Like any good gamer, I made sure to watch at least some of this years E3. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately ) I was on vacation the same week as the conference. I only managed to watch Microsoft’s offering, which happened to be the one I was looking forward to the most. Once it became available for Pre-Order, I immediately jumped on the Day One edition.
I’m not really a fanboy of any technology, but I tend to lean towards Microsoft. I own a PS3 and Wii too. So the Xbox One was my primary interest this E3. Thankfully, they concentrated on the games during the conference. And they did indeed look good.
One area of concern I have with the Xbox One is the fact MS is trying to make it an all-in-one media center rather than just a gaming machine. I honestly have no intention of replacing my Comcast cable box with a gaming console. Call me old fashioned, but I just can’t seem to fathom using a gaming console for that purpose.
The issue of used games blew up, as most of you probably know. I won’t rehash it here, but I will say their plans don’t really concern me. I don’t buy used games or sell my games back. I probably should, but it is just something I’ve never done. So whether they go with their original plan or back out of it, it doesn’t affect my decision to buy the console.
The price of the console did give me pause. $499 isn’t cheap, but it’s also still not at Neo Geo levels either. I attribute the high cost to the included Kinect. I own the original, but really never use it. Will that change with the new one? I don’t think it will, but I’ll keep an open mind. Again, maybe I’m just getting old but I don’t want to wave or talk to my console.
As I read back through this post, it makes me think I don’t actually like Microsoft’s offering. It really comes down to the games for me, and I did like what I saw. Call of Duty, Battlefield, Madden, Ryse, and Titanfall all looked good. There were a bunch of other interesting games I can’t remember at the moment.
The Xbox One is set to release in November, which is actually coming up pretty quick. I need to start figuring out which games to get at launch. I remember how awesome Oblivion was when the 360 launched. Need to find a title like that. As for the PS4, I’m sure I own it as well at some point.