Microsoft boss tries to get exclusive Xbox One TV content, meets Hollywood execs

It’s no secret that Microsoft has a heavy focus on TV with its next gen console, the Xbox One. According to Deadline Hollywood , Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer and the company’s Entertainment Studios boss Nancy Tellem have toured a series of Hollywood executives in an attempt to get exclusive TV content for the console.

Ballmer and Tellem gave the executives an “intimate preview” of the capabilities of the Xbox One and what it can do with sports programmes, music, reality and scripted shows.

This is well in line with what the company has been doing so far. The Xbox One has drawn a lot of criticism about the company spending most of the Xbox One event talking about its TV capabilities. The company even announced a live action Halo series exclusive to the Xbox One.

“TV. TV. TV.”

The console, unveiled back in May, uses many of the voice commands that were earlier introduced as part of the Kinect. There are quite a few new ones, however. For example, saying “Xbox On” will start the console and bring you to your personalised homescreen. The console itself has many new features. You can navigate and watch live TV from your cable, telco or satellite set-top box through the Xbox One. This feature, however, seems to be US centric. We have no idea if it will work on Indian set-top boxes.

The console also has the Snap feature where you can essentially split-screen different tasks. For example, you can hop into and play a random multiplayer game while also watching a movie or talking with friends through Skype. Speaking of which, Skype is officially making its way to the Xbox One.

As was earlier rumoured, the Xbox One is ditching its predecessor’s Power PC architecture and is going for an x86-based eight-core processor, but more information on the exact hardware of the console is unavailable as of now. We’ll undoubtedly learn more about the console’s hardware once E3 comes around.

A number of games were showcased with the console, including Forza Motorsport 5, Call of Duty: Ghosts, new sports titles from EA and Quantum Break, which is a new IP by Max Payne creator Remedy Entertainment. The sports games unveiled by EA include FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, NBA Live 14 and EA Sports UFC.

The company has stated that it will be showing off more of the gaming side of the Xbox One at its E3 event.