I am in Redmond this week, midnight today is the launch of Microsoft’s new gaming console Xbox One. I have heard of multi-day lines for buying new products from Apple, but this is the first time I am seeing one for a Microsoft product. I am seeing “Q” lines marked in Bellevue Square Mall in front of the Microsoft Store and in Best Buy, Bellevue where I see determined fans camping in tents in the parking slot.
Bellevue Microsoft Store – XBOX ONE
XBOX One launch craze near Bellevue Microsoft Store in 2013
The technical specification and features of XBOX One are impressive, with two AMD Quad Core CPUs (for the first time a gaming console on x86 architecture showing how far it has come from the humble 8086 introduced in 1978), 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Blu-ray Disc player, 4K video output, 7.1 surround sound, HDMI pass-through, Gigabit Ethernet and a brand new Kinect sensor (which doesn’t require huge empty space in front of it). Xbox One runs a Windows OS Kernel on a hypervisor which is meant to support Skype calls and other apps from Microsoft.
I am not much in gaming, so at this moment I am not planning to upgrade from my XBOX 360 & Kinect v1.