an xbox one dev on reddit is having an AMA (ask me anything) thread and there are tons of interesting info being released, so here is the breakdown, if i miss anything please notify me and ill add it! thanks!
the bolded ones are the ones i think are most interesting, im doing this so that people dont need to read through walls of text if they dont want to
- It was quite moot. One of our execs had mentioned a Sony dev came up to him at E3 and told him you won the games, we won the gamers.
- the team working on Xbox One is huge, counting about 1000 people. The console runs very quiet (“Almost inaudible”), and has worse specs than the PS4, even if one can debate by how much.
- The majority of the masses care only about the console, except that the success of the Kinect carries much more weight to us. The sensor costs almost as much as the console to make.
-It (Family Sharing) was for full games. Can't comment too much on this but its purpose was to eliminate the need to ever have to physically hand someone a game that you bought to share with them.
- Snapping is only available to certain apps such as IE, Skype, the game DVR upload tool, etc. Game titles cannot be snapped. I have not tried TV input but I did hook up a PC to the Xbox and watched netflix while I skyped someone.
- Yes, AAA titles cannot be snapped (shown in smaller view). IE can however be snapped to look up how to perform a combination while you play :).
- Question : but I did hook up a PC to the Xbox and watched netflix while I skyped someone. That sounds awesome. Were you using Netflix and Skype off the PC? Or Netflix(PC), Skype(X1)? Or vice versa.
Answer: "Netflix on the PC with skype(X1) snapped."
- Question : What was your reaction to the DRM reversal, and now this petition?
Answer: Personally I was a little surprised at the timeframe which we decided on the DRM reversal. I thought we didn't push on its benefits enough.
The petition shows there are lots of people who want these benefits as much as I do and clearly our execs care or Marc Whitten wouldn't have referred to it in his IGN interview.
- Questions : 1.) Compared to the last one, how is the reliability of the console? I love my Xbox 360 but this is my third one, the first two claimed by the RROD.
2.) Would it be possible to bring back family sharing even if only for digitally downloaded games?
Answers : 1) Can't comment on this as it's not my area of expertise. But if you compare the failure rates of the launch 360 with the current 360 S. It should give you an idea.
2) I believe Marc Whitten answers this in the IGN interview he gave. I sure hope we bring it back.
- I code apps for the Xbox One like I code for win8 apps. (answer a question asking how easy it is to code for X1)
- Question : What's the atmosphere like in the office? Fun? Relaxed? Big bureaucracy? When you come up with a genius new idea, how easy is it for you to make a pitch to your boss or to a different team (Kinect team, for example)?
Answer : The team is huge, almost 1000 people. Most people in Microsoft have their own offices, it's the way Microsoft have been since it started. For the Xbox team however, we have mostly large open spaces (thank Bungie for that), with the most senior people having their own offices. The average time employed at Microsoft to get your own office in the Xbox team is about 10 years. The division provides us free of charge a 24hour snack bar, dinner every day, and breakfast and lunch on the weekends if we choose to come in. In addition to that the team provides additional sustenance and booze whenever we all get together and show off what we did in the past couple weeks. There's no way I can throw in 60hours/week for the long term if the environment was overly stressful.
Almost every subgroup within the team works on something that is related to the Kinect in some way. I personally come in contact with 4 or 5 different subgroups in a day.
- Microsoft doesn't look fondly on Easter eggs.
There was a game called Dev Hunter baked into Excel 2000, it used directx. A client bought bundles of licenses, Excel would crash their machines as it tried to load directx and their machines did not support it.
- Question : Do you know anything about the rumor that Microsoft is upping the clock speed on the retail version? If you can't answer that, do you think that the Xbox One is at disadvantage with it's current specs compared to the PS4?
Answer : Can't comment on the rumor.
The facts are on paper, the PS4 has better specs and the most you can debate is by how much. What I can tell you is I have played Forza, Killer instinct, and Ryse on the Xbox One. They look as good as the games I play on a high end PC. Ryse reminded me of darksiders II.
- Question: Is there anything you would change about the hardware if you could?
Answer: The specs of the hardware were determine by people a lot more knowledgeable than I am. I'm not one to question this. I'm sure they were tested and re-tested to find a balance in price vs performance based on our manufacturing capabilities.
- I do my navigation as a combination of controller, kinect, and voice. I will navigate through the pages with my hand and make selections either with the A button or with a hand gesture, depending what I feel like. Most of the time if an app is on another page I will simply say "Xbox launch xxxx."
- Question : You obviously came here to share information. What was that information?
- We found out what it was called when Don Mattrick told us during the reveal. (regarding the Xbox one name)
- Don't know, no official word within the company.( when asked about yeild and upgrade rumors)
- Looked up TrackIR briefly and it seems to be using an IR receiver and transmitter mounted on a headset.
The Kinect is capable of face tracking as shown in the Kinect demos we did for our internet media outlets. In addition to face tracking, we can determine the rotational position of your head so I have no doubt those features can be implemented."
the reddit source : http://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/1i71s5/i_am_an_xbox_one_dev_ask_me_almost_anything/
Edit: since i already made a thread that has took info from this, ill edit the thread to be about the AMA with the X1 dev on reddit, ill be editing the OP meanwhile!
