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Microsoft's Xbox One is (finally) ready for its close-up

Microsoft has released an unboxing video of its next console. Among the updates: the Microsoft Xbox One console will ship with a lightweight chat headset. 

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Microsoft
Larry Hryb, otherwise known as 'Major Nelson,' unboxes the new Xbox One in a still from a video posted to Hryb's blog.
  • By Matthew Shaer

In November, Microsoft will release the Xbox One, the successor to the wildly-popular Xbox 360. 

If you're a committed gamer, that's going to be a long time to wait. So in the meantime, take a gander at this three-and-a-half-minute Xbox One unboxing video, which stars Microsoft's Larry Hryb – a.k.a. Major Nelson – and a sleek and shiny Day One edition Xbox One. 

In the video, Mr. Hryb touts the 500GB hard drive, the new Kinect sensor port, the trio of USB 3.0 Super Speed ports, the Day One controller (apparently only distinguished from regular controllers by a small decal reading "Day One"), and a lightweight chat headset.

It is this last addition that has drawn the attention of many bloggers, since Microsoft had originally said that the headset would not be bundled with the Xbox One. 

But in a message to Kotaku, a Microsoft rep signaled that they'd changed their minds. 

"[A]dding the Chat Headset is something we’ve been discussing internally for some time," the rep wrote. "We heard from gamers that a headset was an important part of the gaming experience, so we decided to include the Xbox One Headset in the Xbox One bundle." 

Of course, as Rich Stanton notes today over at the Guardian, from the beginning, Microsoft has done a not-particularly-wonderful job of unveiling its next console. There have been mixed messages galore and reversals on reversals; in that way, the confusion over the inclusion of the chat headset is actually pretty par for the course. 

"But it is also important to give credit where it's due: as with Xbox One's always-online functionality and draconian copyright enforcement, it seems that the loud protests have been heard by Microsoft and, more importantly, acted upon," Mr. Stanton writes. "Such an attitude doesn't hide Xbox One's mistakes. But it does suggest that, once players are unboxing the thing rather than Major Nelson, there will be far fewer." 

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