lots of people have asked me "hey blackpawn, why did you get xbox one instead of PS4, are you stupid?" so, i though it'd explain my reasons here. :)

it's good to support local businesses in your community and i live near Redmond, WA which is home to Microsoft. they employ lots of my friends and neighbors and sponsor some of the radio shows i listen to and other stuff so i want to see them do well. they've made a lot of blunders but i'm voting with my dollars for them to continue supporting games.

there are some things i like about xbone:

  • the tv pass through is nice. the xbox channel guide is a lot better than the one my cable box has. (and like 43,000 times faster)
  • i like the xbox live achievement system. it's given me extra fun things to do in games and extended my interest in games i was otherwise bored with. trophies on playstation never seemed to do this for me.
  • nice range of apps like Twitch, Netflix, YouTube, and web browser. Twitch especially is fun to watch on xbox while coding on the couch.


some things i don't like about it:

  • kinect! i wish i hadn't been required to get this thing and it's nice that now you can buy xbox without it. number of times it's done something cool for me: 3 maybe, number of times its done the wrong thing and frustrated me: HUNDREDS!! :P literally one time i said "xbox watch AMC" and it was wonderful as it hopped over to TV and changed the channel properly. i was like whoa this is awesome! never since then has it done this properly. O_o it'll switch to PBS or CBS or ABC or launch the Twitch app or anything but what i asked it for. i try the voice commands first everytime hoping that someday it will work again, but nope just that one time so far for me.
  • the controller is uncomfortable. i think my hands are just not shaped properly for the xbone controller. the 360 controller was more comfortable but actually i like the playstation controller design more.
  • disappointed that all the fun little arcade games i had for 360 aren't available yet on the xbone. i hope in time these will all be ported or emulated.