Major Nelson's Xbox One Q&A chat transcribe

Xbox LIVE programming director Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb answered questions about Xbox One in a live Yahoo! chat today. He shed some light on a few minor details and shrugged others off to be addressed at E3, which he points out is merely 18 days away.

Courtesy of Gematsu, who have have the full transcribe of the Q&A session. When asked questions about the ability to play used games, the price of the console and whether a headset would come bundled with the console, Nelson's responded that these details would either be revealed at E3 or later in the year. He announced that the focus at E3 will be "Games. Games. GAMES :)" also saying "I think (hardcore gamers) will be happy after E3."

Avoiding too much detail, he touches on the possibility of using one game for multiple accounts, an issue with a lot of confusion surrounding it. "As I noted earlier we’re still working on some of the policies… but our goal is that it would work like it works today on Xbox 360."

There is no question that the Xbox One will not be back compatible though. "Xbox One hardware is not compatible with Xbox 360 games. We designed Xbox One to play an entirely new generation of games. Games are architected to take full advantage of the state of the art processors and infinite power of the cloud."

When questioned why gamers should buy the Xbox One, Nelson points to the caliber of games that will be available and the power of Xbox LIVE. "Today’s gamers want access to great games… the Xbox One will have great games powered by Xbox LIVE. We’ve worked hard to create the ultimate all-in-one console. BTW: We have a LOT more gaming news to share at E3 :)"

On the topic of what separates this console from PlayStation 4, he answered, 'Well, Xbox LIVE for one. We’re very proud of the service that we’ve built. 48 million people agree with us. That is just one of the things. Now, I have not had a chance to spend time with the console, so we’ll have to wait until their final product launches before I can really comment."

He adds that Xbox LIVE will allow processing to happen in the cloud and result in richer gaming experiences. This is also attractive for game developers on top of the power of the console and the Kinect and SmartGlass capabilities.

Nelson was happy to talk up the controller, although still not giving away any specific details, with another nod to E3. "The new controller is awesome I have spent a lot of time with it. If you like the Xbox 360 controller, you’ll LOVE this controller. We have made over 40 improvements in the new design. Regarding the Start and Back buttons, they’ll perform similar functions but right now we don’t have final names for them yet. The controller takes 2 AA batteries. More details at E3."

In response to the "always connected" to the internet concern, he was straight forward in his answer. "No. It does not have to be always connected but it does require an internet connection."

For those concerned about their 360 achievements and Gamescore, fear not. "Your achievements and Gamerscore will carry over to Xbox One," was Nelson's response when questioned about it.