Xbox One Lifts Off Launch Pad
The much-ballyhooed Xbox One console from Microsoft, the console that focuses on an all-around entertainment experience rather than the pure gaming console, has officially launched today. The Xbox One features a slew of exclusive games for its console including “Ryse: Son of Rome”, “Forza Motorsport 5”, “Dead Rising 3” and “Titanfall”. In addition to the games, each Xbox One console comes with a Kinect device to facilitate voice and gesture recognition in use with the console, it plays Blu-rays, DVD’s and CD’s, works with all remotes, has a SmartGlass second screen technology app for smartphones, tablets and PC devices and Snap app for split-screen usage. The Xbox One, however, comes with a 500Gb hard drive which is not replaceable or upgradeable for storage, does not play your Xbox, Xbox 360 or Xbox Live Arcade games, does not support Bluetooth, has a Twitch app [but for gameplay viewing only], does not currently support Dolby 5.1 or 7.1 digital audio and must remain connected at all times.
Microsoft’s Xbox One will set you back $499 plus a $60/year membership in Xbox Gold Live if you want to play anything more than single-player video games.