Microsoft’s Marc Whitten details cross-platform interaction, possibility of friends list categories on Xbox One

Marc Whitten and Microsoft have made headlines once again after performing yet another 180 with one of Xbox One’s main features: Kinect – that Xbox One will still function without the peripheral being plugged in.

Speaking to IGN in their “Ask Microsoft Anything About Xbox One” weekly feature, Whitten confirmed the Kinect 2.0 news. However, a number of other juicy details were brought to attention pertaining to Microsoft’s next-gen console, including friends list “categories,” cross-platform party chat and cross-platform interaction.

Below you can find the original questions and Whitten’s answers:

Q: Can you organize your now-expanded Friends List into categories? i.e. “College buddies,” “Friends from work,” etc.

A: You’ll see us add more in this area in the future. At launch, you’ll have your expanded list of friends and the ability to mark favorites so that it is fast and easy to play with the friends you care about most.

Q: Is there cross-console Party Chat? i.e. since it’s all “Xbox Live,” can people on Xbox 360s Party Chat with their friends on Xbox One?

A: For a variety of technical reasons – including the sound quality that I talk about below – we don’t support voice chat between the two systems. You will still be able to send and receive text messages to friends on both systems, however.

Q: OK, so we can't chat across systems. But can I at least see what my friends are doing on either console?

A: Yes – you see your friends on both systems, including their rich presence. My friends that are still on Xbox 360, for example, might see that I’m on Xbox One, playing Ryse. Since I can have more than 100 friends on Xbox One, if I go back to Xbox 360 and I have more than 100 friends, it will only show me the subset of my friends who are friends with me on Xbox 360.

The entire IGN feature, including questions answered from last week, can be seen by clicking here.

Source: [IGN]