By Graham Osborne
On Tuesday, Microsoft called a press gathering to announce their new fighter in the console wars. The Xbox… One? I thought that was the first Xbox, what do I call that one now? Ah well, names aside; let’s move on to the rest of the machine.
We’ll start with the tech specs. The Xbox One is going to have an 8 core CPU and 8GB of RAM along with three operating systems. This is pretty standard for a gaming PC nowadays, so it makes sense, especially seeing as the PS4 is doing something very similar. It should also be mentioned that the three operating systems are to ensure a smooth running system; one system will play games, one will run Windows and Internet Explorer and the final system will link the two, so you can switch between them. This will all be voice activated, and you can play a game whilst it’s downloading. The Xbox will also feature a Blu-Ray drive, have wi-fi connectivity (unsurprisingly), and have a 500GB internal hard drive, though expect it to get an upgrade after it’s been out for a couple of years. The Xbox One will also have USB 3.0 and HDMI in and out ports. Finally, all Xbox Ones will come with Kinect 2.0, which has been upgraded to read your face and tell whether you’re smiling or frowning, and work out if you’re enjoying the game or not.
On Tuesday, Microsoft called a press gathering to announce their new fighter in the console wars. The Xbox… One? I thought that was the first Xbox, what do I call that one now? Ah well, names aside; let’s move on to the rest of the machine.
We’ll start with the tech specs. The Xbox One is going to have an 8 core CPU and 8GB of RAM along with three operating systems. This is pretty standard for a gaming PC nowadays, so it makes sense, especially seeing as the PS4 is doing something very similar. It should also be mentioned that the three operating systems are to ensure a smooth running system; one system will play games, one will run Windows and Internet Explorer and the final system will link the two, so you can switch between them. This will all be voice activated, and you can play a game whilst it’s downloading. The Xbox will also feature a Blu-Ray drive, have wi-fi connectivity (unsurprisingly), and have a 500GB internal hard drive, though expect it to get an upgrade after it’s been out for a couple of years. The Xbox One will also have USB 3.0 and HDMI in and out ports. Finally, all Xbox Ones will come with Kinect 2.0, which has been upgraded to read your face and tell whether you’re smiling or frowning, and work out if you’re enjoying the game or not.
The controller has seen an upgrade as well. The D-pad on the new controller has been tightened, making it easier to control, especially during fighting games. The triggers will allow haptic feedback, a fancy way of saying that the triggers will respond to your touch. Other than that, there’s not much difference to the controllers. The joysticks are offset, the face buttons are the same, and the emblem is still in the middle.
That’s the good, now onto the bad. I’m sure everyone remembers Adam Orth’s tweets regarding the console being always on. The good news is it doesn’t need a constant Internet connection to play. The bad news is, you need an Internet connection to verify the game the first time you play and then at least once every twenty-four hours to continue to play. Microsoft have also said that any company can make sure a game requires a constant Internet connection if they want. Anyone who was hoping for developers to learn from the mistakes of SimCity and Diablo 3 should probably start weeping now.
To make matters worse, there will be no backwards compatibility (seen as a backwards notion according to some of the heads of Microsoft) and used game sales will be negated by the fact that once a game is in the system it becomes locked. Gone are the days of lending games to friends, or renting them for a weekend to try them out. From now on, it’s full price or nothing.
That’s the good, now onto the bad. I’m sure everyone remembers Adam Orth’s tweets regarding the console being always on. The good news is it doesn’t need a constant Internet connection to play. The bad news is, you need an Internet connection to verify the game the first time you play and then at least once every twenty-four hours to continue to play. Microsoft have also said that any company can make sure a game requires a constant Internet connection if they want. Anyone who was hoping for developers to learn from the mistakes of SimCity and Diablo 3 should probably start weeping now.
To make matters worse, there will be no backwards compatibility (seen as a backwards notion according to some of the heads of Microsoft) and used game sales will be negated by the fact that once a game is in the system it becomes locked. Gone are the days of lending games to friends, or renting them for a weekend to try them out. From now on, it’s full price or nothing.
Microsoft appears to have moved on from games console to multimedia machines. It’s understandable, the consoles of this generation have the ability to stream films and TV programs, it’s taking things to the logical conclusion. We will also be subjected to a live action Halo series produced by Steven Spielberg himself, and will soon be granted the ability to watch TV through our Xbox while we wait for a game to download. I’m assuming that Microsoft have lost all their TV remote controls and are stuck on the channel for their consoles, otherwise who could possibly think that this is a smart idea?
Of course an Xbox wouldn’t be complete without games, and Microsoft promised that there would be a stunning fifteen exclusive games for the Xbox One in its first year, with eight of them being new IPs. Most of them are being kept back for this year’s E3, but Forza 5 is confirmed as is Quantum Break by Remedy (the creators of Alan Wake). Microsoft hasn’t said that these games will all be triple-A blockbuster games or downloadable content, or a mixture of the two. On top of the exclusives, Microsoft’s made a deal with EA for (what one assumes will be) timed exclusives on their games, plus the usual COD exclusivity.
All in all, the press conference was a let down by the lack of focus on what most people were assuming would be a new console focussed on games, with a broader interest in streaming film and TV and allowing a greater variety of social interactions. Instead, we got a lot of vague promises and a lack of communication regarding some of the more important things that people wanted to find out about.
With the initial announcement out of the way, we’ll just have to wait for E3 to see more of what Microsoft will say about the Xbox One. Maybe they’ll have changed some of the aspects of the machine, though I find that unlikely.
Of course an Xbox wouldn’t be complete without games, and Microsoft promised that there would be a stunning fifteen exclusive games for the Xbox One in its first year, with eight of them being new IPs. Most of them are being kept back for this year’s E3, but Forza 5 is confirmed as is Quantum Break by Remedy (the creators of Alan Wake). Microsoft hasn’t said that these games will all be triple-A blockbuster games or downloadable content, or a mixture of the two. On top of the exclusives, Microsoft’s made a deal with EA for (what one assumes will be) timed exclusives on their games, plus the usual COD exclusivity.
All in all, the press conference was a let down by the lack of focus on what most people were assuming would be a new console focussed on games, with a broader interest in streaming film and TV and allowing a greater variety of social interactions. Instead, we got a lot of vague promises and a lack of communication regarding some of the more important things that people wanted to find out about.
With the initial announcement out of the way, we’ll just have to wait for E3 to see more of what Microsoft will say about the Xbox One. Maybe they’ll have changed some of the aspects of the machine, though I find that unlikely.
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