Exclusivity has its perks, like being able to catch a sneak peek at a Xbox One dev kit's user interface, not to mention a few other nifty features for Microsoft's next-gen gizmo. Verge writer Tom Warren is just such a member. Only thing is that he was generous enough to share some of his exclusive benefits with the rest of us.
Warren took to the lovely world of social media to share his experience with us mere mortals, posting video to YouTube, and photos and his musings via Twitter.
The picture, seen above, may not be much to look at, but it's certainly more than enough for the gamers salivating over their Xbox One pre-order slips, hot in their little hands. The console has had its detractors of late, particularly after some of those nasty rumors that pigeonholed the console's OS as "buggy," but going by Warren's impressions, fans should be overjoyed. Warren wrote, "Overall I'll say the Xbox One dash is fast. Snapping apps like IE is super quick and you can have a YouTube video at side of a game."
Not bad for gamers who like a lot going on.
"Snap" is the Xbox One's new method for transitioning between games, movies, music, apps, and what have you. It can be accomplished by controller, or for you lazy types who want to be fancy, by voice: "Xbox, snap whatever," whatever being your preferred snap capable doohickey.
As a Xbox One developer previously explained, "The majority of the apps that come at launch can be snapped, though not all. Some apps are by design only to run in snapped mode. As more apps will be developed in the future by third parties, they can choose whether an app can be snapped based on what kind of experience the app will provide. Game titles do not have the option be to snap enabled (shrunken to 1/4 size) even if the developer wants to."
During these, you have one screen for a game, movie, internet, or what have you, with the other screen occupied by whatever you've snapped in.
When you're done doing whatever it is you're doing on whatever you've snapped in, simply press the center button twice, and you're back to focusing whatever you were originally doing. Think of it like having different tabs open on whatever web browser you prefer, minus all those mouse clicks. Microsoft multi-tasking.
Of course, words only do so much. Take a look at Warren's video below to see the snapping in action for yourself, not to mention a few other features.
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.
The following games will be available on the console at launch:
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Battlefield 4
- Call of Duty: Ghosts
- Crimson Dragon
- Dead Rising 3
- FIFA 14
- Fighter Within
- Forza Motorsport 5
- Just Dance 2014
- Killer Instinct
- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
- Lococycle
- Madden NFL 25
- NBA 2K14
- NBA LIVE 14
- Need for Speed: Rivals
- Peggle 2
- Powerstar Golf
- Ryse: Son of Rome
- Skylanders: Swap Force
- Zoo Tycoon
- Zumba Fitness: World Party
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.
