If you didn't read an earlier thread where I mentioned that I picked up an XB1 by "accident", I will give you the short version. I intended to get an XB1 sometime in the second half of 2014. On launch day Iwas at Target shopping and they happen to have the last few left and my wife Ok'd me to get one. Well, it's been an interesting first 10 days or so. As it turns out, I probably should have waited until I knew I was going to be able to commit more time to it. I have been mostly kind of unimpressed so far...
When turning on the system the first time, the day 1 patch only took a few minutes to download and just another few minutes to install and reboot. This allowed a few more minutes to open the game cases for Dead Rising 3(for me) and the Lego Marvel Heroes(for the kids). After the downloads, it asked a few questions in about 5 minutes I was at the home screen with my DirectTv set up and my Vizio TV functionality working too. That's when the fun started to go away. Here I thought that by doing the day 1 download, all things were going to be ready to go. No, that's not the plan. For every app(Netflix,Skype, etc..) you have to go to the appstore and download or activate them. What a waste of time! I did go and download Killer Instinct right away. KI is definitely awesome for being free. I am going to pay the $20 for sure and maybe even the $40 for the special edition. Either way, the interface is nothing really new for XB1, as I currently use Win8.
But, let's talk KINECT:
OUCH!!!! is the short answer. Kinect added atleast $100, if not $150 to the purchase price of the XB1. I had no problems with the extra cost as long as it does what it is supposed to do at least 80% of the time. From my 10 days of using it, it is about 30-40% accurate with voice commands and you better get used to "Xbox" as your favorite word. It is 100% accurate with recognizing the people and signing them in. I downloaded the demo of Kinect Sports Rivals and it really just allows you to use the Wave Race game. As it turns out, the wave race game actually works too well. It is really hard after using the steering wheel in Mario Kart to not do the same in wave race. It wants you to pull your right hand back and put you left hand out to turn right(think handle bars on a bicycle). This is correct, but hard to remember without something in your hands to manipulate, especially for children(or even some adults). Kinect is working excellent in this one game so far. DR3 does have some Kinect functionality, but I haven't used that feature yet. What bothers me the most is that the XB1 voice commands are so sporadic in when they work. Try to tell the console to turn on - Haven't got it to work once. Try to tell it to turn off - after a try or two, it will pop up a message asking if I am sure, but doesn't give you a simple Yes or No answer. You have to tell it "Xbox Accept" to finally shut down. I just got a call from my wife an hour ago and the TV isn't working. Well, the TV turns on and she can use the Vizio Netflix, but the Direct TV wouldn't work. I asked her if she turned on the XB1, and she hadn't. I told her to turn it on. So I here her try the various version of "Xbox On"/"Xbox Turn On"/ "Xbox etc.". Let's just say that she had to walk over and turn on the console. I told her that it would come on if she hit the button on the XB1 controller too. After it turned on, she was mad because the TV was only playing in the little Box on the Home menu. I told her to tell it to watch tv. She went on trying various commands including the correct one" Xbox Watch TV" an none worked. She now HAD to turn on the controller and hit the A button to select the TV. My wife isn't a gamer and I can tell you now, that I will be rerouting the cables tonight to get the Direct TV on a separate input and not through my XB1. This is VERY disappointing.
I had also planned to sell my PS3 and games to get some money to offset the cost but the 3D isn't working on the XB1 yet.
Gaming:
Like I mentioned, the gaming itself does not disappoint. DR3 is awesome that is for sure. The detail level and the amazing amount of zombies is incredible. The lego game takes no advantage graphics wise of the XB1, it looks and plays the same as all last gen lego games. Like I mentioned, Killer INstinct couldn't really look much better and the gameplay is great. The wave race game is really good and I look forward to the full Sports Rivals this spring. I haven't bit the bullet and bought more games yet, I was hoping that a few would start to drop into the app store in January. Graphics: I will tell you that I have a brand new 70 inch Vzio studio series TV with 3D capability(that works awesome). Compared to the 360, the graphics are clearly a major step up. With all the talk about 720p vs 1080P for the games, I was a little worried about getting the XB1. Well, the games that I have played so far all look great(except the lego game which must be a straight out port). It's actually pretty amazing how good they look on such a large screen. I already know that I will not be disappointed with the visuals.
Summary:
If you are looking for a game console, the XB1 is overpriced by $100 but it delivers on the games. For the multimedia part, there is a long way to go. I would wait for atleast 3-6 months for M$ to get it to work right and have full functionality. The same goes for Kinect, as I assume it will get better over time. With so few games to play at launch, I would wait til Summer to buy the XB1 if you haven't "accidently" already bought one!
It is near the end of the end....
