Here are my thoughts:

Looks pretty cool. Smooth graphics. Definitely a step up. Integrated Kinect is interesting , but how does it figure in price-wise? You can watch television with it, but is that an added cost on top of my subscriber? And what happens if I drop cable to use Xbox as the only TV device? Will it even work then? Skype support is certainly interesting. The voice commands are cool, but how effective are they really? The controller looks freaking awesome, it seems they didn't try to reinvent the wheel but just added polish to it instead.

The cloud support is interesting. I like how they want servers to do a lot of offloaded calculations. Trouble is: they claim it's an offline console, but games that must rely on these servers, well, can't be played offline. Blu-ray discs are awesome, we now get huge game sizes. But at what cost? Games must now be installed to the HDD, which is bad since the last time I did that took 30 minutes. Unless it can zip through 40GB's in a minute then it's not worth waiting for the download: picture going to a friends house to play that game. Before you just brought a disc and there it was. Now you'll have to sit through an install screen. What's worse: they may not have internet or a very slow connection.

Xbox is also trying to be many things. If it's not about games then they are going to scatter their audience. Who is their target audience? And if they don't have one I wonder how good it'll sell? Already I'm seeing the other entertainment stuff becoming a little used add-on. I'm skeptical on that front.

I think it's pretty cool. Now what about it's price? That means everything to me right now.

I was very disappointed by that reveal. I thought the next xbox could be the other console next to my wiiu. But now I am not sure if it is worth the money. I do not need TV, I do not need Sport games, I do not need a Halo TV Show. I need interesting games and a turn-console-on-and-play-feeling.

Kinect and Voice control are interesting, but I don't get the point, when I still need to turn on my TV with the remote control :p

I will wait for the E3... I hope after that I can decide much easier if xbox or ps4. For now I am very happy to own a wiiu

I frequent gameinformer and I'll repeat a message I said over there since I think it's a fairly good description of all the "haters" I see on the X1:

To me it seems that 99% of people complain about the costs of it. They worry about the cost of the device, the "fee" on used games, the cost of the services (gold membership, etc). The cost of the TV you'll need to buy and internet connection. Other than that nobody has an actual problem with the systems architecture, games, or features.

I think that adequately sums up those detracted by the X1.

I'll reserve judgment until it's actually out.  I've been willing to give every new system a chance, including the Wii--which I did like, at least up until it became Shovelware Central (I love my Wii U though).  A console is only as good as its library, hopefully there'll be some decent launch titles.  My only real "complaint" (and it barely qualifies as one) would be that "Xbox One" doesn't sound like the name of a game console to me.

As for the detractors, I seem to remember seeing the same blather about buying a new TV before the X360 and PS3 came out, what with them being the first high-definition (read: HDMI) consoles.  Now almost everyone has an HDTV (and if they don't, 1080p sets are a dime a dozen at this point, as are HDMI cables if you know where to look), that argument doesn't really hold water anymore.  If you can afford the console, you can afford the TV.  As for price of the console, admittedly, at least in the case of the PS3, it was waaayyyy too expensive at launch, I actively refused to buy one until it finally came down to $300.  I'd probably be willing to shell out a bit more now, though.

But yeah, no sense complaining about something you haven't actually had the chance to experience firsthand.  That's just idiotic.

But yeah, no sense complaining about something you haven't actually had the chance to experience firsthand.  That's just idiotic.

Yeah, I see a lot of people getting really angry at the console for no particular reason! There's still a lot of rumors out there and people are just attacking without thinking.

I guess we'll get a better idea come E3.

I'm purchasing both the xbox one and ps4 at launch, already have 5 games pre-ordered for both consoles. 
I'll reserve my review and thoughts when I get them.

I don't like the XBox One. But generally I like new systems less and less, anyway, so I'm certainly biased. I also dislike the PS4 and Wii U (though those less so).

Jest: that's not true anymore. We'll know more at E3.

I still think it's too early to tell. The only thing I can say is that MS is perhaps targeting too many different audiences with the device. The only good thing (for them) is they'll find an audience tat likes it, and it may not be gamers.

Is it not? I didn't know that.

I don't know, maybe it's just the fact that I grew up and still live in areas with bad internet (the absolute fastest I can get here, and it would cost a king's ransom, is 1200 kbps), but anything that undermines the old fashioned idea of playing games in the same room as the other players and sharing games (and needing internet for anything falls under that to me) rubs me the wrong way. Even just the integration of the PSN and XBox Live respectively makes me unhappy.

It's probably just that I see anything like that as a step towards the dystopian future of consoles that I've felt coming for a very long time. More internet appliances than game machines. So I probably see all the new consoles in a much worse light that is warranted.

Yeah, I agree with you Jest. It seems the era of trading cool and awesome games with your friends is completely over. If games are going to be account-based then that'll just ruin it. Books, movies, board games, toys can all be shared without a freaking online account that holds you back. They only do it with games because they can. (Well, I'll admit for books you do have e-books now, which is just as terrible). When I find a book I like, the first thing I do is put it on a damn bookshelf, book and all. Not download it to a device I'll replace in 'n' years, relying on a server they'll replace in 'n+10' years!!! It's maddening.

What happens if Xbox One has been put into disservice after 15 years? I'll be a grown man by then but would still be interested in games. Would any of the classics such as Halo 5 or 6 be available to me anymore after such a time happens? I shudder to think what would happen to my steam games if steam were to ever close up shop. Just the other day I installed an old copy of Baulders Gate. Yes, cd key and all. I was overjoyed that it took no internet, no log-in, no deals with the devil, just a serial key, a disc, and some minutes to myself.

Valve has been very good to us. I would hope (but this is only a hope) that they would release a patch to un-steam all the games that they released, and at least some other publishers would do the same if steam was ever shut down (but that's just a hope). I don't really have as much faith in many other companies that they would do that. I know the old Blizzard would have, I don't know about the current Blizzard. I know that Mojang promised such a thing for MineCraft (and to release it as public domain on such an occasion). But the idea still makes me worry.

I know the old Blizzard would have, I don't know about the current Blizzard.

The current Blizzard responsible for Diablo 3 and who requires a persistent internet connection for all their games? ...Fat chance.


(I haven't actually played any Blizzard games - I don't really buy games - although the reviews I've read of Diablo 3 make me think that if the current Blizzard started to shut down they'd find ways to grab our money til the very end.)


I don't have an Xbox currently and the Xbox One probably won't change that, but it does look like a decent effort from Microsoft. As a developer I appreciate the integration with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

Is it not? I didn't know that.

I don't know, maybe it's just the fact that I grew up and still live in areas with bad internet (the absolute fastest I can get here, and it would cost a king's ransom, is 1200 kbps), but anything that undermines the old fashioned idea of playing games in the same room as the other players and sharing games (and needing internet for anything falls under that to me) rubs me the wrong way. Even just the integration of the PSN and XBox Live respectively makes me unhappy.

It's probably just that I see anything like that as a step towards the dystopian future of consoles that I've felt coming for a very long time. More internet appliances than game machines. So I probably see all the new consoles in a much worse light that is warranted.

Live in a rural area?  The fastest speeds nationwide is 100MBPS but there are locations where you can subscribe to 1GBPS at a $225/mo price tag.    The online thing doesn't bother me nor does used games as I generally buy them new anyway.  + it's nice to have a 100MBPS connection, it's speedy.

I actually have 120MBPS according to speedtest.

Rukiri, not everyone is as rich as you are.

Oh, I get 32MBPS internet in my area, which is good. I can't get anything faster since no one supports higher speeds in the area I live in.

Jester lives in Alaska, IIRC. Find fast and cheap internet access up there and maybe I'll move to Alaska! :v