Xbox One

[Mister Jack]

You know, if everything is voice controlled, and you live with a douche bag, what's gonna stop them from constantly trolling you when you're on the damn thing?

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

They couldn't even get that under control in their own presentation:

 

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4353010/kinect-trouble-xbox-one-reveal

[Vecha]

A) From what we already know whatever is there won't be as extensive and will be optional

B) What do you want to hear about that? Just when it's going to start running? I think this is more of a we need to see if it actually works sort of thing.

C) I think this would just push me on waiting out longer (I do game on PC) while I await any good single player exclusives. I actually rented Uncharted 3 so I've already dealt with that same situation. While it would have been nice to get a few rounds and play a bit on the last day I had it I ultimately had rented it for the single player to begin with.

 

 

I'm just hoping Gaikai will have a huge list of games, run well, and won't be too expensive. Right now, i'm hesitantly optimistic. 

[Mister Jack]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4353580/kinect-always-listening-on-xbox-one-privacy-is-a-top-priority

 

This is just creepy.  I know someone who works in computer forensics for the government, and he claims that congress is trying to somehow get microsoft to use the kinect for spying. 

 

Mind you, this is just a rumor I heard from one government employee so he might be full of shit, but it's still not something I like to think about.  I want to be able to turn that fucking camera off.

[FMW]

So I reckon was saw pretty much what we expected to see.  Shooters, sports, multimedia functionality, and more extensive online functionality than the competition.  I would say that anyone enthusiastic about the Xbox brand should have been satisfied with this.  Microsoft is doing the same things they have always done, and doing them better than before.  More people per multiplayer match, more forms of media getting run through the Xbox, continued first landing point for Call of Duty DLC.

 

I mean, surely nobody was surprised by this presentation?

[CorgiShinobi]

I was surprised at how easy it was for me to make my decision to stay with Sony and Nintendo.

 

I'm just not that interested in a (probably) $400 voice controlled television remote.

[Vecha]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4353580/kinect-always-listening-on-xbox-one-privacy-is-a-top-priority

 

This is just creepy.  I know someone who works in computer forensics for the government, and he claims that congress is trying to somehow get microsoft to use the kinect for spying. 

 

Mind you, this is just a rumor I heard from one government employee so he might be full of shit, but it's still not something I like to think about.  I want to be able to turn that fucking camera off.

 

 

Good god. I'd like to say that wont' fucking happen....but the world seems to keep trying to disappoint me on a daily basis...

[Mister Jack]

 

I hope nobody made a drinking game out of Microsoft saying the word "TV," because if they did then those people are dead now.

[CorgiShinobi]

IGN did have a drinking game, and I believe it was Rev3Games that had Bingo cards.

[Mister Jack]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-phil-harrison-tries-again-to-clarify-game-ownership-second-hand-sales-and-always-online-in-xbox-one

 

You're breaking my balls, Harrison.

[Pojodin]

I think this says it all.

http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=SNE

[Mal]

If your XO RRoD from dividing by zero, how would the account management/game transfer work? I'm assuming it would be like Steam (The whole thing seems like it but with Microsoft not being clear, its is hard to tell).

[WTF]

I just realised that a lot of people have been calling it XBONE on forums and that tickles me a bit. Crossbone?

 

Mainstream media are gobbling it up but with articles that seem to have been written the day before and there's a lot of rubbish in those articles too. I am curious though, is the living room that important these days? I mean many of us don't even keep TVs in our living rooms and many people I know don't even care for TVs. With an increasing less TV focussed world is it really that wise to chase a relic from the 90s?

I'm an adult and my living room doesn't have a TV anymore (bedroom does but eh) but it has plenty of books sofas and shelves. It's a decent living room but that's my personal focus. However the number of people who tell me they don't have a TV keeps rising.

 

In all honesty don't really look heavily at the stock markets (Buy on rumour, sell on news). SNE is rising because they do expect improvements. While the gaming department of SNE might be happy you can bet that the suits would be a bit concerned if this takes off with the non-gaming market from the get go. Ideally if we could predict markets we'd say go with the core crowd, get into living rooms and home areas and then gain mindspace and marketshare. But that's not how it works all the time.

 

From a gamer's point of view, the XB1 isn't a great thing. 3GB is being used by the OS leaving 5GB for games as opposed to the 1GB for OS to 7GB for games. Let's not even bring DDR3 and 5 into the equation or the moderately better GFX card. Apparently Kinect is integrated to the point they see no reason for a headset to be included when compared to the PS4 (it's included). These consoles aren't going to be on a 3 year lifecycle so some amount of futureproofing would be nice.

I can buy both with no issue, but I'm not keen on a sort of anti-consumer device. I mean this is definitely against used games and sharing games - it's not quite on the same level as Steam - it's like lets take most of the bad things about PC gaming but not all the good aspects. I found it amusing that Gamestop's CEO was about as surprised as the consumers. The rumours were more or less fairly accurate. Also what was the deal with XBox support literally contradicting what their VP said? I mean seriously, you don't contradict the executives like that on twitter.

However dedicated servers, that's a good thing. No more P2P. Though is that enough?

So moving forward there's no backwards compatibility on either machine. I'm surprised that the video interview basically made it seem like they don't care about it at all. I mean it is true, most of us don't give a shit but I think our purchases of HD collections have proved that we don't give a shit.

I just wish that the way the market was heading to was a bit more positive than voice controls. I'm done with sound and light circuits ever since I had to study them at uni.

 

I suppose all I can say is thank you based Dog? I can now see your battlescars.

 

Side note: The world is changing alright. I can see why smartphones really do take off. It's because of lifestyle changes. Urban populations grow faster. Cars become less essential as time goes by we can see that. Living spaces become smaller, living rooms become less important as well. I think in order to see where entertainment media goes we sort of need to look at where our lifestyles are heading. I'm not saying home consoles and such are dead but they do need to take less space.

[TheMightyEthan]

They couldn't even get that under control in their own presentation:

 

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4353010/kinect-trouble-xbox-one-reveal

 

I disconnected my Kinect quite some time ago not because of voice commands but because of hand gestures. My wife and I would be watching something on Netflix, and we'd be talking about whatever and gesturing with our hands and all of a sudden it would stop the movie and go back to the main menu, or switch to something in our favorites. Annoying as hell. Having Kinect be always required, not able to be disconnected, is a big incentive for me to NOT get this console (though I suppose you could always put some sort of cover over it, but you shouldn't have to).

 

If your XO RRoD from dividing by zero, how would the account management/game transfer work? I'm assuming it would be like Steam (The whole thing seems like it but with Microsoft not being clear, its is hard to tell).

 

Account management and game transfer shouldn't be a problem if you console bricks itself, unless they took a huge step back in how their accounts work. XBL accounts are already set up so that you can go to any Xbox you want, sign in to your account, and download whatever content you own. There's nothing to suggest it won't work that way still (and the fact that they say you can take your disc over to a friend's and sign in to play it suggests that it will work that way).

 

Now for my response to the presentation from someone who has always favored Xbox over Playstation:

 

I don't give a shit about all this sports, live TV stuff.  I don't even have cable TV (though I do have cable internet).

 

I hate Kinect already for voice and gesture commands, why in God's name would I want it to be integral to the system and unable to be turned off?

 

Where are the games?

 

@FMW:  I was incredibly disappointed by this presentation.  I know this is the direction they've been headed in a while, but I'd hoped they would get themselves turned around.  I definitely won't be getting either console for quite some time after release, but the PS4 is looking a lot more attractive for when I eventually do.  There's not a single thing they showed that I care about that PS4 can't also do.

[TheMightyEthan]

Alleged box design:

 

[Mr. GOH!]

To those who were disappointed: what did you want or expect to see/hear that you didn't?

 

I mean, the One is pretty much exactly what I expected.

[TheMightyEthan]

I hoped (not expected) to see games at the forefront, outright denial of their ridiculous online requirements, and Kinect not being 100% required all the time.  Hell, beyond hope, I even expected more discussion of games than there was, even though I knew going into it that TV/movies would be a big focus.

[WTF]

@Goh

Honestly all I hoped was that it wasn't much of a Ballmer-machine. I knew it was pretty much going to be this. In fact I spoke to my friend from Texas a few weeks ago and told him that MS was going to doubledown on the US market (which it probably did), Nintendo focusing more on handhelds and the Japanese market with Sony trying to focus on EU and MENA. with PS4 being more likely to be better than the WiiU (while Vita flounders) and possibly a closer second in the States. However I feel that it is quite likely that in the states it'll be a lot closer this time around and perhaps they might even gain ground.

The new PR company they've hired is actually fairly decent. Nintendo just needs a healthy release schedule but it's likely to be a gamecube with a shorter lifecycle since focus will be on the 3DS which is doing well (it's fine to have one product do well and one do bad). MS uh if it doesn't do too well in the States - I suppose there's Iran and Albania based on those stupid tweet votes.

[TCP]

To those who were disappointed: what did you want or expect to see/hear that you didn't?

 

I mean, the One is pretty much exactly what I expected.

 

It was what I expected, not what I hoped for.

Except, to be perfectly honest, I did sort of expect some gameplay footage. 

Edited May 22, 2013 by The Cowboy Poet

[TheMightyEthan]

I can't imagine this doing well in the states.  It's a media box, but the people who will want to use all that amazing functionality they showed are not the ones who are going to drop $400 on another box to go under the TV.  How do you convince Mr. Sports Fan to spend $400 on something that will make it slightly more convenient to play his fantasy football league while watching the game, when I guarantee anyone who could afford that already has a laptop or tablet next to them on the couch that they can do that from?  I honestly just cannot believe there is a market for what they are trying to sell.
 
The thing that especially blows my mind is that it doesn't even have the cable-box functionality built in.  You still have to have the separate box, you're just supposed to run the HDMI through the Xbone on its way to the TV.  That's retarded.  If you were going to make this thing, MS, you needed to at least make it replace the cable box.  Then you're selling it as an enhanced cable box with all these other nifty features too, and that I actually can see a market for.  As is it's just a weird middleman.
 
Anyway, why I came in here:  http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-spec-analysis-xbox-one
 
An interesting Eurogamer article about the specs of the Xbone, especially the part explaining how they ended up so far behind Sony in the RAM department.

*Edit* -

 

To those who were disappointed: what did you want or expect to see/hear that you didn't?
 
I mean, the One is pretty much exactly what I expected.

It was what I expected, not what I hoped for.

 

I'd say it's what I feared, worse than I expected, and much worse than I'd hoped.

Edited May 22, 2013 by TheMightyEthan

[WTF]

It's to do with perception. COD is available on all platforms but people associate it with the 360. Do that with Madden and a bunch of other titles it could work. There is some amount of brand loyalty. Perhaps a few moneyhats here and there to get DLC first.

It is extremely kinect focussed is one reason why I'm unlikely to get it until I move elsewhere or my flatmate moves out since I don't want something spying my bedroom activities...

[Mister Jack]

The thing that especially blows my mind is that it doesn't even have the cable-box functionality built in.  You still have to have the separate box, you're just supposed to run the HDMI through the Xbone on its way to the TV.  

 

 

Oh my god, this right here is probably the biggest problem with the entire thing.  It isn't an all-in-one entertainment machine, it just gives the pretense of one.  If the Xbox One could actually deliver movies and tv programs to you by itself through a subscription, even if it cost more than Live does now, then I could maybe see how people might be tempted by that.  But it doesn't.  It's smoke and mirrors.  You really shouldn't call it the Xbox One when it can't even do all this crap on its own.  More like the Xbox One-Half.  As it is, it's nothing more than a glorified source button on your tv remote.

 

But you know, I still could have forgiven that if not for the RIDICULOUS online requirements and DRM.  When you figure those in, this might be the worst console I've ever seen.  Hell, I can play a god damn Virtual Boy without having to worry about server connections if I wanted to.  With the way this thing has been built, it'll eventually be worthless as a retro gaming device.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

 

The thing that especially blows my mind is that it doesn't even have the cable-box functionality built in.  You still have to have the separate box, you're just supposed to run the HDMI through the Xbone on its way to the TV.  

 

 

Oh my god, this right here is probably the biggest problem with the entire thing.  It isn't an all-in-one entertainment machine, it just gives the pretense of one.  If the Xbox One could actually deliver movies and tv programs to you by itself through a subscription, even if it cost more than Live does now, then I could maybe see how people might be tempted by that.  But it doesn't.  It's smoke and mirrors.  You really shouldn't call it the Xbox One when it can't even do all this crap on its own.  More like the Xbox One-Half.  As it is, it's nothing more than a glorified source button on your tv remote.

 

But you know, I still could have forgiven that if not for the RIDICULOUS online requirements and DRM.  When you figure those in, this might be the worst console I've ever seen.  Hell, I can play a god damn Virtual Boy without having to worry about server connections if I wanted to.  With the way this thing has been built, it'll eventually be worthless as a retro gaming device.

 

Hey man, it has Netflix, and it will still have whatever the 360 had for services along with some new ones. I think that it's not your cable box is actually a move so that it will work with whatever you have instead of it being exclusive to a company or two. I assume this also means that deals with TV providers were either easier or were completely side-stepped. For what this thing is the expectation of still having your box makes sense and I think it's one of the weakest criticisms you could have about it.

[Mr. GOH!]

Hoping that the Next Xbox would be a real replacement for set-top cable boxes is on par with hoping that one would win the Powerball without buying a ticket. Just securing the agreements with every cable television operator would be a nightmare, let alone dealing with the technical details. We will have a la carte television standard before we have a third-party replacement cable box that works with every provider.

 

The games will be at E3. Decrying the lack of games makes little sense. It may have been a dumb decision on the part of MS, but it was a marketing decisions to highlight non-gaming functions for the unveiling. And, given that the mainstream press, and even a good portion of the non-gaming tech press, has been very positive, it may have been a smart move. Bottom-line: it's not yet time to despair about there being no games for the One.

 

The online check DRM and anti-used/sharing/trading are the real big issues for the One. It's anti-consumer and needlessly invasive.  I say that as someone who loves Steam. I doubt MS will be as friendly to the pocketbook as Steam has been with older games going on sale all the time, and I think one of the strengths of consoles was the portability of media between different locations, even within a single household. That feature is gone. 

 

 

Interesting article, Ethan. I wonder if we'll see genuinely better-looking games for the PS4 than for the One. I wonder what the impact on MS will be if cross-platform games look far better on the PS4. I didn't see much difference between the PS3 and 360.

[Waldorf and Statler]

GOH: My expectations? I expected the rumors to be true because let's face it, they always are. In this case the major difference is that it doesn't have to be ALWAYS online but you can't keep it offline for too long apparently. This admittedly isn't a big issue anymore to me as the 360 didn't have wifi and I don't take it with me to Colombia anymore, so I won't be randomly playing 360 in my grandpa's beach house.

 

What I DID expect is them to go "listen. You know the bad stuff? Well here's some good. Here are these sweet games"

 

What do we have so far? A promise of Rare bringing in an old IP back for a new game. But Rare isn't even a shadow of what it used to be. Their latest two games were what? Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports 2? Even Nuts and Bolts fucked it up, and this is coming from me who defended Nuts and Bolts.

 

Microsoft you dun fucked up. I think you realize just how badly by your reactions and the internet's reactions, but you won't fully comprehend that a gaming console should PRIMARILY be that and then have the extras as goodies. You entirely focused on the TV aspect and the sports.

 

NIGGA. FUCK SPORTS. I don't care if you have some sweet functionality for my fantasy team. I can do that shit with a laptop on my lap as I watch sports if I cared enough. You DUN. FUCKED UP. I EAT RIBS WI' DIS' DOO.