Week ONE: We go next-gen with the Xbox One™ (the All-In-One Entertainment System by Microsoft)
by Omar (@siegarettes)
We here at Clickbliss have been a bit late jumping on the next-gen train. Speaking for myself, I’ve often found that new generations of hardware rarely hit their stride until at least a year into their life. Even now I don’t feel that developers have really made something that feels entirely impossible on the previous generation of hardware. With that said, due to a generous donation by Microsoft* the upcoming holidays I’ve decided to take the plunge regardless. We’ll be updating the site with some impressions of the games themselves, but for now here’s a run down of the hardware.
Why the Xbox One?
A couple of people have actually asked me why I picked the Xbox over the widely popular PS4. For the most part it was due to RJ already covering the PS4. That, and Halo. Halo and Forza. That’s about it.
First Impressions
The Xbox One’s Metro style menu is beautiful. Even the default avatar icons have a seriously stylish look that definitely surpasses the generic drek that generally comes with systems. The menus are also a hot mess. Nothing feels immediately intuitive, categories are poorly organized, and functions are hidden behind multiple menus. It’s actually a huge step back from the largely streamlined, if slow, New User Experience currently on the Xbox 360.
For example, in order to redeem a game code, you must scroll all the way to the right, go to the games store, and then choose to redeem a code. Checking the progress of a download also requires you to drop into the “Games & Apps” section and check the queue. Previously, you would hit the guide button, scroll left and and find both options. It’s a Windows 8 style mess, that like the aforementioned OS, makes it obvious that it was designed primarily for a different input format. With Windows 8 it was the touch screen, and here it is the Kinect.
Things like the much touted recording feature are hidden somewhere in the obscure nest of menus. Honestly, without a Kinect to shout “Record that!” at I’m not sure how to use the built in menus to find the option. I ended up using the SmartGlass smartphone app to test it out, which is clunky in itself. Sony smartly set aside a button for it, and even Steam’s Big Picture mode allows you to at least take snapshots by pushing the guide button and right trigger together. (It should be noted that the Xbox does not at this point have the ability to take screenshots, despite being able to record video).
This clunky feeling extends to the Snap feature, which allows you to attach a second application to the side of the screen while you play. I’ve actually already got some use out of this, streaming both Twitch and Youtube while in game. Twitch worked fine, but Youtube’s video notably stuttered while trying to catch up to the video. Gameplay was unaffected though. Switching between controlling the two apps was a clunky, however, and required me to back out of the game and into the window I wanted to control each time. Again, if there is an easier option, it’s not immediately obvious.
This brings me to what is probably the worst “feature” of the Xbox: the installs. Microsoft has taken the problem of the PS3’s mandatory installs (used to better stream data from the enormous Blu-Rays) and exasperated it tenfold. Part of this is down the massive size of next-gen game assets, but regardless, it represents a serious drawbacks. After installing the games I picked up with the system (some of which, like the Master Chief Collection, required massive hours long updates) I’ve been left with less than 60GBs of the starting 400GB or so. It’s entirely absurd.
It should be noted that you can play the game before it has finished installing (a nod out to MS’ “Tray and Play” installation feature that only made it into the PC version of Halo 2). This works much better for games running of a disc, and those that are largely linear. Games with multiplayer components and the like will often have those parts locked out. Irritatingly, even if it’s just downloading a patch the disc needs to be in the drive to continue, preventing you from playing something else in the meantime. I spent more time leaving my Xbox to install than actually playing it on the first day.
There are definitely things I like about the system, but it feels like a piece of hardware unnecessarily crippled by my lack of Kinect. When Microsoft says the system was designed with the Kinect as an integral part of the experience, I believe them. I just wish the interface didn’t feel like an afterthought without it. I’m also worried about the future of the system. Running out of harddrive space so quickly is maddening and makes it obvious that the console experience is quickly taking on the problems of the PC gaming experience.
The convenience of jamming in a disc and playing has been on its way out, but it’s more obvious than ever that the convenience offered by having a dedicated games machine is dead. I haven’t spent this much waiting for things to install and download since the early 2000’s. There are so many oversights here that I can’t help but feel this thing will be soon outdated. If you want an illustrative example, keep in mind that this is a system where you have to download a separate application to play Blu-Rays. Yes, what should have been an obvious, system level feature needs to be installed. Even the Xbox One original can figure out how to play movies on its own. C'mon, get it together Microsoft.
*Microsoft is not, nor has even been affiliated with Clickbliss or any of its writers. All opinions are the author’s alone. Just in case you didn’t get the joke.