Just Bought an Xbox. Got Some Questions.

Hey all. Wow, it's been so long since I've visited the GameSpot forums.

Just two days ago I would've never thought, as a PC gamer, that I'd be buying an Xbox, but after receiving my Planet Earth 2 in 4K and being disappointed that my regular blu ray player couldn't play it, I was furious to learn of this "new format" and the required hardware. I admittedly tried to ignore the gaming console solution to my hardware problem, but it looked like the Xbox One S was the only affordable option for 4K blu rays. I ordered an Xbox One S Minecraft Bundle this afternoon from Kohl's (cause I get $50 back, booya!) and it'll arrive in about a week. I've got some questions though:

1. Are there any accessories I should buy? I can tolerate the sleek white Xbox, but I don't wanna fill up my living room with too much plastic junk. should I get an Xbox charging station, regular rechargeable batteries, or stick with my 20-pack Duracell batteries I've got? I don't even know if the controller takes batteries like my 360 controller for Windows. Also, please let me know if searching for online videos is easier with the attachment controller keyboard or with the media remote? I really need to type fast or voice search.
2. What modern games would you recommend for my taste? I already have multiplats on the PC like BF1, Andromeda, and even WWE2k17. I do NOT play shooters on a console because I feel very disadvantaged as a left-handed player; I save the head shots for my mouse. A game like FF15 I can't get on PC and I'd be willing to try, but how about casual, laid back games? I really wanna experience this "chill out on the couch and play" thing, not the hardcore, intense FPS multiplayers I usually play. Seriously, the only games I'm considering are Just Dance (for living room family/guest fun) and Red Dead Redemption on backwards compatibility.
3. WTF is up with the HD space and how are people filling up 500gb on 10 games? Are these exaggerations? On PC I've got a couple of 50+ gb games BUT: Rise of Tomb Raider requires 20gb, Far Cry Primal takes 16gb and The Division takes 33gb. Do all of these Xbox games require 40+ gb of space each even with the disc?
4. Any other interesting things (i.e. tips, tricks, warnings) I should know about the Xbox platform that would help me enjoy the system as a gaming console or media player?

Now it's not like I've never owned a modern console in the 21st century. Years ago I bought a used PS3 on eBay, GameFly'd the hell out of it from PS1 to PS3 games and sold it after a year. I also preordered the Xbox 360 twice but canceled twice before release. I almost became an Xbox fanboy back in 2005.

Id recommend the white xbox one headphones. Cheap and really nice.

Get rechargable batteries for the controller they are cheap (to play wireless) or simply plug your xbox one controller to a phone charger (micro usb) the same way you charge your phone up to you.

Also remember to leave room on top of xbox one (on the fan) so it can 'breath'.

Id recommend gears of war 4 and halo 5. Both amazing multiplayer shooters (very different but both amazing).

Final fantasy XV is a very good open world rpg good to relax and very fun.

Halo wars 2 is perfect if you like games like age of empires and red alert on pc. halo wars 2 is the first of this genre Id recommend on consoles since this game was made thinking on xbox one controller and is actually really well done and fun online on blitz.

You will love 4k hdr movie disks. better than digital 4k (the image is better and the sound much better)

1.Yes you should buy rechargeable batteries.

2. I don't know what to say cause i like to play FPS games on Xbox One, maybe u should buy the new Need For Speed though but since you said you want family games then i dont know haha, oh by the way most family games are for kinect.

3. The Xbox One doesnt have 500GB of space on the HDD, it has like 363GB for the user and the rest is for the system, u should buy an external HDD (It has to be compatible with USB 3.0 and be 250GB of minimun., but i recommend to you to buy a 500GB HDD)

4. Multistasking maybe haha, but well i mostly use it for gaming i dont really use it for other stuff.

I have a 1TB XONE and it can hold around 20 games or so - depending on their size. And I mostly play AAA games.

My batteries tend to last a good few weeks so never felt the need for a charger. Again, depends on how much you play.

I would get GTAV and Horizon 3 if you haven't already.

Okay, so today after work I stopped buy GameStop mostly to look around and perhaps buy something under $20. I was hoping to find Red Dead Redemption for the Xbox 360. I wanted something with high replay value because I said I would use GameFly to catch up on years of console gaming. However, every game under $30 that I picked up I thought "hmm, I'd be better off putting this game on my rental queue in the future." I eventually settled on paying much more for Final Fantasy XV. The guy also offered me the store's Pro membership with all the savings and stuff. My automatic response was gonna be no but he said it was only $10 a year. I said whatevs throw the card in the bag. The Game Informer mag blows, though. Ughh, it was always overrated. I miss Electronic Gaming Monthly.

So I'll see how it goes. I've got my Xb1 JRPG ready and the console comes with Minecraft. That should keep me satisfied for a couple of months especially with the enormous PC collection I have including Andromeda and Shadow of Morodor which I have yet to play. I'm good with games guys, unless I can be recommended another casual, but long campaign title. And Starshine, I already have all major GTAs so I'm good. I just need to buy that keyboard add-on and anything else that'll make media searching/playing quicker.

@TheBigBadGRIM:

1. Any other interesting things (i.e. tips, tricks, warnings) I should know about the Xbox platform that would help me enjoy the system as a gaming console or media player?

Let me state the obvious: go to the XBox Live website and create an XBox Live account using an MS email account, and download the profile to your console. Then buy Forza, join TrueAchievements.com, check out the weekly sales like once a week and you're all set.

The Xbox One S is great, I got two of them. I would personally get the charging station. I have rechargeable batteries and they work pretty good but it's a pain to always exchange them in the controllers and have to charge the batteries. I'm not sure about the keyboard situation as I never used one with my Xbox. I have with my PS3 and PS4 but that was rarely. And you can get an Xbox One media remote (I believe it's officially licensed). So definitely get the basics. Here is a great list of Xbox One accessories that you're probably going to want to get.

I don't know if you bought the X1S with the smaller hard drive...but, if you compare file sizes of the same games, X1 and PC, for some reason I see the X1 verisons are larger in size, and I don't know why that is.

If you plan on being able to play more than 10 or so large (20gb+) games at a time I'd recommend adding an external hd to your X1. I use a Western Digital 4TB. Have nearly 100 games installed with still plenty of room to spare.

Didn't read all the responses you got, but someone probably mentioned that it doesn't matter if you buy the disc, the full game has to install anyway. I buy mostly digital cause of the sales.

Buy one of these you won't be disappointed:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-battery-charging-station-for-xbox-one-s-controllers/5689803.p?skuId=5689803&extStoreId=&ref=212&loc=1&ksid=9dc481f1-c6a0-4196-840c-b93121ef7c66&ksprof_id=3&ksaffcode=pg218886&ksdevice=t&lsft=ref:212,loc:2&gclid=CPeuz7zlr9QCFY46gQodMJILbA

Sorry for the huge link I'm on a phone.

So much better and easier than a controller stand. It plugs into the side USB of the console and you just pop the batteries in and out. Comes with two batteries and the stand that has a USB so you don't lose one when you plug it in.

Games are huge nowadays especially the Xbox exclusives like gears and halo they have ton of content. Both are over 100Gb in size nowadays.

There's lots and lots of causal friendly games just browse the store depends on what you like.

If you like EA games EA Access is. Good value. It's 29.99 for a year let's you download and play all the games in the EA vault.