My [early] thoughts on the Xbone - 3 days in..
The interface
It could still use a little refinement and it will probably evolve over the next few years but already it's far better than the current 360 interface. It DOES take a little getting used to since they've re-organised a lot of stuff. The basic features are pretty much all thier own apps now, it's fairly compartmentalised but it's quick and easy to move between them all.
I quite like being able to scan a QR code with the Kinect rather than typing in a 25 digit serial number - and there's no chance of typos.
Avatars carry over from 360 but there really isn't a place for them currently, I don't think they'll be missed if they are phased out.
Now that I've got my bearings a bit, I find I can get around pretty quickly using voice commands.
the video / entertainment apps are decent - sort of more of the same - but it's pretty handy to be able to list them as channels in the tv guide - i've not used that for TV actual yet, though.
Overall there's a lot less clutter and it's a lot more fluid. There is still a bit of loading some of the time but it's not like the headache of the NXE on 360 hardware - almost constant loading / waiting.
You can message people and see their details across the 360 - ONE divide but you cannot party / chat which sucks a little.
The audio quality in general seems much better with voice chat - both with Kinect and Headset.
The games
In getting rid of the DRM 'features' that upset [just about] everyone they also got rid of the useful feature of only needing the disc to install a game. This is where the system falls down a bit. Take Forza 5 for example - after a lengthy install that filled up 33GB of my 500gb hard drive - The game wanted a 6GB update - ON LAUNCH DAY - and I still need to have the disc in the tray when I want to play it. Kind of a worst of both worlds approach.
No more racing home and popping in a game right away - it's put a disc in and go have dinner while it does its thing.
Forza is a lot of fun though. I also picked up Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed 4. Both are good fun and look great. I fell out of love with Assassin's Creed early on with the repetitive nature of things but I'm quite enjoying part 4 [I'm pretty sure there's quite a few more than 4 of them already?]
Overall
It really is a system that's designed to go hand in hand with internet access and if you don't have decent broadband you probably aren't going to have a great time.
As an entertainment hub it works great but the system really needs MORE games and apps asap.
oh, and Killer Instinct suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.
Fyi, these screenshots don't do it justice. The difference between them isn't very noticeable at this resolution, but in the actual gameplay where it's shown at full 1080P, it's truly astounding.
