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.
No comments:
Post a Comment