Various Thoughts on the Occasion of a Xbox (one)

I've been meaning to write about my initial impressions of the Xbox One for some time now. It has taken me a while to get my thoughts about the console together. Part of this was really the lack of software available for the machine and getting enough seat time with it to form any sort of coherent opinion. Keep in mind that it is still early days for this current generation of consoles, and my opinions are more than likely to change, but I, like everyone else on the Internet, am prone to hyperbole and rash decisions that I will not admit to after six months. Some of my gadget lust got the better of me and I purchased the Xbox at launch rather than waiting until now when a savvy buyer can get the console for $50 less than I did with a game (arguably the one I was most excited to play on the system in the launch window) thrown in.

All that said I during the days before launch I did debate between getting the One and the PS4. I'm not sure what got me to make the decision I did. I've owned a PS1, 2 and 3 over the years, I got the PS1 midway ('97 or '98) through its cycle after having gone away from consoles for a while, and I got a PS2 as close to launch as I could which was very difficult to find at the time, but most of the game playing went to the original Xbox as soon as most games started coming out on both platforms. During this last generation my leaning was far more 360 than PS3. I did end up getting the PS3 when the slim came out but I've only played a handful of games on it and I've used it primarily as a Blu-Ray player then to play Uncharted, Demon's Souls, and Borderlands. Not a screaming endorsement, plus I vastly preferred the 360 controller to the Dualshock 3, I realize that the Dualshock 4 is an improvement but I really think I prefer the offset analog sticks to the ones next to each other. I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the One's controller but I've really not played enough games on it tell if the differences are in any way significant. With all this preamble I'm going to get on to my observations to date:

Television Viewing Redefined(?):

I used this like twice just to play with it, also Bob's Burgers is awesome you should watch it.

So far the thing I've used my Xbox One the most for is to watch TV. I've only 4 HDMI inputs on my home theater receiver, and at the time I purchased the Xbox One, HDMI 1 was the TiVo, 2 was the 360, 3 was the PS3, and 4 was my HTPC (I'll get more into the HTPC later). So with all my receiver ports taken I figured the One would be much easier to integrate into my setup than the PS4 for which I would have to take something out. The TiVo went into the One and I "programmed" them to talk to each other. This did a bunch of things but only a few of them were of significance to me with the positives being:

• I can say "Xbox Pause" and "Xbox Play" while I'm watching shows. I'm not sure how much other people get up and do things while they're watching a show but I might a lot. I might be watching TV while doing the dishes or laundry want to get up and do things, the ability to issue these commands with my voice is kind of cool, saying "Xbox Pause," is easier than grabbing the remote while wandering off to the mirror, I know its stupid, but honestly that's the most I've used this feature.
• Again the voice commands being able to switch through other viewing apps. Being able to say "Xbox go to Netflix" or "Xbox go to Amazon Instant Video" is pretty cool then being able to navigate those programs through voice is pretty handy, or unhandy, har har har.
• I guess the idea of being able to see when a friend is playing a game I want to play or get an invite to a game is kind of cool, the only time it has happened for me I had company over otherwise I would have joined in.

There are some negatives to the whole Xbox as an entertainment portal:

• It makes using the entertainment system that much more complicated. I'm usually the only one who uses it but showing the folks how to use it. ("Ummm... how do you turn the TV on") took a little bit but after that they thought the voice control was awesome, so I'm not sure where that falls.
• You have to have the Xbox on to watch television, which means to watch TV I've got my TiVo, receiver, Xbox and screen on. I'm usually not a super greeny when it comes to stuff like this but when I type it out like that it does maybe seem a bit excessive.
• The voice and guide options aren't useful other than what I've already pointed out. My TiVo already has a guide built into it which works better than the one in the Xbox. The voice commands would be a lot more useful if they were able to select and play recorded videos but it can't. It also keeps hearing "resume TV" as "Watch MTV," and thus thinks MTV is one of my favorite stations. I wasn't that into MTV when I was part of their target demographic.

The Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu Plus apps all seem to work pretty well and are pretty easily navigable by voice. Worth noting Netflix is probably the worst as far as the voice controls are concerned. Instead of saying the name of the show you want to see, it wants inputs like "Xbox Select Item 1," I'm sure they will patch it to get better at some point. Also worth pointing out is that there are 0G achievements associated with all these apps which is kind of... weird.

In Search of the Killer App:

I would recommend against this. Unless it's free, and even then it isn't necessarily a good deal.

So win any new video game platform the biggest and most important question is what games are on it that you want to play. This is perhaps where my early purchase was far too hasty. So far I've bought 5 games for the system,Forza Motorsport 5,Battlefield 4, Halo: Spartan Assault,Titanfall, and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. None of them are the killer app that you absolutely need to go get a One for. So I'll go through my quick thoughts on each one.

Forza Motorsport 5:

Always love the inclusion of cool rally cars.

I've always liked driving games. The whole reason I got a PS1 was for the first Gran Turismo. I enjoy the ones that have a simulator bend but not necessarily whole on simulators like iDriving though I haven't tried that so I shouldn't say that I wouldn't like it. Previously the Forza series has seemed to get a nice blend of fun and simishness with the ratio getting closest to the entertainment ideal in Forza Horizon. I figured I would like the latest installment and it would be a good launch title to get. True I did like the game and it did some cool stuff with the rumble triggers which I do think got me some better lap times but it falls apart as I get to the higher end cars for me where the limits of the car probably exceed my driving ability. I got my Caterham 7 souped it up and was not able to control it. I kind of stopped playing shortly after that. Other drawbacks is that the game was kind of lousy with micro-transactions, the menus took forever to load in and you were forced to go through way too many of them to get to where you wanted to go (to get to the main menu after a race you have to go to the next race then exit to the menu which means two load screens). The drivatars kind of suck by which I mean they drive like assholes constantly crashing into you making it impossible to pass unless you do the same. Though it is kind of cool seeing your friends list even when playing single player. There also don't seem to be as many cars as previous games. I remember that they did have the Porsche liscense in at least one previous iteration that I had which meant I couldn't build my firebreathing undriveable 914 in this version. All in all okay but could be a lot better, and hopefully the next title in the series will hew closer to previous versions than what they came out with this time which feels largely rushed and unfinished. Oh yea and the lack of any licensed music kind of sucked. I'm not against orchestral music at all but in driving games I need something to rock out to.

Battlefield 4:

This is what BF4 is supposed to be like.

So my fun with Forza running out I figured I could Battlefield might be kind of fun. It is, however the broken state in which the game shipped did diminish some of my fun with it. Frequent crashes, single player progress not saving, not being able to find matches. I'm also not terribly good at these games the last time I played battlefield was during the original and everyone else has gotten better at them than I have.

A cool feature of the game is that it makes a little recording every time you rank up which you can then upload to your Microsoft Skydrive and then do what you want with. Sometimes these moments might even be something you're proud of.

Again, my excitement for the game which I was never too excited about waned and I was looking for other stuff. It could probably have held my attention longer had there been fewer bugs and it were easier to get into matches.

Halo: Spartan Assault:

I thought this would be a fun dual joystick shooter set in the Halo universe. It is a dual joystick shooter.

Titanfall:

This is probably the game that I've gotten the most excited about on the One. It was originally meant to be an exclusive but they decided to release it on PC as well. My online gaming skills are not at the point where I want to be playing against other people with mouse and keyboard. I'm much more comfortable doing my competitive (a term I use loosely when it comes to my playing) FPS action. I also don't like using the Origin service. I've had a lot of fun with it and it looks great. I'm not great at it but the traversal mechanics make you feel pretty awesome doing all the parkour moves with the jetpack. Also who doesn't love giant robots?

I used Titanfall to test out the Xbox Ones built in Twitch streaming which launched around the same time. It's super easy to set up and it looks pretty decent, I'm not sure why but I think the transfer to YouTube didn't fare so well.

I'm probably going to play some more of this but I am more excited about Dark Souls, which I'm going to get back to I swear.

Next Generation?

With how far PC gaming has come during the previous generation of gaming systems with the universality of controller support, the Steam marketplace and ease of integration into a home theater setup I hadn't really used my 360 or PS3 for much of anything except platform exclusives for the past couple years. When it comes for upcoming games I'll still keep getting the PC version if it is available there unless of course that version is horribly optimized or takes too long to come out.

Games currently on the horizon that I'm excited about and the platforms I'll probably play them on

• Star Citizen - PC (I'm probably going to have a post or two about this soon)
• Witcher 3 - PC
• Watch Dogs - PC
• Destiny - One (I'm a big Bungie fan and would love to stream out some Aleph One especially if some internet multiplayer could be had).
• The Division - One (The concept behind this seems really cool as far as I can tell but it's too far out to tell for sure).

Those are the big ones I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there will be others out, I'm also super hyped for the Oculus Rift which is only going to be on the PC.

So was the purchase worth it? Maybe, but probably not at this point unless you really want to play Titanfall or Dead Rising 3 it might be worth it to wait for a good deal. There have already been a few one the system and I'm sure there will be more to come. 

Nostalgia Vs. Modernity Part 1: Early Childhood Memories (NES) [Repost from Giantbomb Blog]

This is a repost, and I guess analysis of an entry blog I made on Giantbomb back in 2011. To me there are a couple funny things about my writing here, one is the reason I was writing the post, and two is my perhaps enhanced clarity in seeing how my views were affected by the prevelant attitude of the time (Three years ago being soooo different from today, sarcasm intended but only just so).

"I’m relatively new to the Giant Bomb world. I’ve been listening to the Bombcast since maybe this July (2011). I’m currently enamoured enough to go back in time a few podcasts and check out older ones. During this process I’ve hit the E3 2011 podcasts where there has been talk about the revival of old franchises. I’m coming over from the Kotaku community but I’m sure much of the chatter and backlash against revivals is similar in both communities. The purpose of this essay series is going to be to address the arguments on both sides of the arguments on the revival of old franchises that I’ve seen going on from someone who has played the old games but still tries to keep an open mind. To understand where I’m coming from, you will probably need to understand a little bit about my past and know how similar or dissimilar it is from yours.

I was born in 1980, and didn't have any interest in gaming until I got a Nintendo for Christmas one year. I don’t remember which year I got it, I think Zelda was out since we rented it a few times before I got it. I also remember the skeletons freaking me out as a kid, so I’m thinking I may have been six or seven when I got my first game system. That given I never beat Super Mario Bros. but I was really impressed when my dad did. I never beat Zelda, and I had to write into Nintendo Power to figure out how to get to the second area in Zelda II.

I spent many of those Nintendo years renting various games but I think I had about seven or eight games that I owned. Hogan’s Alley was pretty cool, but I tired of it quickly. I think that Duck Tales may have been the first game that I actually beat. I remember playing Final Fantasy and having no clue what to do, going to friends’ houses and having no clue what to do while we were playing. Getting the Nintendo Power guide and still having no clue what to do... I also remember my parents resubscribing to Nintendo Power and getting a copy of Dragon Warrior. I had been a subscriber since the Nintendo Fun Club days, I think I still have my copies of those magazines around if people want to make an offer...

I had about as much luck with Dragon Warrior as I did with Final Fantasy, not being able to get too far because of my age coupled with the difficult of the game. I also suppose there was some sort of desire of getting far in it versus the difficulty playing into it. The Wizard also came out around the end of this era. I remember my parents taking me to that movie and “Get the star Jimmy!” was a quote that was thrown around in our house a fair amount. I also remember that the gas station near our house that rented out games had a Japanese copy of SMB 3 with an adapter that allowed it to work on US NES units. I remember renting it so many times that my parents probably had paid for a copy by the time that it came out here. I also remember going to Wal-Mart the day it came out here and running to the electronics department and asking the clerk to hold a copy until my mom got there to make sure that no one could buy it before she got there (I also remember it being kind of hard to get a copy).

I think I was also playing a few Apple II games during this era. Number Munchers, Oregon Trail, etc. during this era. I loved being able to play those games in school during this era. I can’t remember if there was a Carmen Sandiego game out during this era, but I want to think that there was, but I didn’t really obsess over those until our family got our first computer.

In any case, this is my early childhood in gaming, I’m guessing it’s quite different than those of you who grew up when Halo was new, and those of you who are either my age or older we can look at these days in a certain lens of nostalgia and love those games. I didn’t mention other games I’ve played such as Contra, Elevator Action, TMNT (the first one on NES), going to other friends houses and playing Atari and Sega. These are the stand out memories for me since that is the focus of this essay series."