Microsoft Xbox One

                                     Microsoft Xbox One

                              Microsoft is thinking big with the Xbox One. Instead of building a game system that's essentially a beefed-up version of the Xbox 360, like Sony did with the PlayStation 4, it built a comprehensive media hub for all of your living room entertainment. This approach, combined with an initial promise that the system would require a constant Internet connection and that the included Kinect camera would always be on, worried a lot of gamers. Add a $499 (list) price tag, $100 more than the PlayStation 4 and $200 more than the Nintendo Wii U, and you have a game system with an uphill battle.Well, Microsoft's ambition has paid off. Not only is the Xbox One a powerful game system that rivals the PlayStation 4, it really is the comprehensive entertainment hub Microsoft envisioned. (And it turns out that it doesn't require an always-on Web connection and you can turn off the camera.)

                          Kinect voice controls, television integration, and multitasking features make the Xbox One an ideal combination of game system, media hub, universal remote, program guide, and Blu-ray player. The Xbox One's voice controls and TV integration are revolutionary and could pave the way for game systems to become true all-in-one entertainment centers. Sure, it's expensive and imperfect, but it does so much so well that its flaws and price can be forgiven, making it an Editors' Choice.

Design

                 The Xbox One doesn't take many design cues from the Xbox 360 or Xbox 360 Slim. Instead, it follows the philosophy of the original Xbox: giant black box. It's big, black, rectangular, and looks closer to an old-school VCR than a futuristic, stylish game system. It combines glossy and matte black finishes to lend some style, but no shine can get past its plain blockiness. The PlayStation 4 looks much nicer and slimmer, with its parallelogram shape and the ability to stand it on its side to show off the multicolored status light (with an optional stand). The Xbox One has to be laid down horizontally, and is simply black with a white light on it.

      Measuring 3 by 12.9 by 11.7 inches (HWD) and weighing about seven pounds, the Xbox One absolutely dwarfs the PlayStation 4 and Wii U.  The front is dominated by a matte black left half that holds the slot-loading Blu-ray drive and a glossy right half that features a glowing, flat, touch-sensitive Xbox button. The button turns the system on if you don't want to use the Kinect or a controller, and it's just as infuriatingly sensitive as the Xbox 360 Slim's power and eject buttons. Brushing anything against it, even lightly, can trigger the button. Fortunately, given the voice controls, you don't have to actually touch the Xbox One or go anywhere near it unless you're changing a disc or setting up a gamepad. A USB port sits on the left side of the system, next to a pairing button for registering controllers. The back panel holds an HDMI input and output, the Kinect port, an Ethernet port, an optical audio port, two USB ports, and the power port.


                         The new Kinect camera is just as blocky and almost as large, dwarfing the PlayStation Camera just as the Xbox One looms over the PlayStation 4's form. It's a chunky, rectangular brick that measures 2.4 by 9.7 by 3 inches (HWD), with a large, prominent lens, a glowing white Xbox logo, and three soft red LEDs to illuminate you with infrared light. The base can tilt up and down and has a tripod screw mount if you want to secure it. The bigger, blockier Kinect sports much more impressive insides, though; it features a 1080p-capable camera instead of the Xbox 360 Kinect's VGA resolution, and its microphone array on the bottom edge of the camera is clearly improved.

Controller

The Xbox One controller is comfortable, but it's not the impressive leap in design that the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 gamepad is. It's a mostly matte black gamepad that looks and feels almost identical to the Xbox 360's gamepad. Instead of the Start and Back buttons, the gamepad has Menu and View buttons that serve the same functions. The triggers provide individual force feedback, rumbling in response to what you're playing apart from the gamepad itself. This feels particularly good for racing games like Forza Motorsport 5, because the right trigger's resistance and response to acceleration feels much more precise with force feedback.


The bumpers, on the other hand, feel too flush with the body of the gamepad, and sit high enough that they aren't particularly comfortable to hit. It's a small complaint, and the gamepad feels good overall. The Xbox One comes with one controller and two AA batteries; if you want to use a rechargeable, one-piece battery solution you can forget about, you need to buy a Charge and Play Kit separately for $25 (but you can just use rechargeable AA batteries, and the gamepad works with a direct wired connection thanks to its microUSB port).
Interface
If you're familiar with Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8, you'll recognize the Xbox One Dashboard. The interface is pure Metro, with large, easily identifiable panels displaying the current game or app running, your most recent apps, pinned items (which can include games, apps, media, or Web sites to the left), and the Xbox Live Store to the right. Even if you loathe the UI for computers or mobile devices, it really works well as an HDTV interface. The big panels are easy to read and navigate, and the gamepad's analog stick and direction pad are the ideal ways to select them.



The Xbox One supports "snapping" apps to any game or software you're running. By selecting Snap on the Dashboard and picking an app (or by saying "Xbox, snap," which I'll explain below), you can keep certain apps on the side of the screen. You can, say, keep Skype or Hulu Plus or any other snappable app running while you play a game. You can also snap two apps, keeping one on the side while the other takes up most of the screen, letting you watch video on Netflix while you have Internet Explorer running next to it.