Review Of Xbox One

The new Xbox that emerged at launch was both traditional and under-featured, a disappointment borne of a company reeling from the negative reaction to its original vision and trying to offer something else in a short space of time.

In a now infamous u-turn, Microsoft scrapped plans for the always-online revolution that would have allowed for disc-less play, easy game sharing on other owner's consoles, mandatory system scans and an end to second-hand purchases as we know them.

And with an excellent showing at this years's E3, offering some huge platform and timed exclusives as well as genuinely impressive new features, the future is really looking bright for Microsoft's chunky console.

Not only has it had a price cut (you can find a basic edition for well under £300 these days), the regular firmware updates, an expanding game library and some excellent additions to its media playback capabilities have made for better games console.

The Xbox One is now a true multimedia hub, close to what Microsoft always promised it would be.

It's a next-gen games console, a TV companion and guide (compatible with Sky, Virgin, BT, Freeview and Freesat), a media streaming centre, a Skype phone, a Blu-ray player, a pizza delivery machine and more.

Design

We might have expected some tweaks to Microsoft's design of the Xbox One, coming up to two years in its lifespan, but it has stayed faithful to its design. There's no slimline version or hardware update on the horizon just yet.

Companies like Nyko, PDP and Power A have come along to offer additional products like intercoolers and clip-on charging stations, but Microsoft's rock-solid design has stood the test of time so far.

The first thing you'll notice about the console when you get it out of the needlessly elaborate packaging is what an absolute beast it is. It measures 274 x 79 x 333 mm, making it longer and taller than a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox 360.

You don't need a tape measure to figure that out though, the thing just looks huge and it's not exactly a looker when you see it up close, either.

Its size and girth harkens back to the original Xbox, an imposing black plastic beast covered in black plastic ridges. Microsoft seems to be throwing back to that design, bringing back the all black and the ridge-covered aesthetic.

You can buy it with or without the Kinect peripheral

Its massive size and black rectangular construction evoke thoughts of an eighties VCR or a stereo tuner from the nineties. Its imposing bulk begs to be hidden away, with just its slot loading disc drive exposed, little white Xbox logo glowing in lonely TV cabinet darkness.

For a console of this size, you would at least expect for the power supply to be built inside the unit. But as with the Xbox 360, that's not the case. The external power brick is large and contains its own fan. This, at the very least, offers a quieter console unit than Sony's competing console.

Given the overheating problems the 360 suffered from it's no surprise to see Microsoft going overboard on keeping things chilled. Especially with its vision of an always-on console.

It does, however, make the PS4 look even more elegant, which is a lot smaller despite having an internal power supply.

Flip the machine around and you'll see a plethora of ports. It has all your standard nodes: ethernet, HDMI out, power, S/PDIF (commonly used for optical audio), dual USB 3.0 ports and an IR out.

Additionally, there are two proprietary ports, one for hooking in the Kinect, and a HDMI-in, which is how you feed the Xbox One a TV signal from a set-top box. There's also a third USB 3.0 port found on the system's right side.

The HDMI-in can function as a passthrough and allows any old HDMI signal in, but this introduces a lot of input lag, making it no good for hooking in another console. So if you were thinking of running an Xbox 360, PS3 or even a PS4 into the Xbox One in order to save HDMI ports in your TV... forget it.

That's not what it's for.

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