One Xbox for ALL
The 5 best highlights on the Xbox One (so far)
In 2013 Microsoft revealed the Xbox One at the annual E3 convention in Los Angeles and to say the reception was icey would be an understatement. Everything that could’ve gone wrong did, and the Xbox immediately fell behind the more popular PlayStation 4. CEO’s were fired, strategies were thrown out the window and Microsoft was scrambling to save the once-popular Xbox name. Six years later and many would say that thanks to Phil Spencer and some radical new thinking from Microsoft, the Xbox One has turned into the Cinderella story of this generation. Let’s take a look at five of the most innovative and exciting things that the Xbox brought to the fore over the last six years.
Game Pass
Arguably one of the best features on the Microsoft console, the introduction of Game Pass has changed the way developers and gamers look at accessing games. It’s a simple concept, loosely based on the Netflix model. You pay a small fee monthly and instantly have access to over 100 games. These range from indie classics to some massive AAA games and even features all future Xbox Exclusives on the day of their release. All of a sudden gamers had instant access to an insane amount of games without having to fork out thousands of dollars. Over the years, Game Pass has become an essential feature to the Microsoft gaming behemoth and one that PS4 owners can only look at in jealousy.
Xbox One X
From the get-go, the original Xbox One was massively underpowered compared to the Playstation 4. Multi-platform games looked and ran better on Sony’s machine, developers were now using the PS4 as their main platform to develop for, a complete turnaround from the hugely successful 360 days. That was until the surprise announcement of the Xbox One X in 2017. The brand new Xbox was a beast when it came to power and it’s without a doubt the most powerful console in the world at the moment. Featuring true 4K gaming, something the PS4 Pro struggles with, the Xbox One X quickly established itself as the go-to machine for the best-looking and smoothest frame rate games. Although the Playstation 4 is winning this generation, the Xbox One X proved that Microsoft knows how to make a power console.
Gaming for Everyone
The Gaming for Everyone initiative is truly a heart-warming gesture from Microsoft and one that current Xbox chief Phil Spencer holds dear to his heart. Be it the drive to bring Xbox exclusives to PC gamers to the revolutionary Adaptive Controller that allows people with various disabilities to partake and enjoy gaming to its fullest potential. Xbox has gone out of its way to also ensure that women, people of color and the LGBTQIA communities are included and represented as they truly should be. This is an area where Microsoft is ahead of the game and other developers and publishers need to pull up their socks in this regard.
Backward Compatibility
The Xbox One is a console that has thousands of current-gen titles, from the biggest AAA games to the most obscure indie developed titles. Yet Microsoft hasn’t stopped there, with a massive focus on backward compatibility, almost the entire back catalog from three different generations are available to play on your Xbox One. From classic OG Xbox titles to the numerous award-winning Xbox 360 titles are at your fingertips and the best part? If you own these games you get to play them for free and if you’re a lucky Xbox One X owner, the built-in hardware upscales these old gaming titles for improved graphics and smoother frame rates. Nintendo and Sony might have the big exclusives but Xbox has all the games.
Combating Online Toxicity
With his finger firmly on the current gaming environment pulse, Xbox chief Phil Spencer is fully aware of the often toxic nature of online gaming and in 2019 Spencer launched an industry-wide initiative to combat these issues by sharing solutions and technology and committing the Xbox brand to enforcing a safer and more pleasant environment. Spencer says Microsoft will now commit itself to a series of new initiatives aimed at making gaming more accessible, less toxic, and safer for gamers all around the world. The first of those it announced earlier this month when Microsoft publicly updated its Community Standards, guiding what’s acceptable behavior on Xbox Live and how it enforces suspensions and bans. Going further, Microsoft says it will be expanding its safety team in the coming months to include more diverse voices and a wide-ranging set of solutions to common issues.