Are you at your limit with 100 friends on Xbox Live? Well Microsoft has heard your frenzied cries of popularity. The Xbox One will now give Live users the ability to have 1000 friends on their account. So for all of you celebrities, internet gurus, journalists and what not that need this many friends today is your day!
I love my Xbox 360. It is my console of choice for this last generation. Now don’t get me wrong, I still play my PS3 religiously, but whenever a multi-console game has come out (which is 85% of releases) I instinctively get it for the 360. I am an admitted achievement whore and I prefer my online experiences over Xbox Live. So why am I ready to purchase a PS4 on day one and feel I can wait a few months on my Xbox One purchase?
Simple answer: the games.
Now don’t get on a high horse and say that I am jumping on a new bandwagon or anything asinine like that. There is still a long way to go before deciding what next-gen console will occupy the majority of my time. E3 is in a few weeks where both Microsoft and Sony will bring out the really big guns with game demos (hopefully) and price points. This early, early, very early impression is based solely on the two press conferences I have watched. Opinions have the wonderful ability to change.
The Xbox One is a beautiful looking machine. It is simplistic, square and black. Something that agrees with my OCD for my entertainment center. Like the PS4, it is a monster on the inside with 8GB of RAM and 8-core CPU with a Blu-Ray drive (which I am sure is killing Microsoft on the inside knowing Sony won that battle). It has the horsepower to match the PS4 which is what we expected. The other thing we expected, which I was hoping was wrong, was that Microsoft would focus on Xbox One being the central hub of your living room. This is where my initial disconnect begins.
Back in February, Sony took a calculated risk by saying the PS4 would be a gaming machine focused on the games. They bet double down that Microsoft would take the entertainment route and they were right. Now in the next six months we are going to see if that bet pays off. For a gamer like me I am more than ready to get a PS4 day one because of this reason. I understand Microsoft’s overall strategy with the Xbox One. It is the next evolution of the brand and that’s all well and good….for Microsoft. I have no problem with my cable box, I have ten sports channels to watch and a laptop and smartphone to check my fantasy teams on and while all the bells and whistles that Microsoft showed off today were certainly fun, they are not convincing me that I will be saving $500 for a midnight release.
With so many games being multi-platform now and my existing systems still going strong with their impressive libraries and ability to play Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO Go, etc., my first choice in next-gen systems breaks down to exclusives and as much as I love the Xbox brand, Sony is going to win that fight. I love my Gears of War and Halo and will be playing them (eventually) on an Xbox One, but when I begin to look at the Sony franchises that I am addicted to my choice becomes clearer. Uncharted, Infamous, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, God of War and Killzone is quite the list and two of those franchises are guaranteed to me on day one on the PS4.
I know this article may be a little hypocritical seeing as how I will eventually own both systems, but early adopters are the ones who drive the spin of which console is winning. Last generation Sony priced themselves out of my range for two years while my love of Xbox grew. Now this generation Playstation is focusing on the games while Xbox One is trying to get me to voice command it to watch Mike and Molly.
Early (and big) advantage: Sony
I’d like to start by saying that I was not able to watch the presentation “live,” but I was following the event on several gaming sites and social media.
The overall impression I got, and the feeling I arrived at after reading some posts and watching some of the demonstrations, was “Meh. Where are our games? When does it actually come out? Is it E3 yet?”
It is no surprise that the Xbox One will be a media-heavy device, with a large portion of its abilities focused on things other than just playing games. My 360 already spends as much time on Netflix and Hulu as it does facilitating headshots, and Sony’s PS4 reveal set the tone for next-gen integration of web and social media. Considering there is already a Pizza Hut app that lets you order delivery right from your console, things like browsing theater show times and buying tickets are just the next logical step in the process.
There was a lot of talk about games, with numbers being thrown around concerning how many exclusive titles we can expect, how many of those are new IPs, etc. The amazing thing was the sheer lack of footage from those games, or even information about titles; hell guys, I would have taken a teaser logo or two. Halo TV series sounds like a win, but again, that’s only game-related, not an actual game.
The games that were shown off ranged from: Interesting (Quantum Break); completely expected but pretty (Forza, sports titles); and completely expected, uninteresting, bland and useless (Call of Go Fuck Yourself, Leaning in FPS is Not Something to Be Excited About).
Finally, Microsoft managed to give us absolutely zero info in way of a release date.
So what are my thoughts on this? I would have saved the money and hype for E3, since they’re essentially doing that anyway by holding off on game announcements and a solid release date. I genuinely think the folks in Xbox marketing let the media get to them about how long they were waiting after Sony’s announcement, and the end result was a half-assed presentation that gave me very few reasons to be excited for the Xbox One.
“4/10. Would not waste time on over-hyped presentation again.”
Hey! In case you missed it, Microsoft has a new console, the Xbox One. How about a better look at the console, controller and Kinect? We are a visual society so enjoy!!
Let the next-gen war officially begin!
Microsoft took the wraps off of their offering with the announcement of the Xbox One. The system, as you can see above, is a sleek, minimalist design with a redesigned controller and Kinect 2.0 coming packed in with the system. No release date or price point was given, but there is plenty of time for that with E3 only a few weeks away.
The system is quite the powerhouse with an 8-core CPU and 8GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, USB 3.0 using a Blu-Ray drive.
The controller looks slightly larger but looks to have a flatter feel from the side. It has an integrated battery (finally!) and new d-pad which I pray feels better than the 360.
The new Kinect has a 1080p camera and USB 3.0 for a better field of vision and the voice controls are being made more of a focal point in the operation of the system.
The Xbox One can play live TV, games, music and movies all controlled with the voice feature on the new Kinect. During the press conference they demonstrated by saying simple commands like “watch HBO” or “watch CBS”. Not sure how it will work when I say “play College Asian Slumber Party 9”, but we will see.
We will have much more coverage on the Xbox One coming so keep checking back!