News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

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Don't quote me on this,but I have heard November 5th could be the launch date for North America.I heard they want to beat Sony to the market in North America and launch same day as Call of Duty Ghosts!


The big retailers like GameStop have reported feedback to Microsoft saying that is to much to launch on One day.Nothing is set in stone,but software region based language is not the only reason to post pone Europe launch!Microsoft wants as many console in North America before Black Friday!

This are things I have heard through the grapevine!
 

That's one. Found another one...

The controller has been updated with 40 design changes, including new dynamic impulse triggers, a newly designed precision directional pad that is more cross-shaped, an integrated battery compartment and a Wi-Fi Direct Radio Stack.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4348724/next-gen-xbox-one-controller

& then I found this...

xboxonecontroller.png


I've posted a reply. Let's see what he says.

Tommy McClain
 
Non-standard is better in order to better withstand wireless frequency crosstalk in a busy wireless environment (apartment building, for example). It will still have to deal with other wireless signals in the area, but if it is using proprietary encoding and possibly transmission protocols then it becomes easier to single it out amoung the other wireless traffic in the area.

Can you explain this? In my experience, devices operating in the same bands interfere with each other regardless of the device. In the UK 2.4Ghz (+100Mhz) is unlicensed so most 802.11 protocols are in there, bluetooth is in there, cordless phones are in, some alarm systems are in, other radio remote controls are in there. It doesn't matter they're using standard or proprietary protocols, isolating the carrier frequency you need is equally difficult because the band is saturated with lots of devices all hopping frequencies to find a clearer wavelength.
 
Can you explain this? In my experience, devices operating in the same bands interfere with each other regardless of the device. In the UK 2.4Ghz (+100Mhz) is unlicensed so most 802.11 protocols are in there, bluetooth is in there, cordless phones are in, some alarm systems are in, other radio remote controls are in there. It doesn't matter they're using standard or proprietary protocols, isolating the carrier frequency you need is equally difficult because the band is saturated with lots of devices all hopping frequencies to find a clearer wavelength.

I'm not an expert in that field, but you can find some interesting start points here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_resource_management

Some are static based (position, modulation, channel coding, etc.) while others are dynamic (precoding agorithms, power control algorithms, link adaptation algorithms, etc. the list is quite extensive and not exhaustive).

And not all of those are applicable to consumer grade implementation.

Each advancement of 802.11[X] is concerned not only with increasing speed but also decreasing the effects of interference both at a hardware and algorithmic level (which in turn allows for higher speed transmission due to lowering the SNR floor).

While I'm not saying MS are doing this, it is certainly possible that they could use things not part of any of the 802.11[X] standards as it only has to be interoperable with their own controllers and nothing else. They have a second Wifi port that can service interoperability with 802.11[X] devices.

And as a practical example, compare the performance of Bluetooth 1.0 devices in a crowded frequency area to a Bluetooth 3.0 device. The difference is night and day with regards to the ability to establish a good connection but more importantly to avoid frequent connection dropouts (quite common in BT 1.0).

Regards,
SB
 
I just read XB1 is launching with Kinect voice support in five countries, need a link or verification though.

Edit: Found several links in google, but how do you get the address from the nasty redirect version? (can't go to the page itself through proxy).
 
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I just read XB1 is launching with Kinect voice support in five countries, need a link or verification though.

Edit: Found several links in google, but how do you get the address from the nasty redirect version? (can't go to the page itself through proxy).
GAF has:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/get-the-facts

Bottom of the page, footnote #6.
"Xbox voice commands will not be available in all markets on the product release date. Voice commands will be available at launch in US, UK, CA, FR, and DE."
 
Interesting. Kinda puts the kibosh on the idea that it's localisation limiting countries than, if MS are willing to release in some countries with a sub-par experience. This also flies in the face of MS's press release in response to the dropped launch countries...

MS said:
"We want to ensure our customers get the best Xbox One experience the first day it is available. In order to meet initial demand and deliver the best product and experience for consumers, we are narrowing our November launch from 21 countries to 13."Xbox One will launch first in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Austria in November 2013. The system will launch in other markets, including Russia, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark in 2014.
MS are willing to release to 8 countries without voice support (unless the localisation excuse means something more, like translating the manual...). One also has to wonder why not support AUS and NZ, and why isn't MS ready with voice controls way ahead of time? What's Kinect 2/XB1 doing different to XB360 existing voice support that MS appear to be starting from scratch?

Very odd situation in a number of ways. Look forward to reading MS's PR response to this one...
 
Interesting. Kinda puts the kibosh on the idea that it's localisation limiting countries than, if MS are willing to release in some countries with a sub-par experience.

Doesn't the fact they're having so much difficulty with voice commands localization that they've now restricted it to only 5 countries at launch actually back up the idea of localization difficulties? That was my first take.
 
Doesn't the fact they're having so much difficulty with voice commands localization that they've now restricted it to only 5 countries at launch actually back up the idea of localization difficulties? That was my first take.
If the reason to exclude Benelux and Scandinavia is a lack of voice commands, why release the console without voice commands in 8 countries? AUS and BRZ et al are getting the hardware without voice support, so why not do the same with tier 2 countries? Unless it's literally a few days until the patch goes live for those non-supported tier one countries, so unavailable on the release date as per the factsheet, but still available at launch. That could be it. :???:
 
Doesn't the fact they're having so much difficulty with voice commands localization that they've now restricted it to only 5 countries at launch actually back up the idea of localization difficulties? That was my first take.

That was my first take as well, that localization issues are so large that they even had to scale back from their narrowed down launch country list. Of course it could be online server infrastructure too depending on what exactly they mean by "voice commands"; such as how expansive would the voice commands be and if they're powered by the cloud similar to Apple's Siri.
 
I'm with Shifty Geezer, if voice isn't required, just release it everywhere and add it later. If it is required, then why are any countries getting it without voice support?
 
Theory 1:
Localization is the big issue. Even after cutting down the amount of launch countries they still have some countries with sub-par localization. So it's not yield issue.

Theory 2:
Localization is a scapegoat. The real issue is yield issue. If they really are cutting down the number of launch countries due to localization why didn't they cut from Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Austria too?



My gut feeling is theory 2. If they are going to launch in 8 countries without proper localization they can very well do it in every single country.


Either way it's signaling to me that Microsoft is relatively unprepared for this launch. :???:
 
Either way it's signaling to me that Microsoft is relatively unprepared for this launch.

Regardless of the theories, I will agree with this in most parts.

However, I'd rather they launch it in the current semi-unready software features than to delay it for 4 months with everything perfected.
 
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