Microsoft has sold more than one million of its new generation gaming console during the first 24 hours of sales since its launch in 13 different countries. Sales easily surpassed day one Xbox 360 sales.
The new Xbox One boasts features to enhance your gaming and entertainment such as: Voice Commands, Split Screen based on where players are sitting in the room, Xbox One cloud, Allowing gamers to find opponents of the same ability, Digital video recorder allowing up to 5 minutes recorded game play, Functions to allow users to watch live TV through the console and receive notifications at the same time - and many more.
Nevertheless, the launch day has not been totally problem-free as there are already reports of technical problems found in some of these £429 machines. This has obviously caused great disappointment to fans that have waited, pre-ordered and queued for the long awaited new console. A Microsoft representative stated that "We’re working directly with those affected to get a replacement console to them as soon as possible through our advance exchange program. Rest assured, we are taking care of our customers." Microsoft also stated that the issue is only affecting a tiny number of users.
Faulty machines aside, Microsoft provided some interesting statistics about gamers on the Xbox One; they have already managed to kill over 60 million zombies in Dead Rising 3, they have driven more than 3.6 million miles in Forza Motorsport 5, they have pulled off over 7.1 million combos in Killer Instinct and defeated more than 8.5 million enemies in Ryse: Son of Rome in the first 24 hours following the launch.
It’s not the zombies you want to be looking out for
For those Xbox One fans planning to make a late-night trip to purchase the Xbox One, the Police are warning to be extra vigilant as news about the two men robbed of their consoles minutes after buying them starts to emerge. The unlucky pair were amongst the first to get their hands on the console after it went on sale at midnight, they were assaulted and robbed from their vehicle in Gloucester.
Xbox One-point-One on the way?
We have seen reports from an unnamed Taiwan-based supply chain (via DigiTimes) maker mentioning that Microsoft is planning to launch the new version of Xbox One in the first quarter of 2014 as they have been asked to begin shipments of the new model in that quarter. Hopefully some more details about what is being updated will follow.
Undoubtedly there will be a sales battle between the Xbox One and the PS4 (release in the UK on Nov 29th) over the period coming up to Christmas, and it would be interesting to see which of two gamers chose to back. “We have been blown away with the demand for Xbox One by our fans. Pre-orders are over double the amount when we launched Xbox 360. We are doing everything we can to make sure Xbox fans have an Xbox One under the tree this Christmas but they should definitely shop early this year.” said an Xbox Spokesman.
Let’s just hope that both Microsoft and Sony can fix up their new console problems quickly so that they don’t spoil too many children’s Christmases.
