclusive media content.

The Xbox One took four years to develop and will be the launchpad for a “Halo” live-action video series produced by Steven Spielberg.

It will be sold worldwide “later this year,” games unit chief Don Mattrick told reporters on Tuesday at an event at the software company’s campus near Seattle, without providing details on timing or pricing.

The device will also be the first platform to release the next instalment in Activision Blizzard Inc’s
blockbuster shooter franchise, “Call of Duty”.

Microsoft hopes its third-generation Xbox console will attract video game fans who are increasingly sampling games on mobile devices, while also becoming a hub for living room entertainment.

‘Entertainment system’

The new device interacts with a television, responds to voice and gesture commands, includes group video calling on Skype, 15 exclusive game titles and original programming content.

The Xbox One will chiefly compete with Nintendo Co’s new Wii U and Sony Corp’s forthcoming PlayStation 4 for a bigger slice of the $65 billion-a-year computer game market.

Microsoft did not refer to the new gadget as a “console” but rather an entertainment system, signalling its renewed focus on making the Xbox a sort of window for media and entertainment content, said Forrester Research’s James McQuivey.

The software giant is “trying to break out of the category” and risks having to battle not just Sony and Nintendo but Apple Inc, Google Inc and others to control consumer entertainment in the age of Smart TVs, tablets and smartphones, he said.

Acclaimed movie maker Steven Spielberg will be executive-producing a television series based on Microsoft’s blockbuster sci-fi game “Halo” – one of the game industry’s largest franchises by revenue – for the Xbox One.

The new console will also offer exclusive National Football League content and eight new game franchises, executives said.

Yusuf Mehdi, SVP of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business declined to put a figure on the company’s investment in exclusive game and video content, but called it a “very serious commitment,” in an interview with Reuters.