The new Xbox One will be released this Friday in North America and Europe to the delight of many video game players, but the Xbox One aims to be much more than just a game console. With several entertainment additions to this latest version of the Xbox, manufacturer Microsoft is making a major play to be the epicenter of the living room.
As reported by usatoday.com:
“Microsoft makes arguably the biggest leap toward an all-in-one entertainment future with Xbox One, a stellar system with an impressive set of features to make consuming entertainment more fun. However, the Xbox One could use a bit more polish before it dominates the living room.”
Xbox One will be competing with Sony’s Playstation 4, which has already been a major success, selling a million units in just 24 hours. Playstation 4 and is $100 less than the Xbox One. However for the extra $100, Xbox users will get the Xbox Kinect sensor that Microsoft is hailing as a major feature.
As reported by usatoday.com:
“A core piece [to the Xbox One] is the revamped Kinect, a smaller, more powerful version of the sensor Microsoft released for Xbox 360 in 2010. It tracks users more effectively, especially when sitting down, and will even check your heart rate for apps such as Xbox Fitness, a suite of fitness videos incorporating Kinect. The sensor’s range has also been tweaked, so users can be closer to their TVs and utilize smaller spaces.
“The real draw of Kinect is the improved vocal recognition. Using ‘Xbox’ to alert the device, users can adjust the volume on their TV, view channel guides and even request channels (Example: ‘Xbox, watch ESPN.’) While inside the OneGuide, the Xbox equivalent to a TV guide, users can add channels to their favorites, create special app channels combining apps such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video.”
The Xbox One is, of course, still a game console first and entertainment hub second, but with all its additional features it hopes to be able to compete with Sony’s PS4. This may prove in the end to be a difficult task, especially since the PS4 has gotten more favorable reviews thus far and is $100 cheaper. But ultimately time will tell who the victor of the living room will be.
