The Xbox One has seen its fair share of ups and downs ever since its debut this summer. Let's take a look at what is going on with the next-gen console as it prepares to duke it out with the PS4 to win over gamers' hearts.

The Xbox One is currently slated to be released in the U.S. on Nov. 22nd at a retail price of $499. Included in that price is the second generation Kinect motion sensor, as well as the new Forza 5 video game for those who purchase the Forza bundle. Then of course, there's also the matter of its sleek new design.

"We wanted to think from a holistic perspective," said Ramiro Torres, Creative Director of design on the Xbox One. "Its design has to make an appropriate statement that reflects its capability as an all-in-one entertainment system."

They're backing up that "all-in-one" claim, too. With the Xbox One taking advantage of cloud servers, officials at Microsoft believe that soon there will backwards compatibility for the next-gen console, though that doesn't mean there aren't still issues to be sorted out.

"Using our Azure cloud servers, sometimes it's things like voice processing. It could be more complicated things like rendering full games like a Gaikai and delivering it to the box," said Microsoft senior director Albert Penello.

Soon after making that comment, Penello also attempted to shed some light on the particulars of the now-defunct DRM policy for the Xbox One that caused a lot of controversy when it was first introduced. As far as he's concerned, the "always-on" functionality was as much about catapulting gaming into the future as it was about restricting the likelihood of piracy.

"We were trying to implement the ability to trade [and] loan digital games with your friends, which is something that no-one else was doing," he said. "I think we need to do that. That has to be part of the experience. Right now, we're focused on launch and we switched the program back to discs, because that's what customers wanted."After an always-on DRM policy that proved to be a debacle for the latest edition of Sim City, gamers were not on board with the idea that they would have to be online at all times to play their favorite games. Though such capability does have its upsides, chances are high the the Xbox One will be very careful in how it implements such technology in the future.