Microsoft walked away from E3 this past June with a dark cloud hanging over their heads and their new Xbox One console. Since then they have been actively repairing the damage and have announced another Xbox One improvement designed to further level the playing field with Sony’s PS4.
During the latest Microsoft podcast with spokesperson and social media guru Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, Microsoft corporate vice president Marc Whitten went into detail about some changes the Xbox One hardware has undergone over the past 60 days. He says the public will get a closer look at these changes during Gamescom a little later this month and that things “have really started to come together quite well.”
Whitten said that Microsoft’s internal Xbox One beta is currently running and that the operating system was receiving daily build updates as it is fine-tuned into its release state. Outside Microsoft, developers have finally gotten their hands on the finalized Xbox One development kits and are finally taking advantage of them.
On the more technical front, Whitten says that the Xbox One now has a 100 percent optimized “mono driver” that content partners have picked up on and are putting to use. Additionally, the GPU speed has been clocked as high as 853MHz, where the previous high at E3 was 800MHz. This might not mean much now but it will once games start to push the limits of the console’s capabilities.
Microsoft’s willingness to listen to gamers and act upon their wishes where it makes sense has helped spur Xbox One pre-orders. The Xbox One Day One edition has been sold out at all retailers for some time now. Xbox One standard edition pre-orders are still available, but even those might run dry if Microsoft reveals a big new game or revelation at Gamescom.
With any luck, Microsoft will finally reveal the Xbox One release date during Gamescom so we can all circle a date on our calendars. Amazon.com has been listing a Wednesday, November 27 date since E3, but Microsoft has not confirmed that date so take it with a grain of salt.
