Gamers who have been setting their sights out for a good deal on the Xbox One will be pleased to know that Groupon is now offering the gaming system for only $319 bundled with Team Dakota's Project Spark.
The deal, which is offered on the Groupon website for an unspecified limited time, gives customers an $79 discount on the combined regular price of a 500 GB Xbox One and Project Spark.
Taking up a good 3.17 GB of disk space, Project Spark is a digital canvas that allows gamers to create games, animations and movies on their Xbox One using content they create from scratch or by combining content they get from other players through the Project Spark marketplace. It is about "giving players options," says Project Spark designer Claude Jerome, and lets them develop their own games from a simple 2D platform game to full-blown 3D third-person shooter role-playing games.
"This isn't exactly like being a development team - but like Rock Band is awesome for wannabe rockstars, Project Spark is a terrific approximation of what it might be like to work at a video game studio," says IGN's Mitch Dyer, who reviewed Project Spark upon release. "Here, though, you actually create something you can share, and doing it together is as good as Project Spark gets."
Dyer, however, basically admits Project Spark is not for gamers who simply want to have their fill of good games and leave. Instead, it is for people who want to take a shot at creating their own games using creative tools that require a learning curve and have fun while doing it. For gamers who want to move from the couch to the studio, Project Spark is a great way to make that transition.
As for the Xbox One, deals like this will likely help Microsoft catch up to Sony, whose PlayStation 4 is still the best-selling video game console in the world. Sony and Microsoft do not release actual numbers, but estimates peg Sony's figures at 20 million PlayStation units sold. Microsoft, which is far behind at 12 million units, is steadily trying to close the gap, though it still has a long way more to go before it reaches Sony's numbers.
Last month, however, Microsoft ended its losing streak by selling more Xbox consoles than PlayStations, a feat it achieved for the first time without having to rely on special deals such as the one available from Groupon.
