Most people assume that the closest device to the Xbox One is its closest competitor, PS4.

Looking under the hood and underneath all the trinkets, it seems that the Xbox One also shares the structure and architecture of another key device--a PC.

Digital Trends looked inside the Xbox One to reveal that it bears a significant resemblance to the structure of the PC--there's the eight x86 cores, the DDR3 RAM, and the integrated Radeon-class GPU, as well as other connectivity features akin to a PC.

The report notes a major difference in the PS4 and the Xbox One, and that is the Windows aspect of the latter, which makes it more PC-like than its rival.

As what has been previously reported about the Xbox One, what you have is a console that runs on two engines, one that is solely dedicated to gaming and another that allows it to integrate the Windows feature for all the other offered services.

Part of what makes the Xbox One's system as an advantage is that, with Windows as its backup, it can create a more integrated experience for consumers, in the same way that the Xbox One aims to integrate more services into the console.

It's like surrounding your user with different devices, but one that ultimately unifies in one umbrella backup--or in other words, Microsoft.

The next thing you know, you have the desktop with Windows in your room, the Xbox One in your living room for all entertainment and gaming purposes, and even tablets and phones backed with Microsoft products--all in the attempt to unify the user experience in a holistic manner.

Next gen's next target is CGI?

CGI has changed the landscape of movies in a very big way, and given the cinematographic quality that video games share with movies, there have been longstanding thoughts and ideas about whether or not CGI can also be rendered in games.

With the introduction of the next generation consoles PS4 and Xbox One this year, the ideal may come just a bit closer to bridging the gap.

Compositing is said to be the next biggest issue, at least this is what Chris Doran, COO and founder of Geomerics said to Gaming Bolt with regard to rendering CGI in-game.

"We would like to achieve something similar in games, but we don't have the freedom to inject an artist's input as you move round your world," said Doran. "This makes better compositing more challenging in games, but I am confident we will see some major improvements on the new hardware."

In the meantime, there's no definite use of CGI in any of the games that have so far been showcased for both the PS4 and Xbox One. However, next year is still a canvas of gaming possibilities for both consoles, and with the introduction of cloud computing in gaming, CGI may be one of the next milestones that gaming can tap into.

Microsoft to tweak Xbox One for Japan?

Now that gamers are assured that the Xbox One is coming to Japan, the next question now is how different will it be from the Xbox 360 in terms of reception and suitability to the market.

After all, Microsoft's current-gen console Xbox 360 has also had a track record of sales difficulty in Japan, and most of the predictions for the Xbox One seem to be following a similar trend. This has also been one of the speculated reasons why Japan is not included in the tier 1 releases of the console.

However, according to CVG, there may be plans to make some changes for the Xbox One, as it is currently a more Western console than anything else.

"We're still figuring out how to deal with things like music and video services in each country. To be honest, [releasing it in Japan] as is would be difficult," said Yasuyuki Higuchi, Microsoft Japan CEO in an interview quoted by CVG. "There's no point in a solution that does not match the market."

Haruaki Kayama, head of Microsoft Japan's Consumer & Partner Group, has also agreed that there is a need to tailor the Xbox One to become more relevant to Japan. But apart from this issue is also the pressing matter of whether or not the changes will be feasible and applicable before the release date early next year comes.

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