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I played around with an Xbox One today, some impressions (Controller, Forza 5, noise)

Walked into a futureshop in Montreal today and voila, there was an XBOX One with Forza set up. There was no one around it at the time so I got to spend a decent 10-15 minutes with it. (By the time I left the store a line had reformed though, I just got lucky with timing I guess)

First of all, the controller felt great. Not sure where the negative impressions lately have been coming from, i'm surprised about it now that I've actually gotten my hands on it. The sticks are noticeably smaller, but feel very nice. Slightly looser, but still very nice. The rim around the edge of the sticks is very noticeably much higher too, it feels even more dramatic to my thumbs than I thought it would by looking at pictures of it. It feels kind of weird at first, but I warmed up to it and actually quite liked that rim. The triggers are a little looser, but still feel great and very similar to the 360's triggers. Trigger rumble is subtle but nice, and the d-pad is totally fine now. It's got very little throw on it between standard position and being pressed, and is quite clicky, but felt quite nice.

The only real bad thing about the controller was the bumpers, they feel largely the same on their own (maybe a little more firm, requiring more effort to push), but now there's no space between them and the triggers, the ends of them are basically touching. I could easily see people hitting both at once on accident.

So, the game I played was Forza 5. It looks very nice, as expected. Wasn't blown away or anything by it though. It's very much a "nicer looking Forza" rather than a huge "THIS IS NEXT GEN" moment, to me. One thing I noticed however is that there were a lot more jaggies than I was expecting, this game is suppose to be 1080p right? It was even a relatively small 32-36 inch TV. I don't want to sit here and say definitively that it's under 1080p or anything, but there sure was a lot of aliasing/jaggies that I noticed, specifically on the road. Other than that it's a good looking game though.

That's about it. The console itself was very quiet too, a nice change from launch 360s. Think slim 360 level of noise when it's running games from the hard drive.

I'm personally still in the PS4 camp, but there you have it. Any Canadian GAFers out there should look up if it's at your futureshop if you want to give it a shot too.
 
Well, even if the game is 1080p, aliasing is still going to be quite noticeable if they don't have a solution in place. Also keep in mind that you were much closer to the screen than you'd be in a normal situation. Whether or not the screen is properly calibrated is another issue, too. That being said, from what I've seen of Forza 5 from direct feed captures, it doesn't seem like there's much if any anti-aliasing, so your impressions seem to indicate that this may very well be the case. I don't think they've lowered the resolution on this game.
 
Well, even if the game is 1080p, aliasing is still going to be quite noticeable if they don't have a solution in place. Also keep in mind that you were much closer to the screen than you'd be in a normal situation. Whether or not the screen is properly calibrated is another issue, too. That being said, from what I've seen of Forza 5 from direct feed captures, it doesn't seem like there's much if any anti-aliasing, so your impressions seem to indicate that this may very well be the case. I don't think they've lowered the resolution on this game.

True, it could have just been that. I guess we won't 100% know until it's out though.

Either way, the jaggies were very noticeable and surprised me.
 

SRTtoZ

Member
Aliasing will be there regardless of if the game was 720p or 1080p. People wanted 60 FPS, so there will be drawbacks to reach it. (Lighting, day/night, weather, AA, etc)
 

wizzbang

Banned
That's about it. The console itself was very quiet too, a nice change from launch 360s. Think slim 360 level of noise when it's running games from the hard drive.

I'm personally still in the PS4 camp, but there you have it. Any Canadian GAFers out there should look up if it's at your futureshop if you want to give it a shot too.

I'm firmly in the PS4 camp also - but the loons who think the Xbox One would be loud must not have done any reading.
There was 2 engineering articles which came out, showing the extensive work they did to keep this thing quiet / reliable / cool. It's utterly crazy - it was a big focus for them.

They had that ultra quiet room (one of the quietest in the world) built - to test the units.
The case is larger than a PS4, the power supply is not inside the unit, like the PS4 and the actual tech inside is slower.

That, combined with the reputation from the 360, I speculate that the Xbox One will be a very very reliable console.
Hell there was even that quote that because it's going to be used as a TV peripheral like a cable box, I think I saw one say something along the lines of it "intending to be running for 10 years" (not lasting, running)

I'm not buying one but yeah, it'll be reliable.
 
I have preorders in on the next-gen consoles and the more I hear about their graphics the more I just want to go full PC. Already have a really good rig - just need to commit.
 

Cade

Member
Good to hear some positive Xbone controllers. I didn't like the 360's bumpers though and Xbone's looked worse to me from the get-go. If the Xbone controller is >>> the PS4 controller as far as PC support goes (very likely) I might pick one up in 2014 even if I don't get an Xbone then.
 

EBE

Member
Albert Penello mentioned in the Ryse thread that demos for it and Forza 5 were old builds of the game pre cpu and gpu buff. Don't know if that applies here with what you played. Still, nice to read more impressions. Can't wait to get my hands on the darn thing.
 

Dinjooh

Member
It feels kind of weird at first, but I warmed up to it and actually quite liked that rim.


RpsEHTM.gif
 

CrisKre

Member
I have preorders in on the next-gen consoles and the more I hear about their graphics the more I just want to go full PC. Already have a really good rig - just need to commit.
I agree that when these systems come out, at least initially, many expecting to have their faces melt down by the graphics will be disappointed. In time I'm sure it will improve though.
 
I have preorders in on the next-gen consoles and the more I hear about their graphics the more I just want to go full PC. Already have a really good rig - just need to commit.

These are launch games though. Compare the launch games from current gen to the games that came out later and there's a night and day difference. I mean it's your prerogative obviously but for $400-$500 these consoles should hold someone over for 3-4 years until they really start showing their age.
 

BeauRoger

Unconfirmed Member
I wouldnt really worry about the jaggies too much. Most game stores that have any form of demo stations dont calibrate the displays at all, which usually means that sharpness is through the roof, which adds a lot of jaggies. TV sharpness should almost always be at minimum not to interfere with the IQ.
 
I wouldnt really worry about the jaggies too much. Most game stores that have any form of demo stations dont calibrate the displays at all, which usually means that sharpness is through the roof, which adds a lot of jaggies. TV sharpness should almost always be at minimum not to interfere with the IQ.

Good point, I wouldn't be shocked if that was a factor.

I just find it weird that a display that is basically an ad wouldn't be calibrated correctly. There was a Microsoft rep there and everything.

Well, I guess 99% of people don't give two craps about jaggies or even know what they are, though.

Everybody in the line thought you were a weirdo.

No one else was there when I did it, so I'm safe.
 
I wouldnt really worry about the jaggies too much. Most game stores that have any form of demo stations dont calibrate the displays at all, which usually means that sharpness is through the roof, which adds a lot of jaggies. TV sharpness should almost always be at minimum not to interfere with the IQ.

On another thread though we were looking at Forza screen grabs and noticed alot of jaggies. Especially on the car itself. Don't have a link. Forgot which thread it was
 
Have they actually said it's 1920x1080, or just "1080p" ? Just saying that that could easily be smoke and mirrors for 1280x1080 or 1440x1080 scaled or something.
 

Khaz

Member
Well the controller seems definitively an improvement. Do we know anything about (PC) connectivity?
 
I'm not buying one but yeah, it'll be reliable.

I can recall a lot of people on sites I frequented many years ago said that the 360 had to be dependable at launch after the mess MS made with the OG Xbox launching with exploding power cables... and look how that ended up.

I wouldn't assume anything as a certainty for this machine at this point myself.
 

FourMyle

Member
I agree that when these systems come out, at least initially, many expecting to have their faces melt down by the graphics will be disappointed. In time I'm sure it will improve though.

Maybe if you're blind, I guess? KZ SF and Ryse are massive leaps over last gen games.
 

Dinjooh

Member
I can recall a lot of people on sites I frequented many years ago said that the 360 had to be dependable at launch after the mess MS made with the OG Xbox launching with exploding power cables... and look how that ended up.

I wouldn't assume anything as a certainty for this machine at this point myself.

What the what?

I still have mine. Should I be worried about my house now?
 

netBuff

Member
Well the controller seems definitively an improvement. Do we know anything about (PC) connectivity?

I strongly disagree. The grips feel uncomfortably wide, the sticks are too small and the bumpers feel pretty horrible (strange to click). And there is no PC compatibility at launch time, but that will come at a later date.

Jaggies are plainly visible in most launch games, save for Ryse: I was really underwhelmed by Xbone's graphics that were on display.
 
What the what?

I still have mine. Should I be worried about my house now?

Haha... if you haven't had it burn your house down by this point I think you're probably safe enough :p

It wasn't every OG Xbox that had the issue, but enough of them apparently did that MS had to issue a recall on millions of the power cables on them.
 

wizzbang

Banned
I can recall a lot of people on sites I frequented many years ago said that the 360 had to be dependable at launch after the mess MS made with the OG Xbox launching with exploding power cables... and look how that ended up.

I wouldn't assume anything as a certainty for this machine at this point myself.

I think 3'rd time will be a charm, they will be shit scared of issues due to previous history.
It's obvious from the articles, they have really put the hard yards into it from a design perspective. I expect it to be an incredibly quiet console, regardless of the intensity of game played.
 

netBuff

Member
I said the triggers are "a little looser, but still feel great and very similar to the 360's triggers."

I thought they felt significantly different from how the 360 triggers felt (much looser), but not in a way that was problematic or bothersome.
 
All the XB1 and PS4 games I played at the EG Expo were full to the brim with jaggies, and I can only assume it's because the TV's have their sharpness set to the default settings instead of being dialled down to 0. That, and LCD tech makes everything look shitty.

I wasn't blown away by any of the games on show there. That said, 360 and PS3 launch titles weren't too amazing either.
 

jaypah

Member
Thanks for the impressions. Could you cross post this to the Xbox Tour thread? Folks have been using that thread to collect impressions.
 

thelastword

Banned
Aliasing will be there regardless of if the game was 720p or 1080p. People wanted 60 FPS, so there will be drawbacks to reach it. (Lighting, day/night, weather, AA, etc)
No, people have become used to forza being 60fps, this is not the first forza on the first xbox which was 30fps. At first, lots of gaffers gave forza5 it's props against other racers, but these were early days, there was a time it even had cleaner IQ than driveclub, but now that people are putting it through it's paces and taking a closer look, they realize that the lighting is prebaked, there's no weather, aa seems to have been reduced taking the op's feedback into consideration, so persons are definitely going to be disappointed by that. Don't forget that GT6 will have great lighting at 60fps with aa and weather on PS3 hardware this winter, people just expect much more from a new console, the truth is in the pudding.
 

Derrick01

Banned
I said the triggers are "a little looser, but still feel great and very similar to the 360's triggers."

How were the sticks, did they feel more reliable than 360s? I guess that would probably be hard to tell in such a short time span but my biggest issue with the 360 pad is how quickly the sticks wear out and loosen up. Usually a few months of pretty heavy gaming is enough to start loosening up the left stick and once it does it deteriorates really fast.
 

Caayn

Member
I'm firmly in the PS4 camp also - but the loons who think the Xbox One would be loud must not have done any reading.
There was 2 engineering articles which came out, showing the extensive work they did to keep this thing quiet / reliable / cool. It's utterly crazy - it was a big focus for them.

They had that ultra quiet room (one of the quietest in the world) built - to test the units.
The case is larger than a PS4, the power supply is not inside the unit, like the PS4 and the actual tech inside is slower.

That, combined with the reputation from the 360, I speculate that the Xbox One will be a very very reliable console.
Hell there was even that quote that because it's going to be used as a TV peripheral like a cable box, I think I saw one say something along the lines of it "intending to be running for 10 years" (not lasting, running)

I'm not buying one but yeah, it'll be reliable.
Do you've got a link to those articles? I'd like to read it.
 
No, people have become used to forza being 60fps, this is not the first forza on the first xbox which was 30fps. At first, lots of gaffers gave forza5 it's props against other racers, but these were early days, there was a time it even had cleaner IQ than driveclub, but now that people are putting it through it's paces and taking a closer look, they realize that the lighting is prebaked, there's no weather, aa seems to have been reduced taking the op's feedback into consideration, so persons are definitely going to be disappointed by that. Don't forget that GT6 will have great lighting at 60fps with aa and weather on PS3 hardware this winter, people just expect much more from a new console, the truth is in the pudding.

I tried to explain this yesterday and got bashed by a lot of people. But it's the truth
 
How were the sticks, did they feel more reliable than 360s? I guess that would probably be hard to tell in such a short time span but my biggest issue with the 360 pad is how quickly the sticks wear out and loosen up. Usually a few months of pretty heavy gaming is enough to start loosening up the left stick and once it does it deteriorates really fast.

The sticks felt good. When I say they're looser I mean looser than an out of the box 360 controller. They feel pretty similar to my current 1 1/2 year old 360 controller in terms of looseness, which I don't consider bad, my 360 controller is in pretty good shape.

I know what you mean about 360 controllers that get "bad" loose. It wasn't like that. Of course this likely is a brand new controller, but the build quality of the sticks felt different so I don't think it'll change as dramatically as the 360 controller could, they feel...harder? If that makes sense. But I'm also just making a guess here.
 

Mugatu

Member
Glad to hear about the controller. I have worries but I hope that they're unfounded, I really hope I end up liking it and using it on the PC if nothing else.
 
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