Watch 12 Minutes of Microsoft Demoing Xbox One Entertainment Features

Watch 12 Minutes of Microsoft Demoing Xbox One Entertainment FeaturesToday marks exactly two weeks until Microsoft’s Xbox One all-in-one entertainment system and gaming console will be released at retail. There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding exactly how Xbox One works outside of the gaming environment despite the countdown nearly its end, and today Microsoft has provided a 12-minute video that demos some of the Xbox One’s entertainment features.

It’s clear as the video gets underway that Xbox One’s new Kinect puts the Xbox 360 one to shame. It is able to recognize multiple uses via facial recognition with virtual ease, then switch customized dashboards between them with the phrase “Xbox, show my stuff.” Though Xbox team employees Marc Whitten and Yusuf Mehdi are featured in the video, this recognition system and auto-sign in will work with up to six people in a room.


Another demonstration using Skype shows that the new Kinect is able to zoom and pan without physically moving like the current Kinect camera does. No more nodding as software now controls where the Kinect aims, and it is able to zoom or cover a wider space depending on the number of people in its view.

The Upload Studio is demonstrated by recording a clip from Forza Motorsport 5 and then editing it with picture-in-picture and custom frames. This seems like a lot of work to record gameplay footage, and no mention of where the footage can be uploaded to is made other than Microsoft’s own Sky Drive.

Last but not least, the One Guide is a combination of a television guide and video apps that is catered to each individual account. The TV portion is being piped in through the HDMI input and a cable/satellite box or DVR. It is genuinely cool to see apps like Hulu Plus right next to TV stations in a single guide, and activate any of them or search TV channels by voice.

My takeaway from this demo is that Xbox One runs extremely smooth, at least in Microsoft’s controlled environment. Switching between applications was speedy, even with Forza Motorsport 5 and ESPN running in the background.

There’s a disclaimer at the end of the video that reminds everyone of the Xbox Live Gold account to use any of these features. That seems to be the motto for Sony and Microsoft in this next generation: sign up for our premiere service or your new console will only be half-functional.

TheHDRoom may be paid a small commission for any services or products ordered through select links on this page.

TheHDRoom