In an article posted Tuesday 3rd Sep 2013 on
CVG, Microsoft spokesperson Larry (Major Nelson) Hryd was responding to suggestions that "Microsoft has rushed the console to market". Major Nelson said on Reddit: 'The Xbox One program has been in development for years, so calling it 'Rushed' is incorrect.' " This statement, along with many others, made by Microsoft about features, ease of use and having learned from the promises made of the XBOX 360 prior it's to release are now being seen in the light of day.
Where the XBOX One's Upload Studio, Skydrive and more initial launch titles are noticeable strengths over Sony's PS4, the numerous problems with features, non user friendly interface and lack of some functions promised during it's preview are adding up.
One of the most highly anticipated and heavily promoted feature of live streaming via Twitch was not present as promised by Microsoft. The service will not be available until sometime in 2014. James Orry of
videogamer.com stated that, "This means Xbox One will be missing one of the most talked about and praised feature of the PS4.". This was not reported until just before launch after tens of thousands of gamer's had already pre ordered the console.
Additionally the XBOX One's functions are almost all apps, which according to
Edge-Online staff, "take too long to load, don’t offer the functionality that Xbox Live was built on, and are, inexplicably, badly handled by the OS." This sentiment is felt by many as you have to go through layers of commands to access information or functions that were previously available with one touch on the 360. The use of apps will make it much easier for MS to perform updates, but Edge noted that, "Xbox One’s debut user experience is stuttering, clunky, and a serious challenge to Xbox Live’s long-held status as the premier console service." .
The best way to describe the XBOX One's current issue with the using the app system was given by Tom Phillips of
eurogamer.net. He noted that "The company has already stated that the Xbox One interface is just its first version and, like the Xbox 360, it will be refreshed throughout the console's lifespan. But the console's operating system seems aimed towards further homogenisation with Windows 8, and away from successful Xbox 360 features such as the Guide button. And this is where things run into problems.
Rather than having the system's features laid out in the Guide's single, simple interface, core pieces are now spread across separate apps. You must now return to the Home screen to individually load these features (your Friends list, Achievements, system settings) or snap these features using Kinect voice commands (although this doesn't work with everything)."
Tom went on further to say, "Even within these apps, previously easy-to-reach features are now hard to find. Want to see which of your friends are online? You now need to load the Friends app, select "Friends" and click through to the system's confusing list of your acquaintances. Small green dots indicate who's actually online and who's not. This used to be on the Guide button, but was also part of the core desktop - accessible with a simple click of the right bumper.
The Guide could also be used to view recent met players - a feature which has been removed entirely. It's a shame, as it makes Microsoft's much-lauded player ratings system pretty much impossible to use without it." Hopefully MS will consider making the necessary 'updates' to improve user interface and ease of use in very near future.
Looking closer at the numerous articles, and even a new website that has been created to highlight the long list of issues with the new console, a number of them to show why so many feel it was rushed to market.
Among them are party chat, which is plagued by connection problems between the various games, it's default settings and being forced out of party chat when beginning multiplayer on games like"Ryse - Son of Rome. Ryan King of
NowGamer.com reported that, "There are a lot of issues with the new party system, such as not being able to manually invite individual friends to games while other friends are present in a party and problems with party chat (one example: party chat is set to off by default). One specific example of how the new party system has change things: Killer Instinct only allows two-man parties to play, so if you’re in a mixed party with others playing Forza or Battlefield, you can’t then play Killer Instinct while in that party.Partying up and getting into games worked well on Xbox 360 and it’s difficult to see what Microsoft was attempting with this new system, which seems restrictive without any real benefit."
Another problem being noted with communication on the new platform is that when using Skype players are reporting their conversations, some of which may be private, are being heard in match making. Additionally the use of Skype and Upload Studio are also, "temporarily banning users who swear while using Skype and Upload Studio on Xbox One. Multiple users have taken to Reddit and the Xbox One forums after finding themselves locked out of the apps, presumably after submitting content - Either uploading gameplay streams or using Skype to make a private call - which included profanity. Based on the photo above, posted by Twitter user named Connor, the Xbox One tells banned users to 'choose something else to play... Because of their past behavior.' " , as reported by Michael Epstein of
EscapistMagazine.com. Connor was given access back within 24 hours after having to contact XBOX support to rectify the issue. Though this matter is not a 'bug' in the system of the XBOX One, users may want to check their content settings which may be causing this to occur.
Party chat is a widely used and integral part of using the XBOX Live service and having these type of issues clearly show that MS did not spend the time needed to ensure the communication system and the Skype interface would work properly.
"Running home to momma" is being seen as another big problem when, "certain games tend to crash to Xbox Home and you can’t relaunch those games without rebooting the entire console. There are a number of different theories for why this happens – Xbox One running out of RAM thanks to games and apps not sharing the RAM well is the most popular theory – but Battlefield 4 is the game where the problem seems to be most frequent. NBA 2K14, Call Of Duty: Ghosts, Dead Rising 3 and Madden NFL 25 have also been reported to cause the issue.".
Epstein goes on to note that, "You can’t quickly access your Friends List while in-game as quickly as you could on Xbox 360 and you can’t see a list of people you have recently played. There’s no ‘join session in progress’ option anymore. You can’t auto sign-in to your profile. There are no notifications when friends come online. Perhaps understandable given the longterm view of there being up to 1,000 friends but there should be some way for friends to be labelled ‘favourite’ and have notifications for them.
Combined with the unwieldy nature of the new party system, it all combines for an unintuitive system that users have to learn. Compared to the simplicity of the Xbox 360’s party system, it feels like a step back."
The ability to see the battery life of your controller or viewing remaining hard drive storage space is not available, voice messages are gone, using an external USB for storage or reading media is gone, you can't play music in the background during games, there's no option for custom backgrounds, no avatar store, etc. etc. For a complete list of missing, problematic or desired features you can visit xboxfeedback.com for viewing the extensive list or add to it yourself. Though this site appears to have gotten Microsofts Major Nelson's attention, based on this comment: "It was even spotted by Microsoft mouthpiece Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, who commented to say that its suggestions had been passed on to the relevant people.", stated Tom Phillips of eurogamer.net .......... it is speaks volumes that players felt compelled to create a web site in order to get Microsoft to pay attention to the issues they are having and features they expected to return or want.
Larry Hryb made this announcement on Reddit. "I had a meeting today about much of this and I can say that things will get better. I can't offer a timeline of a list of what will be addressed first, but we are aware of the issue and things will get better." One reporter made light of the comment saying it sounded like something a politician would say! How long it will take MS to address these issues is yet to be seen. We have heard these promise of lessons learned and quick fixes before.
Placing products on the market without proper testing, applying unwanted features or allowing project staff time to polish or finish promised specific features is a becoming a hallmark of MS products and those of it's game studio. The XBOX One should be a gaming console first and foremost and respect it's consumers by offering finished products. Trying to be the "everything box" appears to have caused the core use of what an XBOX was originally created for, gaming, to suffer. It would be scary to see what problems would have occurred with the infamous "DRM" feature they were forced to abandon (at least for now) following a major out cry from the community had it been implemented.
The gaming community bought into XBOX Live, the XBOX consoles and exclusive titles in the past which has allowed Microsoft to make a proverbial gold mine from all of their related gaming interests. There should have been more respect given the consumers who have helped build their gaming interests. The money would have still been there. They should not chased the release of the PS4 and kept to their own schedule.
Most of us are here in this forum because of our love for the Halo series and the community that surrounds, or used to surround it. Though gamer's in general face the same issues members here are with the XBOX One, it is especially tangible to Halo players when we see another product from MS that is placed on the market, much like Halo 4 was from Microsoft Studios, without being finished or properly tested and has taken so long to get it close to what was promised. Halo 4's issues drove many long term fans away from the franchise which also may happen to XBOX Live and XBOX One console users if timely fixes are not applied now.
Even though Microsoft is planning on improving and tweaking the dashboard in the coming months, with a larger update, codenamed "Threshold" , planned in the spring 2015, the time to address the problems was before launch.
Fun Fact
The use of the term "Threshold" is a reference to the planet the first Halo ring orbited in the original game in the series, Halo Combat Evolved.
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