We've already taken a look at Sony's PlayStation 4. Now it's Microsoft's turn.
Reviews for the Xbox One, Microsoft's hulking and powerful next-gen console, are flooding tech and video game publications. Like the PS4, they are all incisive and thoughtful deep-dives into the machine's many nuances and hiccups, and I encourage you to read a few yourself if you're considering purchasing one. Here, here, and here are good places to start.
Indeed, the technological advances make the One a fine piece of machinery worthy of the Xbox name. Its controller is superb — potentially best in class. Kinect's motion- and speech-sensing capabilities are more accurate: Barking, "Xbox, on!" beats reaching for the console. Games even resume instantly from the home screen.
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While the PS4 is focusing more on the hardest core of gamers, the Xbox One is keen on reaching a wider audience. Its goal is to become the all-in-one entertainment center of the future.
The question inevitably becomes: Should I purchase one right away? Of all the reviews I read, I found this four-sentence critique by Greg Kumparak at TechCrunch to be especially insightful:
If you already have a 360 and aren't absolutely dying for any of the launch titles, I would say hold off for now. Give developers a bit of time to figure out the console's inner workings. Let the must-have titles get made. If your 360 is on its last leg or you skipped the last generation, however, it's a solid buy as is. [TechCrunch]
Like the PS4, the Xbox One is a platform with huge potential. If money's tight and you can wait a few months (or, if you're like me, years), you're okay holding off for a bit.
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