It's been interesting to see people get fired up about the new game consoles from Microsoft and Sony, as passionate users have debated the merits of launch lineups, resolution, price point and features. I think it's easy for people to lose sight of the fact that all of us have had some fun times with the current generation of consoles, and there's no reason to not expect that the “next generation” will provide similar levels of enjoyment and quality, regardless of platform.

As our own Caley Roark did the other day for the PS4, I'm going to attempt to provide you with some definitive reasons for why you should get an Xbox One. You'll notice that I was very specific in the previous sentence, as I definitely think that the Xbox One is worth your time. While the PS4 is providing an excellent experience — and I do own one — I think it's more of a refined version of what the 360 was trying to do. The Xbox One, buoyed by the improved Kinect camera, actually manages to strive for something a bit more, and even at this stage, you can see some of that future in the UI, voice control and overall software package.

Now don't get me wrong: I've been a staunch critic of MS and their massive blunders up until this point. The horrid messaging, needless DRM wrangling and baffling TV and media focus has alienated a lot of people, and it's really akin to Sony's arrogance in the lead-up to the PS3. Once Microsoft got a foothold in North America, I think they lost sight of the core users that had brought them to the dance in the first place.

With all that said, the Xbox One does some really cool things, and if you can afford the extra $100 that MS is asking of you, there's an awesome console experience waiting for you.

Xbox One Console

The Xbox One and its accessories are packaged up in a sleek black box, and all of the components seem to indicate a fairly good level of quality. The console itself, as has been well-documented by now, is a bit massive, but the case finishing, illuminated front logo and quiet operation all help offset the monolithic nature of the box.

The controller is a nice refinement on what was already a universally loved input device (360), and I've really enjoyed the battery compartment being tucked away and the increased heft to the controller. There's a great feel to the new pad that helps plant it in your hands with some added stability, and all of the buttons respond quickly and accurately. The improved d-pad has been awesome for menu navigation as well as for certain games, such as Killer Instinct. The impulse triggers have delivered as advertised as well, with some cool rumble feedback during Forza's racing or when dribbling the ball in NBA 2K14.
 

I found it quite easy to get everything up and running, as the Xbox One updated and set up the console reasonably quickly. It was fairly simple to get my cable box integrated as well, and the Xbox One even checked which TV I had and tested its IR blaster functions (muting, volume) before synching all of that up.

Once you've got your TV set up (and I'm not even the ideal audience, as Canada doesn't have support for the channel guide yet), you really get to sink your teeth into the Xbox One UI. The biggest revelation is that you actually move around faster with Kinect than you can with the controller. The microphone on the Kinect ends up working incredibly well, with only the odd voice command not recognized. Specifically, once you learn the language that Kinect understands, you can fly around the UI at warp speed, loading up live television, Youtube, Twitch, Skype, the internet, games, the store and just about everything else.

It's really quite something when you sit down and say “Xbox, On” and the system boots up from its low-power state, turns on your TV and then signs you in with the camera when you sit on the couch -- all within about 10 seconds. Skype is also something of a revelation, with the 1080p Kinect camera dynamically zooming in and out of multiple people in a conversation. Another noteworthy addition is the inclusion of game DVR clips, as you can use the Kinect to instantly record the last 30 seconds of gameplay. This feature works incredibly well, and it's awesome to see your friends' clips populated in the activity feed.
 

The UI is filled with those kinds of “magical” moments that give you a glimpse of what the platform may be truly capable of, especially when it receives the usual MS iteration. You're able to “snap” certain apps and features to the side of the screen, allowing you to manage your party while in a multiplayer game or watch TV or Twitch streams while you're kicking around in FIFA 14. It's also great to be able to buy items in the store from within a game without jarring “guide menus,” and you can still zip back to the main dashboard and then pop back into a game when you're doing other things. Instantly resuming games after doing something else is also a welcome change, and it'll be awesome when the feature is a bit more stable (currently in beta).

Truthfully, that is probably the case for a lot of what you'll see in the UI. These magical moments are juxtaposed with a few head-scratching omissions that make it seem like MS was really pushed to its limits to get this thing out on time. The party system, for instance, is revamped, as you'll now be able to create party labels — NBA 2K14 or Battlefield 4, for instance — that will auto-invite party members into a game. This is actually pretty cool in theory, but it makes standard invites when switching games kind of difficult. It can often be frustrating to try and get people together to play NBA or FIFA when they're playing Battlefield in the same party. It's a bit janky at this point. Just the same, the friends list needs some work, as it's kind of buried within the dashboard. Achievements have been minimized, and the interface for those seems really rough at this point. Additionally, it's fairly baffling to see Twitch streaming not available at launch (and it works awesomely on PS4), especially when MS announced their partnership with the streaming service before Sony did.

Still, all in all, I've become really comfortable with the Xbox One UI, and it's actually quite intuitive and responsive in a lot of ways. The speed and flexibility of the dashboard for navigating between multiple tasks and games is evident even at launch, and the features can only improve from here. Microsoft's gambit to foist a $100 camera on people might still be a bad move for their pocket book, but getting to use it now for a while, I'm beginning to understand their vision (as poorly messaged as it was).

Games

For launch, I picked up FIFA 14, NBA 2K14, Battlefield 4 and Dead Rising 3. I also grabbed the digital title Powerstar Golf, as well as the free-to-play version of Killer Instinct. As is known by now, NBA 2K14 is a hell of a good-looking game, and it serves as a nice showpiece for the system's power (alongside the mediocre gameplay but astounding visuals of Ryse). FIFA 14 also plays very smoothly and crisply, and it serves as a generation-straddling release that is leveraging some of the new tech but not enough to really warrant a second purchase if you own it on 360 or PS3.
 

As for the launch line-up in general, I'd say MS did a bit better job of diversifying their portfolio, as Forza 5 is an incredibly polished and flashy racer that seems to be pleasing fans of the series, titles like Ryse and Dead Rising 3 scratch an action itch, and Killer Instinct is actually quite a competent fighting game that looks nice. Even a digital title like Powerstar Golf looks a cut above downloadables of the past, and it plays as well as any Hot Shots Golf release that you can think of.

For the future, MS seems to be devoting a lot more effort to first-party titles than ever before, and 2014 looks to feature some impressive games, such as Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall and Halo 5. For sports, Microsoft will benefit from its “special partnership” with EA in the way of exclusive content for Ultimate Team and the like, and supposedly one first-party studio is actually working on a sports title, to go alongside stuff like Kinect Sports Rivals and Xbox Fitness (a great stealth add-on by MS, by the way). No MLB on this platform hurts, but who knows, as that may change some day.

Final Thoughts

The lead-up to the release of the Xbox One might have been rocky, and almost all of it was self-inflicted by Microsoft, but the product they have released actually shows some real magic, and there's an eye to the future that isn't present on the PS4 (even though I love a lot of what they've done). The usual cycle of iteration will have to take place to iron out some of the dashboard idiosyncrasies and to refine the Kinect lexicon, but as someone who was doubting what MS was peddling, I believe the functionality of this console is really going in some fascinating directions.