Xbox ONE: Unboxing Impressions

So lets just get right to it!

THE PHYSICAL UNBOXING

The box was pretty big, unpacking it's contents revealed that the xbox itself is also large, larger than any console on the market today.  The Kinect was included of course and it is necessary to truly utilize the features Xbox ONE has to offer.  The Xbox ONE still has an external brick, it's also quite large.  Being a former Xbox 360 player, setting the box up was second nature for me.  The initial update took about 10 minutes (It was a pretty big update lol).  I didn't setup the cable or computer settings, otherwise It would have taken forever.  After that I setup the Kinect, standard audio test, lasted about 5 minutes.  There was a neat intro that eventually took me to the home screen.  The dashboard still subtly resembles Windows 8 (which is now 8.1) but the interface looks crisp!  The Kinect, Snap, TV, Music, Multi-tasking, and other features are definitely noteworthy.  It is easy to see why the XBOX ONE is $100 more than the PS4 with everything Microsoft is trying to do. At least the setup process was black and white.  So because of that:

I give it an A

XBOX LIVE

You can't do anything worthwhile on this console without a GOLD xbox live subscription.  It cost $60 for a year, $10 more than PSN's year subscription.  I feel like Microsoft could have come down on the price considering they are already forcing people to buy the Kinect.  The service itself runs ok, but the catch 22 is the fact that Microsoft reserves the right to tamper with this service.  Given their recent flip flopping in commitment to the end user (which is us the consumer), I already notice that xbox live is becoming a hub for ads, gimmicky third party applications and services that illicit our personal information.  The hardware behind Microsoft's network infrastructure is good enough. I just don't know how long that will matter.

C+

GAME PLAY

Everything plays smoothly.  Interacting with the menus using Kinect works alot better than the old Kinect, but there are still a few bugs to be worked out.  I'm sure a couple patches will fix those nuisances.  Since Microsoft's primary goal is to dominate the living room, I don't feel this category fully encompasses all the feature rich applications the Xbox ONE has.  But rest assured, it plays games and plays them well.  Does it play the games "Next-Gen" well???  I think it depends on the game personally.  Some games may better use Xbox ONE's next gen features than others.  It doesn't play in a native 1080p resolution so what you have is a game that looks better than the 360, but not quite as crisp as the PS4 (Assuming you can see the difference). With Microsoft's deep pockets and firm grasp of technology I really did expect them to surpass the PS4 in terms of hardware and software as seen through Game play and UI interface but so far I do not feel that is the case.  

B+

THE CONTROLLER

To me, I thought it was perfect.

A+

Conclusion

The games run smooth, there are still some kinks to work out with the Kinect but for the most part it runs really well.  Everything from software and hardware looks like an improvement over the Xbox 360.  The controller felt really good in my hands.  However, My impressions of the Xbox ONE out of it's box was not so one sided.  In my opinion, It's awfully big for a next generation console, and that is not including the Kinect and external power brick. What my eyes see is a system that is inferior in specs and design to the PlayStation 4.  It plays games well, but most of the ONE's innovative changes come from the interactions through Kinect.  Voice recognition and body gestures are being championed more than ever and while they are convenient, I've yet to see them play an integral role in any worthwhile video game to date.  It displays at a native 720p too.  Not a big deal for most but certainly a con when compared to PS4's native 1080p.  Of course, this is all to say, these features were meant to deepen the interaction with the dashboard, the TV apps, the Video streaming apps, and other Microsoft living room activity.  A lot of stuff I really don't care about if the system wasn't designed optimally for games first.  Microsoft may be trying to change the nature of what "next generation" means, but only time will reveal Microsoft's true agenda. 

My Overall Impression: B

I'm convinced that those who put down the investment on this console will have a great experience with it.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts as things develop and/or change.  If you can wait until the price drops I highly recommend doing so!  

Here is a great synopsis on the Xbox ONE, watch it here! 

Peace,

- JA

PlayStation 4: First Impressions!

Hello, Hello!

So it's been craziness.  I went to the midnight launch in our area for the PlayStation 4.  It was crazy. Everyone was cheering for each console that walked out of the door.  I stored mine away when I got home, and after work Friday me and my boss (who decided to come out to my unboxing party) pulled the box out of the bag.

Several fist pumps later, we took it out the box.  Christmas came early.  Just wanted to give you guys my two cents on my experience with the PlayStation 4.  I threw an "unboxing" party at my house.  The demographic consisted of all kinds of people, with various expectations.  It was truly a great time and I'm grateful for everyone who came out to play and give their respective thoughts:

1) THE PHYSICAL UNBOXING

Everything came out neat and easy.  Nothing was broken, all hardware ports on the system were functional. It included all the necessary components needed to play (of course.)  I even found it novel that it had an HDMI cable in the box for it's native 1080p resolution.  No AV cable at all.  Further more, The generation I grew up in used RF cables (Sega Genesis, lol.)...ah the nostalgia... As you know, the PS4 must undergo a mandatory day one update in order for you to play properly. After removing the packaging and hooking the system up the update began immediately.  The update went incredibly fast (lasted approx 2 minutes).  After the update completed, the console restarted itself.
I put in Call Of Duty: Ghosts.  The system initialized that game's download, then the console restarted after it was done saving the game to hard drive. That game downloaded with no issues and loaded ridiculously fast.  I loaded my PSN profile up through an update too.  Same thing, everything went super fast.  The whole setup process only took me 15 minutes.

I give this part an A

2) PLAYSTATION NETWORK

At the unboxing party we all discovered that PSN was down.  I got to ellicit everyone's opinion in the room.  Honestly some didn't care that much.  It was no surprise to me that the network was temporarily overloaded.  When a million people jump on a newly integrated network over night it is pretty reasonable to have the servers get jammed up. However, Given Sony's shaky history with their PS3 online networking, this down time did bring concern to a few others.  The general consensus would agree that on launch night, nobody wants to be stuck playing campaign mode or split screen against bots on Call Of Duty: Ghosts all night (especially if they aren't distracted by free food and beverages at a party......thankfully we were).  Battlefield 4's online capabilities didn't even work at all (I hear EA also had something to do with that in Battlefield's case). There were drinks and pizza and a Sega genesis in my other room but I say this with all seriousness,

 Ain't nobody got time for that

Regardless, Sony did a great job anticipating the unknown hiccups and had the network up by the end of the night.  It ran great too!

I'll give that experience a B-

3) GAME PLAY

1080p up-scaled looks amazing as we all know.  PS4's 1080p native looks amazingly better! Seriously. The graphics look smooth.  For those who care about resolution I will tell you that it looks better than anything on the market currently (and supposedly the 360 and PS3 already upscale certain AAA titles to 1080p).  Of course when Xbox One hits the shelves we'll be able to determine which is better.  For now, I'm going to believe 1080p "native" makes a difference! Both Call Of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 looked and played like a next gen game should.  No lag, no bugs, no problems...

Verdict? A+

4) THE CONTROLLER

For me, I love the feel of the Xbox controller since I came from the 360 system. So I was skeptical of the Dualshock 4. On the contrary, It felt better than I expected.  Now granted I had played with it before launch, but it wasn't for any first person shooters or other games I usually play.  It was for "Knack".  Now, having played other games with it, I am convinced I will be able to readjust.  I like everything about the controller and it feels OK when I play FPS games. I expect in a month or two it will feel more natural.  All of it's features are spot on, looking forward to seeing how game developers utilize this controller in the future.

For now I'll give it a B+

FINALLY,

Setting the rest of the applications up didn't take long (Netflix, Hulu, PSN, etc...)  I highly encourage you to consider getting a PSN+ account to fully take advantage of the premium experience that Sony is striving to provide.  Even if you don't you can still access most non game-related applications with their free PSN.  The PlayStation main menu has been revamped and made to look simple and clean, which I thought was much needed.  It served very well as living room entertainment during the party.  This year Sony made a comeback of sorts comparatively speaking in North America, but more importantly, they regained influence over the gaming market as a whole (and consequently, the non gaming market too).  

MY overall first impression of PS4: A-

I'll get my hands on an Xbox One and let you know how that goes...

But for now, I feel like I spent my money on the right thing this year...

Here is a neat article which highlights Sony's most recent sales achievement:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/11/17/sony-sells-a-million-ps4s-within-24-hours-of-north-american-launch/?utm_campaign=techtwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Thanks to everyone who shared their feelings to me over the past year leading up to launch night.

Another shout to those who have followed me on TWITTER FB and LinkedIn as well!

Stay tuned for more.  

Peace

- JA