Hardware
The hardware for this little micro console, while minimal appears to be pretty decent. The console itself is basically a small box the size of a smartphone with a few ports. It features a micro usb, power input,ethernet, HDMI, and optical output on the back. Two USB ports on the front. I have heard that you can plug a mouse and keyboard into the USB ports on the front, but I have not yet tried that.
Now the controller has some interesting things going for it. It feels like a hybrid Xbox 360 and PS3 controller. Button layout is that of the PS3, but overall shape is that of the 360. It feels a bit light for me and doesn't quite sit as nicely as the 360 controller, but it isn't too bad. A cool feature is this brag clip button that instantly takes the last 10
The box also comes with ALL of the needed cables, including ethernet and HDMI cables. Nice touch.
Software Interface
So the interface is an interesting one. Focusing on a hub of live game streams from other players you can jump around to a few different places. It has a semi-blade feel to it when you press the guide button. The initial setup though was slightly confusing in some parts, for example when they were asking if I was using a WiFi bridge. Instead of the tradition "A" = YES and "B" = NO they had it as "A" = YES and "Y" = NO. Overall the interface moves smoothly though and looks pretty good.
Image Quality & Games
So here is the meat of it and I have to say my initial impressions are that I am blown away. I have read some reports from people that the image quality appears slightly fuzzy for the games and I do get that on my laptop with the service (which is on Wifi) and when I watch other people playing games. When I play them games themselves though everything looks just as crisp as it does on my Xbox 360. It could be that my HDTV has less resolution than my laptop screen, it could be that I am close to a datacenter living in Chicago. I am not sure, but the image quality of the games is spot on. (As a note I have a 42" HDTV, Comcast internet 6Mb+ in the Chicago area. )
As part of this purchase I got access to the Playback Beta which allows me unlimited access to a select number of games. I also get a voucher for one full game to purchase. My only real complaint so far comes from the game selection. Not only is there a limited number of games currently on there service but they predominately appear to be PC versions of games. Again, that would be fine if I am at a computer, but playing on my console with a controller didn't always pan out. Controller support is "Beta" on these games and documentation for the buttons is not very good. Again, they games look great, but there were several times where I found text hard to read or interfaces not quite right for a console experience.
I also should make a note about the shooting experience on here. I tried one FPS, being Frontlines: Fuel of War, which was clearly the PC version. Shooting was very difficult and I found my crosshairs jumping all over the screen. I am not sure if it is a lag issue or the fact that the PC version of the game probably does not have an auto-aim to it.
Anyways, more impressions as I get more time with the system.
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