The Xbox One is still finding its strides under Phil Spencer, and under his leadership, the system is finally living up to its billing.Currently, the system is being outsold by the Nintendo Switch, however it has a lot of things going for the system.Microsoft bolstered its first party studios to 13 studios with the additions of Obsidian Entertainment and Ninja Theory. Along the way, Phil Spencer and his team have grown the Game Pass.This pass rivals Playstation Now especially with the ability to buy the game later for a discount.Forza Horizon released a new entry this year and maintains a quality that is above Gran Turismo on the Playstation.Phil’s team also pushed for more cross platform connectivity.Although this is a fantastic idea, I think there are some drawbacks especially when it comes to hardware.The Xbox One X on the hardware specs side is better than the Playstation 4 Pro, but when you compare the Xbox One S to the Playstation 4 Slim, there is no comparison.For all the growth that the Xbox One had this year, for me the biggest leap comes not from the consoles they are working on, or the games that have come out, it comes from accessibility front.The team at Xbox has brought gaming to those who otherwise couldn’t,by designing adaptable controllers.Disabilities should never hold someone back from enjoying an amazing media.
Looking forward into 2019, I foresee Phil pulling the veil back on the next generation of Xbox. I am eager to see if the rumors of 2 separate systems is true. One of those rumors is that one model will be strictly based on streaming. That may be a hard sell since there is a good portion of the US that does not have access to high speed internet. We should also see some more news on the next installment in the Halo franchise. The new graphics engine that 343 studio’s is using for the game, makes the breathtaking beautiful. Guardians saw a break from the traditions of the Halo franchise. Will 2019 be the year that Halo returns to its roots, but at the same moves the series forward in ways that core fans can appreciate?
