I never thought I'd say 'I picked up an Xbox One', but last weekend that’s exactly what happened.

Let me first preface this by saying that when it comes to Microsoft or Sony, I'm pretty indifferent and I’ve been pretty harsh on both of them over the years. I like both PlayStation and Xbox for different reasons. Both of these competitors have some really interesting ideas. Last generation I owned the Xbox 360 and loved it, until the later part of the generation; that’s when I wished I had a PS3.

Fast forward this generation, and I’m finding the opposite. I loved my PS4 for the first two years of owning it, but at this point I’m feeling pretty ‘meh’ about it. The PS4 Pro looks okay and Horizon Zero Dawn looks great, but, just something about Sony’s PlayStation plan this generation that makes me shrug at the moment.

So that’s where the beginning part of this blog comes into play. On a whim last Friday, I decided to pack up my PS3 and PS4 with my games for those platforms and head to EBGames. I traded it all in towards an Xbox One S Halo Collection Bundle (1TB). I had money left over to put towards something else, so I picked up Gears of War 4 – which came with the first three games and Gears of War Judgment. I ended up only paying $15 for that.

My impressions so far of the Xbox One S are really positive. The UI is really well designed, I truly did miss Xbox Live and the Xbox One controller is the best controller ever made, in my opinion. Twitch streaming has been almost flawless too, I’ve streamed my entire play through thus far of Halo: Combat Evolved onto Twitch and exported it onto my YouTube page. I can definitely see what the hype is about Halo now; I’m really enjoying it.

On a final note, being a late adopter has its perks too. I picked up Sunset Overdrive for $15 and I’ll be purchasing Rocket League for $14.99 since it’s on sale with Games with Gold. I think it’s unfortunately that the negative press the Xbox One had early on in this generation has still (kind of) carried over. It’s actually a great console and has a lot of neat ideas – design wise, I’m really impressed with Microsoft as well. Oh, I also need to get on Ori and the Blind Forest too. Apparently, it’s one of the best games on Xbox One too!

I had a few questions if anyone would be willing to answer them too, that'd be great! Thanks!

• How long does the controller last with the Play & Charge kit?
• Can you live stream to YouTube directly?
• Do 'free' games on Games with Gold work like they do on PSN
  • i.e you need an active XBL Gold membership to play them?
• Are there any other Indie games worth checking out that are on XBO? I only know of Ori and Inside