And there you have it. The long-awaited night of Microsoft was there, with millions of people watching the live stream. A night for a new console and a night for the next generation of video games. But was it really that good? Was it revolutionary? Was it worth it? Is it a new age for Xbox? Let’s have a closer look at their presentation.
The Basics and the Design
First and foremost, let’s look at the specs. For me, it doesn’t say that much, but for the people who like it, here they are:
– Octa-core processor
– USB 3.0 ports
– 8 GB of Ram
– 500 GB Hard Drive storage
– Five billion transistors
I’m probably missing some details, but I’m sure they will be covered by other people. Among the important basics I found more interesting was the fact that the Xbox does not have to be online all the time. That’s a huge relief. On the other hand, backwards compatibility is out of question. Just like the PS4 it will not be possible. The new switch to an x86 PC-style architecture was the reason for this. Another thing which pisses me off more than the backwards compatibility is the fact that second-hand games have to be paid for. Confirmed by Wired, games need to be installed to your hard drive to be able to play them. This leads to the installed game to be coupled to your account only. Not cool, Microsoft. Considering Sony is not doing this, that’s a win for them. Furthermore voice command will be even more integrated and refined than it was in the previous Xbox, with an addition of gesturing for controls.
To be honest I could not care less about this. It looks futuristic, but feels gimmicky. When I’m playing a video game or watching a movie or video on my Xbox it’s usually when I’m hanging back and relaxing. I don’t necessarily want to command my entertainment with my voice. It’s fun, but it’s not the new thing where I’m buying the Xbox One for.
Kind of interesting was the feature of quickly switching between media with your voice, though. If you’re a multi-tasker, the quick switching between music, movies, games and Internet might be interesting. The only thing I wondered was how this was going to work out if you’re arriving drunk at home and want to watch some tv with your Xbox. “Xbergx, Nertional Gergaaahraphicccs”..
If we look at the design, it’s quite interesting really.
Images from www.theverge.com
Looking at the box itself, it looks quite sexy, but also a bit cubic. And it’s huge. Probably not as huge as the first Xbox, but it’s still a considerable size. Nevertheless, it has the same stylish black as the Slim had added with an extra shine. Looking at the back of this machine it shows a lot of ports which are begging to be used. On to the controller, I must say I am somewhat disappointed. I’m sure it will play just fine, but it lost a bit of its sexiness the old 360 controller had. The sticks looked top-notch from beneath, though. Seeing the two buttons beneath the Xbox logo, we’ll probably have a Share option just like PS4. Kinect was upgraded as well, with more body recognition and more recognizable joints. But no one cares about Kinect, even if it sold 24 million units in the States. Well, most gamers don’t care. Okay, maybe it is a bit important considering it needs to be hooked at all times for your Xbox One to function. That sounds not cool of Microsoft, but they’ll probably ship the Kinect with the console included this time. So what about the further presentation?
American-oriented marketing talk and some games
What irritated me mostly was not so much the marketing talk (photons, rocket science technology..), but more the orientation of the presentation. I understand America is Microsoft’s top one market, but that doesn’t mean you have to mask the truth of reality with statements as we had “the biggest entertainment machine” or “best video game console”. Yes you had. In America. In Europe the PS3 (although with not too big of a difference) was more popular than the Xbox 360. Another thing which I am very sceptical about is their new co-operation with NFL. In Europe, NFL does not have that many fans as soccer has and I don’t really know if their idea to integrate real life stats and achievements with the respective virtual games is going to be available here at all. Oh and another thing: what’s up with those 34 minutes before showing your new game footage? I know it’s a business presentation where stakeholders will be analysing Microsoft’s new move, but come on, it’s still the gamers you will have to sell the thing to. Or maybe it is not anymore, with their new added focus on an all-round entertainment machine. Let’s hope it still is..
When game footage was shown, things got a little bit more interesting. Forza 5 was announced for race fans, which probably showed in game footage, as they always did with Forza titles. It looked amazing and I think many race fans are looking forward to it. They also announced that the Xbox One has 15 exclusives the first year, among which EIGHT NEW IP’s. Now that sounds interesting. I am ready for eight fresh new series, whether they’re good or bad. It’s time for some actual new games. Some people also thought (and I as well) to spot a new Fable quickly between the clips. Fable III disappointed me very much and I skipped Fable:The Journey, so let’s hope they make things up. Now the next thing I was very, very excited about was the announcement of a real-life action series of the Halo universe. With a very special director indeed, none other than STEVEN SPIELBERG. My heart skipped a beat.
If the series is going to be awesome as the earlier made mini-series “Forward Unto Dawn”, I’m sold.
If you don’t know it and like sci fi, check it out (it’s free to watch! – Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJVgXBfSH8&h420&w=620
EA also went on stage and of course announced all sorts of sports games to be available on the new Xbox. They looked amazing and I think many Fifa fans playing on Xbox were excited when they heard EA will bring exclusive content for Ultimate Team mode to the new Xbox. Once again, I don’t play sporties, so for me it looked amazing, but did not shock me or impress me that much. What did impress me was the developer Remedy, which is currently working on a new IP. The teaser they showed was extremely short, which made me sad, but was also very intriguing. Quantic Break seems to be about a little girl who has the ability to manipulate space and time, travelling between dimensions. As Cliff Bleszinski (spiritual father of Gears of War) said on Twitter, it could be plausible a new genre is going to be trending: a young girl with the ability to manipulate space and time (Bioshock Infinite, anyone?).
As said, the teaser was short, but Remedy is known to be very immersive and strong in their storytelling, with games like Alan Wake and the first two Max Payne’s on their CV. I’m excited.
The new Call of Duty: impressive or okay?
Finally, there was Infinity Ward with their new Call of Duty. Call of Duty: Ghosts is going to be the new game in the CoD universe which is going to change drastically, according to their developer’s diary. They attracted Stephen Gaghan, an American screenwriter known for screenwriting Traffic and Syriana. According to them, they wanted to put more attachment and emotion in the game concerning the story and the characters. Interesting. The story itself intrigued me a bit as well: you’re playing the last remnant of America’s special forces gone dark, known as Ghosts. America has became the underdog in a world where they were the loser in a world war. But we need to see more and actually play to be able to judge such a thing.
Some interesting other things were also mentioned for Call of Duty: Ghosts. One of them is the fact that you can have dogs in your squad. They can sniff out explosives and help you in immersive ways. I loved the idea, especially because I hated the world out of them if they were against me in previous games. They even showed a dog in a motion capture suit, showing how serious they’re taking this. Another major improvement was the announcement of a new gaming engine. Considering the graphics of the last Modern Warfare (3), it’s fair to say it was time for a change. Their new SUB-D engine showed that even close up the graphics would hold and show very strong visuals. Whether it can compete with Battefield’s 4 impressive new Frostbite engine remains to be seen, but the fact is that they did improve a lot with new fluid dynamics and some good looking smoke effects.
Yup, motion-captured dogs. Pretty cool, huh?
Concerning gameplay, and especially multiplayer, two very interesting things were mentioned. One was the fact that momentum could be more easily maintained on the battlefield because of new, immersive and intuitive slide-and-climb controls. Considering the unrealistic bunny hopping and wooden animations when going prone, this would be a welcome change. A very cool new thing they’ve added is dynamics to multiplayer maps. It basically means the environment can shift while playing: an earthquake or flood might occur on certain maps, explosives might be triggered or even wooden logs can be rolled down ramps into your advantage. With a nod to Tomb Raider’s traps and Gears of War’s early, simpler ideas of these dynamics in multiplayer, this looked really cool.
Other things mentioned were enhanced character customization, volumetric lightning, self-casting shadows, improved texture resolution on character models showing even dirt beneath finger nails and of course, timed exclusive content for the new Xbox. But these things are of the least concern: it’s in the end gameplay that makes you stick at a certain game and we need to see more to be convinced. No doubt they will sell millions of copies, but Infinity Ward still needs to prove if they can set the standard for First Person Shooters once again.
Conclusion: Xbox One an epic win or epic fail?
Concluding I would say we have seen too little to get excited about the new Xbox. The presentation was highly American-oriented and showed not a lot of games. On the other hand one could argue this is normal, since we have the biggest gaming event upcoming: the E3 in Los Angeles. There they will probably show a lot more games and things about this new Xbox. Most people who were invited to the party weren’t even game journalists, most were either from regular news or from hardware journalists. That kind of illustrates that showing off all their games was not entirely the point. Besides, one could argue that they did something which Sony did not: they actually showed their console instead of only talking about it. All in all, I enjoyed the press conference, and I am excited about the new Xbox. But we need more. And we need it fast, Microsoft. Go and rock our socks at E3!
