Microsoft selling Xbox One first-party games for $59.99

 Microsoft will sell its first-party games on Xbox One for $59.99, the same price as most new releases on the current generation of consoles, a representative for the company confirmed to Polygon."I can confirm that Microsoft Studios games on Xbox One will be $59.99 (MSRP)," the representative wrote.

That's the same price at which PlayStation 4 games will launch, Sony America president and CEO Jack Tretton hinted at during a CNBC interview following the console's February reveal event. "We're going to welcome free-to-play models, games from $.99 up to those $60 games," Tretton said during a CNBC interview following the console's reveal. We've reached out to Sony to confirm that its first-party games will be released at $59.99, which Tretton's comments seem to imply.

That's also the same price that several retailers, including Amazon and Gamestop, have been listing for first-party Xbox One and PS4 game pre-orders following the two companies' Monday E3 press conferences.

The Xbox One controller maintains the overall layout found in the Xbox 360 design. The directional pad has been changed to a four-way design, and the battery compartment is slimmer. Menu and View buttons have replaced the Start and Back buttons.Each trigger will also feature independent rumble motors called "Impulse Triggers", which allows developers to program directional vibration. One trigger can be made to vibrate when firing a gun, or both can work together to create feedback that indicates the direction of an incoming hit. It remains to be seen exactly how developers will use the new feature. Pre-ordered Xbox One controllers have the words "Day One 2013" engraved in the center.

The Xbox One will ship with an updated version of the Kinect sensor; the new Kinect uses a 1080p wide-angle time-of-flight camera (in comparison to the VGA resolution of the previous version), and processes 2 gigabits of data per second to read its environment. The new Kinect has greater accuracy over its predecessor, can track up to 6 skeletons at once, perform heart rate tracking, and track gestures performed with an Xbox One controller. The Kinect microphone will remain active at all times so it can receive voice commands from the user when needed, even when the console is in sleep mode (so it can be woken back up with a command).


 

The Xbox One will not function unless the Kinect sensor is connected.However, users retain the software capability to turn off all Kinect functions while the sensor remains connected to the console.A Windows-compatible version of the new Kinect will be released in 2014.

Similarly to Windows 8, the Xbox One will be able to snap applications (such as music, video, Skype, and Internet Explorer) to the side of the screen as a form of multitasking. The Xbox One will also be able to serve as a pass-through for an existing television set-top box over HDMI. This functionality allows users to watch live TV from their existing provider through the console, and access features such as show recommendations, an electronic program guide, and voice commands. The set-top box is controlled by the console through either an IR blaster or the HDMI-CEC protocol.

Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to use the Upload Studio app to edit and share clips from gameplay footage that is automatically recorded by the console. Integration with the live streaming platform Twitch will also be provided; users will be able to use voice commands to immediately begin streaming footage of their current game directly to the service, and use the Kinect microphone for commentary and voiceovers.

 Despite the ability to record gameplay, the Xbox One will not include DVR functionality for recording television programs; executive Yusuf Mehdi indicated that the Xbox One would "work in tandem" with existing TV providers, but that Microsoft may need to work with them directly to provide extended functionality such as DVR integration.