Surprise! Skype will be a big part of Xbox One

Microsoft has announced the long-awaited successor to the Xbox 360, naming it the Xbox One, but news does not stop there. Major game announcements at E3 were alluded to during the presentation, and today subsidiary Skype officially throws its hat in the ring, announcing it will bring additional functionality to the next-generation console.

This may not be a surprise, but Skype explains its plans for the new Xbox and those ideas are ambitious. "Skype for Xbox One lets you enjoy your Xbox games, apps and live TV with friends and family as if they were right there with you in the living room, all through features such as group video calling and Snap", says Microsoft's Tony Bates.

Bates also tells us that Skype for Xbox One uses the new Kinect camera and your broadband connection to send one-to-one Skype video calls in full 1080p HD resolution. The camera has a wide-angle field of view, attempting to let everyone sit and chat comfortably, and the microphone is directional to block out ambient noise. Finally, Skype will work with the voice control showed off during the announcement.

Skype does nothing to clear the air about when the new console will arrive, but does give us more information on the capabilities that we can expect from this upcoming release.