So I got to have a go on an Xbox One tonight and I thought I would share my impressions, however limited they may be.
I was mainly interested in just getting a grip on the new pad, the part that I will be spending the most time with over the next generation.
The controller itself felt very much like the 360 pad, the "handles" were maybe a little thinner or pointer, my little finger and ringer finger seem to grip around a little closer to my the padded part of my hand, this was the first thing I noticed just holding the pad, it felt a little different.
The bumpers are definitely the biggest change to the overall feel that they have made, they are a little wider and despite being closer to the triggers, felt like you actually hand to move your fingers a little further from trigger to bumper.
If you are a player who uses their trigger finger on the bumpers and middle finger on the triggers, then I think you will find this a huge improvement over the 360 pad.
The dpad, I'm not a big dPad user for any games and have had the rotating dPads on my primary pads for a few years now, the Xbox One dPad does feel distinctly better to press, it has a very solid , "high quality" feel to it with a very distinct micro switch click in all 8 directions.
The guide button is almost flush with the main body of the pad and again has a distinct click to it, certainly clicky and less spongey than the current guide button.
The analogues, these were really hard to quantify and describe these, I have read they they are higher and they are smaller, but the only thing again that I could really feel was just how solid and response they felt. I couldn't really notice any difference how stiff/slack they were compared to the 360, but the motion itself felt both smoother and the dead zone was almost no existent, I'm used to that little 2mm wobble in the middle of both the 360 pad and DS3 sticks.
Overall it just feels better and just feels as I would expect a decent pad to feel.
The rumble. The rumble....
I think I am in love with the rumble, I was trying Forza, which seemed to be the only game that really supported it, but it was really effective. The motors in the triggers themselves really provide a sensation totally unlike any any controller I've ever used. Although they weren't giving any actual push back, they genuinely felt like it on several occasions, I can liken it to the effect of a force feedback steering wheel, except it's not doing the same thing at all.
It's something you really need to feel for yourself, I'm hoping that some shooters will make use of it as it should really add an extra layer of solid feeling to pulling the trigger on a gun or picking a lock.
Straight away you could really feel not only the bass style rumble coming from deep within the pad the very controlled triggers but the very direct force coming from the trigger motors. It was kind of like rumble surround sound, you could see that the duplication of the motors and repositioning of them really allows the sensation to be felt on either the left or right of the pad and then then front and the back.
Very very cool.
The games seemed to be older builds, the Ryse demo was listed as Gamescom.
The TV's they were using had every puketastic "feature" turned on with the exception of motion interpolation, Sharpess was at +1000 it seemed, so the picture quality was pretty disgusting and it made it difficult to discern certain things such as resolution.
Dead Rising 3
I'd not been following this, but I was really blown away by how much better it looked than Dead Rising 2, which I had recently been playing. The framerate itself was surprisingly good, I only saw it slow down on a couple of occasions, but even with several hundred zombies on screen it didn't seem to break a sweat, I can't say that I saw any tearing, which was surprising given that the initial demos were awful for it.
I did see a digger ping miles into the air and land on some zombies in a spectacular physics glitch.
The lighting and number of enemies was a big step up from the previous games.
Forza 5
It's Forza.
Framerate was superb and it was fun to play, I was too busy being amazed by the rumble in the triggers.
Ryse
Played the Colosseum co-op mode with a friend and actually really really enjoyed it, the presentation of even this mode was very good, it actually looked like FMV at times.
It was hard to know exactly what I was doing, I didn't feel that button bashing was really helping me at all when I was overwhelmed by 5 enemies, but initiating an execution was really satisfying.
Killer Instinct
silky Smooth and I am terrible at fighting games so I find it very difficult to say anything that would be of use about this game. It was clearly really very detailed as the awful TV sharpening made everything look rank.
Actually getting to play the games first hand was nice as was playing with the pad and seeing the machine in the flesh( which was actually sitting inside an ikea expedit unit.) was great and it kind of took the actual the artificial hype and expectations away to leave me feeling actually pretty serene. It's a games console that plays games and I like games.
also security guard fail:
"no touching or photos"
Like that has ever stopped me!
Phew, just got back from the Xbox One event they had here in Orlando. Line was absolutely massive an hour before they even started.
Anyway enough about that. Walked in, immediately saw the Xbox One with the Kinect and controller. In person it's pretty damn sexy to me. Love the black, has a very industrial feel to it. It wasn't as big as I thought it'd be, I'd put it close to the OG Xbox, which admittedly was fairly large. Still, it'll fit perfectly in my entertainment center.
On to the controller, the thing felt like sex in my hand. Very ergonomic, just as much as the 360 controller. D-pad felt clickier, felt better to me. Loved the new ridges around the sticks. I see what people mean when they say they're a little looser than the 360's. They are, but not as loose the Dualshock 3, which I'm fine with. Triggers felt great, but I prefer the 360's bumpers.They were fine, but they didn't feel as...sturdy I guess.
Of course the games, they only had 2 to demo: Forza 5 and Killer Instinct. Unfortunately didn't get to play Killer Instinct as the line was massive, but it looked super smooth. 60fps is apparent, and jaw dropping particle effects in my opinion. I did get to play Forza 5 though. Hnnnnnnng. The visuals were deliciously good. Played it on a massive TV, and everything just felt nice and smooth. Perfect framerate, gorgeous car models, and the triggers were really something else. I purposefully went off road to get a feel for the impulse triggers and they work like advertised. Never felt anything like that before.
All in all, I'm definitely getting one, though waiting until Halo releases next year. Great console. Oh and I also made a friend.
*Those pesky gaffers!*
Phew, just got back from the Xbox One event they had here in Orlando. Line was absolutely massive an hour before they even started.
Anyway enough about that. Walked in, immediately saw the Xbox One with the Kinect and controller. In person it's pretty damn sexy to me. Love the black, has a very industrial feel to it. It wasn't as big as I thought it'd be, I'd put it close to the OG Xbox, which admittedly was fairly large. Still, it'll fit perfectly in my entertainment center.
On to the controller, the thing felt like sex in my hand. Very ergonomic, just as much as the 360 controller. D-pad felt clickier, felt better to me. Loved the new ridges around the sticks. I see what people mean when they say they're a little looser than the 360's. They are, but not as loose the Dualshock 3, which I'm fine with. Triggers felt great, but I prefer the 360's bumpers.They were fine, but they didn't feel as...sturdy I guess.
Of course the games, they only had 2 to demo: Forza 5 and Killer Instinct. Unfortunately didn't get to play Killer Instinct as the line was massive, but it looked super smooth. 60fps is apparent, and jaw dropping particle effects in my opinion. I did get to play Forza 5 though. Hnnnnnnng. The visuals were deliciously good. Played it on a massive TV, and everything just felt nice and smooth. Perfect framerate, gorgeous car models, and the triggers were really something else. I purposefully went off road to get a feel for the impulse triggers and they work like advertised. Never felt anything like that before.
All in all, I'm definitely getting one, though waiting until Halo releases next year. Great console. Oh and I also made a friend.
*Those pesky gaffers!*
I love that despite many on GAF being incredibly disrespectful to him, Larry has a sense of humor about it. All the journalists that say he's a great guy appear to be right. Thanks for the post, Shinobi.
a massive line for KI? :O
KI is going to be very popular.
Yea he was actually a pleasure to talk to. Talked to him for a few minutes about different stuff. Despite being jet lagged no doubt (you could see it in his face), he was cheery with everyone. He was telling me he enjoys reading GAF and asked how I liked Forza. Actually the conversation went like:
Major Nelson: "How'd you like Forza?"
Me: "It was ace, felt really smooth and the graphics look great dude"
MN: "You let GAF know, 1080p/60fps alright? I promise. There was a thread on it when we announced it that I liked"
Me: "Oh I know, I made that one man"
MN: "That was you? It was good. Yup 1080p/60fps"
Me: "What about Titanfall?"
MN: "Oh you"
lol
I hope MS advertise it, it's as much a system seller as DR3 and Ryse IMO.
Yea he was actually a pleasure to talk to. Talked to him for a few minutes about different stuff. Despite being jet lagged no doubt (you could see it in his face), he was cheery with everyone. He was telling me he enjoys reading GAF and asked how I liked Forza. Actually the conversation went like:
Major Nelson: "How'd you like Forza?"
Me: "It was ace, felt really smooth and the graphics look great dude"
MN: "You let GAF know, 1080p/60fps alright? I promise. There was a thread on it when we announced it that I liked"
Me: "Oh I know, I made that one man"
MN: "That was you? It was good. Yup 1080p/60fps"
Me: "What about Titanfall?"
MN: "Oh you"
lol
That's too funny. I hope I get to meet him here in Austin.
I assume it'll be plastered all over the main UI on Xbox One and probably 360. Easy way to reach millions of gamers.
KI hasn''t hit front page yet. Ryse and Forza have though. CoD is getting the main big screen love last time I checked.
Yea he was actually a pleasure to talk to. Talked to him for a few minutes about different stuff. Despite being jet lagged no doubt (you could see it in his face), he was cheery with everyone. He was telling me he enjoys reading GAF and asked how I liked Forza. Actually the conversation went like:
Major Nelson: "How'd you like Forza?"
Me: "It was ace, felt really smooth and the graphics look great dude"
MN: "You let GAF know, 1080p/60fps alright? I promise. There was a thread on it when we announced it that I liked"
Me: "Oh I know, I made that one man"
MN: "That was you? It was good. Yup 1080p/60fps"
Me: "What about Titanfall?"
MN: "Oh you"
lol
Yea he was actually a pleasure to talk to. Talked to him for a few minutes about different stuff. Despite being jet lagged no doubt (you could see it in his face), he was cheery with everyone. He was telling me he enjoys reading GAF and asked how I liked Forza. Actually the conversation went like:
Phew, just got back from the Xbox One event they had here in Orlando. Line was absolutely massive an hour before they even started.
Well its (CoD) the first game they're doing day one digital with on 360 and if you buy it on 360 digitally you can get the Xbox One version for 10 dollars.
I was considering that. Not quite sure I am ready for all digital yet. My main question is when can you start downloading for a release date of a game. Midnight day of? Mid day? Prior to release? Not sure.
I need to know this as well. I don't want to come home from work and then spend hours downloading the game before I get to play it. I hope we can predownload at least part of it.
My pleasure guys. And another last little short story, for the whole 1+hour of standing in line, I chatted with a couple other passionate guys about all kinds of things from PS4 vs Xbox One specs (that was a fun one) and DRM reversals, to NBA 2K14 to what we'd want from the next gen Mass Effect (they were big Bioware fans like me hah). One of the guys brought his OG Xbox in a case so Larry could sign it. Unfortunately he was a really shy one so kind of felt timid to approach Major Nelson so I went ahead and got his attention and the guy next mustered enough guts to ask him if he could sign his Xbox. He did and also did a funny like act by announcing on the mic "Hey guys, check out this old dinosuar!"
He walked over to the Xbox One display in the center and held it next to it and said "Hey, here's your old grandpa. They finally meet for the first time" and everyone was cheering. Felt pretty cool. Took a pic while he was walking over to it
Right here bud: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=460437Haha props to Larry for having fun and you for that awesome shirt! Where can I get one?
Very cool from Larry.
Though all I can think about is Xbox 1, meet Xbox One.
Yea he was actually a pleasure to talk to. Talked to him for a few minutes about different stuff. Despite being jet lagged no doubt (you could see it in his face), he was cheery with everyone. He was telling me he enjoys reading GAF and asked how I liked Forza. Actually the conversation went like:
Major Nelson: "How'd you like Forza?"
Me: "It was ace, felt really smooth and the graphics look great dude"
MN: "You let GAF know, 1080p/60fps alright? I promise. There was a thread on it when we announced it that I liked"
Me: "Oh I know, I made that one man"
MN: "That was you? It was good. Yup 1080p/60fps"
Me: "What about Titanfall?"
MN: "Oh you"
lol
On to the controller, the thing felt like sex in my hand. Very ergonomic, just as much as the 360 controller. D-pad felt clickier, felt better to me. Loved the new ridges around the sticks. I see what people mean when they say they're a little looser than the 360's. They are, but not as loose the Dualshock 3, which I'm fine with. Triggers felt great, but I prefer the 360's bumpers.They were fine, but they didn't feel as...sturdy I guess.
Why did they make them looser. WHY! There was absolutely no reason to do it.
Bah.