THE ONE

Well, it's here...sort of.  Tuesday morning, Microsoft unveiled its next-gen console and successor to the XBox 360, called stupidly simply the "XBox One".  Unless you've been living under a rock (or aren't a gamer), you've probably already heard the criticisms laid against it, and heard the fan outcry.  Yeah, I honestly can't say as I feel a whole lot different.  But as a gaming blogger, I guess I'm kind of obligated to say something about it, right?


Frankly, most of what you need to know from the reveal can be summed up in this video right here:

Ugh.  "XBox, Go Home" indeed.

Okay. I get it.  They're trying to not only make a next-gen gaming console, but they're trying to beat Apple in the race to the living room.  They want to wedge their established brand name onto your entertainment center before Apple TV can release its box unit, thus cementing their dominance in the market.  I understand that.  It actually makes quite a lot of business sense. 

I still fucking hate it.  I don't mind that the XBox One (fuck I hate that name) does all this TV and movie stuff, I mean lord knows I watch Netflix on my gaming consoles all the time.  But from their press conference, it feels like the console is going to be a TV and movie device that I guess, if you really feel the need to, you can probably play games on once in a while.  This is like designing a whole car around the stereo.  Plus, I hate sports and I hate Call Of Duty.  So yeah, that was all falling on deaf ears here.

It worries me that gaming consoles are going to go the direction of cellphones.  They're going to spread themselves so thin with all of the multiple functions and extra features, that the primary purpose of the system (i.e. playing goddamn video games) is going to fall by the wayside. I have an iPhone 4; it can watch HD movies, browse the internet, and play games that look better than my old PS2, but you know what it kind of sucks balls at doing?   MAKING FUCKING PHONE CALLS.  I get shitty signal anywhere I go, drop calls, can't hear shit, people can't hear me, etc.  But man, that thing can Facebook like a motherfucker.

I want to not criticize their lack of games.  I really, really do.  They've said "Don't worry, this is just the functionality reveal, we'll show you the games at E3!"   Well good, because I know when I hear about a new gaming console, the last thing I want to hear about is games.  Thanks, Microsoft.  Still, the list of confirmed and rumored XBox One games does not inspire a lot of hope or confidence.  I'm not saying there's nothing in there that looks good!  But nothing in there that really makes me go "Man I gotta get me one of those!"   Hell, most of them are cross platform.  What got me so feverishly excited about the PS4 reveal was that it was all about games and supporting games and sharing games with your friends.  The XBox One reveal treated games like an afterthought.

There's also the issue of not having backwards compatibility on XBox 360 games.  Eh, I get being disappointed by this, but it's not really something they can do much about.  It's not an issue of money-grubbing for the most part, it's programming.  Console architecture isn't like PCs.  The Xbox 360 wasn't programmed like the XBox, and the XBox One won't be programmed like the 360.  When the PS3 was released, the only way they got their backwards compatibility was by actually cramming the hardware of a PS2 inside the console.  That was the primary reason the system sold for $700 on release, and why the price plummeted once they removed that feature. 

It still irks me that even though my XBox Live account will transfer over, my huge pile of XBLA games won't.  Not sure why this bothers me more than disc-based games, but it does.  Sony is allegedly getting around the hardware issues with their Genkai game streaming service, so why can't Microsoft?  There has to be a way.

Where a lot of people are complaining, and rightly so, is the used games issue.  Microsoft has flat-out stated ""We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games. We’ll have more details to share later."  Sounds good, right?   Yeah, they also said that when you buy a game, that game will have a code that will be tied to your account.  If you buy a used game?  You not only buy the used game, but also have to pay an extra fee.  Rumors have flown around, and Microsoft has not, at the time of this writing, confirmed anything, but the most prevalent rumor is that the "fee" will be the running cost of the game.  Meaning your XBox One will run a check and see how much that game costs, and then charge you for it.  Again, this is just rumor. We shall see what happens.

The always-online issue is a big one for some people.  I get it, but it doesn't affect or bother me personally, so I can't really say as I feel passionately about it.  I know there are people out there for whom internet is not a luxury they can afford or have access to.  That sucks.  But sadly this is becoming an issue for more and more technologies, and the world is having to adapt.  My heart goes out to those folks, it really does.

The decision that BAFFLES me is their sudden new restrictions on indie game publishing.  No matter which side of the console war you fell on this past generation, there is no denying that the XBox 360 was instrumental in the indie game movement of recent years.  XBox Live Arcade put so many games and devs on the map, by supporting games like Bastion, Braid, Limbo, Super Meat Boy, etc.  So now this generation, Sony and Nintendo have jumped hugely onto the indie bandwagon, while Microsoft has turned around and basically said "Fuck you"?  What the hell are they thinking?  Why would they do that?  I know Ouya CEO Julie Urhman will be sleeping easier at night knowing their little indie powerhouse console won't have much competition there.

And this guy just laughs to himself and thinks "Aww, that's cute":

So yeah.  I'm not going to be one of those histrionic complainers already declaring the XBox One a failure, but I will say the big reveal has already pretty much killed any interest I personally had in the console.  It meets almost none of my needs or desires.  I hate the Kinect, and think it's creepy that I would have a technologically advanced high definition webcam and microphone in the center of my house that is on at ALL TIMES, but then I feel that way about the Playstation Eye too.  And the XBox One won't function without the Kinect connected, either.  But hey, some people I know think that it's pretty darn cool, so to each their own.  I just don't feel like the XBox One is the console for me, and I likely won't be buying it unless they get some exclusive games I can't get anywhere else.  And apparently I'm not the only one.  In the UK, they hated this reveal so much that Wii U sales skyrocketed.

I guess, on the bright side, the new updated controller is pretty sweet?