Xbox What?

Well, that was disappointing wasn't it? After weeks of hype over the reveal for the the new Xbox, what we finally got to see was a shiny black breezeblock that is seemingly aimed at American college frat boys. An NFL linkup, EA sports and Call of Duty. Whoopee.

Sure, Xbox One. One box for all your entertainment needs. I get it, but I don't think a Tivo with gaming features that seem to be just tacked on is really what I'm looking for. Where were the games for your games console, Microsoft? Last night's presentation showed us a box of tricks seemingly designed by a committee that has forgotten that it was games that got the Xbox brand to where it is today. Announcements of Forza 5, Call of Duty and new EA sports titles were inevitable. The only gaming surprise of the night was the new Remedy title.

What we got instead was voice control, multitasking and multimedia. Skype integration is admittedly cool and the Halo TV series will whip the franchise fanboys into a big foamy frenzy. There's what looks like a TV tuner, which to my mind is a bit pointless. My TV has a TV tuner in it, and I don't have to run two devices to use it.

There was an announcement that next gen Xbox live will run on 300,000 servers. Impressive, but in the end, it's a number. I don't really care how big the number is, I just want my games to work when I want them to.

Then there was Microsoft's continued flogging of the Kinect dead horse. I really would like to know why MS are persisting with tech that, with the exception of Dance Central, has near completely failed as a method of controlling a game. Yes, Kinect has shipped millions of units, and voice control is cool, but how many of those units are just gathering dust? The tech has evolved however and the body tracking is now supposed to be much more nuanced. In a new and slightly Big Brother-ish twist, Kinect can now detect your heart rate, and will track your mood via facial recognition. What's the bet on the same facial recognition tech being able to identify you personally and feed back data on the media you consume to help target advertising? MS have also stated that the new Xbox won't work without Kinect. I may be slightly paranoid here, but if that is the case, am I right to assume the camera is always on when the console is in use? We don't have to worry about the government putting cameras in our homes anymore. We're paying tech companies to do it for them. Paranoid rants for comic effect aside, if the camera is always on, I'm not sure about how comfortable I am with that.

Questions around always online, second hand games and lending to friends were obtusely answered. According to Edge, a publication whose coverage of all things gaming I trust implicitly, Xbox One apparently requires an Internet connection, but doesn't have to be always on. Is it just me or does that last sentence contradict itself? Also, there may or may not be fees surrounding second hand and lending games out to be played on a console other than your own. Specific scenarios haven't been worked out yet. For me, lending will be a sticking point. Swapping games among friends has been a major part of how I play games since my first Megadrive. Restrictions around that are likely to be a sore point for many others too.

Still, it wasn't all bad. There's finally a re-engineered D-pad on the new controller and Call of Duty has attack dogs now. Happy day! Though in seriousness, the new controller does look like an improvement, and I like the idea of haptic feedback in the triggers.

At the moment, Sony's ideal of a console designed in conjunction with developers and aimed at gamers appeals to me more than what I saw from Microsoft last night. I'm trying to reserve outright judgement until both consoles are on the market and there are reviews on the web. It's a given that my 360 will be replaced at some point, but the question of what I'll replace it with is still up in the air.