Xbox one

I am trying to be impartial and wait for more details but I am so disappointed and angry at Microsoft right now. There was a complete lack of games that anyone actually cares about during the unveiling and all they talked about was a bunch of crap that (at least as for myself) no one gives a fuck about. Sure they may be nice to have but they so not the most important thing to be touting for a new console. Ugh... I am just so freaking annoyed and pissed off right now. Plus the lack of backward compatibility is annoying but I could look past except than they dump the news about the "used" games. Which makes it obvious why they don't include backwards compatibility into the new system it is because they want to freaking rape you and take even more money from you. The fact that I can't loan a game to my brother or friend without them having to PAY to play it is freaking bullshit! If that wasn't bad enough they announced that even with single player games you will need to log in online at least once a fucking day!

Grrrrrr...... this may just be the new console system I don't buy.
 
It's interesting looking at this entire debacle as an outside observer. I couldn't tell you when the last time was that I played a game on my Xbox 360, my Wii, or my PS2; so I'm clearly not part of their target market. This fee to play a used game thing is going to be interesting to watch, especially as it applies to lending someone a copy of a game and how it applies to gaming tournaments. For instance, if I lend my buddy my copy of a game to try out before he buys it himself, and he then has to pay the full price of the game as a fee before he can play it, when I take my disc back, does he have the option of downloading the content to continue playing, or does he have to go buy another full copy with a disc? How are gaming tournaments going to work? Will each person who signs in to the console have to buy a copy of the game? If I try to circumvent the "lend a buddy a game" situation by lending him my Xbone, can he play on the console with his own XBLA, or does he have to use mine (and therefor I have to give him my password)? And, if I have to give my buddy my password, and Microsoft finds out and bans me for it, do I then (because XBLA is tied in to MSA now) also lose access to my entire Microsoft Account, and therefor get locked out of my Windows 8 desktop computer, my Windows phone, and my Microsoft Surface tablet?

Of course, all of these questions are hypothetical.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
To me, really, the Xbox has just been a loathsome diversion for the gaming industry from day one. They killed the mechwarrior PC series so they could have mechassault as an Xbox exclusive. Crimson skies (PC game) sequel? Xbox exclusive, despite it being a flight simulator! W.T.F. And, of course, it bears large responsibility of the consolitis contracted by so many games. Frankly, the console industry is one I have no warm feelings for, but microsoft's adventures in console gaming can't die too soon for my taste, so they can quit undermining PC games.
 
A very tired and a VERY Angry Joe gives his opinion on the reveal:

I guess this is off topic but how can people watch this guy? He just curses and throws insults and makes gun noises after reading off talking points? God, it's stressful just listening to him.
 
Keep in mind, in the video he says that he hasn't gotten any sleep for the last day or so before making that video. He's usually a lot more coherent in his review videos. Plus he is pretty pissed at the same time, and I can't blame him. This generation of consoles can go choke to death on a spiny cactus.

Edit: I like him because his views on games and gaming in general are pretty close to my own, and he's not afraid to be brutally honest in his reviews. Unlike most of the other shills that call themselves "game reviewers."
 
Xbox live servers now provide enough computational power that mmo games are possible.
Would be interesting if MSFT moves their "server farm" to the cloud...a cloud made up of all the XBoxOnes which happen to be left connected all the time.

This all assumes that Microsoft doesn't manage to make a complete and utter hashup of Skype, now that they're really working on integrating it into all of their products and services.
Too late. I use the iOS version of Skype every night for 1-4hrs so my family can stay connected. It constantly crashes and/or runs out of memory and quits, it will frequently lose my audio even though I have not muted it. It completely takes over all audio and mutes my alerts and messages BUT if one does manage to get through it causes Skype to crash, presumably because it hates having its audio taken away. If I end one call and try to start another, it will crash (have to start fresh every time), and this usually also includes reconnected calls. It will lose audio entirely and auto-end my call, but when I hang up/end the call and then try to sign out and back in, it tells me I can't sign out unless I end my current call first. If I switch to another app, the other app's UI is pushed aside for some unexplained reason...unexplained, that is, except that it only seems to happen when Skype is running, and the shape is suspiciously the same size as Skype's banner ad. Oh, but those ads keep coming in just fine. Yes, it is so important that I get those banner ads, even if they reduce my screen space down to where I can only see a handful of contacts. Every day, I say I'm going to reinstall the last non-MSFT version of Skype (I kept it just in case), but I'm never sufficiently motivated to brave the hassle.

After watching the shortened version of the XB1 reveal posted above, all I can say is that it sounds like they've decided that the newest XBox thingie should be MSFT's vision of what they think the AppleTV should've been, sorta like how PixelSense was originally the direction MSFT felt their iPad competitor should've gone. Bigger! More features! Wider audience!

--Patrick
 
  • Cannot share games between roommates or family members
  • Cannot borrow games from friends before buying
  • Cannot install on new Xbox if your old one breaks out of warranty or still stolen, possibly?
  • Can't rent games either... Sorry Gamefly...

Seriously, is this a massive fail or am I seeing this wrong?
 
I don't mind vendor lock-in...as long as they charge Steam prices.[DOUBLEPOST=1369198720][/DOUBLEPOST]
For instance, if I lend my buddy my copy of a game to try out before he buys it himself, and he then has to pay the full price of the game as a fee before he can play it, when I take my disc back, does he have the option of downloading the content to continue playing, or does he have to go buy another full copy with a disc?
Going by available information, he will not need to buy another disc, because paying the fee will download the entire game to his Xbox harddrive (and it will do the same to yours when you enter your code in to yours). So, since the whole game is on the hard-drive already, he will not need a disc at all.

How are gaming tournaments going to work? Will each person who signs in to the console have to buy a copy of the game?
Unless they create tournament licensing (just to make things even more complicated), I'm guessing so.

If I try to circumvent the "lend a buddy a game" situation by lending him my Xbone, can he play on the console with his own XBLA, or does he have to use mine (and therefor I have to give him my password)?
Apparently, the first Xbox the game gets tied to will allow anyone with a profile on it to play the game. So roomies/family are still fine. This suggests to me that if you give your friend your box, it will work with his profile just fine.

And, if I have to give my buddy my password, and Microsoft finds out and bans me for it, do I then (because XBLA is tied in to MSA now) also lose access to my entire Microsoft Account, and therefor get locked out of my Windows 8 desktop computer, my Windows phone, and my Microsoft Surface tablet?
A very, very good question. :p
 
Would be interesting if MSFT moves their "server farm" to the cloud...a cloud made up of all the XBoxOnes which happen to be left connected all the time.


Too late. I use the iOS version of Skype every night for 1-4hrs so my family can stay connected. It constantly crashes and/or runs out of memory and quits, it will frequently lose my audio even though I have not muted it. It completely takes over all audio and mutes my alerts and messages BUT if one does manage to get through it causes Skype to crash, presumably because it hates having its audio taken away. If I end one call and try to start another, it will crash (have to start fresh every time), and this usually also includes reconnected calls. It will lose audio entirely and auto-end my call, but when I hang up/end the call and then try to sign out and back in, it tells me I can't sign out unless I end my current call first. If I switch to another app, the other app's UI is pushed aside for some unexplained reason...unexplained, that is, except that it only seems to happen when Skype is running, and the shape is suspiciously the same size as Skype's banner ad. Oh, but those ads keep coming in just fine. Yes, it is so important that I get those banner ads, even if they reduce my screen space down to where I can only see a handful of contacts. Every day, I say I'm going to reinstall the last non-MSFT version of Skype (I kept it just in case), but I'm never sufficiently motivated to brave the hassle.

After watching the shortened version of the XB1 reveal posted above, all I can say is that it sounds like they've decided that the newest XBox thingie should be MSFT's vision of what they think the AppleTV should've been, sorta like how PixelSense was originally the direction MSFT felt their iPad competitor should've gone. Bigger! More features! Wider audience!

--Patrick
That's sad to hear. Not terribly surprising, given the overall director of the team that's in charge of Skype (not the individual I'd discussed earlier, but his bosses), but still sad.[DOUBLEPOST=1369199711][/DOUBLEPOST]
  • Cannot share games between roommates or family members
  • Cannot borrow games from friends before buying
  • Cannot install on new Xbox if your old one breaks out of warranty or still stolen, possibly?
  • Can't rent games either... Sorry Gamefly...

Seriously, is this a massive fail or am I seeing this wrong?
No, you're not seeing it wrong. This is Microsoft continuing to completely fail to grasp the concepts behind the console gaming market - or trying to bend those concepts to suit their PC software model. Hopefully they'll backtrack on some of this asinine bullshit, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
 
No used/borrowed/rented games? Always online? The Kinect that I nether need nor want, but will be forced to use?

Looks like I'm going PS4 next gen.
 
No used/borrowed/rented games? Always online? The Kinect that I nether need nor want, but will be forced to use?

Looks like I'm going PS4 next gen.
I won't be getting a PS4 or an XboxOne. At least not right away until there are favorable opinions for either. I don't know if the WiiU counts at next gen. If it doesn't than I guess I'm just not going "next gen" which at this point seems really debatable on what exactly next gen means. It doesn't seem that either of the systems is going to be mind-blowingly advanced when it comes to their games. There just isn't enough of a huge jump in graphics or capability one any of them that gives me the impression that the several year wait has been worth it. It's just become a huge race to get closer and closer to becoming a PC without technically being one, and quite honestly, still far inferior to one. The only company that seems to get it right now is Nintendo. They want to give us a gaming experience that you can't get on the PC through the use of the wiimotes, gamepad, and multiplayer party games. Their answer to backwards compatibility is "Well duh. What idiot company wouldn't want that integrated into their system?". Free online multiplayer. Reasonable prices E-shop. I mean comon. Yeah Nintendo failed to provide the games needed to carry the system right out of the gate, but at least the system caters to fucking gamers.
If I want to watch TV well... I'll turn on my fucking TV. Thanks, XboxOne. I can't wait for you to revolutionize what AppleTV did years ago.
 
So here's the thing.

Everyone in the industry, except for used game retailers and consumers, want video games to be treated like entertainment. When you go to a broadway performance you can't then share that experience with a friend. They licensed it to you, you experienced it, and if your friend wants to get in on it they want their money as well.

So yes, they, the console manufacturers and video game developers, want to change the structure of console gaming to match that of Steam, iOS, Android, and a bunch of other services that already use this model.

Now you find that steam does this, but you aren't claiming that you'll never use steam. Many people here did purchase the full cost of the latest bioshock knowing that they couldn't sell it or loan it without selling or loaning your full steam account. Many of you have android and iOS devices that are the same way, although the cost difference there is significant, the principle is the same, and at the moment there aren't any really AAA contenders on these devices that could or should command $60 release costs.

Microsoft is willing to take the first step, and they will offer this profit advantage to game developers who only sell exclusive titles for the xbox.

So we're going to find several AAA titles that you can only get if you are willing to buy into this structure.

And people will buy the xbox simply to be able to play their preferred franchises and new games, and while they might complain about it, they'll still do it because they don't want to miss out on the next installment of Halo or that one sports game everyone plays.

Sony is going to have to do the same thing if they want to keep game developers happy.
 
Game consoles becoming pcs-with-a-bigger-screen-but-acrappier-place-to-put-your-keyboard is nothing new, and it's the same as how a cellphone - you know, the thing you could talk with to people far away while moving - became a camera, digital agenda, notebook, calculator, e-mail client, handheld game console and e-reader.

Same thing. How can we convince more people to buy our gadget?
A) by making it do more - if our console's a BlueRay player and theirs isn't, people'll buy our instead.
B) By making it an addition to what people are already buying - we can't make people buy a Kinect, but we can put a Kinect in every new XBone and charge'm for it anyway, even if they don't use it!

I'm personally not a fan ofthe do-everything-with-one-box-approach, as it tends to have the great effect that if that one piece of machinery goes kablooie, you're left with nothing at all. On the other hand, for people who do want a media centre, a streaming device, a DVR, a blueray-player, a game console, a camera and Noodle-knows-what-else on their tv, I guess it makes sense.

If I want one machine to do 50 things for me, one of which is gaming, I'll just go and get a pc.
 

Necronic

Staff member
I haven't played with the PS3 much, but in my experience Xbox was pretty groundbreaking as a media center, with the 360 beating the Wii like a crippled child. I'm hoping they continue with that, it may well be enough justification for me to buy one.
 
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