Microsoft, this is a welcome surprise.
by William Judd
Microsoft has announced a video stream to detail its next-gen Xbox games console, Project Helix, to take place later today. Kicking off at 5pm BST (12pm ET), the stream will take place on the relatively little-used Xbox Game Dev YouTube channel.
We’re excited to learn more about the upcoming PC/console hybrid – including whether Microsoft themselves see it as a console or a PC. Given the placement of the stream, we expect it to be a more developer-focused affair that rounds up existing knowledge rather than making huge new reveals, but there’s always the possibility that something Microsoft sees as a mere clarification ends up being a huge news story.
The stream schedule includes a brief overview of what will be covered:
- Introduction of Project Helix
- What’s New in Xbox Developer Tools
- DirectX State of the Union: DirectStorage and Beyond
- Xbox Marketplace Session: What’s New
- Xbox at GDC: The Highlights
It’s clear that the newly renamed Xbox division is not going back to the old ways of exclusive titles and bespoke hardware, but there’s still plenty of uncertainty as to how open the new Xbox will be.
Will there be multiple Xboxen from PC vendors like Asus and MSI? Will there be meaningfully different hardware on different Xbox consoles, or a single monolithic target? Will the Xbox Store still sit above alternatives from Steam and Epic, or will they get equal treatment? What about running third-party software, outside of any app store?
As a developer, I’d want to know the answers to some of those questions. Beyond that, I’d like to see Microsoft continue to offer a clear, definitive vision of what their brand represents. The past few years have been a little confusing even for long-time fans, and something similar to the Windows K2 initiative – a set of guiding principles and promises to do better – could go down very well.
In any case, I won’t overegg things for now – we’re probably some distance away from any solid information arriving, especially with this being listed as only “the first episode” – but I’ll certainly be tuning into tonight’s stream with interest.
[source developer.microsoft.com]
Will is website editor for Digital Foundry, specialising in PC hardware, sim racing and display technology.
