Xbox as a Home Entertainment System
Ok first thing to note.... I know exactly nothing about Xboxes!With that out of the way, what is the Xbox like as a "kids" Home Entertainment System (HES)? I say "kids" as it's for them and I have all my own kit. The 4 and 7 year olds are really enjoying playing games on my Amazon Fire TV box and as it stands we only have the remote that was included with it. It has me thinking about either a) buying a couple of controllers @ £40 each or b) replacing the Fire TV with something different like an Xbox or Nvidia Shield TV.
If it was to replace the Fire TV I would need it to do.....
NetflixMedia playing functionality and video wall from the local network similar to Kodi, Plex etcWork with a Harmony remoteI have absolutely no idea if the Xbox can do the above.
The next question is games. At this stage they have no interest in expensive games so simple racing games etc would do them. I'm guessing an Xbox Live subscription would give me some games?
If the Xbox can meet all my needs, what's the optimal pack to buy? Xbox, S, Elite and so on? Any expected Black Friday deals.....? Xbox has Netflix and Plex so you should be good for Home Entertainment. I believe a Harmony Remote will also work.
As for Games then yes if you get a Gold Subscription you will have access to Free Games With Gold Each month but it varies on what games you get. It's normally 4 games included but you have to have gold when they are released so you won't have access to previous games that were games with gold.
The other thing you can get is EA Access which gives you access to games in the Vault. It's £20 for a years sub and at the moment includes access to all the below Digital Games.
Games in the Vault for Xbox One[edit]
No. Title Date released Date added Ref.
1 Battlefield 4 November 22, 2013 July 29, 2014
2 FIFA 14 November 22, 2013 July 29, 2014
3 Madden NFL 25 November 22, 2013 July 29, 2014
4 Peggle 2 December 9, 2013 July 29, 2014
5 Need for Speed Rivals November 22, 2013 September 2, 2014
6 Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare February 25, 2014 October 15, 2014
7 EA Sports UFC June 17, 2014 December 12, 2014
8 NBA Live 15 October 28, 2014 February 25, 2015
9 Madden NFL 15 August 26, 2014 March 5, 2015
10 NHL 15 September 9, 2014 April 9, 2015
11 FIFA 15 September 23, 2014 May 8, 2015
12 Titanfall March 11, 2014 June 15, 2015
13 Dragon Age: Inquisition November 18, 2014 August 4, 2015
14 Battlefield Hardline March 17, 2015 October 14, 2015
15 Madden NFL 16 August 25, 2015 February 2, 2016
16 Plants vs. Zombies September 8, 2010 February 29, 2016
17 NHL 16 September 15, 2015 March 29, 2016
18 Dead Space October 14, 2008 March 31, 2016
19 FIFA 16 September 22, 2015 April 19, 2016
20 Rory McIlroy PGA Tour July 14, 2015 May 10, 2016
21 NBA Live 16 September 29, 2015 May 25, 2016
22 Need for Speed November 3, 2015 July 12, 2016
23 Unravel February 9, 2016 July 12, 2016
24 SSX February 28, 2012 August 9, 2016
25 Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 February 23, 2016 August 30, 2016
26 Bejeweled 2 Deluxe November 22, 2005 October 6, 2016
27 Zuma Deluxe November 22, 2005 October 6, 2016
28 Feeding Frenzy March 10, 2006 October 6, 2016
29 Heavy Weapon January 17, 2007 October 6, 2016
30 Feeding Frenzy 2 September 17, 2008 October 6, 2016
31 Bejeweled 3 October 19, 2011 October 6, 2016
32 Mass Effect November 20, 2007 November 7, 2016
33 Mass Effect 2 January 26, 2010 November 7, 2016
34 Mass Effect 3 March 6, 2012 November 7, 2016
35 Mirror's Edge November 11, 2008 November 9, 2016
36 Mirror's Edge Catalyst June 7, 2016 November 9, 2016
37 EA Sports UFC 2 March 15, 2016 November 10, 2016
38 Star Wars Battlefront November 17, 2015 TBA
As for what console to get then you have to decide if you want a slimmer console with a UHD Drive and 4K Streaming or the cheaper bigger version. They all play the same games and it's just the features of the console that is different, size, hdd size and UHD player.
Some cracking deals about at the moment, I know with the non slim versions that when they sell out that's it as the S will replace them. The white Xbox One S has a built in IR receiver so thats the one to go for.
You could get second hand black original Xbox One consoles but these require the Kinect camera which also doubles as an IR receiver/blaster to work with IR remotes, it's not worth it.
Many of the Lego games and more friendly racing games including titles from the Xbox 360 era are available alongside Xbox One titles, use the search feature of the Xbox store, it has no categories to speak of.
The Nvidia Shield is really not that much different from the FireTV, the only real difference is Nvidia ported a handful of last gen console games to it, it's definitely not worth it, Xbox has a far larger library.
The one area that is different for Xbox vs FireTV etc is pricing, physical games on console are still priced lower than digital and digital console prices take a long time to drop, kids destroy physical games and buying digitally is far more convenient but expect higher prices. On the other hand most console games arent infected with mobile micro transactions so your getting a fair chunk of game for the price.
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