If Microsoft’s first Xbox One showing has already convinced you that Xbox is the next-gen platform of choice for you over PS4, you’ll be delighted to hear that pre-orders have already opened over in the UK, despite Microsoft yet to reveal an official Xbox One release date yet. This information is very likely to come during the company’s E3 2013 press conference next month.

To recap, we gave you an initial hardware specs lowdown, compared to the Sony PS4 which you can read back again here. After that, we discussed some of the main talking points of the device regarding internet connectivity, with a somewhat bombshell being revealed by Microsoft’s Vice President Phil Harrison here, in relation to always-on and the specific nature on how it will function.

As we wait for the dust to settle on these potential issues and Microsoft’s full explanation on them, those interested in securing one right now, can do so thanks to early listings from GAME, ShopTo and Zavvi. The three UK-based retailers have all jumped the gun rather early, but obviously for our benefit and to those that are just too excited by the whole thing.

Considering that Microsoft has yet to announce the price of the Xbox One, don’t expect to find the price from these retailers already. GAME is instead offering consumers the chance to reserve their Xbox One console, by putting down a £20 deposit. GAME has said that as long as you do this, you will be ‘guaranteed’ a console for launch.

Meanwhile, popular retailer ShopTo are offering a similar service, although they will not charge you anything until the Xbox One starts shipping. Zavvi has taken it upon themselves to put down a £400 price for the Xbox One in the UK, but remember that it is not official – so it is very likely to change as the weeks progress.

We would like to see a price more in the region of £300 to £350 for the Xbox One, anything above that may be deemed as slightly too much. A 500GB console is on offer though, so who knows what’s going to happen – maybe £400 is accurate after all in today’s climate. Have you seen enough of the Xbox One to secure a pre-order already? Let us know what you plan to do.

Microsoft initially said that their Xbox One console does not require an always-on connection to play single-player games. However, worrying reports are starting to emerge that the console will indeed need an internet connection to function properly, including playing games offline.

Microsoft’s Vice President Phil Harrison, once of Sony has revealed some potentially crucial information regarding the issue and it could ultimately prove to be the decisive factor that will make consumers opt for the Sony PS4 instead. Microsoft are refusing to set the record straight on their used-game or internet requirement strategy for the Xbox One, sending out various statements that suggest that this information will come at a later date – not now.

It is this article over at Kotaku though that provides the most conclusive evidence on an always-on Xbox One being a reality, not a rumor. According to the article, the system will perform an internet connection test once every 24 hours hours, as stated by Harrison. If you are playing a single player game, you can only play it for these 24 hours, before it will check for a connection.

As a result, it looks like if you don’t have an internet connection on your Xbox One – you can’t play single-player games for more than 24 hours, which is obviously very disappointing. Microsoft’s own Xbox One Q&A contains the following information that was absent from Microsoft’s actual event just hours ago.

“Q: Does Xbox One require an “always on” Internet connection?
A: No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet.”

It can’t be more black and white than that. To put that into context, it basically means that you don’t want to be buying an Xbox One console if you do not have a regular broadband connection. It also suggests that this is one almighty slap in the face to those who cannot access broadband for whatever reason, and indeed those serving in the military where offline gaming is crucial to morale.

Expect more details soon on this, but give us your initial reaction to the bombshell. Adam Orth was right all along, and he lost his job over it. Xbox One requires a connection to the internet – will you be buying it with 24h mandatory checks in place?

The wait is finally over and we are pleased to see Microsoft officially announce the Xbox One as their next-generation gaming system. The company has been touting the device as an all-in-one system, offering live TV support and slick TV-to-game voice switching commands aside from its gaming capabilities.

However, the big talking point that has emerged just hours from the event, is that the Xbox One will not have backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games, in any capacity. The PS4 also doesn’t allow the playback of PS3 discs of course, but Sony has managed to find a workaround to this by offering PS3 game streaming on the PS4.

Microsoft has confirmed that no plans are in the works on a similar feature, so it means that your entire Xbox 360 collection will not work if you decide to switch over to next gen. Another massive talking point on the console, is that Xbox One will not require an ‘always-on’ internet connection to play, contrary to popular belief and mass speculation prior to the event.

Xbox One will however though, require a fee to play second-hand Xbox One games. Consumers who pick up a used-game will have to pay a fee to use it, but Microsoft are not going into details yet on how this will work and indeed how much the fee will be. The company has said though that multiple users who are on the same Xbox One console can play the same game without additional charges.

Microsoft has also said that users will be able to share their game with friends without the second user having to pay a fee. You will be pleased to hear though, that while the new console won’t play Xbox 360 games, all of your purchased movies and music will be transferrable over to the system without an additional charge.

One final big talking point for you to discuss, it looks like every Xbox One game will require an installation to the 500GB hard drive, before a user can play it. This means that you may not be able to play a game straight from the disc – more on this specific aspect as we get it.

We’ll be giving you extended coverage on the Xbox One throughout the day including full hardware specs and the games and exclusivity details announced so far. For now though, give us your reaction to the topics above. No backwards compatibility, mandatory installations and second-hand game fees.

When Microsoft released their Surface RT device the market was a little confused and as such sales did not impress, it wasn’t until the company finally released the Surface Pro several months ago that the public began to see where Microsoft wanted to go. Early sales were a little slow, as there had been trouble with stock, and also affecting sales was the fact that the Pro was only available to the US and Canada.

However, last week we were informed that the Surface Pro would be made available internationally, and Microsoft has already seen a huge demand with pre-orders. It’s this unexpected popularity that rumors of a new Surface Pro 2 and Surface Mini does not seem as far-fetched anymore.

We already assumed that Microsoft were working on a new Surface range of devices, but we’re shocked to learn that the Surface Pro 2 release and Surface Mini could be sooner than we think. We say this because there has been a report suggesting that there will be new 7-inch and 9-inch versions of the Surface device, and that supply chains indicate they will be on the market earlier than we assume.

DigiTimes has been keeping a close eye on the supply chain and has already seen some interesting movement of some of the expected parts for these new devices. From what we can see the Surface Pro 2 specs will not feature radical changes, but rather a minor refresh, so we might have to what for the Surface Pro 3 to get the new Intel Haswell processor.

We have to wonder if Microsoft is reacting to the imminent arrival of the Apple iPad 5 and iPad mini 2, along with the next version of the Nexus 7. However, we still have to remember that while the Surface isn’t a tablet, many consumers will still purchase one as a replacement to an aging tablet.

The Microsoft Surface Pro has eluded UK shores for 3 months now, so it’s nice to finally get a release date for the United Kingdom. The date is May 23, 2013, and is just ahead of the release of Intel’s Haswell CPU chips.

You might be wondering why I would need to mention such a thing, and the answer is because the Surface Pro 2 is expected to come with the Haswell CPU, but that will not be until later this year, or early in 2014. The smart money would next February, as that will be a year since the current model was released.

The Microsoft Surface Pro UK release is significant because other European countries are certain to follow, which will then give us a clearer picture of just how successful Microsoft’s latest product is. There’s been a lot of concern as to why there has been a delay with the international release, and the simple answer is stock.

Microsoft had a hard time with supply and demand in the first few weeks of the Surface Pro’s release, and took a huge effort to try to catch back up. Thankfully, they did manage to keep on top of things, but it was clear the Surface Pro stock problems would have resurfaced if Microsoft would have released it internationally earlier than late May.

How much is it in the UK? The Surface Pro price for the UK is £719 for the 64GB version and £799 for the 128GB model, which is almost equivalent to US pricing. However, you have to remember that the Touch Cover will cost an extra £99 and the Type Cover is £110.

There’s no denying that this is a pretty decent first attempt by Microsoft, but there are many consumers waiting for the Surface Pro 2nd-gen, as this will be the version with all the issues ironed out, along with that Haswell chip as well.

With it now being 3 months since the Surface Pro was first released it’s good to see people are now getting on with their devices, thanks to a couple of updates, which have come just in time for the international releases. When Microsoft’s latest product was first released it got a mixed reaction, but as users are spending more time with Pro devices, they are finding out it is not as bad as some of those early reviews made out.

What’s the Surface Pro like 3 months on? Today we thought we would take a look at 2 new Microsoft Surface Pro reviews ahead of that expanded availability we spoke about, in the hope of gaining a greater insight into how owners are getting on with them.

The first video takes a look at the Surface Pro a month after the owner had taken possession, and makes a point that while Microsoft invented the tablet category, they have not had the kind of success as their rivals. The Surface Pro is said to do the job of a laptop and tablet, so you only need the one device instead of two, and so far the reviewer said it has lived up to the promise. He also says that this is a computer for everyone, and as such he highly recommends it.

In the second review we get to hear of the positive points at first, such as the big differences between the Pro and the Surface RT. There are a lot of details about the thickness of the Pro, and why it needed to be, however, the larger display makes it worth the extra weight and thickness.

If after these 2 new Surface Pro reviews you decide that you need one, then we would advise you to go with the Surface Pro 128GB, as you won’t have much storage left with the 64GB version, as the pre-installed software takes a huge chunk of it.

There have currently been 2 Microsoft Surface Pro updates; one fixed a few bugs, while the other solved the trackpad issues. However, neither of these updates was able to solve the problem with the Pen’s pressure sensitivity while running Adobe Photoshop.

Thankfully, there is a new Surface Pro driver update that fixes this Adobe Photoshop problem, although we have to inform you that it is a beta driver. This means that you will now be able to change the setting on your stylus, allowing you to have greater control of the pen as you use the Adobe application.

Having said that, Wacom also has an updated driver on their site, which also contains a fix for their Pen’s pressure sensitivity, so the Adobe Photoshop issue should now be a thing of the past. Although, we have yet to hear from anyone who has tried this new driver.

What makes this news even better is the fact that it is just in time for the UK release, which should be in a few weeks time, along with several other countries as well. As yet Microsoft has not commented, so some of you may not want to take the chance. Maybe you should wait to see if people experience any new Surface Pro issues after installing the driver, this way you will not run into any unforeseen issues?

Engadget has been in contact with Microsoft, and they said they would also be delivering a new Surface Pro update within days. If this does resolve the issue then we can see a small sales increase, as many potential buyers were holding off until the Adobe issue was resolved.

You know that the Xbox 720 moniker was always going to be a long shot right? While Microsoft’s next Xbox console is officially known as Durango internally, speculation is now mounting that the final name of the console will end up known as Xbox ‘Infinity’. It has a great ring to it we feel and we now have another glimpse at the logo which we may be seeing at the May 21st Xbox event.

If you are a regular Reddit lurker, you may have seen a post two weeks ago, which revealed the image you see above, as the next Xbox design and moniker. Many gamers treated the Xbox Infinity name as just another rumor, but now there’s further evidence that it could be true.

A report published by the IBTimes claims that their sources have also told them that the next Xbox is also going to be called Xbox Infinity. Microsoft are apparently going to be using the slogan, ‘Infinite entertainment, Infinite possibilities’ to market the next console and May 21 could be when we will all see this logo flashed across the big screen.

Without actually using the words infinite, Microsoft may instead be using the logo that symbolizes the infinite meaning – a logo that you would usually see as a fighting game time limit setting, for example. We think it looks great – simple, attractive and straight to the point.

It’s definitely better than Xbox ’720′ and indeed other rumored names such as Ten, Loop or even Fusion, which doesn’t match at all. Microsoft has traditionally decided against commenting on what they deem as rumor and speculation, but all will be revealed in just under 10 days time at Microsoft’s event.

What are your thoughts on this – are you digging the Xbox Infinity name or hoping for something else? More details on this developing story as we get it.

There have been a number of next-generation console debates since the Sony PS4 officially received a release date window of Q4 2013, and the full specs entered the spotlight without the final PS4 console design.

One of the most popular topics continuing to hit the headlines is the graphics potential we will see on both the PS4 and Xbox 720, as most people seem to call it, which is obviously very important considering we’re entertaining a new generation of graphics on consoles.

PC gamers know all about graphics and have been miles ahead for along time thanks to console hardware being many years old now, but gameplay is something that has been a hot topic for both PC and console gamers.

Some people feel that there are a number of games with excellent gameplay, although other gamers are hitting blogs, Facebook walls and many other places voicing how they feel let down this generation by the lack of truly amazing gameplay.

Xbox 720, PS4 graphics push overshadowing gameplay – today we heard another announcement about how good graphics will be on both the Next Xbox and Sony PS4, which came directly from Ubisoft’s CEO Yannis Mallat stating that we will be “Blown” away by the visuals.

Mallat isn’t the first publisher or developer to come forward and push how good graphics will be next-gen, but the feedback we’ve had from gamers is one of gameplay rather than graphics. It is true that most gamers want the best of both worlds, but if you talk to hardcore gamers most would want better gameplay over better graphics.

Do you feel that too much attention is being put on graphics and not enough on gameplay for next-generation consoles? In case you miss it: take a look at Xbox 720 limelight at GamesCom 2013 and how the Sony PS4 share button will come with restrictions.

The Surface Pro has been available to residents of Canada and North America for a few months now, but later this month the device will be released in several other countries, so in that time we are sure many of you will be looking at what Surface Pro accessories will be available to you.

Today we thought we would prepare you by looking at a few Microsoft Surface Pro case reviews, just to give you a better understanding of the cases that are available to you. Well, as long as they are obtainable in your country.

First up we have the Manvex Windows Surface Folio Leather Case, which is the red version and you’ll notice right away an opening for the camera on the rear of the case. There are several cases like this that can often open too easily, but this particular version comes with elastic to stop this from happening. Watch the full video review in the first video below.

Next up we have the Surface Pro Nixon Case, although this is more of a bag to keep your Surface Pro safe while you are out and about. You’ll notice just how well padded the case is, but not sure if it will be ideal for those who will need to use their device often. The mini review of this case is the second video below.

The MoKo Rotary Case is rather similar to the Manvex we mentioned above, although there is a unique way of storing the pen for your Surface Pro.

In the final video you get to see a review of the Surface Pro SkyTab Hard Shell Sleeve Case, which is currently available in two colors, cyan blue and black. Not only does the case provide a decent amount of protection, but comes with several storage compartments to help store Surface Pro cables, a mini charger and more.

These are just four cases available for the Surface Pro, and while there is not a huge choice, we’re sure more will follow once the Surface Pro gets its wider release.