Microsoft announced that buyers of the new Xbox One will also recieve 6 months free skype premium for the console. So what does that actually give you?

Normally you can call video to video but only with 1 person, if you want to have a group video call then you must pay the 5$/€ a month fee to enable this feature. Whether this is a feature that players will actually use a lot remains to be seen.

The offer also means that Xbox Live Gold Members will be able to use 100 worldwide minutes per month for calls to mobile and landlines in over 50 countries. This promotion is available only in the 13 launch territories, and must be redeemed by the end of March 2014. There is no mention as whether the countries that are delayed until February will recieve a similar offer.

The Skype video calls will be of course through the Kinect 2.0 which means that they will be in 1080 HD. There is also no mention what the cost will be for the sevice after the free trial ends, most likely it will remain the same cost that it is for normal Skype users.

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XB1 sure comes with a lot of features I don't want.

Really? I was under the impression it is the console you don't want.

Don't care for skype.

Huh. I don't use Skype a ton but I remember having a chat with multiple video feeds showing not too long ago...what am I missing?

MS bought them cut the feature and stuck it behind a paywall. 

You are correct, that too. (I suppose I could make an addendum with: "... in a console")

Don't make any assumptions about my company loyalty though, I have no plans to buy any of the recent/upcoming consoles, though I might look into getting a PS3 (which would be my first Sony console) sometime next year as there have been a few games over the years I'd like to sample. Most are multiplats which I would probably favour on the X360 (primarily for the controller, but it's also cheaper) but there are half a dozen PS exclusives I would like.

Skype is going to be one of the best features of the system. Communication is very important.

So, then a PC and/or handheld kinda guy?

I like the ease of use for the Xbox One but I don't like how closed it is. I await with baited breath the advent of Steam OS, though that's probably due to the controller, mostly. I really want to see how it handles those FPSs!

Xbone has too many paywalls for its own good.