So I brung myself an Xbox One
Merry Early Christmas to me, motherfuckers! I got a regular Xbox One with copies of Forza 5 (some special edition or other) and Sunset Overdrive.
First up - please, no PS4 advocacy. I'm totes invested in the MS ecosystem (Office 365, Xbox Music, Outlook.com, etc.) and playing Forza was a non-negotiable part of the deal. I know the PS4 is "better", but it doesn't play Forza, so, as far as I'm concerned, it might as well not exist.
First impressions - the Xbox One itself is not as ugly as I thought it would be, and the Kinect is actually a bit smaller than I expected, with a generously long and annoyingly un-bendy cable.
Controller: oh my. The One has replaced a 360, so I'm no stranger to a very good controller, but yes. the XB1 controller is even better than the 360 controller - more comfortable, the buttons are nicer, the triggers have vibration in them (ooh matron) and are a generous size. Note: I have very large hands.
Setup was a doddle, notwithstanding the ridiculous 900MB download before you get to do a damn thing (both Forza and Sunset Overdrive wanted similar). Welcome to consoles in 2014 and hurrah for my 100Mbps connection, I suppose. The dashboard thing makes sense to me, but then I've had a Windows phone for 3 years and Windows 8 for 2, and it's not a million miles away from the final incarnation of the 360's dashboard. It's easy enough, and lets your organise your shee without fuss.
Kinect stuff: Voice control very good - it handles my accent - a mix of Midlands and moderately northern English - with aplomb, gestures OK-ish (seem to work best in IE, oddly), head-tracking in Forza worthless.
Forza 5 is spectacular, both to play and to look at - with one exception, which is the Wolfenstein 3D-style flat spectators. I still hate Sebring. The Prague circuit is gorgeous. The in-car views are even better than before, and allow for a real immersive experience. I still bemoan the lack of a split volume control (music/car noise/commentary) and I still turn off too many assists too quickly, and then curse my lack of talent. Jury's out on the drivatar thing - ask me in a week.
Sunset Overdrive is such a fun game. There is not one single second during which this game takes itself remotely seriously. The visual jokes, the fighting, the grinding and bouncing - it all adds up to endless fun. I occasionally go thumb-blind (I'm a long-time PC KB/M gamer, so the two thumbsticks dealie isn't natural to me) and end up looking at the floor or the sky - but the game seems to forgive that. The world seems huge and explorable, which is nice, and your mobility through it is considerable. It helps that the game looks absolutely fabulous - a rich, vivid, almost cartoonish visual style which may not be your thing.
As a media wossname, the One does well. It had a brief chat with my Virgin Media TiVo and now controls it - at least for channel-hopping and the EPG. If it could also operate the PVR side of things, that would be awesome, because the 400MHz processor in the TiVo makes its Flash-powered user interface a bit of a shitshow. Maybe one day.
I like how Xbox Music will try to find and play the matching videos when you play your tunes (if you like). Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Demand 5 - these all work just as well as on the 360, which is to say very well. No BBC iPlayer yet, which is a bit of a disappointment.
Overall, I'm pretty contented with it. It sits nicely under my telly and TiVo, doesn't make any noise that I can hear (other than the occasional robotic whirr from the optical drive when you first put a disc in), and doesn't look particularly offensive.
Yeah.
First up - please, no PS4 advocacy. I'm totes invested in the MS ecosystem (Office 365, Xbox Music, Outlook.com, etc.) and playing Forza was a non-negotiable part of the deal. I know the PS4 is "better", but it doesn't play Forza, so, as far as I'm concerned, it might as well not exist.
First impressions - the Xbox One itself is not as ugly as I thought it would be, and the Kinect is actually a bit smaller than I expected, with a generously long and annoyingly un-bendy cable.
Controller: oh my. The One has replaced a 360, so I'm no stranger to a very good controller, but yes. the XB1 controller is even better than the 360 controller - more comfortable, the buttons are nicer, the triggers have vibration in them (ooh matron) and are a generous size. Note: I have very large hands.
Setup was a doddle, notwithstanding the ridiculous 900MB download before you get to do a damn thing (both Forza and Sunset Overdrive wanted similar). Welcome to consoles in 2014 and hurrah for my 100Mbps connection, I suppose. The dashboard thing makes sense to me, but then I've had a Windows phone for 3 years and Windows 8 for 2, and it's not a million miles away from the final incarnation of the 360's dashboard. It's easy enough, and lets your organise your shee without fuss.
Kinect stuff: Voice control very good - it handles my accent - a mix of Midlands and moderately northern English - with aplomb, gestures OK-ish (seem to work best in IE, oddly), head-tracking in Forza worthless.
Forza 5 is spectacular, both to play and to look at - with one exception, which is the Wolfenstein 3D-style flat spectators. I still hate Sebring. The Prague circuit is gorgeous. The in-car views are even better than before, and allow for a real immersive experience. I still bemoan the lack of a split volume control (music/car noise/commentary) and I still turn off too many assists too quickly, and then curse my lack of talent. Jury's out on the drivatar thing - ask me in a week.
Sunset Overdrive is such a fun game. There is not one single second during which this game takes itself remotely seriously. The visual jokes, the fighting, the grinding and bouncing - it all adds up to endless fun. I occasionally go thumb-blind (I'm a long-time PC KB/M gamer, so the two thumbsticks dealie isn't natural to me) and end up looking at the floor or the sky - but the game seems to forgive that. The world seems huge and explorable, which is nice, and your mobility through it is considerable. It helps that the game looks absolutely fabulous - a rich, vivid, almost cartoonish visual style which may not be your thing.
As a media wossname, the One does well. It had a brief chat with my Virgin Media TiVo and now controls it - at least for channel-hopping and the EPG. If it could also operate the PVR side of things, that would be awesome, because the 400MHz processor in the TiVo makes its Flash-powered user interface a bit of a shitshow. Maybe one day.
I like how Xbox Music will try to find and play the matching videos when you play your tunes (if you like). Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Demand 5 - these all work just as well as on the 360, which is to say very well. No BBC iPlayer yet, which is a bit of a disappointment.
Overall, I'm pretty contented with it. It sits nicely under my telly and TiVo, doesn't make any noise that I can hear (other than the occasional robotic whirr from the optical drive when you first put a disc in), and doesn't look particularly offensive.
Yeah.
