Why you should buy the Xbox One

By Phil Hornshaw

It was only a few years ago that the idea of Microsoft entering the video game industry was met with some intense skepticism on the part of gamers. An unproven company, best known for software for making spreadsheets and Windows operating systems that were often notoriously buggy, wanted to revolutionize the game console business.

Just over a decade later, however, Microsoft’s Xbox consoles have carved out quite a wide niche in the western console market, taking at least the No. 2 slot and sometimes the No. 1, depending on who you talk to about console sales and what’s going on in a given month. And Microsoft is set to make another attempt for your entertainment dollar later this year with its Xbox One, bringing to bear lots of new features to make a Microsoft machine the center of your entertainment system. Here are a few of those features, along with some reasons why you might want to consider grabbing an Xbox One.

Streaming, Skype and sports

Though games have been paramount in the past for Microsoft’s machines, the reveal for the new Xbox One focused on the console’s other features: namely, it’s ability to stream lots of different kinds of awesome content. The Xbox 360 is already used heavily for streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go and ESPN, and Microsoft is looking to expand that segment of its offerings in the future.

With new deals with lots of different content creators, the Xbox One looks to be your new cable box, streaming box and game machine. You’ll be able to stream NFL games, for a start, and the console will include web search capabilities and even video calling through Skype. The features you’re used to, like streaming through Netflix, will be back, with lots more TV-style content capabilities, too. Xbox One will even have premium content of its own, such as a TV show based on the hit Halo game series, and you’ll be able to pipe your cable feed through the box to take advantage of the Xbox One’s fast switching and dual-app capabilities.

Slick game exclusives

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, gaming’s biggest convention, just took place in Los Angeles, and demonstrated a number of other great reasons to consider an Xbox One: games. That is, exclusive games that won’t be available on other platforms.

Chief among the new exclusives is probably Titanfall, a multiplayer first-person shooter title in which players can pilot giant robot tanks called Titans, or leap around on foot using jetpack and parkour-style movements. The game blew some socks off at E3 this year, showing both the power of the new hardware and some fast-paced, high-octane action. Other games looked great as well, from Call of Duty: Ghosts, the next installment in the highest-grossing franchise in gaming, to Ryse: Son of Rome, a cinematic combat game in which players take on the role of a Roman soldier fighting barbarian hordes in Britannia.

The Xbox One isn’t out until sometime closer to Holiday 2013, but you can pre-order the console right now for its retail price of $499.99. Check out GameStop, which offers 2.5 percent Cash Back, and Best Buy, Walmart and Target, which each offer 2 percent Cash Back.