So the New Xbox is Called the "Xbox One"?
To say the reaction to Microsoft’s recent debut of the new “Xbox One” was mixed would be a generous statement at best. With a large emphasis on TV integration, Kinect powered menus, lack of backward compatibility for my legit collection of 360 games, and a confusing name that is so well calculated we’ll all be calling it “The One” within a couple of weeks, the conference left gamers like myself with little to get excited about. Rather, it seems like the new Xbox is being marketed to a very different type of gamer that lives for football and TV, plays EA/Activision games, and LOVES to tweet about it all while browsing his sites on the net. While there’s sure to be more news coming for gamers like me (who like games), the impressions at present are not great and Microsoft knows it.
While we here at LOVE OF THE GAMER are firm believers that a system lives and dies by its games, here is the break down of our thoughts and feelings about the Xbox One announcement as of day one.
HARDWARE: While I don’t hold a system’s design against its ability to produce great games, aesthetically I feel the Xbox One design falls somewhere in between the original Xbox and the 360’s in terms of prettiness. It’s not quite as ugly as the big black monster that was Xbox One Xbox original, but definitely not quite as sleek as even the first model of the 360. Reverting itself to closely resemble a piece of 90’s high-fi equipment ultimately didn’t do a lot for my first impression.
Let’s go beyond the plastic and look under the hood, shall we? In this day and age, it’s hard to judge by tech specs, so the “transistor" counts that Microsoft felt fit to tell us about during their presentation does little for the imagination. With a built-in 500 GB hard drive and 8GB system memory, let's just say games will have the potential to be everything a multimillion dollar development budget could afford them to be. The power of the engine has never been my worry, but the vision of the driver is another story. . .
CONTROLLER: "Well, the controller didn't get worse. But, whatever..." In a back-handed compliment, I think a 2ch commenter summed up the Xbox One’s controller best. It looks to be a definite improvement over the already popular 360 controller, and Microsoft claims to have made over 40 improvements in design that include a more accurate D-pad, additional buttons, and L and R triggers that rumble. Now just gimme some hardcore action games to test these new bells and whistles and we’ll be just fine.
KINECT: While an interesting piece of technology, the Kinect hasn’t had any interesting software to sell it in my eyes. It being part of the package from the ground up will hopefully change the way developers support the accessory, but navigating menus with voice and gesture was never enough to merit an additional purchase for my 360. I think it’s going to take a Wii Sports caliber experience to really sell me on the Kinect’s role as a gaming main stay, but in the mean time, saying “Xbox ON!” serves as a neat gimmick.
GAMES: Let us get back to you on this one. . . E3’s just around the corner and EA and Activision do little for my gaming appetite, so here’s hoping for some Capcom or Konami support! The one thing we know for sure in the meantime is that the system will NOT play your current library of 360 games. It's still unknown how downloaded content will be handled or if it can be transferred from a 360 to an Xbox One, but these are questions we can expect to be answered soon.
FEATURES:". . . search for your perfect match, in your favorite game. . . while you play another game. . .” OK, so here’s where they start to really lose (and insult) me as a demographic. Multitasking capabilities are a beautiful thing, but the next level of ADD is clearly on its way. “Let’s cram every possible second of the living experience with Peggle, porn, or sports!” Are the Cheeto eating, mom’s house living, mouth breathing twenty-year-old lay abouts really having that hard of time dealing with the 30 seconds it takes to find the next match of Call Of Duty: Whatever? What does this feature say about society as a whole? I don’t know any grown adults who seek this level of nonstop entertainment, and frankly I’d be afraid to meet one.
Skype and streaming features are definitely welcomed additions to the box’s repertoire, and the system seems to be integrated with all the social networks and messaging options you’d expect from the next Microsoft product. Cloud saving, movie streaming, smart phone compatible; Let's just hope it can save high scores.
The Xbox One’s potential to take over your living room is well in place, but time will tell who's going to buy it, or for that matter, what games are going to sell it. To be released this holiday season with a yet-to-be-announced price, this muttled first impression will get it's chance at a second take at E3 in just a few weeks. -T.C.
