World, meet the Xbox One.
Microsoft unveiled Xbox One, an all-in-one console that's fashionably late to the next-gen brawl, promising to turn us into couch potatoes. We'll fill you in on everything we know about Xbox One, it's controlle...
World, meet the Xbox One.
Microsoft unveiled Xbox One, an all-in-one console that's fashionably late to the next-gen brawl, promising to turn us into couch potatoes. We'll fill you in on everything we know about Xbox One, it's controller and the all-new Kinect. Stay tuned for further coverage of Xbox One and more on Games.com News as we get closer to E3.
Console Specs
The Xbox One is powered by an eight core x86 CPU providing enough power to "instantly switch between a game and your entertainment app with ease." Adapting to industry standards, it will come equipped with a Blu-Ray drive with which you can "watch movies and play games in stunning HD..." Competing directly with the PS4 spec-by-spec, it also comes built with 8 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive, which as Microsoft elaborates, will be smaller due to "...significant amount of storage..." consumed by the Xbox One's required software. Keeping things moving briskly and lag-free will be a critical part of the Xbox One's experience and "the combination of its CPU, GPU and ESRAM is like have a supercomputer in your living room."
Controller details
The thought of Microsoft changing the near-perfect Xbox 360 controller could make a grown person cry, but just look. It's not bad. It's rather good, actually. First of all, the analog nubs are extra grippy and concave to enhance your comfort and precision. The D-Pad will be easier to use and more accurate, which means no more screaming when you mess up trying to string together combos. One of the most interesting changes to the controller are the "vibrating, impulse Triggers". Who knows if this will act to provide natural resistance to actions like firing a gun or executing a melee action in-game. Similar to the PS4's Dual Shock 4, the Xbox One controller will act as another form of player identification for the Kinect. By pairing the controller to the person who is using it, the Xbox One can intelligently sign in and sign out of user accounts dynamically. Awesome.
Kinect
The Kinect is not necessary to fully enjoy all the Xbox 360 has to offer. As a serious gamer, I know I'm not alone when I say that it's hard to find a reason to justify using a Kinect, mine is in its retail box at home. It's a great idea, incorporated sloppily as a competitive push in motion gaming, an afterthought. However, with the Xbox One, the depth of Kinect's interactive capabilities shown at the event were impressive. We are, after all, dealing with "rocket-science level stuff" here. The most consumer-friendly addition is the inclusion of HD Skype calling. Introducing video chat, gestures and voice commands that can switch television inputs, change channels, update your sports fantasy leagues are all nice but at the heart of Kinect, we need better gaming interaction. If the Kinect can make good on its promises and developers can grasp the technology in creative ways, it just might finally compliment the Xbox One experience instead of getting in the way.
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[Credit: Xbox]
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