Top Ten Reasons: To Own A Xbox One

Time Is A Healer.

I will be the first to admit that when the Xbox One was first announced I was less than impressed. No games were announced and a rather silly focus on T.V features immediately threw me off the metaphorical fence as to whether to purchase an "Xbone". E3 also proved disasterous for Microsoft as Don Mattrick, then boss of xbox, proudly announced DRM features for the Xbox One. DRM, for the unclued, means digital rights media and basically means you would have to be online to activate the console. No online? No console. The Xbox One's popularity took a further hit by Don Mattricks infamous quote. When questioned why the Xbox One would have DRM features he replied in a smug voice  "we have a product for people who cant get online, its called the Xbox 360"...Face, and indeed, palm.

Since then things have been on the up and up for Xbox One though. So I thought I would start my top ten reasons series with the top ten reasons to own an Xbox One. Enjoy.

1: No more DRM.

Possibly the biggest reason to own an Xbox One is that soon after the E3 press conference Microsoft performed an equally infamous "180" and declared that Xbox One would no longer have DRM upon launch. This strangely annoyed alot of gamers due to the easy way Microsoft went back on their announcement. However I prefer to say no harm no foul. We never actually experienced DRM on the Xbox One and have never experienced it since launch so I dont really see what the fuss is about. I commend any company that is willing to admit a mistake and rethink a strategy. Besides, most of these silly decisions are heavily rumoured to have been made by Don Mattrick, which brings me to reason two...

2: No More Don Mattrick.

The apparent mastermind behind the DRM debacle Don Mattrick is no longer the boss of Microsoft's Xbox devision, replaced by Phil Spencer, the Xbox has since enjoyed a much bigger focus on games and improved features for the gamers, which I will get into in a moment. Put simply Phil Spencer seems to have single handedly turned much of Xbox One's misfortunes around and that is worth mentioning in this list.

3: More Exclusives

Love or hate the Xbox One's exclusive games there is no denying there are many in comparrison to the PS4's rather emaciated line up. Ryse: Son of Rome. Sunset Overdrive. Forza 5, Forza Horizon 2, Screamride, Dead Rising 3 and Halo: The Master Chief Collection to name just a few exclusives that are well worth a playthrough and add meat to the already meaty bones of the Xbox One.

4: Kinect

Okay bear with me here, I know Kinect has had a less than stellar relationship with the gamer. But the Kinect 2.0 that can be bundled with the Xbox One is a fantastic peice of kit. The voice activated commands simply work and once you use them to pause a film or turn on your machine you wont want to go back to the pesky button presses of old. And Xbox does have some great games enhanced by Kinect. Disney's Fantasia is a surprisingly excellent game that truly makes you feel like a wizard of sound and music. Ryse: Son of Rome makes you feel like a true roman god as you bellow "FIRE VOLLEY" at your troups. Forza 5 has an immersive head tilting feature where a slight tilt of the head turns the drivers head in first person mode, enabling you to see into the corners. With the exception of Fantasia all the above can be used with traditional pad controls too so if you really dont want to bother with Kinect you dont have to. Which brings me to...

5: No Kinect

If reason four has you shaking your head in dismay then fear not. Xbox One has you covered here also. You can now buy an Xbox One without Kinect and while I personally prefer Kinect features on my console I still appreciate that it is now an optional purchase.

6: The Pad

Believe it or not I wasnt a fan of the Xbox 360's pad. It felt too chunky and cheap to me. The Xbox One pad, while retaining much of the same design is much much much improved. Its smaller. It does not have the cover for the batteries protruding out from the back of the pad. The buttons feel clicky and responsive. There is an amazing rumble feature in the triggers aswell as the pad. And perhaps best of all it has a D-pad that works. The Xbox pad design has gone from one of my least liked designs to one of the best and most comfortable with the One.

7: Upload

A great feature for any gamer who likes to stream gameplay to friends and fans is the Upload studio. A built in app on the Xbox that, with Kinect, allows you to stream any game at any time to Twitch ( A site built for streaming gameplay of games *ed). If fully broadcast gameplay isnt your thing then at any point during gameplay you can say "Xbox, record that" and it will upload the last minute or so of gameplay. You can then use the Upload studio to edit your clip. Shorten it, add other clips to the mix and now simple green screen features can be utilised to add a short (and probably hilarious) clip of you striding accross the moon or doing a comic book pose or anything else that will more than likely embarrass more than entertain.You can also now take screenshots of your gameplay and send them to twitter. Screenshots are a great way of showing off special moments of gameplay without having to go through the hassle of uploading a video or talking on it. A simple but welcome feature.

8: Suspended Games

A rather brilliant feature this. Picture the scene: You are just about to get to that bit on the game you have been trying to conquer for weeks yet you have to *insert very important thing here* which means the game needs to go off. And you haven't saved for three hours. With the Xbox One you can pause the game, turn off the system, do your thing then when you come to turn on the Xbox One again, even if it has been days, the paused game will be waiting for you where you left it. This is one of my favorite features of the Xbox One and one I use often.
One word of advice I learned the hard way though: please dont unplug the system!

9: One System Mentality

Yes when the Xbox One was first announced I scoffed at the intergrated T.V features but again it is something that now just works.  Being able to watch a multitude of T.V programmes or movies or gaming based shows from the service of your choosing (there are many now) is great and one that was not possible just a few years ago. What makes it great to watch all this on Xbox One though, aside from the aforementioned voice commands, is the ability to "snap" a sidescreen of your choice while watching the shows. Watching a Twitch stream and wish to know more about the game being shown without coming away from the show? Just snap the Internet Explorer and search the game while the show is still playing. Its a nifty feature and one that should be experienced to truly understand it.

10: Evolution

Lastly, and arguable this is the most important reason to own an Xbox One is the constantly evolving features that are added on a monthly basis by Microsoft. Its a rather unique experience to console gamers and to prove how far the system has come know this: Most of the features I have mentioned above did not exist at launch. They were added by the monthly updates by Microsoft. Of course these are free updates and with more on the way its great to know that the system you have bought is being constantly improved by its creators.

The System Works.

So there you have it. My top ten reason to get an Xbox One. While at launch the system may have  had a steep hill to climb I really think in 2015 the Xbox One is now on a par with the PS4. The system now, as I have mentioned numorous times in this article, works. As usual I must disclaim that this is purely my own opinion. If the Xbox One remains an underwhelming product to you after you have read this article then more power to you for it. We are blessed in 2015 with a true choice of gaming devices. All I ask is that people give them all a chance because after all, gamers do have one thing in common: Their love of games.