Xbox One: A console or a lifestyle?

"Welcome to a new generation of games and entertainment. Where games push the boundaries of realism. And television obeys your every command. Where listening to music while playing a game is a snap. And you can jump from TV to movies to music to a game in an instant. Where your experience is custom tailored to you. And the entertainment you love is all in one place. Welcome to the all-in-one, Xbox One."

Microsoft revealed the Xbox One last week - the newest and greatest Xbox yet! Although pricing has not been announced, nor can you order just yet, their feature packed presentation was not short of much. It's hard to put the Xbox One into a box (I made a pun there...) because it is so all encompassing. Is it a gaming console? Yes. Is it a media console? Yes. Can you do just about anything you could want on it? Yes. For gamers, the Xbox One has been a long time coming (Xbox 360 was released in 2005). For everyone else, sure a lot of the features on Xbox One could already be done with the Xbox 360, but Microsoft has boosted up this new device to meet the growing demand for multitasking media. Let's face it, attention spans are short and we expect it all in one place.

With sleek lines and sharp corners, Xbox One is more than just a pretty face, it is a powerful and impressive piece of technology. The key features presented during the reveal were unmatched and superb gaming, instant and seamless media presentation, the ability to multitask, integration with improved Kinect, and web interaction with the Windows 8 platform.

With any product release there are several buzz words and catch phrases that float around. Often these frequently repeated phrases address issues you didn't necessarily know even existed. For instance, with the Xbox One you will "never have to change the input again!" or "you can three way Skype and watch football at the same time, on the same screen!". Although these are pretty cool features, and the Xbox One was obviously carefully and considerately created, I am merely poking fun at the emphasis put on these abilites.

So what does this mean for Apple TV and other competitors? It could be a tough road ahead. Not only does Xbox One combine all of your entertainment into one place, but it does it really well. Hats off to you Microsoft, we are genuinely impressed.