The Xbox One, Microsoft's one console to rule it all. Video
games, TV, music and movies, everything you do in the living room short of
sitting down.
It's a plan of great ambition, and possibly fractured focus.
Is Microsoft taking on too much with one system?
That was the general reaction at E3
2013 when the Xbox One's cable TV integration and always on Kinect
were revealed, all for a price tag that turned out to be $100 heavier than the PlayStation
4's. Sony went on to arguably win the show with some excellent
counter-programming.
On November 22 the Xbox One pushed through the bad buzz with
a launch lineup padded with installments from familiar franchises. Games like
Call of Duty: Black Ops, Dead Rising 3, Assassins Creed: Black Flag IV and NBA
2K14 made sure the early adopters lined up at midnight would have something to
play.
The real question is this: can the Xbox One overcome the
mixed messaging, the now-canned
24-hour online dependence and the other potholes that had it stumbling
out of the gate, and allowed Sony to win E3
2013 with some sharp counter-programming?
And can it live up to the legacy of the Xbox
360? For long stretches of the last console generation, the Xbox was king.
While the Wii was
everywhere, and millions of gamers and AV enthusiasts eventually picked up a PlayStation
3, for a while there the phrase "let's play some Xbox" was almost
interchangeable with "let's play some video games."
It was the console that brought Xbox Live into maturity,
setting the standard for the online experience on a gaming console. It taught
couch gamers to tolerate the tech support look of a headset in exchange for
voice communication, and that you get what you pay for: a year of Xbox Live
Gold might have cost as much as a game, but the service was more robust than
Sony's PSN.
We've recently seen Microsoft's master plan at E3 2014. More
exclusives are trickling in like Sunset Overdrive, Halo: The Master Chief
Collection and Forza Horizon 2, but we've yet to see a definitive reason to buy
Microsoft over Sony in this console generation.
But updates are coming fast and furious. By this time next
month users should have the ability to remotely start downloads on their Xbox
Ones and real name sharing should be completely functional.
The Xbox One wants to be everything to everyone. Games,
movies and music, its lofty ambition is to put all your entertainment in one
box.
Does Xbox One truly make you master and commander of the
living room, or is it all more trouble than it's worth? Allow us to break it
down.
We liked
The Xbox One had the stronger launch lineup. We had a blast
mulching hordes of zombies in Dead Rising 3. Ryse, on the other hand, was an
excellent showcase for the system's graphical prowess. Forza Motorsport 5 is a
visual feast with plenty of depth and pairs nicely with the Game DVR feature.
In reality, both systems have a similar crop of third-party offerings, but the
One's exclusive games feel more distinct and original.
Kinect is great for simple commands. Saving gameplay
footage, quickly pausing a movie, answering a Skype call, all these features
work smoothly and make for a convenient and fun interface. Kinect is also
surprisingly good at hearing you over the TV.
Xbox One's gameplay video sharing is less locked down than
the PS4's. Xbox One doesn't keep a running video archive like PS4, but it does
grant you a lot more freedom with your footage. You can upload right to
Skydrive, then download the an MP4 of the clip and do whatever you like with
it. The PS4's sharing is limited to the PSN or Facebook, with no actual access
to the file.
It's the best place to see TV alongside streaming media.
Being able to perform a Bing search for a show and see when it will be on next
as well as the places to rent or buy it is fantastic. While the Xbox One's
media integration isn't perfect, there's no other system that brings this kind
of service to your TV.
The interface is fast and customizable. The system comes out
of standby in less than thirty seconds, and menus move as fast as you can
manipulate them. We also loved the convenience of Pins, which let you keep almost
anything just a click away.
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