10 Things I Love/Hate About You: Xbox 720 Edition – By Gavin Muirhead

Gavin gives the rundown on what he theoretically loves and hates about the yet to be released, Xbox 720, or whatever they may call it.

Let’s face it, since February of this year we have been drooling for some kind of glimpse at a next gen console. The PS4 “debut” was a complete let down on the same level as your friends sister pulling the shades down just as she’s about to take her top off. Never before have we seen a product debut, without actually seeing the product to be debuted. Classy move Sony…

For more on that, visit our article here: PS4 And Everything wrong with it.

Now it’s Microsoft’s turn to step up to the proverbial plate and put their cards on the table and May 21, 2013 seems to be the day, but the rumor mill is also hinting at a surprise debut on April 26, 2013,  but don’t hold your breath.  Microsoft needs a huge debut for their upcoming system, complete with the ACTUAL system running on display. I expect Microsoft to look at the PS4 unveiling and send out a memo to its gremlins on what not to do in regards to unveiling a breakthrough piece of machinery. With summer quickly closing in, and E3 just around the corner our eyes are peeled for the upcoming news. Until then, enjoy our breakdown of the things we love and hate about the proposed Next Gen Xbox:

Things We Love About You:

1. We still expect Xbox to have a better online experience for the core gamer Vs. the Playstation Network, Xbox Live will remain a pay service, and we are just fine with that.
2. The cost. At a slightly lower proposed shelf price of $350, and taking into account #1 on the list –  the Xbox 720 is the smarter option here.
3. If the past is any indication of the consol specific titles to come, Microsoft has the clear advantage here – Halo 5 anyone?
4. Used Games; because if they don’t they will lose.
5. Hardware expansion over time.

No. 5 is a huge one, and is not 100% confirmed. Our trusted sources however, seem to be hinting at the idea of upgrade-able hardware and memory for the consoles as they evolve over the 7-10 year lifespan. It makes perfect sense in our book, looking at my Xbox 360 it is clear that it is 7 years old, and I can’t tell you how many times I have wished we could upgrade the drives or memory to something faster and more visually pleasing. With the Xbox 720 that could be a real possibility now, and something game developers will drool over.

Things We Hate About You:

1. The Rumored “Always On” function, requiring a WiFi/Web connection at all times for the console to function is just plain annoying. Activision/Blizzard learned this lesson last year with the release of Diablo 3 on PC, where you can not play the game in a single player fashion without a web connection. So you buy a game that you can’t play how you want and your forced to have your gaming habits tracked while you play your system the way they want you to play it. Super hate this.
2. Still losing the battle of “guts” to Sony. The Xbox 720 is being limited again by hardware when it comes to the PS4, it seems they like to run 95% of what Sony gives you and call it a good day. I wish Microsoft went the other direction in their thinking and gave us 110% of what Sony offers, but alas the technical specs speak for themselves, and Sony’s use of  GDDR5 Ram (startd at 8gb, but it is really 7gb because the OS eats 1gb of ram to work in the background.) and allowing both the CPU and GPU to access it simultaneously is going to produce a much faster experience in graphically demanding situations.
3. No direct backwards Compatibility. The Xbox 720 is going to run an X86 processor, which means it wont be able to run games from the 360 that use the old IBM Power PC processing units.
4. External Backwards Compatible drive: Remember the Xbox HDDVD player attachment that lasted a year? Now it’s back, in the form of a slave drive to play 360 games on the Xbox 720.
5. Kinect has gone too far. It learns you, and watches you at all times. It will respond to your eye movement and pause things when you look away… it also comes to life at night, creeps into your room and watches you sleep.

This is our rundown as of today 4-23-13, with the constantly changing tech leaks and rumors flying around, I’m sure some things might change, other things may also be confirmed. We will constantly update these stories as new rumors are confirmed, or if they just sound good enough to be true.