The Xbox 360 that exists in 2014 bears very little resemblance to the console that Microsoft launched in 2005. It’s so different, in fact, that it helps to think of the company’s new Xbox One as an evolution, not of the original Xbox 360 but of the one that exists today. Over the eight-year lifetime, the Xbox 360 underwent radical transformations. In 2008, the "New Xbox Experience" delivered an entirely new interface, customizable player Avatars, eight-player party chat and Netflix streaming, a first for video game consoles. In 2010, the first iteration of Kinect and the platform’s voice and gesture controls redefined the 360 once again. Microsoft were always at the forefront of the innovations that defined the generation and actually initiated many of the ideas that Sony took forward too.
Their focus on entertainment never diminished the Xbox 360's gaming offerings either. Between first-party titles like Halo, third party console exclusives like Left 4 Dead and timed titles like Oblivion, the Xbox 360 was never wanting for the best options everywhere. In fact the Xbox Live Arcade program also generated top titles like Castle Crashers, Limbo and Braid – turning them into household names.
But there was a sense that the Xbox 360's greater aspirations as a mainstream portal for entertainment were restrained by hardware created before our current age of streaming video, tablets and smartphones. And this is the direction Microsoft have taken forward with the Xbox One.
Yes, when you look at it now, the Xbox One looks similar and holds familiar features but the whole experience if more fluid and functional than ever before. Despite its recognisable elements and concepts, the Xbox One still manages a genuine sense of wonder, all without losing sight of the strong gaming foundation the Xbox was built on.
Hardware & Design
The nicest description we could manage for the Xbox One's new sleek design is "clean" — there's no crappy coating colour – Microsoft have designed the hardware to sit under the TV and to look like its supposed to be there for the long term.
The console lacks the profile and space-saving considerations of the PlayStation 4 — or even the original Xbox 360 but holds its own against set top boxes and TV hardware. Even the Kinect 2.0 is bigger than the original sensor but the output and recognition is cleaner and more effective than ever before. Sadly, and I can’t spin this as a positive, the old power brick makes an unwelcome return.
The console is exceptionally quiet, and it runs relatively cool at all times. But if you’re looking for aesthetic subtlety, this is not the console for you. However, given the Xbox 360's notorious reliability problems, it's a little reassuring that the Xbox One was given so much room to breathe.
Like the PS4, the Xbox One has gone digital-only with its audio and video — you'll only find HDMI and optical audio ports. For network connectivity, Microsoft has added a gigabit Ethernet port and connects to wireless networks at 5GHz.
Probably the most disappointing area is the requirement to install all games to the hard drive which, although large, can still cause an issue as a single game can occupy as much as 50 GB — and that's before any DLC, expansions, or major title updates.
Lastly, unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One has a Blu-ray drive, meaning those of you with a soft spot for physical media won't need to keep a second device around. That drive is partnered with the a 500 GB internal hard drive, where all games are installed (so 10-15 games is about all you’ll get). Microsoft has however added a patch to support external storage post launch, a significant improvement from the expensive proprietary storage options available on Xbox 360.
Controller
Microsoft had the unenviable task of redesigning something that nobody thought was broken. The Xbox 360 controller was universally praised, so it shouldn't be surprising that the Xbox One controller is familiar. Improvements have been made to the triggers, which now feature rumble motors; the D-pad, which is now a cross; and the thumbsticks are now smaller and more accurate. It's a more comfortable controller – which we at Rajakaru didn’t think was possible – has a good amount of weight, and a great texture that makes it feel like a premium offering compared to the slippery Xbox 360 counterpart.
Thankfully the Xbox One controller features a more recessed space for the battery, as opposed to the large bump found on the back of the Xbox 360's controller. Additionally you won't spend a lot of time worrying about batteries. We have been able to play for over 15 hours before fully depleting a charge on our controllers. There are some nice features that coordinate with the Kinect system to monitor its use. When you put the controller down to watch a movie, it enters a low-power state. It’s a smart way of extending the utility of Kinect in a practical way.
The Xbox One also supports the Wi-Fi Direct standard for, well, direct wireless connections between devices. This kind of connection eliminates your wireless router from the equation, reducing latency and speeding up transfer speeds — which Microsoft is using for the Xbox One's new, improved version of SmartGlass (discussed later).
Interface
I, personally, don’t feel like a lot needs to be explained here. The interface is very similar to the Xbox 360 but reduces the multiple routes to locate individual titles and content. The coloured tiles are easier to navigate than the multiple cluttered pages that made up the Xbox 360's dashboard, and there's a clear, easy-to-understand hierarchy.
The Xbox One’s “out-of-the-box” interface wasn’t as clear as it is today but the various options are now much easier to track. The various patches have shown that Microsoft are listening to the users and making changes that we, as players, feel are important improvements.
My favourite addition by far, though, is the ability to skip entering codes for pre-order bonuses, DLC or other game downloads. Instead you can scan QR codes with the Kinect. It's fast and convenient, but makes the task of doing so on our Xbox 360s much more annoying than we had ever found it before.
The motion gestures and voice recognition is clear and easy to use. Obviously there is still an issue with other noises in the room but this was always an expected nuisance. Facial recognition ensures automatic login and profile changes on the fly which are nice, if not overly useful, features. It feels futuristic and cool in a way that little else about the new consoles does.
Xbox Live
Microsoft has every intention of making the Xbox One the centrepiece of your living-room entertainment experience. XBL has always been the big competitive advantage for Microsoft but Sony has made some headway with their improvements to the PlayStation Network.
Microsoft are trying to keep ahead though with their new television integration and One Guide feature as an augmentation to your existing cable or satellite provider. Navigating to TV shows and movies can now be controlled via voice commands — i.e., "Xbox, watch HBO" — which seems like something out of Minority Report. These voice commands also justify the TV functionality of the console, making it so that the only time you'd have to pick up your TV remote is to watch things you have on your recordings list.
Each application works much like you mobile phone and its seamless to jump from game to TV and back again. It can quickly be linked to the obvious want to put the Xbox One at the centre of everyone’s living room experience. Plus Twitch is now up and running so you can watch that too.
Skype on Xbox One has the potential to be huge. Kinect's ability to find speakers in a room and focus the camera on them is really neat. And answering a call with voice commands is pleasantly simple. Skype will run "under" games or other apps, allowing you to continue chat via the Kinect mic or the Xbox One headset while performing other tasks.
All of this depends on the system's seamless suspension of in-progress games and apps. This makes swapping between functions of the Xbox One a pleasure, rather than a chore.
It's worth mentioning that every app on Xbox One – except Skype “currently” – can also be snapped to the right side of the screen in a mini window, either by pressing the menu button on the app, or saying "Xbox, snap [app name]. Also not essential but worth noting is the fact that the Internet Explorer app is quicker than my 2011 Dell Laptop which, doesn’t mean it’s excellent, but is certainly suitably efficient at what it means to do.
Word of warning; all Xbox One consoles must be updated as soon as they're turned on for the first time. And all new games are the same. Once you have installed your updates though the actually inputs are much quicker and better calibrated than the Xbox 360. You recover your Xbox Live profiles in no time at all and you can switch your Kinect hardware off or on in seconds.
Microsoft makes it very clear from the start that it wants you to take your Xbox One profile with you. If you have an Xbox One, say, in another room you'd only need to walk into that room, have it recognise your face and it will sign you straight in (as long as you have recovered your gamertag there before. Cloud saves on games work in the same way so you can pick up your Assassins Creed IV game exactly where you left it.
SmartGlass
The Smartglass feature for titles has been a small part of the Xbox 360 system for some time but is coming on leaps and bounds since hitting the Xbox One. Several announced titles will include this feature including “The Division” and “Fable Anniversary”. It is so easy to set up that it’s almost not worth missing the app on your Android, Windows Phone or iOS device.
Communication between your second-screen device and the Xbox One is significantly faster than with the original SmartGlass app. This is because the app connects directly to your console and not via the Xbox Live servers first. There's almost no perceptible latency between actions on one and the results on the other. This bodes well for potential second-screen implementation in games — immediate response could make your tablet device a viable alternative method of control.
Games
Let’s start with the bad news first: The Xbox One's hefty line-up of exclusive titles, at launch, wasn’t without some considerable misses. Crimson Dragon is a disappointing follow-through on its potential as a successor to Panzer Dragoon. LocoCycle is best summed up as rubbish with its amateur gameplay and racist overview. In face I think these games are so bad that I won’t even give them a score below. All the other titles however will get a brief but scored listing:
· Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag 9/10 · Battlefield 4 8/10 · Call of Duty: Ghosts 7/10 · Dead Rising 3 7/10 · Fifa 14 8/10 · Forza Motorsport 5 9/10 · Killer Instincts 7/10 · Kinect Sports Rivals 7/10 · Lego Marvel Super Heroes 9/10 · Maddan NFL 25 6/10 · Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes 7/10 · NBA 2K14 4/10· NBA Live 14 8/10· Need for Speed: Rivals 7/10· Plants vs. Zombie: Garden Warfare 6/10· Rayman Legends 8/10· Ryse: Son of Rome 6/10· Thief 7/10· Titanfall 9/10· Trials Fusion 8/10· Zoo Tycoon 7/10AVERAGE – 7.3/10
There are however some very good titles available to date. Dead Rising 3 is technically impressive and a fun playground, but suffers from bad writing and uninventive controls. Titanfall, although not a launch title, has become almost as big a success story as any of the other FPS games vying for the Call of Duty crown. Thief has the atmosphere derived from a dark, smoky London but lacks gameplay mechanics to make the title last longer than one playthrough. Zoo Tycoon is a flawed but compelling game with a surprising amount of depth. Killer Instinct is a pretty decent reboot for the long-dormant franchise, despite some trepidation about its business model. And Forza Motorsport 5 is the best of the bunch, a strong evolution for the series despite a reduced number of tracks and cars.
The Xbox One is a hundred dollars more than its direct competition, and several third-party games run in lower resolution than they do on the PS4 which has concerned some. However, Sony hasn’t invested in other areas like Microsoft. If the PS4 is a Video Games system then the Xbox One is an entertainment hub.
Conclusion
Microsoft has insisted it has the software gamers want. But it's also maintained that this generation is about more than that. It's repeatedly outlined a vision for a console based around entertainment, apps and connected experiences, tied together by Kinect, which has been met with apprehension by the enthusiast audience.
To be clear, Kinect isn’t a fully realised product yet. The gesture supports are functional but the gaming inputs are lacking to say the least. The application store is also missing some big titles like HBO Go and Sky Sports but the television functionality impresses me greatly.
The integration of the system has been well constructed and the foundations have been set to keep the company, and the console, moving in the direction of the market. Yes, Sony may be ahead in sales right now but the Xbox One is already scoping an audience for a virtual reality market that Sony just won’t be able to compete with.
E3 this year may be more important than last, with rumours galore already hitting the Internet. Microsoft are being expected to announce many new AAA titles (like Halo 5) as well as their VR offering which should make for an interesting next 12 months. And that’s not even stating the remaining releases this year.
The Xbox One is an impressive marriage of software and hardware that raises the bar in terms of what we expect from a living-room machine. Looking forward more than it looks back, the Xbox One feels like it's from the future.
