News: Xbox One Revealed

It's been a long time coming. Current generation of consoles has been on the market for over 7 years  now and it's time for something new. A few weeks ago Sony revealed first official info about the new PlayStation 4. They got fans really excited with numerous improvements, 8 GB DDR5 memory (16 times more than PS3's 512 MB), an eight-core CPU based on x86-x64 architecture and GPU on the same chip as CPU. That's one thing I really like about these new consoles, as it means they will be more similar to PCs, so porting games will be easier and we'll get more great games on PC (I'm primarily a PC gamer, though I respect consoles too and appreciate their role).

But, let's get back to Xbox One. The first thing I noticed about it was it's name of course. Everyone expected it to be called Xbox 720, but Microsoft decided to call it One. One means One device for all your entertainment. So basically Microsoft want to completely take control of your living room experience as new Xbox will be able to surf the internet, use Skype to make calls in full HD, watch TV and guess what.. play games.

Xbox One

It's weird actually that they've spent so much time revealing a game console, and barely mentioned games. All they talked about was how it can connect to all kinds of services such as Microsoft's Cloud, Fantasy team and all that. But the most important information was left out, what can we expect in new games? Of course, we can expect graphical improvements.. but what else? Will there be new ways to play? They said nothing, apart from a very important information that Call of Duty: Ghosts will have a dog in the game. Realistic dog for the win.

Call of Duty Ghosts features this high definition pet

HARDWARE

New Xbox One comes in a weird and almost scary looking black box, half of which is liquid black and the other half is mate black, and is actually a huge vent hole to provide solid and most importantly silent cooling. Inside is 8 GB or RAM memory, but they didn't specify whether it's DDR3 or DDR5 so speculations are still that it will use slower DDR3. Also mentioned is eight-core processor, so basically, the same thing as new PS4 as was expected. There's also a 500 GB HDD for your mandatory game instalations. At this rate, that space will run out soon, and since HDD can't be replaced, fans will probably have to wait for 1TB or even 2TB models that are sure to follow sometimes later in consoles lifecycle.

With the console comes a new, slightly redesigned, gamepad. The most important changes are a cross like d-pad instead of a circular one,  and redesigned battery.

The second major piece of hardware that you'll get is new Kinect. This time it has a HD camera that can capture all your movements precisely and can even guess your heart beat based on your skin color (it uses infrared camera so being black, white, brown, red, yellow or a green alien doesn't really matter). It looks much more precise, also it understand your weight transfer, rotation and even small movements of the hand as demonstrated during the reveal.

Xbox One

GOOD OR BAD

So, will this new Xbox be any good.. hate to say this but it doesn't look good so far. It looks a bit weaker than PS4. That doesn't really matter too much as both will be almost equal  and games will be developed for both at the same time using same technology so don't expect any big differences there. Also it's UGLY. Yes, fricking UGLY. PS3 already did the all-black thing and did it good. But Xbox One looks clunky. It's just huge, and it sits there watching you like HAL 9000. Also, it will require internet connection. Not all the time, but very often (once every day as reported by one interviewer).

Now prepare youslef..

THERE IS NO BACKWARD COMPACTIBILITY. Yup, so you can throw your Xbox 360 games away unless you plan to reconect Xbox 360 when you want to play those. You can't borrow games to friends. You are almost forced to use it's Kinect and voice controls and don't forget one more thing... that Kinect camera.. check this IT NEVER GOES OFF. Yes, that's right, you will be watched by the camera at all times (HAL 9000), and if you're connected to internet at all times too.. well, Big Brother will be watching. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but that just sounds creepy and me no like.

We'll have to wait for E3 to see another round between Microsoft and Sony. There will probably be much more talk about games, exclusives and all that at E3. The rest of these things like Skype, TV, movies or music..I ain't impressed, I got a PC for that thank you very much.