How Xbox Won Me Over

For close to 15 years now, I have considered myself an avid gamer. I am 18 years old, therefore I am literally saying that I have been a gamer since the age of 3. In September of 2000, my father waited in line for the smaller, slimmer PS One. Little did he know that performing that act would initiate an unexplained devotion to the PlayStation brand in his son.

Up until last fall, I remained that devoted PlayStation gamer. It was then that the Black Friday 2014 ads were released to the public. As tradition in my family dictates, we all sat around a table and picked out the items that really caught our attention and began planning a route. As I was glancing through the game offerings for Walmart, I noticed their deal on the Xbox One. If I remember correctly, the deal included the 500GB console, Titanfall, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and a $15 gift card for $349. At that time, the console had just been dropped to $400 so to get an Xbox One for $349 was already a deal, but with every Halo game in addition to Titanfall, there was no way I could pass up such a bargain. That night, for the first time in my life, I cheated on my love. I bought an Xbox One.

Fast forward to May of 2015. After playing through every Halo title, Far Cry 4, and poking around on Titanfall’s multiplayer for about 4 hours, the Xbox One honeymoon phase was gone. Though that changed when Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was released. As someone who had never played Gears, the sheer testosterone and plot of that title captured me. I found myself anticipating Gears 4 and following The Coalition on twitter to get updates.

This was my first taste of being a true Xbox fan.

In September, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that Crystal Dynamic’s Tomb Raider was free for Gold members. After missing out on the experience the year before, I found myself lost in the world of Laura Croft and truly enjoying it! Again, I felt the pride of being an Xbox gamer.

As the fall approached, Halo 5: Guardians was catching my eye more and more. The “Hunt the Truth” ad campaign was very well done and the PR between 343i and the community was truly impressive. On day one, there I was at the Microsoft Store picking up my copy. Since that day, not a single day has gone by without at least one game of Warzone added to the stats. Nearly alongside Halo 5 was the new Xbox One update that integrated the entire interface with Windows 10. The clunky old dashboard that I had loathed had been rebuilt from the ground up. What remained was a smooth, responsive gaming experience that I fell in love with very quickly. It was at this moment that I remembered my PlayStation 4. I had not truly had a gaming session on it since Rocket League was the free game of the month of Plus members. There it sat, alongside my Xbox One. Though, this time around, it seemed to have a little less prestige. Don’t misunderstand me, both the Xbox One and PS4 are equally sufficient consoles. Though instead of the PS4 being the end all be all of console gaming experiences, the Xbox One has proven to me that it is a competitor in the game through its quality gaming releases, impressive overhaul of the interface, and general feel of the experience.

Congratulations, Microsoft. I love my PlayStation 4 and a part of my heart will always be partial to PlayStation, though you have proven that the Xbox One is a force to be reckoned with.