My Opinion: Everything You Need to Know About the Xbox One. My Thoughts on Sony, Microsoft and Much More

Games, Indie Games, News, Opinions, Screenshots, Videos 8 Minutes
I would of prefered the name Xbox 2 or Xbox 3.
I would have prefered the name Xbox 2 or Xbox 3.

The Xbox One was announced on Tuesday so to summarise everything that was mentioned in the conference I have put together this post. I have intentionally waited a few days so the facts and much more information could be released about the console. The Xbox One is an upcoming video game console from Microsoft and is the successor to the Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox family of consoles. The Xbox One will directly compete with Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Nintendo’s Wii U as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles and currently has as release date of Q4 2013.

Timeline

Looks like black one the war of console colours over grey and white.
Looks like black one the war of console colours over grey and white.

The developer kit for the Xbox One was codenamed Durango and has been under development for a few years now. The Xbox One was official revealed on 21st May 2013 with more information to come out at E3 on 11th June 13th June 2013.

Hardware

What early Xbox One's will look like after a few days.
What early Xbox Ones will look like after a few days.

Similar to the PlayStation 4 the Xbox One will feature compatibility with the x86-64 central processing unit (CPU), a Blu-ray Disc drive and 8 GB of unified memory in the form of high performance DDR3.

The Xbox One has an accelerated processing unit (APU) with eight x86-64 cores, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM with a memory bandwidth of 68.3 GB/s, a 500 GB non-replaceable hard drive and a Blu-ray Disc optical drive. 3 GB of the RAM will be reserved for apps and Operating System (OS) with 5 GB for games. The graphics processing unit (GPU) is based on an AMD GCN architecture with 12 compute units, which will have a total of 768 cores, providing an estimated peak theoretical power of 1.23 TFLOPS.

The Xbox One will support 4K resolution (3840×2160) video output and 7.1 surround sound.Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of marketing and strategy for Microsoft has said that “there is no hardware restriction that would prevent games from running at 4K resolution”. The Xbox One will support HDMI 1.4 for both input and output but the Xbox One does not have a video output for either composite video or component video.

The new version of the Kinect will be included with all Xbox One’s as the console will not function while the Kinect motion sensing device is disconnected.

Media connectivity

The Xbox One will allow instant and simultaneous access to movies, live TV, music, Internet Explorer and games.

Set-top box

I hope you like expensive television.
I hope you like expensive television.

Microsoft have said that the Xbox One can take over a TV and set-top box in similar way to Google TV or Apple TV. The Xbox One will take a cable box signal and pass it through to the TV via HDMI which will allow the Xbox One to overlay a UI and be visible on top of an existing TV channel.

Voice control

The Xbox One will feature a better voice control abilities than those found in the first generation Kinect device. This will allow users to control Xbox functions via voice command in a similar fashion to the Xbox 360. Skype will also become a function of the new Xbox One.

Controller

I like the look except it doesn't feature any touch pad and the logo is odd.
I like the look of the controller except the logo looks odd.

The Xbox One controller is similar in overall layout to the Xbox 360 designed controllers. However the directional pad has been changed to a four-way design and the battery compartment is slimmer and new buttons have replaced the start and back buttons. Each trigger will feature independent rumble motors called “Impulse Triggers” which allows developers to program directional vibration. For example one trigger can be made to vibrate when firing a gun or both can work together to create feedback that indicates the direction of an incoming shot.

Kinect

The new Xbox One Kinect will feature a “wake with voice” on the Xbox One console. It will have a 1080p camera compared to the VGA sensor on the original Kinect. The new Kinect will use a time of flight camera to acquire RGB depth data compared to the light coding technology used in the original Kinect and the new motion controller would process 2 Gbit/s of data to accurately read its environment.The device will be included with the console and the microphone will always be on. This will mean it will need to be plugged in for the console to function. However users retain the software capability to turn off all Kinect functions while the sensor remains connected to the console.

Microsoft have announced that a PC version of the new Kinect will be released in 2014.

Operating system

Conversations can now be more odd.
Conversations can now be more odd.

The device will run three operating systems: Xbox OS, an OS based on the Windows kernel, and another OS that will allow the other two operating systems to communicate by virtualisation (as a hypervisor). This will allow features like snapped Skype calls while in a game.

The Windows edition on the Xbox One will not be compatible with standard Windows applications but developers will be able to port them over with little effort.

Xbox Live

The Xbox Live service will now use 300,000 servers for Xbox One users from the Xbox 360 15,000. Cloud storage will once again be offered to allow users to save music, movies, games and saved content but the Xbox Live service will still be subscription based. Developers will also be able to use Xbox Live servers to offer more “living and persistent worlds.”

Digital video recorder

Included in the Xbox One will be a digital video recorder (DVR) which allows the recording of gameplay. These videos can be edited with the consoles in-built video editing tools and shared with friends through the Xbox Live service. However the DVR will not be able to record video from cable, over the air, satellite and other similar video outputs. Microsoft entertainment boss Yusuf Mehdi has said “Microsoft would be reaching out to the TV guys to get additional features, like DVR recording and playback”.

Games

The lates hair and skin technology being put to good use here.
The latest hair and skin technology being put to good use here.

The following titles have been confirmed to be in development for Xbox One:

  • Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag  – Ubisoft Montreal.
  • Battlefield 4 – EA Digital Illusions CE.
  • Call of Duty: Ghosts – Infinity Ward.
  • Destiny – Bungie.
  • FIFA 14 – EA Canada.
  • Forza Motorsport 5 – Turn 10 Studios.
  • Madden NFL 25 – Electronic Arts..
  • NBA Live 14 – Electronic Arts.
  • Need for Speed: Rivals – Ghost Games.
  • Quantum Break – Remedy Entertainment.
  • Ryse – Crytek.
  • Thief – Eidos Montreal.
  • UFC – Electronic Arts.
  • Watch Dogs – Ubisoft Montreal.

Microsoft have said that fifteen exclusives will be coming to the Xbox One in the first year, and eight of these are brand new, original games.

Backward compatibility

Looks familiar but is complety new technology.
Looks familiar but is completly new technology required for realistic face avatars.

The Xbox One will not be backward compatible with Xbox 360 content, as the systems use different core architectures.The Xbox 360 uses a PowerPC architecture while the Xbox One uses a x86-based one. This means that all Xbox Live Marketplace content such as Arcade and Games on Demand will not pass over to the new console.

Required internet connection

An internet connection will be required for the Xbox One and single player games will require online verification every 24 hours.

Used games

Xbox One game discs can be installed and played on more than one console as games are tied to both Xbox One consoles and Xbox Live accounts but an unlock fee will be charged to play a registered game under a different Live account on a different Xbox One console.

Videos:

Xbox One Unveil Video.

Xbox One Reveal Highlights.

Xbox One Reveal Entertainment Demo.

Xbox One Reveal Magic and Science.

Quantum Break Trailer.

Thoughts

I am mostly a PC and Xbox 360 gamer these days so a prospect of a new console after all this time had me excited but after finding out about the Xbox One I am now unsure whether I will stick with Microsoft or go back to being a mostly Sony console owner. I like all three companies Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft but It’s too expensive to get all three consoles these days. You have to make a choice so I normally wait a bit before buying one.

With the restriction on used games, no back wards compatibility or continuation of old content, required online verification every 24 hours for single player games, and the mandatory requirement for Kinect has made me concerned if Microsoft know their customers well enough. Sure they know what some people in the market want but all the things I just stated is what me and a lot of current Xbox 360 owners will be affected by the most. If this is the case for a lot of their current user based you can expect many to move to either PC or other competitors (for example OUYA).

It seems Microsoft with Xbox One is trying to compete with other home media devices like Apple TV and Google TV and less on the main competitors of Sony and Nintendo, these is a mistake that Microsoft will likely regret. I am sure they will still have an audience but for the people who just play and buy consoles to play video games such as me then it’s a long way from the early days of the Xbox 360.

Both Sony and Microsoft still have me interested in console gaming but the direction to more multipurpose consoles and constant online and social media features have me worried that gaming won’t just be about playing a game but getting annoyed by tons of pop ups. Its a long way from just putting a game in a completely offline console and being completely immersed in the gaming experience.

There still many questions left unanswered but these two things are certain: Its going to be expensive and this will likely be the last generation before other companies like Apple Inc. and Valve Corporation muscle into the mainstream console gaming market.

It be good to know what the situation will be like in three years time maybe the new small console companies or handheld gaming companies are the future and big expensive console swill become a thing of the past.

Source: Information help from Wikipedia.

Some of my other Xbox related posts:

Some of my other opinions:

Published by King Toko

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