Xbox One Unveiled (May 21, 2013)

[ChrisReid]

Microsoft announced the new Xbox One console today. The system doubles down on the Xbox 360's multimedia strategy with numerous tie-ins to television, apps, multi-tasking and smartphones/tablets. Gaming specs have also been bumped with an 8-core processor and 8 gigs of RAM. Additional hardware features include a Blu-ray player, 802.11n, a 500 gig hard drive, USB 3.0 and streamlined controllers with trigger force feedback. The Kinect motion camera has been beefed up with 1080P resolution, enhanced tracking abilities and support for group Skype chats. Kinect will also be bundled with the system at launch later this year.








Like the Playstation 4, the system will not be backwards compatible with prior generation software. This is, of course, concerning to fans of Wing Commander Arena for Xbox Live Arcade. Although Microsoft has stated that there are no plans to discontinue the Xbox 360 in the near future, its days are certainly numbered. Xbox Live support for original Xbox games was shut down in April 2010, about five and a half years after the 360 debuted, so hopefully we can all continue to enjoy Arena for years to come. It wouldn't hurt if some smart people got to work on figuring out our options to continue playing indefinitely though!

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Original update published on May 21, 2013

 

[Worf]

Wow, that was a pretty "meh" launch.

I think Microsoft should've just saved everyone's time and announced it at E4 ("Expensive" E3). Let the hype build some, then run releases all week to steal thunder away from the PS4. Because what we saw today was... OK. Nothing really wowed me.

That being said, I'm getting a launch PS4 and One. That was decided long before either announcement. Plus, both should be very interesting - echoes of the original Xbox hacking...

 

[Bandit LOAF]

The Xbox One seems like the answer to a question no one asked.

Yes, it would be great to have a single unit... but since the Xbox One isn't replacing my DVR, my cable box or even my Xbox 360 it's not really that, is it? I would buy an Xbox 360 with a Blu-Ray drive tomorrow, but I'm less sure of an entirely new console.

It was more appealing than the PS4, though!

 

[ChrisReid]

As someone who's bought limited edition xbox 360s in four of the last five years (plus two white boxes dating back to launch), I'm relieved to finally have one this year that's actually beefed up!

No single person will care for most of the features, but it seems to have added (or improved on) quite a few while including a pretty decent hardware spec bump, so it'll have more selling points to different audiences than a PS4 or some of the other up and comers. I mostly ignored things like multi-tasking during the reveal broadcast, but then I got to thinking I might actually use the window-snap Skype chat or web browser (games like Halo, Resident Evil, Battlefield and Ghost Recon have added online stat tracking in the last year) here and there.

I was just talking about how there should be an expectation these days that hardware runs virtually silent, so it was nice to hear that that was finally incorporated here. I was kind of doubting that it would include a Blu-ray player, so that was also a pleasant surprise - I can finally move the PS3 out of my main entertainment center!

 

[Quarto]

A year or two ago, one of the PR guys I was working in - middle-aged, well in his forties, but very much a gamer - said that he believes the next-gen consoles need to look more like household appliances. He pointed to his own example, he could not use the Xbox 360 in the living room of his house, because his wife objected to such a weird-looking piece of equipment. Well, it certainly does look like the new Xbox is trying hard to meet this requirement, which is interesting.

I've read elsewhere some really harsh criticism, that Microsoft doesn't understand that today's 20-30 year-olds don't have a house, usually only have small rented apartments, and a truckload of student loans to pay off, so they can neither afford nor even fit in their house a big TV-based entertainment centre. I don't know if this is an accurate portrayal of that demographic or not - but if it is, then clearly Microsoft is not aiming for them.

My initial impression, all in all, is that Microsoft has simply decided to concentrate on their existing clients. People who owned the Xbox, the Xbox 360 - so, people who are now in their 30s, with stable jobs, a disposable income, and families. Already a couple of years ago, the age of the average gamer in the US was 30-something, and this average goes up every year as the first generation of gamers gets older. So, you know - maybe they really do know what they're doing?

 

[ChrisReid]

Saw the Xbox One live in action with Major Nelson for the first time tonight! They're something to see. It's always a little hard to gauge from videos just how smooth and sharp things will look in actual gameplay, but all the games they had going were pretty impressive.

Forza looked amazingly real. The human models and water effects in Ryse were crazy good. Killer Instinct was very nice looking. I couldn't really figure out what was happening in Project Spark, but it looked pretty. It gave me flashbacks to the seeing the very first Xbox games in 2001 and it's pretty awesome how far we've come. In retrospect, we always look back at the launch lineup of games on a console and are amazed at how much better the mid-life cycle titles look. This bodes very well for the next few years.

Looking forward to it... three months now!

 

[Dyret]

While I'm not a console gamer, I'm quite impressed with how Microsoft backed out of pretty much everything that (legitimately) pissed people off about the new Xbox. They deserve credit for that.

Yes, it would be great to have a single unit... but since the Xbox One isn't replacing my DVR, my cable box or even my Xbox 360 it's not really that, is it? I would buy an Xbox 360 with a Blu-Ray drive tomorrow, but I'm less sure of an entirely new console.

Yeah, I don't really get the super awesome new features. Half of them seem like stuff that already comes with a modern television, and the other half stuff you'd already have attached to one. Then again, some people bought the PS3 just for the DVD-player, so... maybe?

 

[ChrisReid]

Yeah, I don't really get the super awesome new features. Half of them seem like stuff that already comes with a modern television, and the other half stuff you'd already have attached to one. Then again, some people bought the PS3 just for the DVD-player, so... maybe?

I think to a certain extent, most tech companies are throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Many of the novel features will just have niche audiences, but taken as a whole, it's a lot better to have a variety of new software features than to just keep reiterating a plain gaming OS. Microsoft has done a tremendous job of expanding the role of the 360 since 2005, and I expect them to keep tweaking the OS and software features in the years to come. Lots of people bought the PS3 just for Bluray (myself included), and the recent release of Wing Commander on Bluray has highlighted the surprising number of people that still don't have one.

I think there's a lot of little features that will add up to an excellent sum. Yes, they have Facebook integration, and that's of limited use, but the Xbox also has some sort of built-in ticker that allows you to "follow" your friends. I'd actually like to see that - while I'm at the Xbox Dashboard, not on Facebook. Major Nelson posted some voice communication audio comparisons this week, and one of my favorite things about playing games on Xbox Live is just to talk with friends. The clarity of the audio is much better, so I can't wait for that. The force-feedback in the controller triggers could be a nice addition. Virtually silent operation (no noisy fans or clicking optical drives) is a must-have in 2013. The subtle Playstation Move-style IR doodads in the controllers make pass-around games or Kinect/controller hybrid games aware of who's holding the controller. The Skype integration is nice, and I'll probably use that snap-pane for watching TV/movies while gaming if it's easy to get an Apple TV to connect to it. They've already added some decent tablet/phone features (I'm shocked I can navigate my 360 today with my iPhone), but the way games like The Division integrate them into gameplay should be great.

If you just purely look at it as a long overdue hardware upgrade, it's a great one and solely worth the price of admission on that alone for me. The Xbox One will be replacing my PS3 in my main entertainment center. I'm continually annoyed by the PS3's movie playing interface, but it's still my primary Bluray machine, so looking forward to that. Someday in the next few years I'll have a 4K TV, and I can't wait for 2160p games. And, like you mention, Microsoft has also done a surprising job of gradually deleting most of the big things people complain about over the last few months.

 

[Dyret]

Yeah, it's definitely good news all around, I'm just curious how many people will buy it as the all-in-one family entertainment system they seem to be advertising it as. I suppose it's nothing wrong with, as you said, throwing everything out there and seeing what sticks, though, it's how innovation happens, and it's not like they won't be making their money back in either case.

 

[ChrisReid]

Yeah, I keep being pleasantly surprised. Yesterday they announced the main CPUs are getting a 10% speed boost from the last posted specs as they go into mass production. Earlier this week they announced it'll support 8 controllers, and since I love party games, I can't wait for something to support that. And today, some Microsoft exec said in an interview that even backwards compatibility may come someday in the form of their Azure cloud streaming thing,

I think I'm actually even going to do that upgrade thing with Battlefield 4. Your DLC purchases and stats/ranks/unlocks will transfer, and it's $10 to upgrade from the 360 to the One version when it comes out a month later, so it seems like a good setup.