Key Xbox One features will require annual subscription

Microsoft has revealed further details of its forthcoming Xbox One console, due out in November.

According to an update on its web page, owners will need an Xbox Live Gold account – currently around £40 a year – to use the console for online gaming, watching Netflix and other streaming services and browsing the web on their TV (as is the case with the current Xbox 360).

The payment will also allow users to chat via video on Skype and use the OneGuide and SmartMatch services, as well as share gameplay videos and find gaming opponents.

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OneGuide analyses what Xbox One owners usually watch and recommends TV shows and YouTube content to match. The SmartMatch service links players with other gamers of a similar ability to ensure they are not outclassed in multiplayer matches.

And according to our sister site Stuff.tv the new Xbox One will come with a second-gen Kinect sensor, 4K-capable HDMI cable, a special chrome D-Pad edition controller and a mono-chat headset with inline mic and audio controls.

MORE: Xbox One price, release date and official specs

By Andy Clough

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Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.

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