What I Love About Xbox One - from a Nintendo Guy's Viewpoint

[musicpenguy]

So last Sunday and Monday Target had a "flash" sale on electronics and I ended up dipping into my savings a bit to get a XBox One, PS4 and a Vita (yes they had 5 original 3G enabled Vitas in stock!)

No sales tax where I live so it ended up being an $800 day instead of a $1000 day paying full retail for everything.

Anyways I wanted to share what has me loving the XBox One so much! This is my first Xbox and have always been a bit biased against Microsoft as a gaming company and have looked down on the Xbox. But, boy was I wrong.

The most impressive thing is Microsoft's Deals with Gold program. They are not afraid and instead embrace huge sales on full retail titles. I've already picked up TitanFall for $40, PvZ Garden Warfare for $24 and on eBay Forza 5 for a $29 digital copy of the game!

So already in the past week I've gotten a nice digital collection of games at retail competitive prices - something PS4 is really afraid to do and won't budge on their prices except for indie games.

It seems that every week a new retail game goes on sale and that way I can simply buy what is up that week and build up my collection in an economical way.

Also having Guacamelle as a free game is pretty incredible - this is a brand new game and its free. AWESOME

Next up is the snap feature; I'm actually finding that awesome with my 150" projector screen setup - I can watch my iTunes content from my Apple TV while racing in Forza etc. It is awesome and something I will use a TON.

Speaking of videos how awesome is it that I can make custom channels in OneDrive; when I found that out I made a Seinfeld channel and finally a simple way to access Seinfeld without needing a media center PC to stream it over.

The app approach to OneGuide makes their TV features pretty useful for me even though I don't have cable.

The controller is solid (love the rumble in Forza) and I'm likely to pick up their remote control as the Xbox One is a console that is nearly always on either feeding me video content or games and that remote control seems rather handy.

The games look great and I've been loving this box that a few months ago couldn't of imagined I'd ever touch or want. The PS4 has a long way to go to have me make that my primary non-Nintendo system. It may end up being my GameFly system as that seems to be the economical way to play games on PS4.

Anyways those are just some of the things that has me just in love with the Xbox; I wonder as I get more games for PS4 if that box will be something I love as well or simply play games on.

Good job Microsoft - all of this coming from a Nintendo die hard that loves his Wii U; but also now has made room for an Xbox

P.S.
The two annoyances have been 10 year olds screaming into the game chat (have turned that off), and Forza 5 asking for money when I chose my first car in the game (a Mercedes - a drive one in real life so why not pick that one) - other than that really impressed.

 

[Cnasty]

Cool post.

You will see from my "sell me on a wii u" thread that I have been waffling for months about buying a wii u or an xb1.

I'm in the process of selling a house and if you have ever sold one you will know it can be a mind numbing experience so I haven't had the time or financials yet to pull the trigger on either. I want the wii for the Nintendo just plain fun games but I really like the xb exclusives so far. I already have a ps4 and it's funny. I've never bought one game, I use game fly exclusively for it as you mentioned.

Can you explain this a little more? I also don't have cable and wondered how the xb1 would work without cable

"The app approach to OneGuide makes their TV features pretty useful for me even though I don't have cable"

 

[gkarris]

What Target sale?

How much were the stuff you bought?

 

[0098386]

I feel a bit poisoned against the Xbox after that awful run up to the launch, and events post-launch too. I generally buy all systems, even revisions (mostly handhelds there) but I think the Xbox will be the first I don't buy.

The games don't appeal to me like they once did. Even Sony's own first party titles (save for LBP) don't interest me and my PS systems are mostly used for multiplatform games like GTA, indie or retro games. I'd like the Halo collection but I'm not willing to buy a console just for a collection of old games.

I find the current line up for both PS4 and Xbox are a bit weak right now. (and at this point I feel like MRU ) I think I might have jumped a little too soon on getting a PS4. The Wii U is perfect for my needs right now.

You mentioned that Games for Gold thing. Playstation has that too, in fact they were the first ones. Except their games span all their platforms. And Europe PSN has heavily discounted AAA games too, they're next to Steam in how aggressive and frequent their sales are.

 

[musicpenguy]

What Target sale?

How much were the stuff you bought?

They had a weird Cartwheel promo that could be combined with RED Card discount on all electronics - consoles included - best deal I've seen so far on them. That was on Sunday and Monday

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I feel a bit poisoned against the Xbox after that awful run up to the launch, and events post-launch too. I generally buy all systems, even revisions (mostly handhelds there) but I think the Xbox will be the first I don't buy.

The games don't appeal to me like they once did. Even Sony's own first party titles (save for LBP) don't interest me and my PS systems are mostly used for multiplatform games like GTA, indie or retro games. I'd like the Halo collection but I'm not willing to buy a console just for a collection of old games.

I find the current line up for both PS4 and Xbox are a bit weak right now. (and at this point I feel like MRU ) I think I might have jumped a little too soon on getting a PS4. The Wii U is perfect for my needs right now.

You mentioned that Games for Gold thing. Playstation has that too, in fact they were the first ones. Except their games span all their platforms. And Europe PSN has heavily discounted AAA games too, they're next to Steam in how aggressive and frequent their sales are.

The part that has me with Games with Gold are those huge discounts on full retail titles like TitanFall, Forza, etc. Every week there is a new one - PSN so far has been a bunch of indie games that are great, but not what I'm looking for right away. Yea I'd say Wii U certainly has the best lineup of games by far, but Xbox has me impressed with what is out and how the system works.

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Cool post.

You will see from my "sell me on a wii u" thread that I have been waffling for months about buying a wii u or an xb1.

I'm in the process of selling a house and if you have ever sold one you will know it can be a mind numbing experience so I haven't had the time or financials yet to pull the trigger on either. I want the wii for the Nintendo just plain fun games but I really like the xb exclusives so far. I already have a ps4 and it's funny. I've never bought one game, I use game fly exclusively for it as you mentioned.

Can you explain this a little more? I also don't have cable and wondered how the xb1 would work without cable

"The app approach to OneGuide makes their TV features pretty useful for me even though I don't have cable"

Sure so; OneGuide puts all of your video content in one place so you don't have to pin all of those apps you can just open up the OneGuide and jump between different video apps. It's not perfect, but it is pretty solid. For Hulu Plus for instance it pulls up the top TV shows and you can jump right to the show you want to watch.

With OneDrive you can upload videos to it and make a OneGuide channel just for that folder so it kinda ignores the rest of what is in your OneDrive. I use my TV input for the Apple TV and that works really well.

 

[Cnasty]

I use my TV input for the Apple TV and that works really well.

This was a big question for me too. You can plug your AppleTV into the XB1 and use an app like WatchESPN while you play? That would be huge for me as I dont have cable and use XBMC/Apple TV for my entertainment needs.

Thanks for that breakdown.

 

[musicpenguy]

This was a big question for me too. You can plug your AppleTV into the XB1 and use an app like WatchESPN while you play? That would be huge for me as I dont have cable and use XBMC/Apple TV for my entertainment needs.

Thanks for that breakdown.

Yea so the HDMI Input port you can plug anything into - (would not recommend a gaming console because of latency).

For me I plug in the Apple TV. You control the ATV with the Remote app or physical remote control; as you normally would. The TV app on the Xbox One is in my head the Apple TV app. You can definitely snap that while playing and I do that quite a bit; it is rather enjoyable with a projector screen as large as mine is. The snap ratios are set so you can't make the snapped area bigger than it comes by default. Anything that plays on ATV plays through XB1 so iTunes, built in-apps, AirPlay - anything; even audio - so you could theoretically snap just to turn off in-game music and replace it with your ATV iTunes library.

Pretty cool stuff

 

[Jovian9]

Yea so the HDMI Input port you can plug anything into - (would not recommend a gaming console because of latency).

For me I plug in the Apple TV. You control the ATV with the Remote app or physical remote control; as you normally would. The TV app on the Xbox One is in my head the Apple TV app. You can definitely snap that while playing and I do that quite a bit; it is rather enjoyable with a projector screen as large as mine is. The snap ratios are set so you can't make the snapped area bigger than it comes by default. Anything that plays on ATV plays through XB1 so iTunes, built in-apps, AirPlay - anything; even audio - so you could theoretically snap just to turn off in-game music and replace it with your ATV iTunes library.

Pretty cool stuff

Yeah, I use it as well on my setup. It's definitely not a "must-have" feature but anyone who would actually use it will find it to be an awesome one.

 

[Cnasty]

I would definitely use this to get some gaming in while watching some sports on the snap feature.
That is pretty cool indeed!

 

[Praxis91]

Welcome to the dark side. Well, not really dark side, but I've wanted to say that for a while.

Titanfall is very fun, and PvZ is like Gears of War for kids (very funny game!).

I like Deals with Gold, even though the games are all arcade so far.. but anyway, the one thing I started doing the last few months (both XB1 and 360) is NOT paying full price for games... I used to, but not any more.. I go on slickdeals or cheapassgamer and look for clearance, 'deal of the day' etc... anyway I have the following XB1 games that I got for cheap:

BF4 ($30 from MS store, but I've seen it as low as $20)
Titanfall ($35 off ebay used)
Ryse ($17 used gamefly)
PvZ Garden Warfare ($30 Amazon...impulse purchase hehe)
AC IV ($20 used gamefly)
Lego Marvel ($30 from MS store and like a month later it was $18 from gamefly)
NFS Rivals ($20 from ratuken or whatever buy.com became)

I've bought cheap 360 games during this time as well, mostly digital copies though. I recommend bookmarking majornelson.com. That site updates frequently and every Tuesday they post all the Xbox Live deals (XB1/360).

 

[musicpenguy]

Welcome to the dark side. Well, not really dark side, but I've wanted to say that for a while.

Titanfall is very fun, and PvZ is like Gears of War for kids (very funny game!).

I like Deals with Gold, even though the games are all arcade so far.. but anyway, the one thing I started doing the last few months (both XB1 and 360) is NOT paying full price for games... I used to, but not any more.. I go on slickdeals or cheapassgamer and look for clearance, 'deal of the day' etc... anyway I have the following XB1 games that I got for cheap:

BF4 ($30 from MS store, but I've seen it as low as $20)
Titanfall ($35 off ebay used)
Ryse ($17 used gamefly)
PvZ Garden Warfare ($30 Amazon...impulse purchase hehe)
AC IV ($20 used gamefly)
Lego Marvel ($30 from MS store and like a month later it was $18 from gamefly)
NFS Rivals ($20 from ratuken or whatever buy.com became)

I've bought cheap 360 games during this time as well, mostly digital copies though. I recommend bookmarking majornelson.com. That site updates frequently and every Tuesday they post all the Xbox Live deals (XB1/360).

Yea the dark side feels powerful lol

Deals with Gold have been retail games for the week I've had it: TitanFall, Garden Warfare and recently just a regular sale on Wolfenstein: this is all in a single week!!!!

Sony hasn't even attempted that yet for PS4 discounts they are stuck with indie games for their discounts on PS Plus.

I'm tchaten on Xbox Live if you want to add me!

 

[Cnasty]

I dont buy games at all anymore as I use Gamefly.

Once I beat a game, I am done with it. It is very rare for me to purchase a game anymore and if I do its for the an online specific shooter game or something of the like.

 

[0098386]

Sony hasn't even attempted that yet for PS4 discounts they are stuck with indie games for their discounts on PS Plus.

PS4 has had Knack, Killzone, Thief and that Call of Duty games on sale (if we're not counting indies).
What do you get with Games for Gold? I know it used to be 2 games a month (at least when I was subscribed). PSN is either changing or has changed to offer 2 PS3, 2 PS4 and 2 PS Vita games a month.
I'd love for Nintendo to be a bit more aggressive with their sales. Their sales aren't so good in Europe and it's always Toki Tori or Edge that's on sale!

 

[musicpenguy]

PS4 has had Knack, Killzone, Thief and that Call of Duty games on sale (if we're not counting indies).
What do you get with Games for Gold? I know it used to be 2 games a month (at least when I was subscribed). PSN is either changing or has changed to offer 2 PS3, 2 PS4 and 2 PS Vita games a month.
I'd love for Nintendo to be a bit more aggressive with their sales. Their sales aren't so good in Europe and it's always Toki Tori or Edge that's on sale!

Good to know Sony has done some discounts in the past - would love that to be a regular thing in the US store. Gold gets you 2 free games on the One and 360; this month I was impressed by having Guacamelee free (a brand new game).

The retail discounts on Live have been just fantastic and can see me having plenty to keep me playing Xbox just on those weekly retail sales; perhaps those will dry up when they run out of games to rotate through with the library not that deep.

 

[2nyRiggz]

Umm PSN has deals going on all the time on digital games plus free games(they started this deal by the way) a month so I don't understand that part. The one thing that gets to me about the PS4 is media playback. I'm ready to connect my external and watch my movies...come on Sony!

 

[musicpenguy]

Umm PSN has deals going on all the time on digital games plus free games(they started this deal by the way) a month so I don't understand that part. The one thing that gets to me about the PS4 is media playback. I'm ready to connect my external and watch my movies...come on Sony!

I'm looking for deals/sales on DIGITAL RETAIL $60 PS4 games - that simply is not happening with any regularity like it is on Xbox One - so for now that is where I prefer to buy my games. (Own both systems).

 

[2nyRiggz]

They have sales/deals on FULL RETAIL GAMES all the time on PSN like Killzone, Theif and Knack plus indie games...so you can't really say they need to get there game up when PSN is actually putting out some great deals all the time and with the limited games out for the system...I guess you have to own a PS4/vita/ps3 to feel the full experience of ps+ because it's one of the best deals in gaming present.

Bless

 

[musicpenguy]

They have sales/deals on FULL RETAIL GAMES all the time on PSN like Killzone, Theif and Knack plus indie games...so you can't really say they need to get there game up when PSN is actually putting out some great deals all the time and with the limited games out for the system...I guess you have to own a PS4/vita/ps3 to feel the full experience of ps+ because it's one of the best deals in gaming present.

Bless

Oh excellent - I can't wait for those to start rolling in again - I do own a PS4 and Vita (no PS3 yet) - Strider has been most excellent, but eager for them to feed me some discounted or free retail games for now I'm disc only on PS4 for those experiences (outside of Destiny beta which is awesome).

 

[2nyRiggz]

You missed some excellent games like Outlast; stick it to the man, Resogun and Don't Starve...keep an eye out because they might come around again Oh and check your Vita PSN store because there's some excellent deals out there.

Back on topic...I need to check XBL tonight and see what deals they got this month.

Bless

 

[musicpenguy]

You missed some excellent games like Outlast; stick it to the man, Resogun and Don't Starve...keep an eye out because they might come around again Oh and check your Vita PSN store because there's some excellent deals out there.

Back on topic...I need to check XBL tonight and see what deals they got this month.

Bless

Yea I've missed out on a lot being only Nintendo until last week

On XBL for the One: Right now Wolfenstein is $40 digitally, Garden Warfare is $24 (last day of that) - there should be some new retail digital game on sale tomorrow (they update every Tuesday).

Free this month is Max Curse of a Brotherhood and Guacamelee (love this one!)

 

[Jovian9]

Keep in mind that if you have an Xbox Live Gold account but only have a 360 or only have an Xbox One; you can go onto the Xbox Live website and get the free Games for Gold games each month for the other system. Just click that you want to buy it there (for free) and it puts it on your account. If you pick up the other system at a later date you'll have all those free purchases waiting for you

 

[0098386]

Keep in mind that if you have an Xbox Live Gold account but only have a 360 or only have an Xbox One; you can go onto the Xbox Live website and get the free Games for Gold games each month for the other system. Just click that you want to buy it there (for free) and it puts it on your account. If you pick up the other system at a later date you'll have all those free purchases waiting for you

Yup that's what I've been doing (no plans to own an Xbox One but it'd be nice to have a library ready to go if I ever do), same for PSN via their browser store too. Always good to keep stocked up!

 

[musicpenguy]

Yup that's what I've been doing (no plans to own an Xbox One but it'd be nice to have a library ready to go if I ever do), same for PSN via their browser store too. Always good to keep stocked up!

Really wish I didn't have to go through the stupid process of buying my free games - I understand its probably cheaper for them to do it that way and having paid users miss out on content they should have access to