14 DAY TRIAL // The Xbox One Software Development Kit was leaked to the public just before we switched from 2014 to 2015 and one of the major revelations linked to the documentation that was also offered online is that developers can now use a seventh central processing unit core on the Microsoft home console which might lead to improved performance for future releases.
The SDK and the associated documents were obtained by a group called H4LT, and since then Digital Foundry has taken a look at the more technical elements that were revealed and says that the seventh CPU core can be used to make content run more smoothly, but using it might mean that Kinect-associated content like game-specific commands might need to be dropped.
At the same time, taking advantage of the Xbox One’s extra power means that infra-red features linked to motion tracking and depth perception are also disabled.
A more technical explanation can be found in the article which explains that developers might be able to extract better performance from the device, but might have difficulty doing so if more documentation is not offered by Microsoft.
Since the Xbox One was first introduced, the Kinect motion tracking system was dropped from the core retail package and it seems that it will not be supported by new games in the coming year.
Xbox One’s leaked SDK might open the way to homebrew and piracy
The leaked content means that developers can write and compile code for the home console, which could mean that in the future homebrew apps might be linked to it and that groups could also try to run pirated content on the Microsoft platform.
Until that happens, a more comprehensive hack of the Xbox One is required because at the moment the public does not have access to the servers used by the device and there are other security protocols that need to be circumvented.
At the moment, the Microsoft device is selling well, after a big price cut was implemented in time for the holidays in North America, and it is closing the sales gap that has been separating it from the PlayStation 4 from Sony.
