Bilnick

You still need to register for a beta key on the XB1. I downloaded the program and the first thing it asks for is a key. I registered, the website said there is about a 21 day wait for keys.

I understand what you are saying, but for me they aren't that bothersome yet, even though they are about 2/3 of the screen on the PS3 and 360 home screens. For what it is worth, there is much less real estate devoted to ads on the Xbox One. The right 1/3 or 1/4 of the screen has 3-4 tiles. Don't have a PS4 (yet) to compare what it does. If videogames get like Blue Ray movies where you are forced to watch certain clips, then I would be inclined to agree that ads are too intrusive.

I am sharpening my pitchforks and getting my torches out now! Right after I finish playing Kool Aid Man, Sneak King, and NHL 14. Are people still getting upset about ads in video games? It has only been happening for as long as I remember.

Project Spark beta is available for free on the Xbox One store. I did not need any beta code to download it to my XB1. Have not tried it yet, my son is on his Saturday morning CoD and Battlefield play sessions.

Save your games to the cloud drive instead of locally.

I noticed the update while installing the Titanfall beta. Nice to have the battery and hdd display back. Titanfall looks pretty good too. I played a little, but mostly watched my son play. He played quite a bit this weekend.

I was under the impression that PS+ was needed to play the games out now for the PS4 online. Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed, COD, Need for Speed, etc. If those types of games aren't free to play, then it doesn't matter to me that others are free since I would have to buy PS+ any way.

The problem I have with both PS+ and games with gold is that once I take away the games I already have off of both lists, neither stands out. I had 7 games off of the Xbox list and 9 off of the Playstation list. The games alone were never enough of a reason for me to buy PS+. (I have had a PS3, PSP and Vita since they were launched) When I buy a PS4, I will buy PS+ because it is needed to play online. Online play is the primary reason I have been a Live subscriber.

Apparently a February 11 update will add a controller battery life indicator and a hard drive space interface. Also improved voice commands. Apparently kinect will learn your voice patterns to better interpret what you are saying.

I figured that Microsoft was making a download only console to compete with the Steam machines. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for the Steam concept.

The Last of Us, Uncharted series, Little Big Planet series, Resistance series (online going away soon on this though), Gran Turismo, are a few of the exclusives worth owning for the PS3. The 360 was my primary system last gen as well, but there was enough on PS3 to make it worthwhile in my opinion.

Maybe in terms of units sold the Wii U and Dreamcast can be compared. The difference between the launch lineups is night and day. I had to limit myself to 4 launch day Dreamcast games. There were easily 7-8 DC games I wanted on launch day. 14 months after the Wii U launched I have 5 games, one of which is an add on for NSMBU.

1) I have yet to see a battery life indicator on my XB1. Stupid omission by Microsoft. I hope it is changed soon. Battery life is quite good though. We easily get a week of daily play out of a set of rechargeable AAs. 2) You can't see the hard drive space remaining. I remember reading an article where the author filled the hard drive to see how many games it would hold and he had to guess based on the game sizes what the useable capacity of the HDD is. Another stupid omission. I agree with you in preferring the 360 UI to the XB1. I can live with the XB1 UI for now, but often I am asking why Microsoft just didn't keep the 360 UI and make it better.

I have not had this issue with any of my controllers for any system. I have many controllers for the 360 especially. I guess I am lucky.

My son and I use Kinect to auto log in and voice commands. It is pretty cool that it recognizes me and logs me in when I enter the room. My wife uses the Kinect 5 days a week on Kinect Fit. She loves it. She did many of the workouts available already on their own (P90x, Jillian Michaels, and others), but having the camera tracking your movements, heartbeat, score, etc. makes it more fun she says. She usually snaps the morning news while she works out.

Was still down this afternoon. My daughter got the Wii U Fit pedometer for Xmas and couldn't download the game. Bummer.

The battery life on the controller is pretty good, I would estimate 12 or more hours. Our Xbox one gets used every day for at least an hour or two and the batteries last over a week. I use Eneloop rechargables. You can buy a lot of AA rechargables for the price of one play and charge kit, and not have to be tethered by a USB cable when the play and charge battery runs low. My wife (who rarely uses any videogame console) loves the Xbox Fitness program. She does the P90X workouts and some of the others. She snaps TV and watches the morning news while she works out. The Kinect watches her workout, grades how she is doing, and monitors her heartbeat She has used it 5 days a week since we got our XB1. When browsing the Xbox store, there are usually 3 dots in a box near the bottom of the screen that you can select to get a full list beyond the 3-4 games shown. Forza 5 is only $39.99 at Amazon, a good deal on a fun game.

Each controller is paired with a specific PS3. A controller that you have paired with your second PS3 will not turn on the first PS3 and vice-versa. I ended up buying black controllers for one of my PS3s and colored controllers for the other.

I prefer a replacable battery vs a built in battery. If the batteries run dead in my Xbox or Wii controllers, I snag a couple of charged AAs from my charger and I am up and running in a few seconds. For my PS3 I ended up buying a couple extra controllers and a charging station. I think the PS3 had to be on to charge a controller, not sure if this was updated or not.

I was playing Forza this morning and noticed the controller wasn't rumbling at all. Replaced the batteries and the rumble was back on. As far as I can tell the only indication of the batteries running low is lack of rumble. The AA batteries that came with the controller lasted well over 20 hours, but the handy little battery meter the Xbox 360 had would be nice.

I got the same $11 each back on the three launch titles I bought from Amazon as well. Amazon has a bunch of Xbox One and Playstation 4 titles for $49. Snagged Dead Rising 3 for my son for Xmas.

Got mine yesterday and hooked it up. Update and install was quick.... 5-10 minutes. Haven't run the satellite receiver through the unit yet though, wanted to play games as quick as possible. HDD install of COD Ghosts took forever, way way longer than the system update. Forza install seemed a little faster. I just let Battlefield 4 install when I went to bed. Will route cables properly and hook up the TV portion today.

Amazon should be delivering my console and Forza today. Battlefield 4 and COD Ghosts actually arrived Tuesday. Will likely get Black Flag and Dead Rising as Xmas gifts for either me or my son. Was hoping that there would be a few different colors or special edition controllers available, been holding off on a second controller. Will sneak in some Mario 3d World too.

This comes from Amazon the same day as Xbox One. It is going to be a fun weekend! The good thing is Mario can be played on the controller while my son and I mess around with the Xbox.

Amazon still sells Wii U and 3DS games directly. Zelda, Mario 3d World, Pikmin, etc. are all available from Amazon directly, most for less than $50. Mario and Pikmin were $60. Only the hardware is sold through 3rd parties, and like Gabriel said, is usually higher than retail.