Xbox is changing the way gamers are gaming. To one outside the world of gaming, an Xbox is just a type of console, just like Nintendo or PlayStation. The major difference besides processing power and specs between the different consoles, is that each one has a different user interface and purchasable content to help make gaming alone or with your friends more engaging. In this page, I will describe how Xbox is changing the way gamers approach playing videogames.
In days of yore, if you wanted to play videogames with a friend you would have to go over to their house and plug in a second controller and share a part of the screen with them. Now gaming with over 10 friends at once is possible if each member has the same game and Xbox Live. PlayStation has made a similar party and play together system as Xbox live, but Xbox is the pioneer and leader in the game chat system.
The Walkthrough
Upon turning the console on, you are greeted with the most recent games you have played and apps you have used. Because Xbox is an entertainment device, you can also watch your favorite streaming services on it, provided you have an account in said streaming service. Similar to a computer, you can set a background which also displays upon bootup. The Xbox controller has a giant X button in the middle which pulls up a sidebar where most Xbox live communication stems from. It gives an abbreviated home menu with the last four applications that have been opened, and you can use the joystick to navigate to the left and right to get to the other tabs: Friends, messages, account, achievements, and captures. The Xbox sidebar also has customizability on where each tab is. The friends tab shows what each of your friends on Xbox are doing within the Xbox console interface. Making friends on Xbox live is similar to Facebook or following on Instagram; you can look someone up by their username, or if you see them in a game, you can access their profile and send a friend request.
Sidebar and Home screen Walkthrough
Next up is messages, this allows you to text a friend, or even a stranger through a traditional text message, a voice memo, or even a capture from a game to show them something interesting. One affordance to this is that they both have a limit of size; text cannot be longer than 500 characters, and voice memos cannot be more than 1 min long. Messages are also a common way to speak to a stranger that you met in a game, I personally have received many hate messages and sent a couple this way. However these types of messages are not in accordance with Xbox guidelines, but yet they occur more often than not. The account tab shows different settings for the system and if you want to switch accounts; this is helpful if you are sharing your Xbox with a relative or friend to determine who is the user, and whose game data should be used. Under your own account, it is possible to change many things such as your profile picture, your username, or even your visibility status to your friends. In the achievement tab it displays your recent accomplishments in games, an example being in Call of Duty completing a certain mission can result in an Xbox achievement which gives the user a number of gamer points. Having a large number of gamer points doesn’t nessicairly mean that you are a better gamer, but it does show that you have completed many different games. My personal friends rarely talk about their gamer score, but upon receiving a diamond achievement (meaning that less than 5% of people who own that game have obtained the achievement) always gives a nice feeling. Finally, the captures tab allows you to see the recordings or screenshots that you have captured in games.
All of these tabs are used to share the way you game
The friends tab is the basis for communication with friends, messages is a key way to speak with strangers due to the nature of its anonymity, account allows you to restrict what other gamers can see about you, achievements allow you to show your accolades, and captures help share your most interesting moments in games.
Changes Over Consoles
From Xbox 360 to the new Xbox home screen the focus shifts from games that you could play being the forefront of your screen, to the games that you already play being the center of focus. As opposed to the 360 home screen, the Xbox one home screen also puts the ads for games at the bottom of your screen, but they still take up as much screen space as your games. Another notable addition is the simplification, on the 360 screen there is a lot going on, especially at the top of the screen, but this is re-done in the new home screen. All of the top menus on the Xbox 360’s home menu are all accessible on the Xbox’s side bar.
Subscription Services
Game Pass Ultimate
Game pass ultimate does not inherently change offline gameplay, but it does add significantly to it. Most new triple A games release at a price of $60-70, and this is no cheap expense if you want to buy many new games to enjoy. For a monthly price of $17, over 100+ games are at your fingertips. Ultimate has some games that come and go, so a videogame that you once played under game pass could now only be available for purchase in the Microsoft store. Online features that are included in Xbox live Gold ($10 monthly) are also included in a Game pass membership, so you do not have to pay for both memberships. This allows all of your Xbox friends that also pay for the Ultimate service to share the same game pass games as you all for $7 more a month. Many of the games are also available on something that is called Cloud play, which allows you to play a videogame without downloading it. Cloud play can be done from your phone, laptop, or even computer. One more thing, is that most of the games on game pass ultimate are also available on your PC, so if you log into your Xbox app on your computer, all of those games are also available for download. Game Pass Ultimate is changing the amount gamers game.
AAA Videogame
A Triple A Game is a videogame that is produced by a major videogame production company such as Activision or Ubisoft.
Game Pass Outline
Xbox Live Gold
Xbox Live Gold is a sort of bygone from the 360 days of Call of Duty and Halo lobbies. Xbox live allows for the friends and messages tabs to be enabled, without live these abilities are grayed out. One capability that live has is that it allows you to talk to complete strangers in game lobbies. This means that in a game you can talk over the microphone to your teammates and either collaborate together to achieve victory, or yell at each other which can be upsetting to some players. In all of these games there is an option to mute game chat which means that you will neither hear nor talk to the people in the game lobby. Also within the account settings there is an option that completely cuts off communication with un-friended individuals. Gold changes how we game with others.
How they affect gameplay
Game pass ultimate with friends is the best way to use it in my opinion. This is for the sole reason of not being tied down to a bad game. Many a time in modern day videogame releases are sometimes not fully functioning and full of bugs and glitches that detract from gameplay, and if you just paid $60 for a broken game then it is not very fun at all. A key example being Redfall, which I displayed in my blogpost.
This was one of those game pass games that did not end up being very enjoyable for me or my friends. I believe we played it all together two or three times, and continued to not have the best gaming experience we could. We decided that it was not very fun, and all moved on while not having a $60 hole in our wallets. While its true that not all new games are on game pass, there are a notable amount of games that are on game pass day one of release that gamers are able to assess whether it is worthy of more time or not. One very big notion that I want to get across is that game pass with friends allows you to own the same games as your friends, so if you both happen to like a certain genre of games such as first person shooter (FPS) you can find an online one in the game pass library to play together.
Conclusion
The Xbox UI and system all together is missing a very large part without online live capabilities. Even without Game Pass Ultimate I believe that just having Live Gold is enough to have plenty of fun with friends. Xbox in the large scale has changed the game with the entire system they lay out. Gaming has never been more sociable due to Xbox’s many methods of online interaction, whether it be with friends or complete strangers that could become friends of yours. It is a bit difficult to try and put an experience into words, but it seems that Xbox has made it easier to spend time with friends without having to see them all the time, while still doing something fun with each other. This especially rings true with me as a gamer whose friends are 3 hours away and I still talk to them almost every weekend.
