Being a bit of a gamer fiend, it would have been rude not to get the new Xbox One on day of launch on the 22nd November 2013 so here are Crazy's thoughts on the games he has played on this platform.
Ryse Son of Rome
The first game I played on the Xbox One and I was not disappointed. The graphics in this game as outstanding, the game play is easy enough and the story line is great. I have always wanted to play as a Roman Legionnaire and now I got my chance. The fight combos are very well done with some impressive killing moves. One criticism I have ready often is that the killing is too repetitive, in my mind it is no less repetitive than pulling the right trigger all the time in Call of Duty. The multiplayer mode in the Colosseum is also very challenging and is enough to extend the natural life of the single player game.
Call of Duty - Ghosts
Another Call of Duty, in this version though Activision have done their best to improve the engagement level with their gaming community by including games modes like Extinction and Clan Wars.The single player option in this edition is a good bit better than other recent games in the franchise. I liked the thought of the app to compliment the game, it is just a shame that it crashes often, is locked on some platforms and generally very slow and clunky to use. I am disappointed that Activision did not get this right on and in the months following the release. An ok game, one I only play because my clan plays it.
Xbox Fitness Having seen the hype around Xbox Fitness I was quite keen to try it out, I was not disappointed! The ability of the Kinect sensor to not only pick up your movements but also to read your pulse and show you in real time which muscles you are actually using is incredible. The game rewards you with fitness points (FP's) when you are doing a particular move correctly, the longer you can do that move for the more points your earn, the more points you earn the more stars you get. Your goal is to get 5 stars in each exercise sequence. The system then compares your effort with others of similar age so if you are competitive like I am, you will get a sweat up. There are a whole heap of workouts to try from 10 minute low impact to 40+ minutes "Insanity" workouts, something for everyone. Thoroughly exhausting to anyone who is competitive!! To me this addition to the Xbox One family really does deepen its appeal and re-enforces itself as THE home entertainment system.
Xbox Video As someone who is not a Sky viewer and has never owned a Sky box Xbox Video has become an integral part of our home entertainment system regularly streaming both bought and rented movies. Over the second half of 2013 there seems to have been more newer movies coming online and much quicker than they were previously (not living in the US I appreciate we have a significantly reduced service in NZ). Used in conjunction with Smartglass when available the system works very well, Smartglass giving you access to a lot more information about the movie and it's characters and actors / actresses giving an extra depth to a movie you just don't get in a cinema. The only downside to this (being of the male variety) I found it difficult to concentrate on the movie when I was looking at the information on Smartglass!!
All in all I really do like Xbox Video and with talk of Microsoft commissioning exclusive movies (Forward UntoDawn already out) and TV series for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One I can see the value of this service really growing into the future.