My word, that Xbox One console. Surprising no one, the Xbox One
remains a relatively large black rectangle with little in the way of
visual charms. A 45-degree angle cuts along the bottom front, giving the
face a slightly squatter profile than the console's actual height. It
looks an awful lot like a 1993 artist's rendering of 2013's technology.
There's a hint of retro cool in that look, but it's more PT Cruiser than
VW Beetle.
All told, Microsoft's new game system is no looker; it's a far cry
from the Xbox 360's "inhale" design philosophy, that's for sure. The One
is divided into quadrants fashioned out of a mix of glossy, black
plastic and matte, black plastic. As is always the case with
shiny, black plastic electronics, our Xbox One instantly got dirty.
We're talking within the first day of living with it. This was our first
of many signs that the Xbox One is meant to be plugged in, set up and
rarely touched. An entire half of the One's roof is taken up by a slotted vent, which
helps cool the custom system-on-a-chip, 8GB of RAM and 500GB HDD
within. On that note, the console is very, very quiet. Meanwhile, a
slot-loading Blu-ray/DVD drive on the front-left offers the only
front-facing opening, and it's thankfully surrounded by matte plastic.
That means the only other fingerprint-prone spot is the touch-sensitive
power button on the front-right, and even then, you might prefer to use
your voice to turn on the console.
One of three USB 3.0 ports is located on the left side, just around
the corner from the disc bay, which makes it easy to charge at least one
device. Heading around back, a mess of ports is hidden away: the power
socket, two more USB 3.0 connections, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI-out and
-in, powered USB (for Kinect) and optical audio. And that's it!
The gamepad
The Xbox 360 gamepad is an industry standard at this point. Beyond
its wide adoption through the Xbox 360 itself, the PC is rife with
controller-friendly titles that work with the wired version of the 360
gamepad. Due to both its revered status and ubiquity, then, Microsoft
wasn't in a position to drastically change the gamepad here. And that's
exactly what this is: not a change, but a refinement. The same basic setup persists: offset, dual thumbsticks along with a
d-pad, four face buttons, two middle buttons and an Xbox Home button.
The 360's Start/Back keys are swapped for the Menu and View buttons,
acting contextually both in games and in the Dashboard for various
ancillary tasks like pulling up maps and options. The Home button is a
bit higher up, making accidental presses unlikely -- all slight changes,
but important ones. The differences become more stark as we move to the
thumbsticks and rear triggers.
The squat, concave thumbsticks now feature sharply angled, rubberized
depressions, surrounded by a hard, circular rim and coated in tough,
textured rubber. The design ensures that, regardless of how you hold the
thumbsticks, you're not slipping off by accident. If you do, it's
probably your fault -- these sticks are serious; they're clearly built
for keeping thumbs locked in. Stick movement is slightly looser than
last time around, but we hardly noticed a difference in precision. Where
we occasionally had to re-adjust finger placement mid-race on the 360
gamepad, the textured edges of One's thumbsticks obviated such concerns. While the 360 gamepad was widely praised, its original d-pad was among the worst created. Microsoft moved toward a fix with a new version of the 360 gamepad
in 2010, and the One's version represents a bigger step forward. Four
audibly "clicky" directions give the impression that this is a d-pad
meant for switching between weapons or spells, not as a control device.
Sure, you could play a fighting game with it -- and Killer Instinct
is waiting for you to try at launch -- but we wouldn't suggest you do
so. It could work in 2D, retro-style games, but there are none available
to play on the One just yet.
"Impulse Triggers" is the name Microsoft's giving to the new
vibrating rear triggers. Despite the silly name, they're actually a neat
little addition. Whereas the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 has a
touchpad, the Xbox One's gamepad has rumble triggers; the triggers offer
new feedback to the player and an instant means to respond. Forza Motorsport 5 demonstrates this perfectly, using the trigger rumble to convey... rumble strips, or a redlined tachometer. It's hard to demonstrate their importance through words: You simply have to feel them in action. Use it once and the potential becomes obvious. Another nice addition to the triggers is what feels like a rubberized
stopper where the trigger meets the controller body. What results is a
distinctly quieter, more comfortable experience during heavy trigger use
(shooting games, anyone?). Your roommates will love the quieter
triggers; we promise.
The only real step back on the One controller is in the shoulder
buttons, which are noticeably stiffer than on the 360 gamepad. They're
simply harder to push down, and can be tough to use repeatedly (try
barrel rolls in launch title Crimson Dragon). It's not a dealbreaker by any means, but we have high hopes that future models will feature springier shoulder pads. Battery life is excellent considering two AAs power all of the above
-- the same controller we've been using for a few weeks nearly every day
needed its first battery replacement yesterday. We'd put up with having
to charge the controller more frequently had Microsoft included a
rechargeable battery, but keeping its cost lower isn't a terrible
tradeoff.
Software
Day One Patch and setup
If there's one trend this console generation could do without, it's
massive launch-day patches that enable standard functionality. Xbox One
is no hero in this department: The first thing your new One will do when
you turn it on is attempt to connect to the internet and download said
patch. Should you choose to skip the process, your console won't go
anywhere beyond the Dashboard. It won't even play games! After connecting, you've got a big patch on your hands -- at least 500MB
-- before restarting and beginning the actual setup process. We
encountered longer-than-normal restart times during this initial
process; it's possible the update will go smoother on launch day, but
don't be too concerned if it's a little... disconcerting. When the
console's back up and running, just enter a handful of the usual data
(Gamertag, Microsoft login, region, et cetera) and you're in. If you'd
like to set up Kinect face and voice recognition, there's an option; the
same goes for controlling the TV and setting up OneGuide. If you want
to skip all that and jump right into games, you can do that as well.
Navigating the OS
Windows 8 is far from perfect when it comes to non-touchscreen PCs,
but it's perfectly navigable on Xbox One. The main Dashboard is basic,
and built around access to what you use: Friends is glued to the left
side, with the large main pane reserved for your active content and
surrounding panes showing recently used and "active" apps, Snap, your
software folder and the disc content square. Software is where Microsoft
outclasses the competition -- the Xbox One Dashboard is simply a
cleaner, more intuitive setup than the PlayStation 4's endless app list. Three main areas divide up the Dashboard: Pins, Home and Store. Home
is described above; Pins are... whatever you've chosen to "pin" (or
attach) to that screen; and Store contains quick links for various
categories (games, movies/TV, music and apps) above a search bar, all of
which leads into a deeper storefront (more on that in a moment). Pins
can be especially neat. Think: pinning an album or playlist from Xbox
Music and jumping directly in from the Dashboard. Ultimately, this is
the number one way to customize your experience, as voice commands only
get you so far.
Voice commands and multitasking
As we said earlier, turning on the One by saying "Xbox: On!" is
delightful. Tying that experience to the TV so that, when the console is
running in "always on" lower-power mode, both can be "woken" with
voice, is powerful. Pair all that with face recognition and you've got a
game console that boots in less than 15 seconds, all from saying two words. But say those words carefully
and with extra enunciation, because otherwise you might have to say
them a few more times. And don't you already feel silly enough speaking
to electronics? That entire last paragraph is representative of the Kinect voice
experience on Xbox One, from basic Dashboard commands to in-game action
and during Hulu Plus streaming: It's just not a reliable enough input
method. When it does work, boy is it incredible. Every time it doesn't,
we're one step closer to disconnecting it forever.
When voice commands work, jumping from game to app and back to game
is seamless, with no need to re-launch most apps after loading. Four
applications can run at any one time, with one game included in
the four. That number of "active" applications may shrink depending on
how memory-intensive your companion apps are to the system at any given
time -- Skype, for instance, seemingly takes up more memory than, say,
Netflix or Hulu Plus. It's not always clear how many can remain active,
but whichever game you were playing last remains suspended (music
playing in Xbox Music keeps its place, etc.). We cannot be clear enough
here: When voice commands work and you've got several apps active as
well as a game, jumping between them is instant. Not quick -- it's immediate. Should you go the controller-only route, switching between apps is
also quite speedy when you employ the Home button. Rather than launching
a miniguide like on 360, you've got access to the full Dashboard. From
there, your active apps are just a button press away.
Additionally, even when you turn off the console (but leave it in
"always on" mode), it will reawaken with your game in the same paused
state from when you were using it earlier. Pretty great! Should you load
another game, the previously suspended game will turn off, making way
for the new game -- there's no warning here either, so be careful when
issuing voice commands that sound like "Xbox: Go to Dead Rising 3" while your game of Forza Motorsport 5
is suspended mid-race. In fact, that unfortunate scenario happened to
us. Imagine that wasn't a single race, but hours of unsaved game
progress. Yeah. That's frustrating not only because the game of Forza was shut down mid-race, but also because loading times for games can be incredibly long from a dead stop. Dead Rising 3 is a solid two-minute load from Dashboard to in-game (that includes loading our save file and getting into the game), whereas Forza takes about a minute and a half and Killer Instinct
takes one. After that initial load, they're instant to re-load from the
Dashboard or from other apps, but not between other games. Shortcomings and oddities aside, the multitasking on Xbox One is
leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. The Xbox One handily switches
between several apps and a game at once, whereas the PlayStation 4
works with two at most (including one game). It's a credit to
Microsoft's software prowess that the console can handle so much at
once. It's even relatively organized as well!
Live TV and OneGuide
The HDMI plug that comes out of your cable box: That one goes into
the back of the Xbox One where it says "HDMI In." Then you snag another
HDMI cable and run it from "HDMI Out" on the Xbox One to your
television. And that's it: You've completed the "Make Live TV Work on
Xbox One" process (unless you haven't set up Kinect to work with your
TV's IR sensor yet, which takes another few moments). It's very, very
easy. And that's because the Xbox One is doing little more than acting
as an HDMI signal passthrough for the cable box. Any other HDMI devices
you'd like to pass through the Xbox One will also work, though beware of
a slight delay in gameplay if you throw another game console into the
mix. OneGuide is similarly easy to set up, requiring a postal code and
cable TV provider to sync up local channel guide listings with the
Kinect's IR blaster, so you can command the One to switch to other
channels. The guide also integrates various apps, so that it can be used
for navigating between live TV, streaming content (e.g., SkyDrive, Hulu
Plus) and more. Only a handful of voice commands work in terms of
channel names (the ones you'd expect, like CBS and ESPN), though we were
only able to test it with Time Warner in New York City. In short, don't
expect the OneGuide to take over your TV-viewing experience, but the
Live TV passthrough is still very convenient. One less HDMI plug going
into the backs of our HDTVs!
Native apps
Though based on Windows 8, the new OS won't feel alien to longtime
Xbox 360 users. Many of the standard applications aren't dramatically
different either. The Friends list is still basically just a friends
list, though an activity feed keeps a running log of who's doing what in
which games. It's the One's equivalent of the PS4's "What's New"
section, and it's similarly susceptible to floods of messages from a
single, very active user. It's also just not very up to date, making
most new information not useful at all. "My Games & Apps" returns from the Xbox 360's Guide Menu to
provide two jumbled, sadly unfilterable rows of every owned piece of
software. Like the PlayStation 4's main content area, One's My Games
& Apps not only lists everything you own (both games and apps, as
the name says), but it also lists game disc installs. Of course, when
you try to load those games without the disc inserted, you'll get
nothing more than a prompt asking if you've lost your mind. You haven't,
of course; it's just a poor design choice. That there is literally zero
organization outside of most recently used apps showing up closest to
the left is truly unfortunate. We might have to keep Kinect hooked up
just to circumvent dealing with finding specific apps. The Party app is relegated to Snap functionality, meaning it only
populates on a slide along the right side of the screen. This makes it
convenient to handle for the most part, though inviting friends takes
over the full screen and still stutters a bit as invites get sent out.
Bizarrely, Skype is relegated to its own application, rather than
working with the Friends and Party apps to unite Xbox One
communications. Video chat is simply no longer an option outside of
Skype, and you'll need your friends' Skype names or phone numbers to use
it. As previously detailed, Skype's video chat functionality uses
Kinect to automatically adjust its picture size and focus based on how
many people are in the room or where they're standing. It's neat, and
functions relatively flawlessly, but it's not likely an app we'll be
using all that often. There's nothing wrong with Skype on Xbox One; the
living room just isn't a place we use for Skype chats. If that changes,
it's nice that Xbox One provides a solution. SkyDrive on Xbox One is very convenient, offering streaming
access to any content you have stored in the cloud. We easily uploaded a
short video from our phone to the free 7GB account Microsoft provides
and subsequently watched it on Xbox One via SkyDrive. Easy! Microsoft's
also offering uploads of game clips to SkyDrive, making sharing even
easier. Both Avatars and Achievements are little changed. "Challenges" add a
new level of metagame to the already deeply ingrained Achievements
system, offering time-sensitive goals set by developers. These don't
affect Gamerscore, but add another layer of bragging rights. Internet
Explorer is also back, and it's still not very good. Neither Sony nor
Microsoft has solved the translation issue of web browsers on game
consoles -- current gamepads and virtual keyboards simply don't cut it
when it comes to web navigation.
Xbox Music/Video continue to offer large selections of music and
movies, though we spent most of our time using Hulu Plus and Netflix
over Xbox Video. Videos continue to be very expensive and are often
available for free elsewhere, though we appreciate the option for snowy
days when Netflix just doesn't cut it. At very least, the layout for
both is clean and organized. Streaming custom radio and full albums
(with subscription) through Xbox Music is a very nice experience and one
we've been drawn to: It's easy to get home, turn on the Xbox One with
voice, navigate to Xbox Music and play it in the background while taking
care of a barking dog/crying baby/delicious pie/etc. If it was active
before powering down, it'll pick right back up where it left off,
mid-song. Though we enjoy Xbox Music, it's currently the only option for
listening to music on the Xbox One. No Spotify or Rdio, and no ripping
music to the HDD. Music can be streamed from a local PC's Xbox
Music-housed collection, but that's it. Despite SkyDrive's
video-transcoding ability, music can't be uploaded there and streamed
down.
Snap
Snap is a major addition with the Xbox One's Dashboard. Try as we might, we can't figure out why. Snap might be an impressive-looking
feature -- the ability to "snap" a variety of apps to a right-aligned
rail, from live TV to streaming music to SkyDrive to Internet Explorer
-- but almost no situations exist where the aforementioned makes any
sense. Worse, the snapped application often runs poorly as a result of
its shrunken form; Internet Explorer serves as a perfect example of
crippled usability while snapped. On the Xbox 360, music could be streamed from the HDD directly into
games, replacing in-game music. So why does the Xbox One require both
that we use Xbox Music to listen to that music and that we have it
"snapped" to a portion of the screen? Being able to snap music while
doing other things on the console is nice, but we'd prefer if the music
traveled into games without a massive graphic overlay. This is audio
we're talking about, after all. For the sports fanatic, having live games snapped to the right rail
might make sense. And perhaps having fantasy sports information along
the right side will be enough for others. Outside of those applications,
it's hard to find other compelling reasons for Snap's existence.
SmartGlass 2.0
Microsoft's got the second-screen experience much more figured out
with Xbox One: The companion app connects quickly and allows access to
much of the console. We're not saying you'll want to pull out and pair
your smart device -- we're still not entirely sold on the concept either
-- but if you do, SmartGlass is both convenient for controlling the
console and fun in-game. Dead Rising 3's companion experience is useful, even, offering quick access to the character's cellphone (and the functionality therein).
The Store
There is no escaping the Xbox One games, movies/TV, music and apps
store. It's actually built into the main Dashboard this time around, and
all of the above content types have their own storefronts with featured
items, new releases and popular sections. A large search bar below the
four sections offers a shortcut to anything too far outside Microsoft's
categories, via text entry or (if you're willing to risk it) voice.
Clicking through the new Store quickly brings up rich content pages,
with a variety of metadata depending on the content in question
(trailers, images, blurbs and the like -- standard info). Though
organization for the game section will become more and more dependent on
search as the Xbox One's life goes on, for now it's a great
representation of the new console's software lineup at launch.
Games
Forza Motorsport 5
Forza is one of two first-party graphics powerhouses from
Microsoft meant to dazzle new Xbox One owners. And if you aren't dazzled
by Forza's gorgeous lineup of cars, something has gone seriously wrong. Consult an optometrist. Thankfully, in addition to looks, Forza Motorsport 5
is excellent, if not a touch too serious. It's still a driving
simulation first and foremost, but in-game driving assists and
recognizable cars make its depth of simulation easy to skip past. Dead Rising 3 Of all the launch games we played on Xbox One, Dead Rising 3
feels the most underdone. Animations are awkward and dialogue is
terrible. Nothing about it feels like a finished product, and at $60
it's a seriously hard sell. Don't waste your time: Skip over this empty
zombie action game. Ryse: Son of Rome
Ryse might be the most graphically impressive game on any
next-gen game console. More excitingly, it's got engaging combat and
uses the Kinect effectively (the occasional shouted troop command).
Graphical prowess is used for acting, combat animation and showing off
the glory of (fake) Ancient Rome. It's an easy game to get caught up
looking around at how gorgeous everything is visually, and it's right
there with Forza (and beyond) as a showcase for graphics on the Xbox One. Crimson Dragon Not long after the PlayStation 3 arrived, a dragon-flying game named Lair launched to critical disdain. You'd think the subsequent console launch wouldn't feature yet another dragon-flying game. It does; only this time it's named Crimson Dragon. It's not pretty; it's not very fun; and it doesn't do anything particularly interesting with the Xbox One's tech. Crimson Dragon is squarely with Dead Rising 3 in the category of "Not Worth Your Time or Money." Killer Instinct Given that it's free, Killer Instinct is hard to turn down.
To unlock the rest of the game's characters, though, you've gotta plunk
down some more dough. We think you'll find that a few fights with Jago
and you'll be in for more money and more punching fights with
werewolves. Killer Instinct isn't the best or prettiest
fighting game we've ever played, but it owns its silliness and has a
shockingly deep combo system. Beware of that ultra-hard CPU difficulty
setting: It's a doozy!
Where's streaming, Upload Studio and sports?
Whoa, doesn't the Xbox One broadcast games and record the last five
minutes of gameplay at any given time for editing/sharing? And what
about the ESPN and NFL stuff? When's Engadget gonna get to that? Why yes, the Xbox One does do that stuff! Or at least it will. Upload
Studio arrived this morning, and game broadcasting is delayed to some point in "the first part of 2014."
As such, we'll have to update this review after spending more time with
both. Expect Upload Studio within the next 24 hours. Sorry folks!
Wrap-up
The Xbox One may not be exactly what Microsoft thinks it is, but it's
still a strong start for a powerful game console. Its sheer speed,
versatility, horsepower and its ability to turn on and off with words
make it a relatively seamless entry into our already crowded media
center. What determines whether it stays there is the next 12 months:
Exclusives like Titanfall and Quantum Break will help,
as will gaining feature parity with the competition (we're looking at
you, game broadcasting!). For broader success beyond just the early
adopter's living room, the NFL crowd must buy in to Microsoft's $500
box. But will they? That remains to be seen. What's there so far is a
very competent game box with an expensive camera and only a few
exclusive games differentiating it from the competition
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco.
