OGG
Master of the Meh
OK, so it has been a week since we first plugged in the XBOX ONE, and here is what I think of it so far:
UGH.
The Good:
The console itself is fairly inconspicuous. the styling is very minimalist and it looks good as a part of the entertainment center. The graphics are superb, a giant leap from the 360 graphics. Playing Forza 5 sometimes feels like the real thing. Much attention to detail, although, this aspect will depend more on the game title than on the hardware itself. The controllers are PERFECT. The 360 controllers were already exceptionally well done, little was done to go away from that design, if anything, it was just tweaked a little bit for better feel and ergonomics. Fatigue is nearly eradicated.
The Bad:
Where to start? The dashboard isn't just "different", it's downright mind numbingly different and a pain in the ass to navigate. It also takes NO advantage of the advanced graphic performance and it is visually modest at best. It looks like something you would have seen on an old Commodore Amiga.
It does not carry over the Media Center Extender service, and can NOT act as a media streamer for content stored on other networked devices. This is insanely stupid when you consider Microsoft claimed this would be the focal point of your whole home theater experience. yes, you can stream Netflix and Hulu and all of that other shit, but you can't watch a movie or listen to music that you have stored on your media server. This is maddeningly stupid.
The lack of backward comparability turns out to be a MAJOR issue. We are a two XBOX 360 household, we have TONS of 360 games (and still a few original XBOX games) that get played a lot. Plus, all of the XBOX Live Arcade titles like MINECRAFT that WILL NOT WORK on the XBOX ONE. Stupid, stupid stupid. Having to have both consoles plugged into the same TV is ridiculous.
Bugs, bugs, bugs... There are more than a few. Weird glitches and hiccups are common for any new device, and usually get worked out pretty quickly through firmware updates and system updates, but this thing has some that are HUGE, and very well known/widely reported to be a big problem, and so far, no word on an upcoming fix.
It ONLY has HDMI out, which is good. And bad.
Because it is designed to act as a pass-thru and controller for your cable or satellite TV box, and has its own guide feature, you plug the HDMI out from your set top box into the HDMI in on the Console. THE UNIT MUST BE ON to watch TV. WTF! For a unit that has already had reports of overheating, why in HELL would you make it so that you HAVE to keep it powered on to watch TV? Why no ability to act as a simple pass thru when the unit is turned off? Seems like a no brainer, but I guess no one thought of that.
The worst part though, is that there is a HUGE problem with the "Watch TV feature". It works fine for a while, then starts to experience long pauses or complete picture/sound loss. The internet is FULL of reports of this happening, and so far, no acknowledgment from Microsoft nor stated plans for a fix. All of the "try this" advice out there so far (Shut everything down, hard reboot etc) works or it doesn't, and when it does, it is only temporary. Tryi9ng to watch TV becomes a maddening experience.
Also, due to the above mentioned things, it requires using a precious HDMI input on the TV. Now, our main TV is a Samsung LCD with 3 HDMI inputs. I have to use 1 for the XBOX 360, We use 1 for the PS3, and we use 1 for the cable box. I could skip the whole plugging the cable box into the XBOX thing if I had unlimited HDMI ports, but I don't. So, I am constantly unplugging shit and plugging it back in just so I can watch TV.
Such BULLSHIT.
Here's what we have:
The console with 500GB HDD - $499 + tax (came with ONE controller and NO games)
3 Additional controllers $59 ea + tax
2 games (COD Ghosts and Forza 5) $59 ea + tax
After tax, that is $861 for a console that makes me want to smash it with a hammer and throw it out the fucking window.
Very disappointed.
UGH.
The Good:
The console itself is fairly inconspicuous. the styling is very minimalist and it looks good as a part of the entertainment center. The graphics are superb, a giant leap from the 360 graphics. Playing Forza 5 sometimes feels like the real thing. Much attention to detail, although, this aspect will depend more on the game title than on the hardware itself. The controllers are PERFECT. The 360 controllers were already exceptionally well done, little was done to go away from that design, if anything, it was just tweaked a little bit for better feel and ergonomics. Fatigue is nearly eradicated.
The Bad:
Where to start? The dashboard isn't just "different", it's downright mind numbingly different and a pain in the ass to navigate. It also takes NO advantage of the advanced graphic performance and it is visually modest at best. It looks like something you would have seen on an old Commodore Amiga.
It does not carry over the Media Center Extender service, and can NOT act as a media streamer for content stored on other networked devices. This is insanely stupid when you consider Microsoft claimed this would be the focal point of your whole home theater experience. yes, you can stream Netflix and Hulu and all of that other shit, but you can't watch a movie or listen to music that you have stored on your media server. This is maddeningly stupid.
The lack of backward comparability turns out to be a MAJOR issue. We are a two XBOX 360 household, we have TONS of 360 games (and still a few original XBOX games) that get played a lot. Plus, all of the XBOX Live Arcade titles like MINECRAFT that WILL NOT WORK on the XBOX ONE. Stupid, stupid stupid. Having to have both consoles plugged into the same TV is ridiculous.
Bugs, bugs, bugs... There are more than a few. Weird glitches and hiccups are common for any new device, and usually get worked out pretty quickly through firmware updates and system updates, but this thing has some that are HUGE, and very well known/widely reported to be a big problem, and so far, no word on an upcoming fix.
It ONLY has HDMI out, which is good. And bad.
Because it is designed to act as a pass-thru and controller for your cable or satellite TV box, and has its own guide feature, you plug the HDMI out from your set top box into the HDMI in on the Console. THE UNIT MUST BE ON to watch TV. WTF! For a unit that has already had reports of overheating, why in HELL would you make it so that you HAVE to keep it powered on to watch TV? Why no ability to act as a simple pass thru when the unit is turned off? Seems like a no brainer, but I guess no one thought of that.
The worst part though, is that there is a HUGE problem with the "Watch TV feature". It works fine for a while, then starts to experience long pauses or complete picture/sound loss. The internet is FULL of reports of this happening, and so far, no acknowledgment from Microsoft nor stated plans for a fix. All of the "try this" advice out there so far (Shut everything down, hard reboot etc) works or it doesn't, and when it does, it is only temporary. Tryi9ng to watch TV becomes a maddening experience.
Also, due to the above mentioned things, it requires using a precious HDMI input on the TV. Now, our main TV is a Samsung LCD with 3 HDMI inputs. I have to use 1 for the XBOX 360, We use 1 for the PS3, and we use 1 for the cable box. I could skip the whole plugging the cable box into the XBOX thing if I had unlimited HDMI ports, but I don't. So, I am constantly unplugging shit and plugging it back in just so I can watch TV.
Such BULLSHIT.
Here's what we have:
The console with 500GB HDD - $499 + tax (came with ONE controller and NO games)
3 Additional controllers $59 ea + tax
2 games (COD Ghosts and Forza 5) $59 ea + tax
After tax, that is $861 for a console that makes me want to smash it with a hammer and throw it out the fucking window.
Very disappointed.
), so if I can't play my 360 games it would just be a very expensive paperweight.
