Microsoft is clearly very proud of the work they’ve done with the Xbox One controller, and it’s not difficult to see why! Even just looking at it, you can tell that it’s an improved controller compared to the Xbox 360 controller design, and especially the original Xbox controller designs!
Every aspect of the Xbox 360 controller design has been refined and improved here. Latency with button commands is reduced. Multiple vibration triggers create a greater sense of immersion during gameplay. More comfortable grips and button placement improve ergonomics extensively even during hours of extended play. The D-Pad is actually reliable and responsive now, wisely taking inspiration from Nintendo’s effective and longstanding Control Pad designs. That bulky battery pack on the rear of the Xbox 360 controller is now gone too! In layman’s terms, this is one superb game controller in terms of comfort, precision and performance!
It’s true that the Xbox One controller lacks the specialty functions like the touch pad and light bar on the PS4 controller, as well as the touch and motion-sensing functionality in the Wii U Gamepad, but even if it simply amounts to buttons and triggers, the Xbox One controller is still a superb input device with all sorts of reliability!
We’re a bit puzzled as to why you still need to buy a play-and-charge kit separately though, when both the PS4 controller and the Wii U Pro Controller have internal battery packs that can simply be charged by plugging them into the console, right out of the box, with the Wii U Gamepad rechargeable by just plugging it into a wall outlet. Surely, in the year, 2013, Microsoft can afford to make a game controller that doesn’t force upon you the choice of burning through AA batteries, or paying for an optional accessory!
With that said however, just handling the Xbox One controller will give you a sense of its improvements. The altered curvature may take some getting used to, but the decreased weight of the Xbox One controller compared to the Xbox 360 controller helps to compensate for that. Likewise, the traditional X, Y, B and A buttons are now larger and more responsive, the thumbsticks are more precise and flexible, better fitted for the tips of one’s thumbs on their tops as well, and the bumpers and triggers are also larger, effectively providing ‘force feedback’ during gameplay with the multiple vibration triggers built into them. These help Xbox One games compensate for their poorer resolution integrity by at least currently feeling like the most powerful and immersive games on the market at present, especially considering the Xbox One’s improved 7.1 audio channel compared to the 5.1 audio channel that PS4 and Wii U appear to be limited to.
Like the PS4 controller, the Xbox One combines the best of classic Xbox controller design with some very welcome new improvements, with about the same battery life as what you’d encounter with the Xbox 360 controller, specifically, around 25-30 hours. The result is the most comfortable and reliable Xbox controller design that has ever been delivered to date!
Of course, as exciting as the new Xbox One controller must be for Xbox gamers, it’s the new revamped Kinect sensor that Microsoft is really touting with their next-gen console! The original Kinect model may have been an optional add-on for the Xbox 360 after it was released in late 2010, but the new Kinect comes right in the box with Xbox One, which is the main reason why the console commands a higher price than the competing PS4.
The original Kinect looks like an unrefined student engineering project compared to the new Xbox One model as well! Yes, again, the Xbox One model is noticeably bulkier and uglier than the original Kinect that was made for Xbox 360, but it compensates by making numerous improvements to the technology, finally properly capitalizing on the potential of the technology!
Barring Xbox One games like Just Dance 2014 and Fighter Within that are Kinect-mandatory, and games like Battlefield 4 offering it optionally, Kinect is a huge help when trying to stumble around the Xbox One’s slightly messy launch dashboard. The voice commands are a bit particular, but once you learn how to use them properly, Kinect makes Xbox One MUCH quicker and easier to navigate, with users barely having to say two to four words to get where they want to go!
Best of all with the new Kinect is that it can now instantly read download codes with QR scanning, simply having users hold a QR code up to the camera to instantly redeem it, rather than having to painstakingly type a lengthy sequence of letters and numbers like on Xbox 360. Sure, painstakingly typing those numbers is still an option, and a worse one with the Xbox One not having its own chatpad and currently lacking USB keyboard support, but you should be able to scan things like the Day One achievement simply by using Kinect’s new QR code functionality. This is perhaps one of the best capabilities that the new Kinect has to offer!
Beyond this, everything about the new Kinect is so much better than the original. Scanning latency is noticeably reduced, even in low-light conditions. The camera outputs in 1080p, allowing for crisp, clear and seamless Skype calls and Game DVR commentary, so long as you maintain a stable internet connection too. Not only that, but the new Kinect is far better at reading and interpreting the actions of multiple players, and is more reliable at picking out your voice too, even in a noisy room, though a quiet room is still ideal of course.
Frankly, the worst thing we have to complain about with the new Kinect at this point is its appearance, being a bulky, imposing-looking device, and that’s ultimately a minor nitpick. The ease with which you can interact with Xbox One using Kinect is very, very cool, and should be a big console-seller for Microsoft to push! Kinect being packed in may make the Xbox One more expensive than the PS4, and especially the Wii U, but trust us, the new Kinect is worth the added price for the Xbox faithful!