More Xbox One details - Xbox 360 party chat, HDMI, Kinect's IR blaster

**Bald Bouncer** · 12th August 2013

Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has been running around social media this week, updating us on the Xbox One controller, headset and a few other bits and pieces. Here's a rundown of his recent Reddit activities, delivered in the wake of that unboxing video last week. Hryb doubts that Xbox 360 and Xbox One players will be able to party-chat. "Based on what I know of the voice system, I would be surprised if this was possible," he wrote. "The Xbox One uses an all new wide bandwidth (read: better voice quality) CODEC, so I doubt they are compatible." Hryb also revealed that the microphone has a light to indicate when it's muted, and has flat, tangle-free wires (pause for applause). The included HDMI cable is 4K-rated, though even the almighty One won't be able to run a 3D game at that resolution.

"As far as the HDMI cable is concerned - I wanted to be perfectly clear that it was 4K rated," he added. "It seems anytime a product feature is mentioned there is the inevitable round of very specific questions. I wanted to take care of that right up front."

If you're still unconvinced by our arguments that Xbox One won't be sold without Kinect, consider the following: the One can use the sensor's IR blaster to replicate the functions of a TV remote (backed by the IR repeater on the rear of the console itself). "The Kinect sensor is also an IR blaster - probably the most powerful you've ever used on an A/V kit. You probably won't need to use a mirror... instead of a battery powered remote with small IR transmitters...you've got the Kinect which is high powered and has quite a few more."

Hryb has been getting a lot of stick on social media for being out of touch with gamers and plain old. How does he handle this kind of vitriol? "Some days are better than others....but it can wear on you after a while."

Source: Rheena.com

**inspectercoley** · 13th August 2013

I think they have announced that the voice chat won't work outside of the platform other than to the 360 due to the audio quality being higher.
I thought that the skype integration would have enabled chat / voice to all skype users. This is a bit of a shame if it doesn't. Perhaps it is just party chat that is effected.