AusGamers was given a unique opportunity to speak with one of Microsoft's most prolific Xbox faces in Phil Spencer, about the publisher's forthcoming Xbox One console, and much of what made its initial reveal somewhat controversial.

And while we do touch heavily on the "Microsoft 180", it's information about factors like sticking with a subscription model for Xbox Live, fostering the indie community and the potential for expanded cross-platform play thanks to the new console's architecture and the ubiquitous nature of systems like Windows 8 and Xbox Live that are most exciting.

"I think what you’re talking about makes a lot of sense," Phil enthused when asked if we'd see a closer relationship between the PC and Xbox One moving forward. "Now you have differences in Windows gaming and console gaming around control and input... in fact if you go back to Shadow Run on Xbox 360 -- something I worked on -- we had PC players playing against Xbox 360 customers. We didn’t have tremendous success with that, but we learnt a lot from it [...] This connected ecosystem across all the different devices is definitely where I think the future of gaming is going; you don’t have to do it as a developer, but you have the capability and I think a system like Xbox Live across all those screens where you know who someone is and who their friends are, what their Achievements are and their progression is really critical to that."

Click here for our full Phil Spencer interview.