LOS ANGELES — Microsoft has announced further details on its upcoming next-generation console, the Xbox One, declaring that it will be released this year in November 2013 in 21 markets for the price of US$499 (S$620).

The Singapore launch, together with other markets not included in the first 21 countries, will only be later next year, and the launch price is currently unknown.

At the Xbox E3 2013 media briefing held at the Galen Center at the University of Southern California, Microsoft also announced a new look for the Xbox 360, which will retail at US$199.99. The local release date and price is currently unknown.

Updates for Xbox Live online services was also announced and Microsoft also showcased a few more of the Xbox One exclusive games.

This time, no mention was made of the television and sports integration, possibly in an attempt to regain gamer goodwill after the original launch event was derided as not being gamer-friendly.

Instead, Microsoft focused fully on other upcoming games, much to the delight of the crowd, of which mostly consisted of members of the press.

On top of new graphics, majority of the games presented attempted to leverage being on Microsoft’s Xbox One platform by including cloud computing, larger open worlds and integration with Microsoft’s Smartglass app, and Microsoft showed off the machine’s prowess by having all the majority of the demos played live, depending on trailers only for a few of them.

Getting the loudest cheers of the night was the return of fighting game Killer Instinct (complete with original sound track), the reveal of a new Halo game only for the Xbox One, and the jetpack and mechas open-world epic Titanfall.

Other franchises making their Xbox One premiere include Dead Rising 3, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Battlefield 4.

Updates to Xbox Live also got welcome cheers, with Microsoft announcing the removal of the points system, depending instead on local currency, an unlimited friends list that’s no longer limited to 100 friends, game streaming and highlight editing capabilities, the ability to compare your progress against friends.

Households with multiple gamers on Xbox Live Gold accounts will be happy to know that now only one gamer needs to get a Gold account — and Gold members will get two games a month free from July 1 up till the release of the Xbox One, beginning with Assassin’s Creed 2 and Halo 3. Gold accounts will work between the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Xbox 360 gamers also do not have to discard their old console for now — Microsoft says that hundreds of games will be released for the 13-year-old console, including mulitplayer shooter World Of Tanks, Batman: Arkham Origins and Grand Theft Auto 5.

Independent gaming companies also got to show off, with Minecraft and Below — a rogue-like game by the company which made the adventure gaming classic Superbrothers: Sword And Sworcery.

Microsoft had opened the event with a trailer for the long-awaited Metal Gear Solid V, which set the tone of the announcements which were fully focused on gaming.

“Xbox will make Metal Gear shine with it’s power,” said Metal Gear Solid V designer Hideo Kojima who showed off an open-world game with day-night cycles and detailed weather effects.

After all we’ve seen today, that’s not in doubt as Microsoft tried to bring the spotlight back on gaming — but the questions regarding used-game policies, the requirement for a daily Internet connection, and why countries in Asia are getting a delayed release date, still remain.