Ah yes, that day I know so many of you were waiting with bated breath is here, and the Xbox One is now upon us, meaning for those of you looking to go next-gen, it's decision time. The following is a selection of reviews from some of the major outlets and the opinions of Microsoft's offering.
Ars Technica - "When Microsoft released its last video game console in 2005, the Xbox 360 was primarily just that: a console to play video games on your TV. Sure, there were some basic online messaging and chat functions, but its main focus was clear. The same cannot be said for the Xbox One. Microsoft is positioning its newest system as the center of a Netflix-filled, Kinect-powered, do-everything-on-your-TV world controlled through a single source. Yes, playing games is still a big part of the Xbox One, but this is a system designed to be on whenever your TV is on. Microsoft claims that the Xbox One is the only box you'll need to control allof your visual entertainment. The Xbox One does a lot of things right in this light, bringing usable voice controls and so-so multitasking to the TV in interesting ways. But there are still a few kinks to be worked out before the Xbox One truly becomes the center of everything you do on your TV."
Destructoid - "The Xbox One is a powerful PC connected to a cutting-edge sensor array that handles every living-room duty, from television watching to video streaming to web browsing, and it does it all with a multitasking UI that supports voice and motion control. This has to be the most full-featured game console offering ever brought to market. It does so many things that it's hard to keep track of them all! A few key features, like social sharing and game broadcasting, are not ready for launch, making the Xbox One feel somewhat incomplete, especially when compared to its main competitor. All of these technologies and features for Xbox One are pointless if there aren't great games to play on it. While future offerings look promising, the Xbox One's launch library is somewhat lacking. There are plenty of interesting experiences to be had, but only a few of the offerings are truly notable at this point. It's clear that Microsoft doesn't have this generation's Halo yet. The way we see it, gamers likely have a good all-in-one gaming/media box now with the Xbox 360. If you're dying to add voice-controlled television channel surfing to the mix, the Xbox One will definitely get you there. The console will also give you access to a couple of decent launch titles, and a fantastic new controller to play them with. But you're going to have to make the call on whether these things are worth $499 to you. If not, wait. The Xbox One will still be around when you're ready."
Engadget - "It's not quite the future we predicted, at least as far as Back to the Future 2 and The Jetsons informed us, but it's the future we've got. Something as basic as, say, turning on electronics using your voice is still novel. Microsoft's Xbox One is representative of just such a novelty, pairing old tech like IR and HDMI passthrough with brand-new 1080p video capture and voice control -- all to impressive effect...But it's not the expensive camera and sports partnerships that makes Microsoft's proposition impressive to the hardcore gaming faithful. The Xbox One is a beast of a games console, capable of running beautiful games. But can it serve two masters? It's not quite the game box we would've predicted, but it's the one we've got...The Xbox One may not be exactly what Microsoft thinks it is, but it's still a strong start for a powerful game console. Its sheer speed, versatility, horsepower and its ability to turn on and off with words make it a relatively seamless entry into our already crowded media center. What determines whether it stays there is the next 12 months: Exclusives like Titanfall and Quantum Break will help, as will gaining feature parity with the competition (we're looking at you, game broadcasting!). For broader success beyond just the early adopter's living room, the NFL crowd must buy in to Microsoft's $500 box. But will they? That remains to be seen. What's there so far is a very competent game box with an expensive camera and only a few exclusive games differentiating it from the competition."
IGN - "If you're primarily a gamer, the good news is the Xbox One delivers much of what you were used to with the 360. The hardware itself is powerful, the controller is excellent (as is the headset) and features like party chat and friends lists are just as seamless as before. And having Kinect out of the box means motion-controlled games like Kinect Sports Rivals can happen without additional purchases. Xbox One is still simple and intuitive to play games on, even if you have to get used to the new dashboard layout, or deal with what Microsoft says are temporary issues. For example, the inability to easily manage the space games and apps take up on your hard-drive. With a 500GB hard drive, such a feature shouldn't be at the top of your list anyway. Still, who isn't curious which games and apps are taking up the most space? It's something we've come to expect to be there. In general, there are a number of smaller issues that make the platform feel like it's still in beta. And, frankly, in a way it is. Xbox One sprinted to make launch, so expect a few speed bumps."
Joystiq - "With the Xbox One, Microsoft trusts that today's living room configuration is still set around a dominant television, a large window into games, movies and long-form storytelling. This is a games machine in the vein of the successful Xbox 360, complete with online games and Achievements as always, but Microsoft is looking to provide a platform for all your entertainment this time, whether it's from Hollywood or HBO. This glut of content and features is hard to corral, especially when players and consumers want to be unhindered in their demands. The interface can't just be aimed at those who identify themselves as gamers. With more processing power, an enhanced Kinect camera and an interface designed around surfacing and serving content of all sorts, the Xbox One serves as a strong backbone for the living room, though it requires some patience and effort from the people seated in front of it...The Xbox One assumes you subscribe to its idealization of the living room: the family encircling the all-singing, all-dancing entertainment peeling out of a dominant television. Your house, apartment or dorm room might not be compatible with Microsoft's vision, and that might lead you to wonder why you wouldn't buy a thing that just plays games. With $500 and an Xbox Live subscription in mind, my advice is to consider the Xbox One not as a pure, personal vector for games, but something that might accompany you and your friends for one long, lazy Saturday.
Kotaku - "The Xbox One is a testament to Microsoft's towering ambition. It represents their desire not only to occupy a place in your home entertainment center, but to lumber straight into the center of it. It is a black plastic tank, a hard-edged chunk of corners meant to conquer everything in its path. But for all its imposing physicality, it has a surprising number of weak spots...The Xbox works well if you set it up exactly as Microsoft has intended, but minor deviations in your home theater setup can quickly throw things out of whack. If there's one thing I've learned from checking out other people's home entertainment rigs, it's that almost everyone's has somesort of minor deviation. For example: The Xbox One has a built-in IR blaster that gives it the ability to control basic functions on your cable box, your TV and your AV receiver. Once you tell it the brand of your TV and audio receiver, it can double as a universal remote control. When you say "Xbox On," the console will power up and switch on the other two devices at the same time. The first time I used it, I felt like I was on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise or the Navigator...Those sorts of small issues begin to add up. The Xbox One is supposed to seamlessly integrate itself into our entertainment centers. If it doesn't, people will remove the console from its center-stage position and plug everything in separately, rendering one of the console's primary functions irrelevant...I admire what Microsoft is trying to do with the Xbox One, and I'm rooting for them to give their console that final push to get it to where it needs to be. The whole thing is almost there. The Kinect almost works well enough to get me to use it all the time. The TV integration is almost smooth enough to make me plug it into the heart of my living-room setup. Multitaskingalmost works well enough to get me checking the internet while I play games...The Xbox One is trying some very cool new things, and it's launching alongside some very fun games. But there are so many rough edges, and the software feels incomplete. Do you need to have an Xbox One? Not yet."
There you have it. Like the PS4, the Xbox One is impressive, but this early in the game, it hasn't yet realized its full potential. The decision to get one is yours.
As of today, the Xbox One is now available worldwide for $499. The new console claims an 8-core x86 processor and Microsoft hopes it will take the place of the family room cable box by letting you watch Blu-ray movies and TV through the console, in a "seamless transition" that lets players switch from playing games to watching shows and/or movies. It comes fully loaded with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive.
Now, if you've decided on going with the Xbox One, we also have some reviews for some of the exclusive launch titles to help you decide which games you should grab:
* Dead Rising 3
* Killer Instinct
* Forza Motorsport 5
* Ryse: Son of Rome
Be sure to keep checking back with Gamenguide for more of the latest updates.
