Crazy Gamer's official Xbox One stance

Hello all.  Today I will give you my opinion on the...

Specs:

The specs of the system seem powerful...though no game was shown that really showcased the systems power. 

I for one care more about what developers are able to do with artificial intelligence and user interfaces.  I want organic dialogue that changes based on how I want to play my character.  I hope one day that conversation trees are replaced with something more natural.  I also hope user interfaces become less heavy handed.  Maybe this generation will offer that?  We will see.

The controller:

I like the controller, I think I prefer it to the Playstation 4's controller.  I will withhold my final judgment until I can actually handle them.

The new Kinect:

I was unimpressed with the original Kinect.  On the surface it could be interesting, but the Kinect was never used in a good way.  The only game that I thought used the Kinect in a good way was Mass Effect 3 where you could give vocal commands to your companion characters and could use your voice to change weapon load outs.  This was limited a bit too much by the technology at the time but maybe this new Kinect will allow developers the ability to better integrate these features into games and to design new uses.

However...

My overactive imagination takes over.  Suddenly I meet George Orwell in a café. 

"So Crazy Gamer," he asks "Tell me about the future."

"Well George, we have a lot of cool things now.  We have cars that can run on electricity, we have the internet which is a bunch of computers connected together to create this online space we can all use.  Have you ever heard of videogames George?"

"Well... no Crazy Gamer I've never heard of those.  What are they?"

"Well there is this new Xbox One game system and it has this Kinect device that has a bunch of cameras that watch what you do, for the game.  And, remember that internet that I explained before, well the Kinect can transmit your data to the internet for anyone you want to view."

"That sounds awful!  The government can't use this internet can they?"

"Of course they can George."

"So they could see what you're doing in your house?"

"I guess, but Microsoft promises I can tell the Kinect to not listen to me."

"So Crazy Gamer, you're telling me that now Big Brother really can be watching?

"I don't think so, my big brother has a Playstation."

"Take me back to my time please.  And may God have mercy on your soul."



Anyway, I know I'm overreacting but I can't help but find the idea of a device that can watch and listen to everything I do and upload it to the internet unpalatable.  Microsoft assures us that we can decided just how much it can listen to and watch but what happens when a suspected terrorist, or a person that is suspected in a crime have an X Box One?  Will it be legal to get a warrant to be able to watch people?  Can Microsoft override our privacy settings?  How secure is Microsoft's servers in the first place?  Could they be hacked by a third party?  These are troubling ideas, and might be a deal breaker.

Xbox Live, Xbox TV, etc, etc

I don't want to pay for an additional online service.  Sorry Microsoft. 

I couldn't care less about the Xbox television connection (I have satellite, which may or may not be able to take advantage of these features) or any of the other "awesome," social features. 

Xbox One needing to connect to the internet.

This is another feature that shouldn't bother me, but does.  I have a fairly stable broadband internet connection and I don't buy a lot of used games.  Still, I feel that I should be able to do whatever the hell I want with the stuff I buy.  Microsoft assures us that the Xbox One only needs to connect to the internet once a day and that this is going to allow us access to all kinds of cool things, but it just smacks of them wanting to control how I use my Xbox,which begs the question, is it my product at all?  If I have to pay $400.00 dollars or more it damn well outta be! However I really don't think Microsoft agrees and that's a problem, at least for me.

The Games

I have no idea as no pure Xbox One next gen only games were shown.  We saw some games, but these games are also coming out on the current generation consoles.  New features are promised, but nothing was shown.  Microsoft is promising 15 new games, but outside of Forza, and Halo, and Oblivion, nothing was shown and none of those franchises interest me. 

My verdict:

Barring a massive influx of cool RPG's only available on Xbox One, the Crazy Gamer says- thanks but no thanks Microsoft.