By Joe Schnebly
Microsoft has recently come out with their take on the next generation of gaming console: the Xbox One.
It connects to the Internet, your cable box and lets you play video games all at the same time. Their previous generation consoles, the Xbox and Xbox 360, revolutionized the home gaming experience. With the addition of Xbox Live, the Xbox family has been unstoppable compared to Sony’s PlayStation family. When you buy it, you get the new and improved Kinect 2.0, a new headset, new controller and the Xbox One itself.
The Xbox One has been revamped and overhauled since the eight-year-old Xbox 360. The One now comes with a 500GB hard drive which has 125-times more storage than the standard 4GB Xbox 360. The One also runs faster than previous models due to its eight-core AMD processor and 8GB of ram. The 360 has a triple-core 3.2GHz processor and 512MB of ram, far less than the One.
The controller has also been looked over. Many gamers, even PlayStation players, have been known to say that the Xbox 360 controller “is the best controller ever made.” How does a company try to improve from that praise? Easy. Make the battery compartment inside the controller, add rumble motors into the left and right triggers, move the home button and, most importantly, put in an actual D-pad. On the 360 version, the D-pad was easy to move and flip around; most players did not like that function to the controller. Microsoft listened and put in a D-pad similar to Sony’s Dualshock controller, while keeping the signature Xbox look at the same time.
Back in June, when Microsoft revealed the Xbox One and new Kinect, they came under heavy fire for their Kinect policies. The Kinect, which comes with a camera, would always have to be plugged into the Xbox coining the phrase “always on.” This means that the Kinect would be on all day seeing what is going on in your bedroom or living room. This frightened many people because of the reports of the NSA spying on the public. Microsoft later changed their policies and apologized to the gamer community. However, the Kinect was also overhauled. The Kinect mic can now pick up your voice with a clearer tone and has over 25 commands with many more to come. The camera now has color and reacts quicker to the user’s motion; it can even use facial recognition to log you right into your account.
Compared to the PS4, the Xbox One has far superior exclusive games, such as Titanfall, Ryse: Son of Rome, Forza Motorsport 5, and Dead Rising 3. The only game worth buying for the PS4 is Killzone: Shadow Fall; every other game seems to revolve around fantasy. That’s fine if you like that genre, but even PS4 buyers seem to prefer the Xbox’s game titles.
As mentioned earlier, Xbox Live has made the Xbox the console it is today. Sony is trying to copy Microsoft and have everyone sign up for “Playstation Plus.” The program is $50 a month, ten dollars less than Xbox Live. However, PS Plus has just started their run in the gaming network while Xbox Live as been up and running for ten years now.
If you are looking for a cheap console, look towards the PS4 at $400. If you are looking for quality, look for the Xbox One. It will cost you $500, but you will get the most out of the new generation with the impressive track record of Microsoft and the Xbox.
