科技前沿:微软发布Xbox One游戏机

Microsoft Corp. MSFT -0.66% unveiled a reinvented Xbox videogame console Tuesday, demonstrating an advanced motion and voice-control system and new television functions as it tries to thrust the machine back into the spotlight amid changing consumer habits.

微软(Microsoft Corp.)周二发布了全新的Xbox视频游戏机，展示了其先进的体感和声控系统以及新的电视节目播放功能。在消费者需求不断变化之际，该公司正努力使这款设备重新成为关注焦点。

The Redmond, Wash., software giant said its new device, dubbed Xbox One, was designed to take advantage of new technologies to offer customers ways to play games while responding to trends such as the popularity of smartphones and tablets.

这家位于华盛顿州雷德蒙德(Redmond)的软件巨头说，这款名为Xbox One的新设备旨在利用新技术为消费者提供一些新的游戏方式，以响应目前的一些趋势，比如智能手机和平板电脑的风靡。

Microsoft also integrated technology from its Skype video chatting subsidiary into Xbox One, allowing customers to interact with friends using a more refined version of the Kinect motion and speech sensor. Xbox One also can play and control live television streaming from a cable or satellite set-top box.

微软还将旗下Skype视频聊天软件的技术整合进了Xbox One，使用户能够与朋友互动。Xbox One还拥有更加精良的Kinect动作和声音传感器，并且能播放和控制来自有线电视和卫星机顶盒的视频节目。

The device represents Microsoft's answer to 'a living room that has become too complex, too fragmented and too slow,' with features that integrate control of multiple electronics, said Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business.

微软互动娱乐部门总裁马特里克(Don Mattrick)说，这款设备是微软对“一个变得太复杂、太分散和太低效的起居室”的解决方案，其功能整合了对多种电子设备的操控。

Microsoft said the device will be released later this year, but didn't specify when or how much it will cost. The company's previous device, the Xbox 360, was priced starting at $299 when it launched in 2005.

微软说，这款设备将于今年晚些时候推出，但是没有透露推出的具体时间或产品价格。该公司之前的设备Xbox 360于2005年推出时的起价为299美元。

The Xbox remains key to Microsoft's efforts to penetrate consumers' homes, as many of its other consumer-oriented products─such as Windows Phone─have stumbled. But the console hasn't had a refresh in eight years and arrives as mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s AAPL -0.74% iPhone have become go-to machines for a new swath of casual games that are either free or cost a few dollars.

Xbox仍然是微软进渗透进消费者家庭的行动的关键所在，因为该公司迄今推出的许多以消费者为导向的产品并未获得成功，比如Windows Phone。但是这款游戏机八年来一直没有更新，与此同时，人们已经习惯了用苹果(Apple Inc.)的iPhone来玩大量免费或是只花费几美元的小游戏。

Those factors combined with the videogame industry's cycles─where sales taper off before a new game console is released─have hurt sales of new games, consoles and accessories. According to market researcher NPD Group, packaged game sales fell 25% to $495.2 million in April from $657.5 million a year earlier. Console hardware sales dropped 42% to $109.5 million.

这些因素加上视频游戏行业的周期因素（新的游戏机发布之前销售减弱）削弱了新的游戏、游戏机和配件的销售。市场研究机构NPD Group的数据显示，今年4月份，打包游戏的销售额同比下降了25%，至4.952亿美元，上年同期销售额为6.575亿美元。游戏机硬件的销售额下降了42%，至1.095亿美元。

The Xbox, which sits at the center of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, has also seen declining sales as it has aged. While the last Xbox has been the top selling console in the U.S. for 21 consecutive months, profits at Microsoft's entertainment and devices division plunged 71% in fiscal 2012 to $364 million, below what it was in 2010.

Xbox是微软娱乐和设备部门业务的核心，由于这款设备已经推出了很长时间，其销售也在不断下降。尽管上一款Xbox的销量曾连续21个月在美国保持领先，微软娱乐和设备部门2012财年的利润下跌了71%，至3.64亿美元，还不及2010年的水平。

Game console makers are responding to the changing consumer landscape by including new technologies in their devices. Nintendo Co. +2.97% melded a touch screen into the controller for its Wii U console, which was released last November. Sony Corp. +0.05% in February showed a touch-sensor built into a redesigned controller for its PlayStation 4 console, due out later this year.

游戏机制造商正通过将新技术纳入其设备来应对消费者情况不断变化的现实。任天堂公司(Nintendo Co.)在Wii U游戏机的控制手柄中融合了触摸屏，这款游戏机于去年11月发布。索尼公司(Sony Corp.)今年2月向外界展示了其PlayStation 4游戏机经过重新设计的控制手柄中内置的触摸传感器。索尼将于今年晚些时候推出这款游戏机。

Aside from additional horsepower to make better looking games, Xbox One includes the ability to watch TV on one part of a screen while looking at other information, such as a fantasy football league scores or a Skype video chat, on another.

除了花大力气制作外观更加漂亮的游戏外，Xbox One还允许用户分屏，在观看电视的同时浏览其它信息，比如梦幻足球联赛(fantasy football league)的成绩或进行Skype视频聊天。

Under the hood, the new Xbox is powered by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD -1.95% chips, in a shift away from chips based on International Business Machines Corp. IBM +0.51% designs. The change makes the new Xbox more similar to Sony's upcoming PlayStation, making it easier to develop games for both companies' devices.

炫酷的外表下，新Xbox放弃了基于国际商业机器公司(IBM)设计的芯片，转而采用高级微设备公司(AMD)的芯片。这一转变令新Xbox更类似于索尼即将推出的PlayStation，也降低了业界为这两种游戏机开发游戏的难度。

But the two devices are also different in that Sony plans to offer a way for its advanced data centers to stream game images and button presses over the Internet to its PlayStation, allowing customers to play potentially any game instantly with a Web connection. That includes older games, which otherwise can't play on the new device. Microsoft didn't unveil that technology for Xbox One.

但这两种游戏机也存在不同。索尼计划令其先进数据中心技术一显身手。该数据中心可以流媒体格式通过互联网将游戏图像和虚拟按键传送到PlayStation游戏机上，这样用户在有网络连接的情况下基本可以玩任何游戏，其中包括老游戏。如果没有这项技术，新设备无法玩老游戏。从微软此次发布的情况看，Xbox One没有配备这项技术。

Microsoft put more horsepower behind the technology it does offer, however. The Kinect motion sensor, which debuted three years ago, was revamped and can now better hear gamers speak at the device and more accurately understand their movements, for instance.

但微软在此次推出的技术上确实下足了力气。三年前首次亮相的Kinect运动传感器得到了改进，现在可以更清晰地听到玩家对该设备说的话，更准确地识别玩家的动作。

Microsoft is also investing in new games for the device. The software company said it would release 15 titles from its own studios during the Xbox One's first year on the market.

微软还为Xbox One投资开发新游戏。微软表示，在Xbox One上市第一年期间，其自己的工作室将推出15款新游戏。

The company said it is developing a television show based on its popular Halo space-war game series with director Steven Spielberg. Nancy Tellem, head of Microsoft's television studio efforts, said the effort is the beginning of Microsoft's efforts to apply its Xbox technology to the way television works.

微软表示，它正在和导演斯皮尔伯格(Steven Spielberg)开发一个基于其广受欢迎的《光环》(Halo)系列太空战游戏制作的电视节目。微软负责电视制作的泰勒姆(Nancy Tellem)说，此举是微软将其Xbox技术应用到电视制作领域的开端。

'Until now, television was a one-way street for the viewer,' she said. 'That's about to change.'

她说，到目前为止，对观众来说看电视是一种单向交流。这种情况就要发生改变了。