The latecomer to the next gen games consoles party has finally arrived with Microsoft’s reveal event yesterday for the Xbox ONE (formerly known as the 720). Rumours had been flying for a while, and they probably still will until it’s launch in November 2013, but now that we’ve seen the new device and know enough about the tech and launch games we can officially say that the computer games landscape has fully moved up to the next generation.
Xbox ONE launch games
There are a lot of technical innovations built into the Xbox ONE, so firstly let’s take a quick look at the launch games to get excited about:
- Call of Duty Ghosts – The latest iteration in the COD franchise will bring all of the style of it’s prequels and throw in next gen graphics and a dog playable character. However, there’s no word on whether Call of Duty: Ghosts will use the motion sensor control functionality built into the ONE. Surely it’s got to happen for the port to stand out against PS4 and Wii U versions.
- FIFA 14 – With announcement that EA have got any more games for the Nintendo Wii U planned, the official footy release will be a battle between the PS4 and the ONE. Again, if the Xbox version has motion control tha actually works it’ll be a massive game changer. Visit out FIFA 14 preview for more details.
- NBA Live – It’s pretty much the same situation for EA’s basketball sim franchise.
- UFC – Another EA sports sim, UFC has got to be a banker for motion control after the Kinect release of UFC Personal Trainer. Hopefully this will be one if the “heart rate monitor titles”.
- Madden NFL 14 – The last of EA’s launch titles is pretty much locked down for the US market.
- Forza Motorsport 5 – The graphics demo on the Xbox ONE reveal video for Forza Motorsport 5 look like some of the best we’ve seen in the next gen war. The texture detail is incredible and should be an instant hit for the launch, especially if you can control the car by pretending to hold the steering wheel and change gear in mid air without the need of the controller.
- Quantum Break – This is a bit of an enigma in terms of gameplay. All we really know is that there’s a troubled girl and a bridge that gets destroyed by a mysterious, unseen force. Weird!
- Watch_Dogs – This looks like it’ll be one of the multi platform must buys, putting you in charge of a super hacker vigilante with the controls to the entirety of Chicago city in his hands. Check out the Watch_Dogs trailer below. Ubisoft has also announced that there will be a Watch Dogs movie coming soon.
- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Building on the Ubisoft series, Blag Flag will pull in the processing might of next generation consoles to take its graphics and massive landscapes to the next level. Read our Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag preview for more details.
- Battlefield 4 – More first person shooter action, but this will be a multi-platform release. Out on the 1st November 2013 on other consoles things shouldn’t be too much later than the launch of the ONE.
- Dead Rising 3 – The Xbox ONE zombie crisis adventure.
Xbox ONE future games releases
As well as the launch titles there are more than a few future game releases on the cards:
- Destiny – Made by the creators of Halo, Bungie, it takes a first person shooter adventure and adds in stars, planets and aliens into the mix. To get more of a feel for the game, and the console variations, read our Different console destinies of Destiny.
- Halo 5 – Another Bungie entry, this could be frighteningly good on the Xbox ONE
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 – The rival to FIFA should also hit the Xbox ONE not too long after launch either with a scheduled release in October 2013 for other consoles.
- Metal Gear Solid 5 – Little is known about the release apart from it’s coming. You’ll probably have to wait for 2014 though. Visit our Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain page for more details and to watch the trailer.
- Wolfenstein: The New Order – Set for launch towards the end of this year, this is yet more first person shooter action scheduled for the new Xbox console. Set in an alternate 1960s following an imagined Nazi win in WWII, it could be mental.
- Titanfall – Futuristic online first person shooter that looks amazing.
Xbox ONE features
The Pros:
- Motion control – Essentially you move, the ONE will follow.
- Face recognition – It’ll also be able to recognise who you are.
- Voice activation – Tell the Xbox ONE what channel or programme you want to watch and it’ll find it.
- Heartbeat detection – It’ll be able to monitor your heart rate while you exercise. Or, scarily, potentially altering a game depending on how quick your heart is beating.
- Blu-ray – Retaining the high definition home entertainment player.
- Instant game save and resume – So you never need worry about losing you place in a game ever again. It’s a feature that has also been announced for the PS4.
- Improved controller – With better ergonomics and a new D-pad
- Instant switch between TV, games and music – So you can quickly flick to TV when your girlfriend gets back with vibes of annoyance at the amount of time you spend kicking ass in Xbox games.
- Snap mode – Browse the Internet, while watching TV, or Skype while playing a game.
The cons:
- Fee for game resale – The rumour is still doing the rounds, so it’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft play this in the end.
- Tough to loan a game to a friend – Essentially, a game will be fixed to one person’s Live account so you’ll only be able to share games if you’re around to log in with it.
- No backwards compatibility – We’re not 100% on this, but there’s speculation that the difference in technology mean this will be the situation. However, it’ll be genius if the Xbox ONE can get this back in place for the launch. It’s one of the reasons the Wii U is so compelling and already one of the negatives for the PS4, so it’ll be a real competitive advantage if they can deploy backwards compatibility in the end.
Xbox ONE release date
- November 2013 – Is our best estimate
Reveal video highlights
For anyone that missed the official reveal earlier this week, below are the highlights from Microsoft:
Related news and reviews:
- Watch_Dogs Wii U confirmed
