Full disclosure: I’m not an Xbox fan. I don’t begrudge anyone who likes or owns an Xbox 360… it’s no secret I owned five of the broken little blighters. The fact that I replaced a video game console five times in a two-year period may have something to do with my distrust of the brand, but I went into today’s Xbox One announcement with as much of an open mind as I could muster.
My verdict? Meh.
We didn’t see very many games, something this industry is sort of about. I mean, it’s right there in the title: Video Game Industry. I mean, yes, we got to see Call of Duty: Ghosts, which (GASP! SHOCK!) will have timed exclusive DLC for the Xbox One. We saw some Forza gameplay, which I admit is pretty, and we found out that Destiny will be coming to the Xbox One, as will Battlefield 4… as if there were ever any doubt.
There were no big exclusives and not any really big reveals, which I understand will probably come at E3, but so far, so… meh.
Then there were the snippets of news about the console: it won’t be “Always On”, but will require an Internet connection, and Microsoft practically leaves the door open for developers to eventually force the console into “Always On” territory anyway. It won’t ban the usage of used games outright, but will charge a fee if you want to play a game on a console other than the one it was originally installed on. Oh, yeah, and it’ll absolutely require Kinect to work, something that doesn’t thrill a guy living in an apartment that doesn’t have the luxury of ten feet between me and my TV.
It’s also not backwards compatible, and your XBLA purchases won’t carry over either.
So let’s review: if I borrow a friend’s game, I’ll most likely have to pay a fee in order to play it (in addition to the fees for Xbox Live to play online, and while EA has done away with Online Passes I doubt everyone else will), it once again places entertainment options ahead of games, and I need to use Kinect even though I really, really don’t want to.
And the name… THE NAME. Xbox One? I thought that was the original Xbox. So we’ve got Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Durango, Infinity, and ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE would’ve been a better name. It’s like the Wii U debacle all over again.
Some people were so underwhelmed with this system’s announcement, Sony’s stock prices actually jumped.
There are some cool ideas, don’t get me wrong. I’m digging the new controller, there are some exclusives coming, and I like the idea of Achievements evolving to adapt to your playing style, but I’m hoping both Microsoft and Sony have really, really good E3 presentations, because the only thing I’m excited about right now is the fact that there’s a new Zelda coming out for the 3DS.
