Ahead of the Xbox One release next month, we're getting more and more tidbits related to the next-gen system in terms of specs, pricing, and the games the system will launch with.
Remember Project Spark, the "game maker" game (how's that for meta?) that tasked players with designing their own game for Microsoft platforms? The company announced it back during this year's E3. Anyway, earlier this week, a video popped up on the game's YouTube page that had Team Dakota developers Mike Lescault and Jared Greiner looking through some of the creations designed in-game.
But more recently, eagle eyed viewers who sat through the nearly hour long video noticed something interesting about 4 minutes into the footage (at 3:55 to be exact). Fast-forward to the mark, and keep your eyes on the top-right corner.
That's the new challenge notification for the next-gen console, and it seems reminescent of the trophy notification currently employed by Sony and the PlayStation 3.
Challenges are similar to Achievements, but carry no Gamerscore. The idea is that it's driven by the community, rather than a pointbased system like a leaderboard. All in the name of good 'ol fashioned "friendly" competition.
While detractors could say the notification is easy enough to miss visually, the tone will be a bit harder to ignore. But not in a bad way. Thankfully, it's actually quite pleasant and pretty easy on the ears. The notification fades away nicely after about 10 seconds on-screen.
Expect the Achievement notifications to be quite similar, likely denoted by a different tone and/or icon. Certain games will also allow players to record their achievements, but this comes down to developers decision to implement the feature.
Microsoft's Xbox One launches on Nov. 22, and will be available in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and the United States for $499.
The new console claims an 8-core x86 processor and Microsoft hopes it will take the place of the family room cable box by letting you watch Blu-ray movies and TV through the console, in a "seamless transition" that lets players switch from playing games to watching shows and/or movies. It will come fully loaded with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive.
A cross-country tour where Microsoft is demoing the system at various locations is already underway, and demo kiosks have begun arriving at certain retailers. Be sure to keep checking back with Gamenguide for more of the latest updates.