220°

Xbox One Review | Popular Science

Everything about Microsoft's new game console, its first in eight years, is designed to make you do as little as possible. That means running multiple apps at the same time, a "snap" function to plop stuff on-screen into a picture-in-picture style, and--eek--a reliance on voice controls.

Should you buy this? No. Wait. You don't need something to hook up through your TV right now, unless it has games to accompany it, and the Xbox One, as cool as some of its features are, has a dearth of games. You can wait. How long? That's up to you: whenever there's a sum of games that make it worthwhile to you, go for it.

Soplox3845d ago

"Should You Buy This?

No. Wait. You don't need something to hook up through your TV right now, unless it has games to accompany it, and the Xbox One, as cool as some of its features are, has a dearth of games."

JeffGUNZ3844d ago

It's launch lineup is much more impressive then Sony's to be fair. To me personally, nothing stands out for me to warrant buying EITHER console at this point.

3844d ago
JeffGUNZ3844d ago

True, they both are "average" at best, but Forza is a great game if you're into racing, unfortunately I am not lol.

GrizzliS19873844d ago

funny youre not including mutliplats in your comment, considering they all look and run better on the ps4. People buy consoles to play COD, FIFA, 2K, AC series, NFS as well you know -.- and all those games are well worth the purchase of the system to keep you entertained for at least 3 months.

XxGOWxX3844d ago

I think MS really needed a halo and kinect game to show off. Something to give the halo followers the incentive to get in early. Maybe even if they could get out titanfall as a demo at launch it could have helped.

For me PS4 didnt have one launch game that appealed to me, but the XBO has 2 i really want and a few that i will grab later on.

dedicatedtogamers3844d ago (Edited 3844d ago )

Depends on what you consider "impressive".

At retail, XBox One has more games. More. More impressive? That's up to you. PS4 does have the superior version of multiplats, and for the longest time (*cough*360*cough*) best multiplats was ALL that mattered to a lot of people. Surely, surely I am not the only one who remembers this type of conversation:

Gamer: "But there are hardly any new exclusives coming out for 360"

360 Owner: "Who cares? The biggest games of this year like CoD, Skyrim, etc etc are the ones I want to play"

Soooooo, where are those people now that PS4 has superior multiplats? Has that mentality magically vanished?

But behind the scenes, once you get the systems hooked up and you see what is available as an indie download and free-to-play games? PS4 blows XBox One out of the water, no contest. Several great FTP games and several more to come soon.

Insomnia_843844d ago

Are you not reading the reviews??? Even Forza is being hot by 7/10s left and right. And wait until the Rice reviews come up!

harrisk9543844d ago

Launch lineup means nothing because in a month or so, you are going to have to buy more games and I'd rather hitch my wagon to Sony which has a roster of great developers (first and second party) and simply has a history of churning out high quality after high quality titles. MS has taken a different tact historically of buying timed-exclusives and not spending money to develop from within. This generation does not look to be any different.

JeffGUNZ3844d ago (Edited 3844d ago )

@ Insomnia

Yes, I am. A lot of 8's and 9's too. Metacritic has it at 82 right now.

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

@ Grizzli

We were discussing exclusives to buy the system. I can buy COD Ghosts, AC, BF4 and watchdogs on the PS3 or 360 as well. I am pointing out only Xbox One or PS4 games.

Hicken3842d ago

"We were discussing exclusives to buy the system."

Who said that? Not once in all these comments were exclusives mentioned. People simply talked about the games.

And if marginally better multiplats was an excuse for you Xbox boys this gen, you damn well better believe that significantly better multiplats will be an excuse this generation.

No moving the goalposts.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 3842d ago
Gridloc3844d ago

After watching IGN's 20 min review in progress shows me more work needs to be done to justify a purchase at this time. Not taking anything away, some features are really cool. They just don't work first time , every time. If you dont plan on hooking up Kinect I don't see many people enjoying their experience...

bennyace3844d ago

I'm really trying get hyped for Sony and Microsoft's offering... Nothing interesting that you can't get on PS3 or Xbox 360 at this point. I don't get the "excitement" of next gen consoles people are getting right now... Think I'll wait next year, maybe by spingtime something worthwhile will have come out... I'm not willing to pay $400-$500 for a console to play games I can play on consoles I already own.

Goku7813844d ago

That's what I've been saying. Maybe one day, but definitely not this year.

hades073844d ago

This came off as a poorly written review, especially compared to more in-depth reviews like Joystiq and IGN did with both new systems.

150°

10 Biggest Xbox Mistakes of All Time (So Far)

The Xbox brand has done a lot of good over the years, but their various blunders are pretty wild to look back on in their magnitude.

Read Full Story >>
culturedvultures.com
piroh6d ago (Edited 6d ago )

Ironically number 9 can save them at this point (releasing games on multiple platforms)

ChasterMies5d ago

By “save them” you mean make more profit for Microsoft. Xbox will still be a dying hardware platform.

OtterX5d ago

You could add the naming scheme for the consoles, it just confuses customers. I know they wanted to avoid traditional numbering bc it would always be lower than their competitor, but this whole 360 then One then Series thing is confusing af. Imagine a Soccer Mom trying to figure this stuff out. I still mistakenly call the Series X the One from time to time on accident.

RNTody5d ago

Don't forget about the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X! Good luck to Soccer moms around the world.

S2Killinit5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

They did that on purpose to confuse and direct attention away from the generational numbering.

MS doesn’t like reminding people that they joined the industry after others had already been involved in gaming.

For instance, they called the xbox “360” to combat PlayStation “3” because they wanted to seem like “more” than “3”, so instead of xbox 2, they opted for xbox 360. Also this had the additional benefit of selling consoles to uninformed parents who might purchase a “360” instead of a “3” by mistake, or because they thought 360 was more than 3. Kind of a disingenuous move.

They have been continuing with their confusing naming patterns for pretty much the same reasons. Frankly, it fits with who and what they are as a brand.

FinalFantasyFanatic4d ago

I can understand their reasoning, but whoever came up with that naming scheme should be fired, bad naming schemes have killed consoles (I'm pretty sure it was the major reason for the downfall of the WiiU). They should have had unqiue names like Nintendo and Sega have had for their consoles, far less confusing for the consumer.

rob-GP1d 7h ago

@FinalFantasyFanatic "They should have had unqiue names like Nintendo..."

lol, you mean:

NES, SNES
GameBoy, GameBoy Advanced, GameBoy Colour, GameBoy SP
DS, DSi, DSXL
3DS, 3DS XL, New 3DS, New 3DS XL
Wii, Wii U
Switch, Switch OLED

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1d 7h ago
Cacabunga5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

Phil Spencer is the worst that has happened to Xbox.
They built a respectable brand up to Xbox one. Then this guy took over and things became a joke

Reaper22_5d ago

He still has his job. Something you can't say about Jim Ryan.

Cacabunga5d ago

Both bad execs. One is on job and one thankfully retired.

FinalFantasyFanatic4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

I didn't like either person, both people damaged their respective brands and produced worse outcomes, but Phil did save the Xbox brand from being retired by Microsoft. Although in hindsight, he should have just let it die, rather than languish in limbo like it is now.

Rainbowcookie3d ago

Yeah but the one that was "bad" didn't even affect sales.

bunt-custardly5d ago

Phil Spencer was also on the team back when 360 was around, alongside Shane Kim, Peter Moore etc. I think the damage that did the most harm was the Don Mattrick "Always Online" console (ahead of its time basically). They handed Sony and Nintendo a free-pass when that was revealed. It went downhill from there. Then the corporate machine went into full swing to try and recover. They have to a degree as a games company for the masses, and less so for the core gamer. Outside USA, the Xbox brand does not sell as well as Japanese based consoles (citation needed).

Cacabunga5d ago

Want a decision maker. The always online and TV plans was a disaster yes, but they caught up by announcing 1st party games that gamers actually kept the hype going.. until this moron took over and introduced the PC day one release.. e all know where that ended..

S2Killinit5d ago

I dont think they were ever a respectable brand, not since the beginning, when their goal was never to be involved and share in the gaming space. I think the OG xbox was an exception because MS as a brand was still getting its foot in and so the people behind that were people of the gaming industry.

FinalFantasyFanatic4d ago

The 360 was the brand in its prime though, everything went downhill towards the end of that generation. Its staple games like Halo, Forza and Gears are what kept the console relevant and afloat for so long.

MaximusPrime_5d ago

Really good video.

I remember the days with RRoD was big news on here, N4G.

Microsoft had it turbulence number of years.

Looking at the success of Sea of Thieves despite being 6 years old, time to release Halo, Forza horizon 4 & 5 on PS5. It'll help their revenue

shinoff21835d ago (Edited 5d ago )

2 of the 4 games they did already sold really well. So it's definitely going down. Idk about halo or forza but I feel those studios they've bought in the last 5 years, their coming

ChasterMies5d ago

I found this video painful to watch. Can someone list them out?

Top 10 for me from are:
1. 2013 reveal presentation
2. Bundling Kinect 2 with Xbox One
3. RRoD or why rushing to market with hardware is always a bad idea.
4. Buying studios only to close them.
5. Ads on the Home Screen
6. Letting Halo die.
7. Letting Geard of War die.
8. Every console name
9. Charging for Xbox Live on Xbox 360 when Sony let PS3 players play online for free.
10. Cancelling release of OG Xbox games after the Xbox 360 launched.

Show all comments (31)
150°

Microsoft to Add Copilot AI to Video Games

Microsoft recently revealed its plans to incorporate Copilot directly into video games, with Minecraft being the first showcased example.

Read Full Story >>
xpgained.co.uk
Fishy Fingers10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

F*** AI

"Hey Copilot, what's a good meme to prove I dislike AI".... https://giphy.com/clips/sou...

Einhander197210d ago

Two trillion dollar company that just can't wait to put as many people possible out of work as fast as possible.

It feels like every single thing they do is making gaming worse and destroying the industry.

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darthv729d ago

....you know it takes people to program the AI.... right? It isnt like it is sentient. We haven't reach skynet level of situation or anywhere close to the matrix just yet.

That's next Thursday.

Einhander19728d ago (Edited 8d ago )

It takes a people to program the AI then that AI is used for who knows how many games eliminating countless jobs which only grows as AI is used for more and more game creation functions.

What you're saying is so ridiculously short sighted and truly larking any kind of understanding and foresight.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 8d ago
CaptainFaisal9d ago

Why all the hate? Im actually excited about this! Always wanted this kind of immersion, and an AI companion with me all the time helping me out knowing the status of my skills/inventory/progress and giving me tips on the best approach or how to craft something specific is game changing for the industry.

Hate all you want about AI, but this is just the start and I can see the potential already. You wont be complaining in the next 5-10 years about this, but rather complain if a game hasn’t implemented it.

MrDead9d ago

Yes we can't wait for the work of others to be used without the need to pay them so that MS can profit even more from the people they fire.

I_am_Batman9d ago (Edited 9d ago )

There is no chance I'd ever use something like this, especially if it's not part of the core game design, but a layer on top of it. It's way too much handholding. Many games already feel like busy work, because they don't let the player figure things out on their own. Having a real-time interactive guide defeats the purpose of playing the game in the first place in my opinion.

If this were to become the standard like you predict, we'll see more and more video games get away with bad design, because people will just be used to ask for help from the AI companion anyway.

Number1TailzFan9d ago

Well Nintendo don't need this with some of their games these days, with invincible characters, items, easy bosses etc.. they do the hand holding built in

helicoptergirl9d ago

Takes "hand holding" in games to a whole new level.

BlackDoomAx8d ago

Because human nature xD Almost every new technology had these kind of comments.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 8d ago
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70°

Activision team is opening a new game studio in Poland 'Elsewhere Entertainment' to build new AAA IP

Microsoft's Activision subsidiary announced today that it is opening a new game development studio to take advantage of the huge talent pool growing in Poland. It'll be the second Activision studio based in the region, joining Infinity Ward Krakow, although this studio is, in fact, not working on Call of Duty.

Read Full Story >>
windowscentral.com
Psychonaut8513d ago

They’re not working on Call of Duty? Give it time.