Xbox One News: Microsoft Discusses Release Date Update, Cloud Service for Games

The Xbox One is rapidly approaching its Nov. 22 release date, and fans have been eager to find out as much as they can about the next-gen console. Marc Whitten recently spoke to IGN about the console, revealing many new details about the Xbox One and what gamers can expect from the device.

For those buying the Xbox One at launch, Whitten said that users will have to deal with a Day One update that will delay fans from immediately diving into the Xbox One experience:

"We are optimizing Xbox One so that the day one update is as fast as possible. While we're still finalizing the details, we expect that the download will take between 15 and 20 minutes for most users."

Whitten also addressed updates to the Xbox One's dashboard, which will be handled similarly to the Xbox 360 dashboard.

"Like we have done with Xbox 360, we will continue to learn from what customers want and love to iterate on the best dashboard experience," explained Whitten. 

The executive also fielded questions about the cloud service that Microsoft will offer to developers with the Xbox One. Whitten stated that Microsoft will provide the service to every developer, and it is up to them if and how they use the cloud services:

"Every title can take advantage of our cloud services. Think of it as a tool in the toolbox for our developers to drive their vision and our goal is to make it easy and simple for them to do so."

Twitter and Facebook apps for the Xbox One were also addressed, and while Whitten said that the apps for those companies will not be available at launch, users can still access social media through the Internet browser of the Xbox One:

"We continue to work with great partners to bring the best app experiences to Xbox One. While I can't comment on the specifics of these two partners right now, at launch you will be able to access Twitter and Facebook through the Internet Explorer web browser on Xbox One at launch."

It will be interesting to see how well the Xbox One will do when the console launches in terms of sales, as well as how the console will build up a library of services, apps, and games in the critical launch window for the console.