So, last Friday we got that new Xbox One we pre-ordered.
Guys, it's amazing. Like, seriously, I'm really quite taken with it. It's not perfect by any means but it's pretty sweet.
First off, there's the voice control. No, it's not perfect---I have had to tell my Xbox to do some things more than once, but I really like it and I really like it a lot better than being forced to only use a controller. Telling my Xbox to go to Netflix instead of having to look for the app is awesome even if I do tend to use my controller to navigate the app because voice navigation within apps is pretty poor, frankly, even since my discovery of the "select" command. Still, I like it and I do use it enough that I have found that I have no idea where I put my controller because I just haven't been using the thing, and that's pretty cool. Besides, voice command lets me be the world's laziest person, because I no longer have to lift a finger to turn my TV, Xbox and soundbox on and I can adjust the volume with the same amount of effort. I like being the world's laziest person.
The integration of the Kinect into normal games? Well, admittedly so far I haven't cared or thought much of it. The reaction of the machine to voice commands can be a little delayed, so on the game I own which does use voice command, Ryse: Son of Rome, I haven't really been impressed. Telling my archers to fire by voice is kind of badass (which is why I do it!) but I think it would almost certainly be more efficient to just use the left shoulder button. The response would almost certainly be faster. So, yeah, the Kinect in games is gimmicky, but I don't care because see above comments about being the world's laziest person. I want my Kinect so I can live in the future and not get up off my couch, not for games.
The controller is, as everybody is saying, pretty much no different from the 360 controller, but I personally consider this to be a good thing. The Xbox controller was awesome and so is this new one. In fact it is, indeed, even slightly better. They've made the joystick more sensitive and I can actually tell the difference. The big place where it shows is in playing Forza 5, which, if you read my last post on the new generation of consoles, you'll know was basically the reason we got the console. We always get Forza on release day. Anyway, I play Forza with the controller, which is not the best way to play a racing sim---you'll be able to give much more subtle inputs if you use a racing wheel. When you watch a replay of someone playing a racing game using a controller, you can see that a series of small adjustments, instead of the the smooth continuous ones you get from a wheel, is how the car is being turned. Well let me tell you, I have watched a lot of replays of races I've run in Forza (and had the Xbox's game DVR record some of the best moments too) and my game play just looks way smoother. The newer, more sensitive, joysticks really shine in playing Forza. It's not perfect---sometimes you can see the car twitching around as I make a series of small adjustments---but it really is worlds better.
On a side note here, since we're talking controllers, I have to admit I'm really excited to have some stores get in some demo PS4s so I can compare the two controllers. I'm not a diehard fan of either the 360 or PS3 controller, both worked fine for me, but I did generally find the 360 controller to be better and my impression from the internet is that most people seem to think the 360 controller is better. They're also saying the PS4 controller is a vast improvement and some are even saying it's better than the One's controller. I'll admit I'm skeptical about it being better, because frankly I'm not sure how to improve on the One's controller (maybe give the shoulder buttons slightly less resistance?) and I have noticed that the PS4 is still sticking with the same joystick configuration but I'm willing to entertain the idea. Definitely looking forward to getting to try one out. I still think the touchpad is probably pretty stupid though.
There is some bad with the new Xbox, though. For one, my surround sound doesn't work right with it (even though it works fine with both my PS3 and my Xbox 360) and Microsoft didn't even offer an explanation when I went through the tedium of troubleshooting with them. Basically all I got was "play your games in stereo then," which was not what I was looking for. A real explanation would have been great, especially since a quick browse of the Xbox support forums shows I'm not the only one having my particular problem---where sometimes the main audio doesn't play. We're thinking this is because Xbox only puts out in uncompressed 5.1 and we need Dolby---a specific type of compression for surround sound. Basically, without the compression, our boxes are having to filter out some stuff and sometimes it happens to be the main audio. We're hoping this should be fixed when the promised Dolby patch comes sometime in the near future (or so Microsoft has promised us) but it would have been nice if Microsoft had offered that explanation instead of just telling me to suck it, basically. Customer service fail there, if you ask me.
The other bad thing is that, because it's a new console generation, there are only so many games I want. Right now I've got Ryse: Son of Rome (which is a lot more fun than most reviewers have given it credit for, if you ask me) and Forza 5. I'm vaguely interested in Crimson Dragon but the reviews for that haven't been so hot and I don't want to spend even the paltry $20 on a game I'm so unsure about. I've also got the free Killer Instinct but I don't think I'll be spending more money on it. I just don't like the control scheme on it enough. It really feels too arcade, even for a side-scrolling fighting game (which I do have something of a weakness for---hence my love of the Soul Calibur series). The next time a game I want for the new console will definitely be out (there's no official date for when the awesome Project Spark is coming) is next March, when Titanfall comes out and that's really more of a game I'll enjoy watching Fathead play than play myself. Next is Destiny, which will be out next summer. Sure, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is now out for Xbox One, but while I like the Assassin's Creed games, I only like them so much. I'm definitely not willing to pay $60 on the game. Honestly, if they were going to put a title out on both the old and the new systems, I would have much rather it had been Arkham Origins, which I still need to get to playing. I just like the Arkham series better.
Finally, the One is doing a pretty poor job of being my primary media center when not only can it not handle my surround sound but it can't interact with my external hard drive either. I keep movies and music on there so they can be played through my Xbox 360. I would have happily moved them to my One, but much like the Dolby patch, external hard drive support is coming but not here yet. Instead, if you want to play external media, you must put it on Skydrive and it must stay there. My digital video collection is way, way too big for my free Skydrive space, I can't download stuff from Skydrive onto my Xbox One's copious amounts of free disk space and I'm sure not paying for my Skydrive space when I have an external hard drive for this purpose. Even worse, Skydrive doesn't support music. The only way to play music on your Xbox right now as far as I can tell (which may just mean they're hiding a better option) is through Xbox music, which as near as I can tell is just a version of Pandora you have to pay for. Frankly, that sounds awful to me. That said, I am considering using my free month of the service, because then maybe I can have Two Steps from Hell playing as I race in Forza or brutally (and I mean very brutally) kill the crap out of British barbarians in Ryse. Still, it's pretty stupid and you won't catch me paying for a service when I should be able to play my ridiculous number of MP3s for free.
So that's it. My new Xbox One. The future. It's pretty awesome and I have no doubt it will get more and more awesome as more updates come. I doubt it will win the console wars, but then I also doubt the PS4 will too---not because I doubt either is a good console but mostly because I don't really see a clear winner from last generation and because I think both consoles are probably pretty good. That said, if you're lazy like me, want an awesome media box that also plays awesome games and somehow have the money to drop on an Xbox One, I highly recommend one. Honestly, once they roll out external hard drive support, Dolby and (hopefully) TV DVR, I would recommend it to someone just as a media box---an expensive one, certainly, but voice control!
