If the successes of its past game console launches are any indicator, sales of Microsoft’s latest effort – set to hit the market November 22 – can be expected to be strong. However, this console, which seeks to be your living room’s all-in-one home entertainment unit, is immensely different from the rest.

 

In line with the pervading surveillance culture, where microphones and cameras embedded within tablets, cell phones, laptops, light posts, vehicles and other devices watch and listen intently, Microsoft is making sure to load its gaming device with the latest spy tech goodies, which they claim will enhance users’ experiences.

But the most disturbing and worrisome Xbox One/Big Brother gossip is not that Xbox maker Microsoft was reportedly involved in the NSA PRISM scandal, or that the console’s Kinect peripheral sits listening with a multi-microphone array 24/7 for voice commands, or that its noise-isolation capabilities enable it to distinguish your voice among a crowd of your friends.