评测报告：未来游戏机Xbox One志在客厅

    如果Xbox One还没成为你节日心愿单上最想要的礼物，那它应该占据这个位置。

    美国时间本周五，微软公司（Microsoft）将推出Xbox One。很明显微软这次是瞄准了客厅有备而来，将看电视、玩游戏和上网这三者以空前程度融为一体。这台设备售价为499美元，要比上周索尼公司（Sony）推出的PlayStation 4贵100美元，但是多出来的这些钱却能让用户获得下一代的用户体验，包括菜单浏览、用语音识别和手势驱动的游戏设置。

    微软的雄心是，凭借这台设备，以其以前产品从未做到的方式占领客厅，既靠更先进的硬件，也通过从玩游戏到扫描玩家骨骼和肌肉的无所不能的软件。这将是一段时间以来，大家第一次在撕开包装纸后因为看到微软的标识而激动万分。

    硬件。形容它就一个字：大！Xbox One就是一头巨兽，让PlayStation 4、Wii U和近几年出品的绝大多数游戏机都相形见绌（实际上它的净尺寸之大完全可以和老式录像机相匹敌）。仔细端详会发现，这台墨黑色的塑料游戏机颇有特色——它采用了哑光和镜面混搭的材质，覆盖机身一半面积的顶盖为格栅式，一些地方采用了银色的镀鉻层，触摸式电源开关同时也兼做品牌标识——不过Xbox One的工业设计更偏于实用，而不仅仅是为了美观。全新的Kinect 2动作感应操纵杆也是如此，它的尺寸几乎和除臭剂罐子一样大，就是为了和电视机离得更近些。

    手柄和Xbox 360很像，但外观和手感都进行了优化。两端的两个控键表面波纹处理得更到位，握持更舒适。按钮按起来明显感觉更高档（特别需要指出的是，方向垫经过了重新设计，感觉再也不是那么廉价了，实用性也强多了）。微软这次还把振动电机从原来的两个增加为四个，这样游戏开发者就不必让整个手柄都震动，而将游戏带来的震动感局限于局部。这是一个非常微小的调整，但它能让玩家在玩《极限竞速5》（Forza Motorsport 5）这类游戏时更加身临其境，比如过弯时就能体会到这种不同。这个手柄的人体工学不像PlayStation 4的那样到位，后者这方面让我觉得是所有游戏机中做得登峰造极的一款，不过玩家们也不会觉得微软的新产品太差劲。

    If the Xbox One isn't already near the top of your holiday wish list, it should be.

    With Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox One, due out this Friday, it's clear the company is gunning for the living room, marrying TV viewing, game play, and Internet-connected services to an unprecedented degree. At $499, it may cost $100 more than the Sony (SNE) PlayStation 4 that was released last week, but the extra cash nets users a next-generation user experience, including menu navigation and gameplay driven by voice recognition and gesture.

    With this device, Microsoft wants to own the living room in a way the company's previous products never could, with more advanced hardware and software that juggles everything from playing games to scanning a player's skeletal frame and musculature. It's the first time in a while you'll be excited to see the Microsoft logo when you rip open the wrapping paper.

    The hardware. One word: huge. The Xbox One is a beast, dwarfing the PlayStation 4 and Wii U and most other consoles of recent years. (It's so large in fact, it'll challenge old-school VCR boxes in sheer size.) There are some nice accents on the jet-back plastic console up-close -- a two-tone juxtaposition of matte and shiny textures, a grill top that covers half the device, some silver chrome, and a touch-activated power button doubling as a logo -- but the Xbox One's industrial design is more utilitarian than looker. The same goes for the new Kinect 2 motion-sensing bar, roughly the size of a Febreze can and meant to sit closer to the television.

    The controller bears a strong resemblance to the Xbox 360's, but the look and feel has been refined. The two handles on either end are slightly more contoured for holding. Buttons click in an appreciably more premium-feeling way. (In the particular, the direction pad has been redesigned and feels a lot less cheap and a lot more usable.) Microsoft also integrated four vibration motors instead of two this time around. So instead of the entire controller rumbling, developers can make the sensation more localized. It's a very subtle distinction but one that adds to the immersiveness of gameplay during games like Forza Motorsport 5, as players take corners. The controller isn't as ergonomic as the PlayStation 4's, which wins my personal award for best-feeling console controller ever, but players won't grouse about discomfort here, either.