Xbox One's Game DVR feature needs Gold subscription

Microsoft has been talking quite a bit about the new features in the upcoming next-gen console—the Xbox One. The company has updated the Xbox One website to elaborate more on some of the features of the console that will only be available if the user has an Xbox Live Gold membership. This includes features like Internet Explorer, OneGuide, Skype, SmartMatch and, interestingly, Game DVR.

Earlier, it was revealed that the Game DVR feature would only be able to capture 720p videos at 30 fps . This results in much-lower quality than when a game is being played, since many of the console’s titles will run at 1080p and 60 fps.

Many of the features need a Gold subscription

This can probably be chalked up to hardware restraints. Attempting to save a 1080p video at 60 fps results in the massive usage of space, and the console probably won’t be able to handle writing to the HDD while playing a game at the same time. According to Whitten, clips recorded with the Xbox One’s Game DVR feature will be stored on the console’s cloud. The videos will be accessible right from the Xbox One Guide.

It has also been revealed that it would only record the last five minutes of gameplay . “The last five minutes of any game you’re playing is always being stored locally on your hard drive,” Microsoft Studios Creative Director Ken Lobb said. The feature, dubbed Project Upload, will let users instantly upload and share their gameplay videos while they play games.

Lobb explained two different scenarios for the recording feature, one offline and one online. In the online scenario, players can simply tell the Xbox One to “grab the last 30 seconds and save it”. In the offline one, the player could finish a match and then go into the video editing tool on the console where the 5-minute clip can be edited. There will be options to add voiceover, picture-in-picture or other footage from the Kinect’s camera.

The PlayStation 4 has earlier been reported as being able to record the last fifteen minutes of gameplay, which can then be shared directly by hitting the Share button on the DualShock 4 controller.

The Xbox One is set to hit stores later this year, but India will only get it late next year. The PlayStation 4 is slated for a 2013 launch in India.