Imagine if you could own a $350 computer that gave you access to a robust lineup of Windows 10 apps, used Microsoft Office, and last but not least, allowed you to play games boasting some of the highest graphic fidelity on the market.
The Xbox One is about to become that machine.
Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer announced via Twitter that those realities aren’t far away.
@lgriao@PNF4LYFE@Tak225Th Yep, keyboard and mouse support for Xbox would need to be there for this to work, those aren’t far away.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 21, 2015
The reason mouse and keyboard support serves as such a monumental feat is because it is the last barrier between merging the worlds of the PC and the home gaming console. Don’t want to use the controller for your FPS? Fine, try the keyboard and mouse if that’s more comfortable. That’s the inevitable scenario we’re looking at.
Furthermore, from a functionality standpoint, there are simply so many things that a mouse and keyboard can do well that the Xbox One can’t hope to do.
Microsoft continues to impress by turning a mess of a console into a machine that really solves a host of different issues that we didn’t know we had.
I never gave much thought to scrolling through inputs on my television to switch from my gaming console to watching TV. But the Xbox One has made that such a satisfying experience by having me say, “Xbox Watch TV.”
And while walking over to my computer or opening up my laptop have never been an issue either, it seems that the Xbox One will be introducing a new experience that will have me questioning how I ever did it before.
As of now – for those of us that have access to Windows 10 – we can stream our Xbox games to any device that supports Windows 10. The Xbox experience is encompassing so many different items, and now it’s an experience I can take on the go.
Microsoft has been extremely vocal about it’s commitment to bringing the Windows 10 experience to a broad set of devices that could run it. And with Phil Spencer’s “mouse and keyboard” comment, it seems as though we could be getting more than we ever bargained for.
How does this news impact your thoughts on the Xbox One? Sound off in the comments below!