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360 to One - How Big is the Leap Forward from Xbox

21/05/13, 10am, PDT and Microsoft deliver a reveal presentation for the new addition to the Xbox legacy. How was it? Well IGN report their poll shows that, out of 76000 people asked, 75% were disappointed.  So why were we not blown away after finally seeing a move forward after eight years? Well I believe it may have something to do with the delivery.

It started well, it must be said, and continued to do so through the first three speakers with the star of the show, for me, being Yusuf Mehdi. However, I feel, that the section revealing the Hardware needed to be longer and more content rich. Following this the reveal completely lost its way and included some guests, who it could be argued, left us unsure of what was being promoted here.

The first guest was Executive Vice President of EA, Andrew Wilson who predictably started flying the flag for EA. Xbox 360 sales are reported to be around 76 million units and of that number, 4.65 million (6.1%) Fifa 13 owners, 2.55 million (3.4%) Madden NFL 13 owners and 2.47 million (3.2%) NBA 2K12 owners. So with the vast majority of Xbox 360 owners not buying into these franchises a simple question is raised; why were they here? It could be argued that, by having this contribution from EA, the Xbox community could be given valuable insight on the graphical abilities of the new console. However, this wasn't forthcoming. And for those who like these franchises, the section from EA didn't show us that we were actually seeing something new and will possibly end up paying for the same experience with a different number after its name!



We were also treated to a rather invaluable insert for the new title 'Quantum Break' which left us none-the-wiser about what that title actually was and why it was significant for the new hardware. As well as this we were shown another guest from Activision and Infinity Ward announcing the new COD title 'Ghosts'. 14.93 million Xbox sales of their last title show us that 19.6%, at least, of all Xbox owners would be interested in this title. It could be argued that this section actually had a place in the reveal and this is supported by the fact that a possible example of the consoles graphical abilities was given with the company showing actual in-game graphics.

There was also a section in the reveal that I personally found interesting and that was the inclusion of the HALO TV series with the involvement of Steven Spielberg. But would this appeal to all of the audience? Well with 8.24 million players of the latest title 'Halo 4' representing 10.1% of Xbox 360 owners it could be argued that this section was, like EA's, speaking out to the minority of users. However, there is nothing to suggest that non-Halo players won't be interested in the series and the inclusion of Spielberg should help to promote this to a wider market than the players themselves.



Personally, I believe that there were sections of this reveal that were very well done. However, there were sections that had no place there and this brought the whole event down. This is why IGN's poll showed 75%  negativity. I also feel that the event missed out on an opportunity to further sell the new console by only briefly brushing over how much more capable this machine is over its predecessor. And so i have decided to take it upon myself to do this for them.

Xbox 360 - Xbox One Comparison

The Xbox 360 has a Triple Core CPU with each core running symmetrically at 3.2ghz. The Xbox One has an Octa Core CPU with each core estimated to run at 1.6ghz each with 4x the L2 Shared Cache. However, its hard to compare the CPU's of the two devices without looking at how they are used with the GPU to improve graphics. The Shader Throughput is increased from 0.24 Teraflops to approximately 1.23 Teraflops. In other words 5x the graphics performance. This is also supported by a massive improvement in RAM from 512mb GDDR3 @1400mhz to 8gb DDR3 @ 2133mhz. The inclusion of a Blu Ray drive also improves the storage capacity on the disc with up to 100gb of storage on triple layer discs.

Talking plainly the Xbox One will process actions a lot quicker and will be able to multi-task much better. This can be plainly seen in the section of the reveal by Yusuf Mehdi with the Xbox One performing actions at lightening quick speeds and showing off split-screen functionality. Gaming wise we have 5x the visual performance with larger capacity disks which will definitely mean better visuals and richer content. The Architecture of the hardware could also mean greater efficiency in processing visuals. Microsoft claim that it is 8x more powerful. I would say that 6x is more likely.

So in conclusion, Microsoft's frustrating presentation didn't do this new device justice. This offers serious improvements from its predecessor and will probably be well worth the estimated £400 price tag. Hopefully the content shown at E3 in a few weeks will improve our perceptions of the Xbox One.

Any comments or questions are welcome. Please feel free to leave me a comment or e-mail me at stephen.grix@gmail.com.