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| The Xbox One console, the revamped Kinect sensor, and the console's new controller |
As I mentioned earlier, the next generation Xbox was announced today, and is officially called the Xbox One. Before I say anything else, I want to comment on the name. My initial thought was that it was confusing and stupid. Why would Microsoft name their third console Xbox One? But after a while I understood their reasoning. The Xbox One is supposed to be the 'one' item you need for your entertainment center. The choice is still going to lead to confusion for the uninformed, I'm sure. PlayStation 4 is going to sound a lot more appealing than Xbox One just due to the bigger number. Some might think that the Xbox One is synonymous with the original Xbox and think that it is inferior to the Xbox 360 while that console is still on sale. If anything, at least the name is better than Wii U.
I won't waste time talking about all of the features of the Xbox One. If you are interested in the console, I'm sure you've already seen everything. If not, this article from Kotaku covers everything nicely.
What I will discuss is that every nightmare scenario that has been rumored for months has come to fruition. Every. Last. One. Said scenarios after the jump.
- Nightmare Scenario 1: Mandatory Kinect Sensor - CONFIRMED
IGN - Xbox One Will Not Function Without Kinect Sensor Attached
The least terrible of the nightmare scenarios, the Xbox One will require use of the Kinect sensor. For those of you that don't know what Kinect does, it is essentially a high-powered webcam capable of tracking motion and voice recognition. When used correctly, the technology is actually pretty interesting. In the menus of the Xbox Dashboard, you can use gestures to move through the various menus and use voice commands for various effects. For example, when watching an episode of a TV show on Netflix, you can say "Xbox pause" to pause the episode and "Xbox Next Episode" to immediately begin the next episode.
However, it's a different story when it comes to games. The vast majority of games that use the sensor are nothing more than cheap gimmicks meant to appeal to a casual audience. Dance Central, a game that launched with the Kinect developed by the same people responsible for the Rock Band series, allows the player to dance to a variety of songs with the Kinect sensor tracking players' movements to rate their performance. It sounds pretty cool, right? Well that particular game isn't the problem. It is the billions of other games for the device that are basically the same thing with a different title. What I'm trying to say is almost every single freaking game for the Kinect is a copy of Dance Central.
I worked in the electronics department at Target last summer. I should be back there again starting next week. Directly in front of the register is the Kinect shelf. It is my estimate that at least 75% of the games on that shelf were Dance Central, its sequels, Just Dance, its sequels, a Black Eyed Peas dance game, a Michael Jackson dance game, a Nick Jr. dance game, and so on and so forth. The sensor isn't worth $150
to play dance games.
Some more serious games also offer Kinect features, but again are only poorly implemented gimmicks. For instance, Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary Edition allows the players to shout commands during gameplay that take the place of a button press. Shouting "grenade" throws a grenade, and "reload" reloads the current weapon... each at about a delay of three seconds. That might be a particularly bad example but the point stands. If each game is capable of implemented Kinect, and Microsoft is likely encouraging the implementation, who's to say each game doesn't add similar unnecessary features? It might not end up being as bad as I fear, but the concern is legitimate.
- Nightmare Scenario 2: Always Online - PLAUSIBLE
Kotaku - Xbox One Does Require Internet Connection, Can't Play Offline Forever
The Xbox One is not an always online console. I want to make that clear. Most features, unsurprisingly, require an internet connection. Certain games, be it for online play or required access to the cloud, will require an internet connection. Again, no surprise. However, the system will need to be connected to the internet at least once every 24 hours to function. Why? No idea. Maybe as some sort of DRM or something else. Microsoft isn't saying yet. It probably won't bother most people, including myself, in practice because our console's are always connected to the internet regardless. However, I read today (not sure where so I can't source; this may not even be true) that approximately 27% of Xbox 360's have never been connected to the internet. There also may be people, such as those living on military bases, that may not have access to the internet to connect their systems. These people would be purchasing a very expensive paperweight.
Microsoft may be alienating part of their userbase with this move.
- Nightmare Scenario 3: No Used Games - CONFIRMED
Kotaku - You Will Be Able to Trade Xbox One Games Online, Microsoft Says
IGN - Microsoft Details Used Game Fees, Installation Requirements
This one is the dealbreaker. It isn't so much the inability to purchase used games for me as it is the inability to let your friends and family borrow your games. Let me lay out the scenario for you. I buy Call of Duty: Ghosts for Xbox One (I'll get to that a little later). When I bring it home, a code comes with the game that I have to enter to tie the game to my Xbox Live account. I then install the game to my hard drive. You see, the disc drive doesn't read the disc, but only rips its contents to the hard drive. Games are not actually played directly from the game disc. At this point, the game is tied to my account. If someone else logs on to my console with a different account, they can access the game no problem. However, if I give the disc to a friend for them to use on their own system? They have to pay a fee to access the content. And this isn't some $10 fee. My friend would have to pay the full $60 to play the game I'm letting them borrow.
This is where the problem lies. You can no longer let friends or family borrow your games. For that matter, you can no longer bring a game to a friend's house to play in a group. You better hope that they own whatever game you want to play. The only way that the game can be played on another console without paying a fee is to log into the account of the owner on said console. It's absolutely ridiculous. I can't tell you how many times I've brought a game to a friend's house, or dorm for that matter, to play on their system. The plan Microsoft has in place completely destroys the ability to do that. It's utterly absurd that they think this is a good idea.
Microsoft did mention that there will be some way to sell your license to your games online, but they wouldn't really detail how. But that's irrelevant. This whole system should have been canned a long time ago.
- Nightmare Scenario 4: Microsoft Renews Timed DLC License for Call of Duty Games - CONFIRMED
As awful as the death of used games is, this one hurts me more. It's well known that I'm a die hard Call of Duty fan (except for Modern Warfare 2, but that's a story for a different time). While I don't know a lot about Call of Duty: Ghosts yet, I was definitely planning on buying it, optimistically thinking I would do so for the PlayStation 4 I am hoping to purchase on launch day. However, with the knowledge that the Xbox One version of the game will be receiving all additional content prior to the PlayStation 4 version, that makes me question the decision. Despite all of the nightmare scenarios coming true, I knew that I would eventually still buy an Xbox One, likely when Halo 5 is released, whenever that is. But I know it's going to kill me having to wait for additional maps for an extended period of time. Now, despite my hesitance towards the console, I may now attempt to preorder both consoles when they are made available in an attempt to acquire at least one of them before the holiday season arrives. Can I put up with all of the inherent problems of the Xbox One just to get my Call of Duty on? That remains to be seen. I may still end up just sticking with the PlayStation 4. In a few weeks E3 will likely solidify my decision.
As for Call of Duty: Ghosts, it looks interesting. The graphics have improved, though not as much as I would have like, and the new tech and features that have been announced will likely be nice. However, after the changes in Black Ops II that I loved so much, it remains to be seen if Ghosts will be able to match or exceed its predecessor. I've linked the teasers released at the event below for you to draw your own conclusions. This article took me way too long to write and I'm ready to call it quits.
*Author is now offline*
Here's the actual trailer:...
...and the behind the scenes vid.
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