On November 22nd, 2013, the Xbox One was released internationally, one week after the North American launch of the PS4, becoming the third and most likely last major addition to the eighth and most recent console generation.
The Xbox One has 8GB of RAM, or Random Access Memory, compared to the Xbox 360’s 512 MB of RAM. The Xbox One also has double the hard drive space than its predecessor, with 500GB of RAM compared to the 360’s 250GB. It has also upgraded to an AMD APU processor. Microsoft has claimed that these changes allow for graphics eight times more powerful than the 360’s, and the polish I’ve seen leaves me with little doubt.
The Xbox One’s main marketing strategy was through its entertainment options, and they went full force with features regarding this. The Xbox One serves as an effective hub for its owner, being able to snap through cable, games, and applications with a simple voice command. Given that the Kinect motion detector is pivotal for this ability, I can understand the $100 discrepancy between the consoles, even if it does put Microsoft at a severe disadvantage.
The Kinect itself works fairly well. Having never used the Kinect before, I can’t say whether or not there was a massive improvement, however the graphics were very clear whenever it had to recognize me. In addition, it seemed to recognize all of my voice commands fairly well, however learning the set list of commands was a tad tiresome, given that some of them are non-intuitive.
Xbox One’s Release window was fairly expensive with regards to games. Dead Rising 3 was a fairly large improvement over Dead Rising 2, both graphically and in gameplay. The various indie titles look to be fairly intriguing as well, especially with their newfound support of indie game creators with their soon to be released development kit, finally catching up to Sony in that regard. With regards to games, the Xbox One seems to have the upper edge over the PS4.
I believe the Xbox One to be the superior of the two new consoles, given its game library filled with variety and its unique user interface. However, both consoles have really stepped up their game compared to their predecessors, and I’m looking forward to see where the years take them and how each one develops.