In a rather vague unveiling event, Microsoft have finally let loose on the details of the successor to the Xbox 360, the Xbox One. While I won’t cover the all of the details, here are my thoughts on some things that were shown.
Vibrations on each separate trigger on the new controller
This might not seem like such a big deal to most people, but it could potentially mean more realistic racing games as you can now feel when the wheels lose grip or the brakes freeze up.
Kinect 2.0
The demo looks really promising, with reduced latency and better skeletal tracking. Then again Motion Plus also looked promising back in the day and it didn’t stop the whole thing being a gimmick in the end. Also the console now requires the Kinect 2.0 to be plugged in to work at all, which means we’d be paying an extra premium for the system for something that everyone might not need or want.
Always Online? Not it’s not. Actually it is
We first heard the shitstorm of rumours the Xbox One would require an Internet connection to work, which was later debunked by a Microsoft rep. This statement turned out to be somewhat true, but not entirely accurate – after some prodding by Kotaku, it was revealed that the Xbox One would require an Internet connection to function, albeit only once a day for an unspecified amount of time. I’ll assume this has something to do with the system verifying the licences to the games that you purchased so that you are able to play them.
If you follow the FGC, this will also mean that most tournaments organisers will probably be making PS4s the console of choice for future games, as with pro players.
No backwards compatibility
Disappointing to hear, considering the rumours of a “Xbox On Chip” that would allow you to play 360 games on the Xbox One. It would’ve been a decent advantage over the PS4.
Want to play used games? Sure, pay full price
The XO seems to handle games similar to Steam. Essentially the cost of the game data is ‘free’, but the purchase price of the game goes towards some kind of once-use key to register the game to your Live account. Anyone else who uses your disc will still need to purchase their own CD-Key (at full price) to play the game.
Then again, Sony has been just as vague about their own used game policy. Sure, they have stated that ‘used games are not blocked’, but that’s not denying that something like this system would be implemented for the PS4 either.
While Steam kinda works on a similar model, but the main difference is that Steam usually has very competitive pricing compared to physical retail outlets. This system does mean the death of loaning games to friends, but if the price is right, then it might not matter as much.
Focus on games or lack thereof
Most of the conference was focused on the Xbox One’s features as a living room companion rather than a gaming machine. I find it extremely ironic that Microsoft seemed to have now adopted Sony’s original “all in one” PlayStation 3 strategy, which Sony to went on to eventually abandon in order to fight the 360 ‘hardcore gaming’ roots in western markets.
The whole TV integration stuff isn’t all that interesting, especially to the majority of people who would be shopping for a gaming console to begin with. Even less if you’re like me and don’t happen to live in the U.S, which looks like the only region these features will actually be available for quite some time. Maybe this is the plan MS had all along with the Xbox, but it could amount to brand suicide for them.
In the race for my hard earned money, Sony now have a commanding lead for this upcoming generation of consoles. With most major games going multiplatform nowadays, it’s the exclusives and now the minor features which can make the difference between a purchase or not. Sony have traditionally had the better exclusives, and a new Halo or Forza isn’t going to be enough to sway most people anymore. Microsoft have really hurt themselves by pulling punches for this reveal, and hopefully there something new and exciting left in the tank for E3.
I have to agree on the Xbox One and PS3 similarities: it’s really interesting to note how their positions have really switched around in the last generation, with Sony making the grab for customers and Microsoft feeling secure in their userbase. And thus my allegiance switches as well.