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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Gaming One Step Closer (and I'm about to RROD): The Xbox One Discussion

Discussion in 'Community' started by Ezio Skywalker, May 21, 2013.

  1. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 2004
    The only reason for either console is the games on it. The PS3 will probably slightly have an edge in power, but frankly the appeal is Naughty Dog / Sony Santa Monica/ Media Molecule games for me.

    The actual features etc are pretty irrelevant (since Sony is copying MS's online pay-to-play model and MS is copying Sony's free-games-as-well model.)
     
  2. moosemousse

    moosemousse CR Emeritus: FF-UK South star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2004
    I agree with MarcusP2 on this. The biggest thing is games. The slight edge in power doesn't mean much as I doubt 99.99% of people will notice unless you compare side by side. If you want motion controls then the X1 is the clear winner with just how amazing Kinect is. I don't work for MS or anything, I just think that something that can track your whole body and calculate momentum and heart rate is better than something that tracks a light. It might also work out that a PS4 and Move is more expensive, but I don't know yet.

    Still, I'm dancing for joy (on the inside, actual dancing is too much effort). I can now buy an X1 with a clear conscience.

    Oh, and GameStop have already sold out of Day 1 Editions.
     
  3. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    It was the same, just with a touch of whipped cream, cherries and nuts atop the scoops of ****. "Modify" was the only thing they could do since an outright change was impossible.

    But I digress. This development is intriguing and surprising. I guess the pre-order/sales projections were finally the straw that broke the camel's back and that the always connected/DRM features are simple (?) software features that can be easily corrected. Regardless, it's like Guy said: a thorough market study would've avoided them all this trouble. Or perhaps they did the research, just focusing on the wrong market. They figured the adult, over 30, upwardly mobile crowd would have no problem with an always connected, DRM laden device full of other useless multi-media and voice-motion control gimmicks, but completely ignored the hardcore gaming fanbase on which they built the first two Xboxes. You can't market such a device only for the 1% and forget about everyone else that might want to enjoy the device sans so many constraints.

    Anyhoo, I'm still not sold on it. I like the new slimmer 360 and may consider getting that as a replacement console for the time being, but the XB180 still looks unattractive to me.
     
  4. Jedi_Matt

    Jedi_Matt Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2002
    They say these things always come in threes, right?

    Windows 8 - Start button returns as well as booting direct to desktop
    Surface RT - Reduced to a stupid (or realistic) price of $199 for schools to clear their warehouse stock
    Xbox One - DRM / Always connected requirement removed

    Power to the people!
     
  5. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    I figured Gamestop would've sold out of pre-orders last week even with the bad news, but guess more people were paying attention than I thought. This kind of DRM might be inevitable (and used games, while popular, aren't exactly the best thing either fro the developers), just that Microsoft's heavy-handed approach and then Sony's blatant mocking made it particularly painful. The executives' comments (go buy a 360 instead then you backwards primitive people!, a paraphrase of course, but the same intent) didn't help either.

    I'm still slightly surprised Microsoft went forward with it. Almost everyone was talking about it and worrying about it, so of course people nearly booed when Microsoft announced it. That it took days for them to summarize things (the 24 hour, can't share with friends unless 30 days, etc.) didn't help either. And Sony took full advantage of all that negative publicity.

    The price is still a sticking point, but as mentioned, in this day and age of Iphones, Ipads and various other things, $500 doesn't seem quite as much as before, though still expensive. Although a phone you carry around and possibly use more but that's debatable.

    A major point is exclusives, of course, and Sony has plenty of those, though Microsoft has secured quite a few too, and there's always Halo. But there are fewer exclusives these days (Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Mass Effect). Personally I also feel there's something to be said for... continuity. Like I played Kingdom Hearts on a PS2, so I'll probably get a PS4 for Kingdom Hearts 3, but if people just bought a XB1 for Call of Duty (and its dogs :p ) then even if they did play JRPGs, they could just use the XB1 too. Though glad that so far at least Microsoft isn't trying to force its way into the Japanese market, its not worth the trouble (like how they tried to get so many big Japanese series as exclusives on the 360 in its first few years while the PS3 was still barely getting started... only for most to be ported to PS3 later, too bad most of those ports weren't localized though).

    We'll see how something like Gaikai will play a role, whenever its launched, unless Microsoft changes their tune on that too, they don't care about backwards compatibility. But then why bother when they can release a HD version of old games every few years? :p

    And didn't the Extended Cut ending change it from "Mass relays are permanently ruined, unless you Control the Reapers to use as transports" to "They'll just be heavily damaged"? I thought that was one of the bigger, though slightly subtle changes, since originally, it seemed like no matter who you killed or didn't kill, galactic civilization was over already without mass relays? It was one of the more stupid parts of the original ending, and highlighted how stupid and depressing all the "choices" were. Not that the Extended Cut fixed that much, and made quite a few things worse (say hi to Harbinger, Normanday).
     
    Darth_Invidious likes this.
  6. Chewgumma

    Chewgumma Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 14, 2009

    In my opinion Sony consoles have always demonstrated stronger first party support. On top of that the PS4 supports indie developers by letting them self publish to the console, something that Microsoft doesn't do. Considering how many extremely good games have come out of the indie scene lately that's a very good thing to have. Not to mention this could be invaluable later on next-gen due to AAA game studios seeming to be on a crash collision course. It could also expand the system's life span to some degree if indie developers continue to publish to the system after the PS5 comes out. This makes the console far more attractive to those who think in the long term and don't intend to immediately jump onto the following generation of consoles.

    Being a good £80 cheaper than the Xbox One doesn't hurt either. I don't come from a rich family. A penny saved is a penny earned.

    And if you were someone defending the Xbox One's DRM because it's a "multimedia device" consider this: You don't need a Playstation + subscription to access your netflix account. Apparently you still need a Gold Live account to access that sort of functionality on Xbox. So if that kind of functionality is really important to you on a games console then the fact that you aren't paying an additional monthly subscription on top of your entertainment services that you could get access to for "free" on PC is a nice little feature.
     
  7. Asterix_of_Gaul

    Asterix_of_Gaul Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007



    No Component and no Optical audio
    It's quieter than the original 360 slim
    It's really not much smaller
    It's the same price as an older slim
     
  8. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    It'd be more than what I have right now and I have a couple of HDMI cables lying around. Still, I've been unhooked from any console and have not played any new games in so long that I've begun to wonder if I've kicked the habit. I'd probably be better off spending what I would with a new console on a new PC or tablet. Decisions, decisions... :p
     
  9. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    Really?!?

    I have wireless surround sound headphones that work on both the PS3 and the 360, and they wouldn't even plug into the Super slim! I hope this doesn't completely replace the older slim.
     
  10. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    It was an "extended" cut. All it did was add things I had already assumed during the original ending. Just a waste of time, IMO.

    EDIT: Well, missed the window of relevancy for this post about ME3 endings :p
     
  11. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Don't even get me started... :p

    Well, this reversal is a step in the right direction at least. I'll admit the XBone/XBox 180 (whatever we're calling it now) has at least gone from "never in a million years" to "eh, maybe?" for me. While I like the fact that they got rid of the DRM and used game restrictions, I'm still not thrilled with the All Seeing Eye of Kinect and that it's a $100 more than the PS4.
     
  12. Draconarius

    Draconarius Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2005
    Well, well, well. This is interesting: that family sharing plan M$ were promising has apparently gone out the window with the region locking and DRM.

    Sent from my R2 unit
     
  13. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 2004
    That never seemed workable to me. What's to stop 10 people getting together and only buying one copy of a game? (Or 5 if they want to play multiplayer). That would destroy sales more than used games.
     
  14. MarcusP2

    MarcusP2 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Apparently it was just going to be one hour at a time or something anyway...
     
  15. Draconarius

    Draconarius Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2005
    Oh. No great loss, then.
     
  16. ManaByte

    ManaByte Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 1998

    Which is exactly the same as the PlayStation Plus timed trials.
     
  17. TrandoJedi

    TrandoJedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 4, 2011
    Yup, sounds like MS was trying to play catch up.
     
  18. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    It's important to remember that the Xbox One could still become Always-Online dependent.

    "The Cloud." If single-player games later become supplemented by the Cloud, it'll basically be an Always-On machine.
     
  19. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Well, yes, cloud computing sort of requires access to the cloud. Crazy, I know. And that's not really an Xbone only possible development.
     
  20. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    Eh, I despise the idea. Yes, there's the fact that the consoles will potentially be able to keep up with developing PC hardware, but every time cloud computing has been implemented into a video game, the results have been disastrous.
     
  21. moosemousse

    moosemousse CR Emeritus: FF-UK South star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2004
    There's a big difference between the console requiring an internet connection and just the game. Forza 5 might require an internet connection because of the drivatar thing so I don't know if it'll work offline, but the rest of the console won't stop working if the internet connection does. It's not something that could only apply to the X1 either. Anything that needs access to the 'cloud' would need an internet connection, so it could easily affect the PS4 just the same. I've never trusted the cloud with my saves. All the problems people had with various games that imported saves from the previous title had problems because of the cloud, games like Mass Effect.
     
    07jonesj likes this.
  22. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    Yeah, I'm aware that Sony has this Gaikai system they're planning to put in place too, though they haven't mentioned that "supplementing" games yet, whereas Microsoft have. That's not to say Sony won't at some point, of course.

    The save system is fine with me, because it is completely optional. I'm worried we're going to get SimCity situations everywhere.
     
  23. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    An always-online requirement alone isn't evil, a pointless always-online requirement is what gets people mad. Well, rather, if the connection isn't related to gameplay in any way but rather is just blatant DRM, its really annoying. That's what the 24-hour check-in was, but otherwise for MMOs or multiplayer internet is required.

    What's frustrating is single-player games being forced online when there's no need for it. Diablo and Simcity are probably some of the more infamous examples, and the XB1 would have added that requirement to every single game, hence the outcry. If cloud computing plays that big a role in the future... well, then I could understand an online requirement. Same with the Gaikai thing, though as always it depends on just what kind of content they're offering. If the cloud computing really takes off, then that'll be impressive (though I doubt it'll be that far along for quite a while). Though as a nostalgia fan, I'm looking forward more to Gaikai providing access to older games (since Microsoft doesn't care about backwards compatibility). Come to think of it, Nintendo probably already has the really retro games covered, while remakes end up on newer digital outlets.
     
  24. moosemousse

    moosemousse CR Emeritus: FF-UK South star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2004
    Nintendo are perhaps the best when it comes to retro. They even have Game & Watch games which were single game handheld devices with LCD graphics. I don't know how many of the original GameBoy games they have to download, but they certainly have a lot.
     
  25. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Right, and at that point it's your prerogative to not support the product in question. However, as Nobody (heh) pointed out, it's not really the same thing as what the system check-in was going to be.

    Edit: Also, to my knowledge, there hasn't been a game that had cloud computed elements at launch. There have been games that incorporated pointless always online (Sim City, Diablo III), but again, not the same thing.