Hands on with the Xbox One

[Coreldan]

There have been similar posts all over this subforum, but I thought there might be demand for a new thread with actual hands on experiences and people could also ask questions from those who have got hands on with the console.

I just got to play one today, played mainly Ryse, but also Killer Instinct, Dead Rising 3, Forza and Fifa were available.

Due to the limited playtime I mostly tried to focus on the controller as that was interesting to me. The 360 controller was already really good, but the Xbox One controller felt just frigging amazing, I don't know what would I change even if I could change something.

I asked the MS staff quite a bit of questions too, mainly confirming stuff that had been left in the mist, such as

1) Unless you get the play & charge-kit, the controller does not have a cord, but will be operated with batteries.
2) The HDMI-passthrough according to them works with just about anything that just has HDMI-out. It does not require a supported set top box etc to just get the passthrough to Xbox. This means even if whatever box you use isn't supported, you can still hook it up through Xbox and be able to watch TV and still change between games and TV easily.
3) not something I asked, but was discussed in the Kinect thread, the 3 red light are visible on the Kinect. This came up in some Kinect video of Wired and some people were guessing it's the camera just picking them up due to being IR lights or something, but they are actually there

All the games looked good, it was maybe hard to say about Fifa cos I didn't play it personally and it's so zoomed in the normal gameplay. I don't know about resolutions and what not, but none of the games had anything to be ashamed of compared to the PS4 offerings at the expo, they also looked great.

Managed to snatch a really sweet preorder deal. Basic console, 2nd controller, Titanfall, "undefined AAA-title", and a years worth of subscription to a local gaming magazine for a year. All this for 529€. I was planning on waiting for a while for a 2nd batch of hardware to make sure there are no early kinks in the hardware, but I couldn't pass that deal

Have you got hands on with the console yet? What did you think?

 

[Keith Wallace]

1. I don't get the point of the first question. Of course without a cable a wireless controller is wireless, haha. I'd rather hear their justification for a $10 incease in controller costs and $5 increase in the Play & Charge, because I'm convinced it's just a nickel-and-dime, and it's a bit frustrating.

2. Interesting. I'm still not 100% certain what HDMI pass-through actually does. Does it basically just extend an extra HDMI port to your TV or something? I get it can overlay a console-friendly UI for TV, but what does it do if you plug in your PC to it? Can it Snap the PC and console together or anything?

3. Interesting, let's just hope that they aren't bright enough to be distracting.

 

[Coreldan]

1. I don't get the point of the first question. Of course without a cable a wireless controller is wireless, haha. I'd rather hear their justification for a $10 incease in controller costs and $5 increase in the Play & Charge, because I'm convinced it's just a nickel-and-dime, and it's a bit frustrating.

2. Interesting. I'm still not 100% certain what HDMI pass-through actually does. Does it basically just extend an extra HDMI port to your TV or something? I get it can overlay a console-friendly UI for TV, but what does it do if you plug in your PC to it? Can it Snap the PC and console together or anything?

3. Interesting, let's just hope that they aren't bright enough to be distracting.

Sorry if I was unclear, the thing I was basically asking about if the controller can be used "wired" from the box, but it does not come with a wire at all unless you get the play&charge kit. So to put it in a nutshell: the only way to not burn through batteries (or mess with rechargable batteries) is to get the the play&charge kit. The question was largely inspired By me being cheap and hoping that I could use the controller in a wired fashion without having to purchase the charge&play kit (which isnt exactly cheap either).

I pretty much asked the same, whether I could even put my PC there with the HDMI passthrough and the guy said yes. The reason why I asked about the PC too cos I heard one of the reps go like "Basically what the HDMI passthrough means is that you can have your set top.. well, a source attached to the TV with the Xbox there in the middle" or so. Cos he switched the set top box to "source" it made me wonder (and it does make sense too) if a PC would work too. Although I'll still put my set top box there. I'm still a bit sceptic though, but basically as long as it just overlays my set top boxes signal so I can easily change between TV and gaming without switching the source from the TV, I'm happy. I don't expect the Xbox One to ever actually support the exact box I have to the point where I would have a working TV guide etc through the Xbox GUI.

The lights on the Kinect arn't bright, but enough that you notice them. Also, "knowing you" Keith, I'm pretty sure you will have yours disconnected lol

 

[Keith Wallace]

Oh, you know I'd disconnect my Kinect. I'd EVENTUALLY find something worth trying it out on, but I prefer gaming in personal silence when offline, so I don't like the act of talking to my console. I don't do it with my phone either.

One thing that keeps baffling me is the Kinect's resource consumption though. It's said that it eats up 10% of the GPU, but it's also not required as a connection anymore. So, when the Kinect is unplugged, does that mean that 10% of the GPU is just wasted an untouchable for no darned reason? I mean, there's your failure to produce 1080p games consistently right there, and it's so dumb that if I describe what I'm thinking, I'll probably be banned from the forum, haha. I actually read something this morning about how CoD's people asked Microsoft for permission ot grab at that other 10% of the GPU, but Microsoft declined the request because the system would lose stability or something (my guess is that the Kinect NEEDS the 10% GPU when in-use, so if Ghosts touched that, using the Kinect with Ghosts running could cause it to crash). IDK, it just sounds like they didn't think things through well here, so they're now throwing away TFLOPs for a peripheral many won't want to use. It's one thing to require purchase for the sake of support, but you're charging $100 more for it and gimping the GPU at the same time? UGH.

To wrap it up though, I assume you were meaning that you checked if the controller is capable of ANY wired functionality? Does Microsoft offer any kind of wired solution? From what I recall, plugging in the Play & Charge doesn't make it a wired controller, as the cable is a power-only deal, and that data will always be transferred wirelessly. Also, do we know that charge rate of the Play & Charge? Is it USB 2.0? USB 3.0? Some proprietary,higher-speed charging solution? I wonder what would happen if you plugged in the controller to a smartphone/tablet microUSB charger. IDK what the length of the new Play & Charge cable is, but I know it wouldn't reach from my brother-in-law's TV to his couch, and since it's just microUSB input on the controller, I wonder if the wall is an option (or a PC) for charging when the Xbox is out of range.

 

[xboxonthego3]

I was actually looking at the Play & Charge kit the other day on the xbox website. Looks like i'll be getting one now.. Not a fan of AA batteries. Anyway on the xbox website it states in the details it will take 4 hours to fully charge. Which seems like a lot to me. And it will come with a 9ft USB to Micro usb cable for charging. So that's a decent length.

Keith about the Kinect using the 10% GPU. I thought I read or heard before that the Kinect has it's own built in processor. I could be wrong about that. If the Kinect does have it's own processor I would find it odd that it needs 10% of the GPU.

 

[Coreldan]

I would be a bit sceptical in believing some half assed rumor about Kinect taking 10% of resources and the stability etc. While it might be true, it sounds a bit silly. A much stronger rumor is what Xboxonthego3 mentioned I feel, about Kinect having it's own processing hardware inside it. This is what I've heard since they sorta announced the new Kinect. We still can't forget that the PS4 is still a good bit more powerful, so I don't think managing stable 1080 or not would only come down to Kinect even if it used 10% of the processing power.

That said, I think it's all relative and I think there is a reason in many games being less than 1080p. They can work on how the game looks outside resolution. Polygon counts and whatnot. I feel some games have gone for higher level of detail instead of higher resolution. Now one might ask why? The BF4 video shows us that despite lower resolution, the two consoles seemed to look identical outside contrast which isnt a performance thing. So, if they have a good upscaler in the Xbox One, they can potentially up the textures and polygon counts while having a lower resolution upscaled higher and end up looking quite similar. This is just quite a wild speculation though. Other thing is that Forza runs at 1080p and 60 FPS and is not put into shame By anything PS4 has to offer at this time, so I feel there's something beyond crunching numbers that we can't comprehend cos we don't have inside information on the things work.

As for the controller, I do recall reading (but not from an official source) about someone saying that the cord would just be for charging. It's been discussed before in the controller thread where at least I too was suggesting that one could charge from PCs USB port or even wall outlet if its closer than the Xbox (often the case, cords going through living room suck) as it was discussed there that data would still transfer wirelessly. As for the other questions, I can't give any definite answers except that it says this on news.xbox.com:

Internal Battery Cavity –The compartment that houses AA batteries is built into the interior of the controller, providing more room at the bottom for your fingers to grip. Another convenient improvement is that the controller is both wireless and a wired– simply plug it into your console with a micro USB cable and the connection automatically switches to preserve battery life.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Just to provide a source: Microsoft to reserve 10% of Xbox One GPU to Kinect and Snap capability - GAMER.BLORGE

"Unfortunately, this means that even if you do not play Kinect titles, you will not get that 10 percent GPU back. There is one flip side to this as Microsoft’s architects have revealed plans to free up some of that reservation over time."

So it sounds like the 10% goes to the multi-OS setup AND the Kinect, as I figured was part of the console's restrictions. The questions to ask are now:

1. How much optimization needs to be done there to get the third-party games to 1080p (or at least 900p)?
2. How much of that 10% can they realistically free up?

It'll supposedly get better, but I don't like that they give no estimation, while also giving no estimation regarding what they can free up for the games.

 

[MobileVortex]

omg these discussions hurt my brain to read lol.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Well, if you need any of the common-folk explanations, just ask, and I'll try to offer them as best I can, haha.

 

[Coreldan]

They also said they would try to find out if HDMI passthrough works without the Xbox actually being on.

Also they said they would try to find out about Fanatec wheel compatibility and other FAQ and post answers on FB

 

[Coreldan]

Also something that surprised me and I cant recall seeing that before was that the Kinect also had the "white and green" Xbox logo that was glowing when the Kinect was in use. Basically the same kinda thing as the controller has as a button.

Many people who seem mostly brand-neutral said that Dead Rising 3 was the best thing at the whole expo, which could be backed up by the MS reps saying that during the 3 day expo, not everyone who wanted to got to play the game as there was so much people wanting to play it.

I didn't play it personally as it was faster to get to play Ryse and I'm not really into zombies, but I watched it while I was waiting to get on to Ryse and holy hell there were so many zombies on the screen at times. Then one of the dudes playing it managed to flip his car while surrounded by what was probably 100+ zombies, he didn't get out of there alive

Also, Ryse's QTEs have been greatly lowered, the combat felt much better than wha it looked like in the earlier videos.

 

[ncxcstud]

I've wondered one thing about the controllers for both the PS4 and the Xbox One

Almost universally, sites like Kotaku and Joystiq rave about the PS4 controller and how they 'prefer' it to any other controller - even the forthcoming XBOX One controller. I understand that it is better than the PS3 controller since it is a bit wider and has a little more heft to it to feel comfortable, but it is essentially the same design maligned for YEARS on the PS2/PS3.

So, is it a case where the PS4 is indeed 'better' than anything else - even though it remains the same fundamental design (most notably the parallel analog sticks) that has been its biggest complaint from users OR, is it that many people who write these reviews still have something against Microsoft and the XBOX One thus (in their mind) they feel that the XBOX One controller is inferior even though it retains the design that most people seem to prefer to use (most notably the non-parallel analog sticks).

I'm not one to dive into conspiracy theories, but it does seem odd when talking about these controllers...

Glad you got to play all those game Coreldan - Really excited for DR3!

 

[Coreldan]

I guess it would depend what they preferred in the past. I don't have much experience with either current gen controller, but more with 360s anyways. I think the 360 had less to upgrade, but they still managed to make it feel even better. With the DualShock I guess the widening did enough for a lot of people, cos that's what I find people commenting mostly about when discussing the change. Local gaming forums many still seem to praise the Xbox One controller, even if they were buying PS4 first and foremost.

 

[Keith Wallace]

With the DualShock I guess the widening did enough for a lot of people, cos that's what I find people commenting mostly about when discussing the change.

That just makes me wonder if the widening's a bigdeal, or if it's the only meaningful change, and they talk it up as an excuse to knock the Xbox One some more. I have yet to hear anyone speak about the touchpad as a plus (most ask what it's even for), and while widening the controller might be nice, I doubt it's really enough to close the gap on the 360 controller entirely, let alone make it better than the One controller, which is supposedly the 360 controller with improvements.

 

[ncxcstud]

Most things I have read mention that nothing really uses it yet. They normally mention that it is just one big button. I remember reading articles explaining that it is JUST a touchpad, and not a LCD touchscreen. For some reason, many people thought it was a touchscreen - enough for some outlets to inform readers that it was equivalent to the Vita's touchpad on its back...

I still feel that a lot of future users WANT the PS4 controller to be better, to give them (additional) reason to switch to a new platform. The PS3 controller always gave me cramps and aches in my hand in playing any game. The Wii/nunchuck combo is (IMO) pretty terrible too.

That just makes me wonder if the widening's a bigdeal, or if it's the only meaningful change, and they talk it up as an excuse to knock the Xbox One some more. I have yet to hear anyone speak about the touchpad as a plus (most ask what it's even for), and while widening the controller might be nice, I doubt it's really enough to close the gap on the 360 controller entirely, let alone make it better than the One controller, which is supposedly the 360 controller with improvements.

 

[DJRedLine]

I have got to play both BF4 and COD:Ghosts on the XO

BF4 was a game of conquest on the Zavod map - It was just beautiful to look at and play. It made me want it even more
COD was just a game of team deathmatch on a map I can't remember the name of but was no larger than 12 people squashed into a small car. It didn't impress me as much and still looked like it could easily run on current gen.

I agree with the controller as it felt fantastic to hold. Just like the current one it feels natural and instantly recognisable.

 

[DavidinCT]

With the HDMI in, could you connect the 360 and play it through the xbox one ? I know this was a disussion but, I can't find anything that 100% confirms it...

No question, I will be getting the Play and charge kit, crap my 360 controllers are always on the USB cable charger, so they are ready at any time (I have a server that is always on in my home and use for USB power), I leave a 360 and PS3 controller always connected to be ready.

Where we at ? 17 more days till we get our Xbox one ? Getting closer....

 

[Coreldan]

With the HDMI in, could you connect the 360 and play it through the xbox one ? I know this was a disussion but, I can't find anything that 100% confirms it...

No question, I will be getting the Play and charge kit, crap my 360 controllers are always on the USB cable charger, so they are ready at any time (I have a server that is always on in my home and use for USB power), I leave a 360 and PS3 controller always connected to be ready.

Where we at ? 17 more days till we get our Xbox one ? Getting closer....

According to the MS reps, yes. There's also a confirmation from MS somewhere on the internet about being able to connect the PS4 through the Xbox One too all the same if you plan to get both consoles.

 

[ncxcstud]

I know you can connect literally anything through the XBOX One that uses HDMI. But I'm not quite sure if the controller would techno-magically work on those. For example, you can put the XBOX 360 through the passthrough, but I'm not sure they've said the XBOX One controller would work on the 360. The only thing that'll get you is that you could play your 360 and still have access to all your XBOX One stuff at the same time. But you'd still be using your 360 controller to play on it. Same thing for the PS4 I'd think if you connect it through the XBOX One.

What I want to know is, is there an HDMI switcher so I can connect my 360 and my DirecTV receiver to the XBOX One? How would that work...

With the HDMI in, could you connect the 360 and play it through the xbox one ? I know this was a disussion but, I can't find anything that 100% confirms it...

No question, I will be getting the Play and charge kit, crap my 360 controllers are always on the USB cable charger, so they are ready at any time (I have a server that is always on in my home and use for USB power), I leave a 360 and PS3 controller always connected to be ready.

Where we at ? 17 more days till we get our Xbox one ? Getting closer....