Here is my summary of Microsoft’s Xbox reveal:
So to start of with Microsoft waited a long time before revealing the next Xbox, they let Nintendo and Sony get in first and now PS4 looks like it has a fighting chance up against the Xbox. As a longtime fan of Microsoft and Xbox I was actually considering moving over to the PS4 or going back to PC gaming if it turned out that the next gen Xbox was always-online and blocked used games. Now I am not sure about used games but it looks like you will only need to be online when you first turn on your Xbox and then you can go offline and continue playing as you wish. But I know you didn’t come hear to read about that so without further ado let’s get right into it.
But Sony had a great plan to distract all the gamers with a teaser trailer for the PS4 where they showed you uh… they showed you, this… yeah. Just watch the video already.
After watching that I think it was a bit of a silly move that somehow paid off for Sony with the large amount of views it got. But a smarter move would have been show the console and move in the trailer and show off some more exclusive game content and demo streamed during the same time as the Xbox ONE reveal was going on.
The fist thing spoken of was innovation, that the original Xbox gave us innovative games like Halo and online multiplayer with the birth of Xbox Live. Then came the Xbox 360 which brought gaming into High Definition and with the addition of the Kinect, the 360 let you be the controller. And we currently know they will go into more detail about all these things at the Microsoft press conference at E3. He talked about how our living room has changed, that now we have a so many devices to distract us like mobile devices, tablets, laptops, TVs etc. but the Xbox is here to unite the living room which has been fragmented with the all-in-one entertainment system which will have built in social media and immersive games.
This marks the Xbox ONE. Which is designed to help make the TV more intelligent and entertainment will now be taking the stage. The Xbox ONE will have Ultimate Precision, with the instant response of the Kinect it has integration like has never been seen before(Kinect will come shipped with all Xbox ONE’s and is required to use the Xbox.) Now when you stand in front of the Kinect it will automatically sign you in and load up your save meaning that you no longer have to manually sign-in.
This all in one device can turn on your TV by just saying Xbox On. The Xbox remembers was you were previously doing, like if you were playing a game or watching a TV show. There is also a new section added to the Xbox Marketplace known as the trending section. Which will work similar to twitter in some regard, and can either show content that your friends are watching or the entire Xbox Live community. This feature was advertised to work with TV shows and Movies and Music but I assume that Games will also be included in the future. They have also added the ability for live TV broadcast including cable TV and streaming as well as being able to be used as a set top box. You can also switch between music, TV, movies, games and the internet instantly and in the demo it showed that the speed of switching is about the same time it takes to change channels. This multitasking feature also allows you to also have music playing in the background while playing games or you can watch movies and be playing a game or any combination like that. Including being able to surf the net while watching a movie or TV show.
The Kinect also now has some universal features similar to what the iPhone has with swipe. I can’t exactly remember them but one will take you back to the Xbox dashboard and the other will bring up the Xbox guide I think. Skype through Kinect in Widescreen Full HD on your TV and being able to Skype multiple people at once will be exclusive to the Xbox ONE. You can watch movies, play games or surf the net while chatting over Skype. Xbox also has a deal will ESPN to give sport alerts, show scores of teams you like and members of your dream team. I will also pop up with a notification and you can see the highlight of your team scoring and their highlight with the touch of a button or simple command. League standings, stats, and best of will all be accessible. Xbox ONE Guide will also give a detailed overview of all the shows on TV and you can choose what to watch through manual control, voice command or by what is trending. It will show all local channels in your area, though Microsoft did not give any information away as to whether these features will be available outside the US. There will no longer be the need for remote controls and you can pin content to keep up with it like shows, movies or music.
This Xbox will also take advantage of the cloud, to what extent is still unclear but they promise it will help make more dynamic and immersive worlds. Hopefully we don’t get the same incident as we have seen on Sim City with Always-ON DRM and servers crashing constantly. It will be running 3 operating systems at once with the Xbox OS, Windows and a third one which allows to switch between the two.
New Kinect features include being able to track 30 FPS, 2 Gigabits of data, 1080p camera, Orientation of joints hands and fingers, Muscle and Impact, Depth and supposedly being able to read your heartbeat through the Hue in your face.
There was never a doubt that the Xbox 360 is the best controller ever made, even PS3 players made an adapter to use the 360 controller on the PS3 and Microsoft is proud of it. In fact the claim their controller is the best and now they are only making it better. It has over 40 innovations some of which are a longer battery life which will also fit better, Improved D-Pad for more precision, Direct feedback to triggers. I am not entirely convinced but they have also improved the thumb sticks and the other revisions look good however it looks to me like a bulkier version of the 360 controller and almost looks like a prettier version of the original controller. I am sure once I put it in my hands and test it out playing games I will know whether it really was an upgrade or downgrade.
Xbox Live will have both Gold and Silver Membership like previous generations but the number of servers have been vastly increased. From 500 servers when the original Xbox launched, to 5000 server servers when 360 launched, 15 000 currently, the Xbox ONE will launch with 300 000 servers.(Why not 360k to make a great reference to the previous console?) Anyway the new amount of servers will be used for the Intelligent TV, constantly recording and dedicated gamer DVR with all gameplay being recorded and sent through to video services like Twitch TV. Achievements will also be ported onto the next gen console and will now be more dynamic showing more about what you actually achieved and the ability to share them with friends. You will also now be able to search for the perfect match and while waiting for the matches to start you can easily switch to a movie or watch TV and listen to music. They have also promised bigger matches and larger player counts.
EA will now be partnering with Microsoft and for the next two years they will be releasing some of their games exclusively for the Xbox ONE. The new engine shown is the IGNITE engine which has more intelligent AI, blur the line between real and fake, dynamic environments, true player motion, dodging, improved physics, living worlds, curtains opens and stadium will erupt with 3D Crowds and interactive sidelines. There will be 4 times more calculations per second, 10 times more animation and daily stream of content that will impact the game. The Xbox ONE will have exclusive content for Fifa 14 Ultimate Team and graphics are life like with depth of field, reflections, sweat, lighting and even bending of the nets in soccer games.
More exclusives than ever before including all the favorite series like Forza Motorsport 5 and Quantum Break. Here is my assumption of the 15 new exclusives in the first year after launch, 8 being new. From what I can guess the exclusives will be 2 or 3 EA games(hopefully not sports), 5 Kinect only games (3 old, 2 new), Quantum Break, Forza Motorsport 5, a historic Rare game so either Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Banjoe Kazooie or Conker’s Bad Fur Day(very unlikely) and Gears of War 4, so that leaves 4 unknowns. I hope that they don’t bring Halo 5 out this soon, maybe a Halo ODST RPG would be cool and I have a feeling they are working on a few always-online cloud based MMOs and a few RTS’s or RPGs. I also assume that the game RYSE will also be released in the first year due to it’s emphasis on Kinect and next gen capabilities.
Games will now have cloud powered content, be multiplatform and include dynamic weather, wear and tear and time. Remedy will be creating a Cinematic action and scripted TV series called Quantum Break and the actions of the game will effect what happens in the TV show. The graphics are life-like with stunning visuals and set pieces. The tag line for the games is “Time is fire in which we burn.” I am not sure what this means but the game and TV show look like Microsoft’s version of Infamous.
The PlayStation 4 vs. Xbox One Comparison Chart provides an easy visual aid to compare hardware, user interface, media compatibility and other features on both systems.
PS4 vs. Xbox One Comparison Chart
Feature PlayStation 4 Xbox One
| Optical Drive | Blu-Ray/DVD [1] | Blu-Ray/DVD [2] |
| Game DVR | Yes [3] | Yes [4] |
| RAM | 8GB GDDR5 [5] | 8GB DDR3 [6] |
| CPU | Single-chip x86 AMD “Jaguar” processor, 8 cores [7] | 8 Core Microsoft custom CPU [8] |
| Storage | TBA | 500 GB Hard Drive[9] |
| Second Screen | Vita [10] | SmartGlass [11] |
| Cloud Storage | Yes [12] | Yes [13] |
| Mandatory Game Installs | TBA | Yes [14] |
| Always Online Connection | No [15] | Maybe [16] |
| Used Game Fee | TBA | Maybe [17] |
| Backwards Compatibility | None [18] | None [19] |
| Skype | TBA | Yes [20] |
| Motion Control | DualShock 4, PlayStation Eye | Kinect 2 |
| Voice Commands | TBA | Yes [21] |
| Subscription Fee | TBA | TBA |
| USB | USB 3.0 [22] | USB 3.0 [23] |
| Live Streaming | TBA | TBA |
| Reputation Preservation | Trophies will be ported | Achievements will be ported [24] |
| Web Connection | Ethernet, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n [25] | Ethernet, WiFi [26] |
| BlueTooth | Bluetooth 2.1 [27] | Bluetooth 2.1 (EDR)[28] |
| A/V Hookups | HDMI (4K Support[29]) , Analog (Component, RCA), Optical output[30] | HDMI input and output (4K support), Optical output [31] |
The content above is directly from IGN’s Wiki and the link is here for more information: http://au.ign.com/wikis/xbox-one/PS4_vs._Xbox_One_Comparison_Chart
At least they showed us a good amount of variety and the consoles plus the controller and how the next Kinect may actually be a worthwhile addition. I do like the idea of telling my Tv when to turn on and being able to watch the RT gaming podcast while gaming. (If Youtube is built in.) I feel like MS held back cause E3 is so close but people should respect that they made it very clear they care about the gamer and are going to have 15 new exclusives in the first year after launch, 8 being new. From what I can guess the exclusives will be 2 or 3 EA games(hopefully not sports), 5 Kinect only games (3 old, 2 new), Quantum Entanglement, Forza Motorsport 5, a historic Rare game so either Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Banjoe Kazooie or Conker’s Bad Fur Day(very unlikely) and Gears of War 4, so that leaves 4 unknowns. I hope that they don’t bring Halo 5 out this soon, maybe a Halo ODST RPG would be cool and I have a feeling they are working on a few always-online cloud based MMOs and a few RTS’s or RPGs.
Microsoft also confirmed it will produce original Xbox TV programming, starting with a project based on the Halo franchise. The project is being handled by legendary film director Steven Spielberg. The effort to create a Halo TV or film adaptation first began in 2006 with Halo Chronicles, a “completely new and original chapter” in the Halo series from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson that never saw the light of day. Last year Microsoft released the live-action series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn in preparation for the launch of Halo 4. In late 2012, Microsoft hired former CBS executive Nancy Tellem and began plans for original Xbox TV content. Earlier this year, the company detailed Microsoft’s LA-based studio for “pioneering the future of TV.” (Source: http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/05/21/halo-tv-project-revealed)
So they also covered an NFL partnership, Call of Duty: Gameplay and social TV but I though I would leave that stuff out as this is already a really long post. For more information go the Youtube to watch the full Xbox ONE reveal or read the articles over in IGN. Let me know what you thought of it in the comments below. Is it always online? At this point in time it seems even Microsoft isn’t sure whether it is saying it is sometime always online which makes about as much sense as he is only half dead. Anyway thanks for reading the post, I tried to cover everything I could and get it out as soon as possible
