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

Did anyone get a chance to checkout the N64 emulator that made its way onto the Xbox One marketplace yesterday? Microsoft pulled it today, I believe, due to the legal gray area of having a Nintendo emulator and Nintendo games on their servers. But it would be nice if something can be worked out to make it more permanent.

 

Lost Odyssey is free for everyone to download (until Dec31)

 

Xbox Live has some incredible deals this week on blockbuster titles. Arkham Knight, $10. Dragon Age Inquisition, $12. Halo 5, $20. Telltale Walking Dead pack, $16 (iirc).

 

Lots of original Xbox Star Wars games coming to Xbox One via backwards compatibility. Six, to be exact, joining the previously added Knights of the Old Republic.

Star Wars Battlefront
Star Wars Battlefront II
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Star Wars Jedi Starfighter
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Star Wars Republic Commando

I may or may not have been pestering Major Nelson on Twitter for KOTOR 2 back compat, so this exciting news for me. Confirming I'll be replaying KOTOR soon and following it up with my very first playthrough of The Sith Lords.

 

Does KOTOR 1 already have a backward compatible digital DL for XB1?

 

Yes, KotOR 1 is already available on Xbox marketplace for $10. Although in theory if you have the original Xbox disc, you can just put that in and it should work (after it downloads the game). I don't have the disc anymore (lost it somewhere) but pretty sure it should work.

Too bad I doubt they can add the Restored Content mod to KotOR II Xbox though. Still, playing KotOR on Xbox does sound nice, I'm almost tempted to try it again (and hopefully it would be less glitchy than playing it on 360 was).

 

Is that how the backwards compatibility works with the Xbox; that you put in the old console's disk, it downloads the game files online, and you're good to go? I still can't figure out why Sony can't do the same thing. It seems like there's really nothing mechanical involved in it; PS3 disks were essentially Blu-Rays that the PS4 can already read of course.

 

It appears to me that Sony is too far ahead at the moment to consider this. This might be something they turn to in the next console generation if they have a poor launch like Microsoft had this time around. Corporations are usually generous when they're lagging behind, not when they're ahead.

 

You're probably right. Logic would tell you that you could sell a shiny brand new console, even at a premium cost, if it featured backwards compatibility from the previous versions. If I have a library of at least a couple dozen games for my current console, you're not going to get me to go out and buy the new one while ditching my current one's games.

 

Yeah, Sony has new games coming out that people are excited about, whereas Microsoft is lacking in that particular department so they're forced to sell nostalgia while they try to right the ship.

 

Just for the record, I've owned every Sony console since the original Playstation, and haven't bought a single Microsoft console.

 

A fair and accurate statement, imo. While Microsoft might have enjoyed a reasonable lead with its Xbox 360 generation (despite RROD woes), they never did bounce back from that horrendous Xbox One announcement event, where they gave unwarranted emphasis to DRM. This generation's console war was pretty much over before it began, and it had very little to do with the system to much as the idea of what that system was intended to be, imo.

Personally, I still really enjoy the Xbox One as a media hub. I think Cortana voice commands over the Kinect are great and make everything easy and convenient. I've had friends buy the newer versions of the Xbox One (the S and the X) and were immediately displeased by the absence of a Kinect port and Microsoft's abandoning of the Kinect all together. Admittedly, most of this displeasure was because they were worried that they could no longer use Cortana to orally control their console and media.

But I guess you can still use Cortana and voice commands without a Kinect somehow?

 

When the biggest recent news about your console is that it has 4K enhancement for a last-generation game, something's wrong. Meanwhile God of War is about to launch in a few days on the other console to very positive reviews. Not to mention the Switch is still coming up strong. And I can already play KotOR on my phone, so don't really see the point in looking for my Xbox disc (and Steam has the Restored content mod for KotOR II and more frequent sales).

When I put my old ME discs into the Xbone S it downloaded the game, but to play I have to keep the disc in there, which is a little bit of a hassle. I"m guessing that'll be the case with the Xbox games, but don't care enough to find my old disc (not much interest in paying $10 to buy the download either). When they're boasting about playing games from two generations ago, well, that's probably not a good sign. I appreciate backwards compatibility, but not much else on Xbox interests me. I wouldn't have bought one (even on Black Friday), but I was interested in the UHD drive and little else.

Maybe if Kinect hadn't driven up the price tag (not to mention the draconian "features" and 24-hour check in and such) it would have been better received, but guess Microsoft couldn't or wouldn't be willing to take the loss. This generation already seems like a loss for them.

 

There are those that really enjoy the Kinect. But yeah, it should have been an option. Plus, it doesn't help that this version of Kinect isn't nearly as fun as the 360 version was. The last generation Kinect games were pretty decent, especially the workouts

The X1 equivalents suck.

 

Just yesterday I got the most recent copy of Game Informer magazine, which featured a parody section (usually these gaming magazines do that in April, but I guess it skipped a month). In one of the small passages of the parody section, it showed Microsoft coming out with the Xbox One F. It included a chart showing the primary features that all of the previous Xbox consoles had with "X"s checked on each one; and the row that showed "Kinect" wasn't marked for any console. I'd assume an Xbox owner would understand that inside joke.

 

Having said all that though, it is still cool that Microsoft is putting in the time and effort to bring all these older games to their current console for free if you already own them. So many people have been begging for a long time for a Red Dead Redemption remaster, and we basically just got one, again, for free, with the news that that game (and others) are now enhanced for the Xbox One X. At least they seem to care about their audience, despite the lack of quality first party support. If they can keep this up, they'll at least have good will going into the next console generation, which is something they certainly didn't have when the Xbox One launched.

 

"The Xbox One is the best console if you don’t care about exclusive new games."
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/18/17251030/xbox-one-backwards-compatibility-360-panzer-dragoon-orta

 

Are those older games exclusively for the Xbox One X or the Xbox One as well?

 

Dose anyone here know why I can’t download Ori and the blind forest? It says it’s unavailable on the market place.

 

They work on the regular Xbox One as well.

 

One of my auxiliary jobs is a script writer for a small pop culture podcast. I've been working on a couple scripts pertaining to the long history of video game console wars (a subject I researched several years ago for my MBA) and I have to admit that I find it surprising that the PS4 outsells the Xbox One by such dramatic numbers. It's basically a 10:1 ratio favoring the PS4.

I was wondering why you all think that is? Is it all due to that horrible unveiling announcement made by Microsoft back in 2013, when Microsoft compromised its 360 console war victory with emphasis on DRM and 24-hour Internet connectivity?

As I understand it, the Xbox One does a lot more than the PS4. There are a plethora of useful, neat apps (especially neat for households that have cut their cable cords), easy device synching between smartphone and PC and Xbox, responsive voice commands (and Cortana is present on all the aforementioned platforms--which makes everything very convenient and easy), etc, etc.

When stacked side by side, the Xbox One seems to have several more abilities than the PS4. But, unless I'm mistaken, the PS4 firmly holds the top sales of the current generation simply based on exclusive video game content. Is that a fairly valid observation?

I mean, even when wanting to listen to a specific podcast, I can just tell Cortana on Xbox to launch a dedicated podcast app (of which there are a few available) and I'm good to go. The same can't be done with the PS4, which seems to have very limited media capabilities by comparison.

IMO, the Xbox One is the more useful game console to the cord-cutting household.

 

As an Xbox owner, I have been unable to play the following:

Shadow of the Colossus
ALL God of War games
The Last of Us
Horizon Zero Dawn
The Uncharted series

And many more awesome games.

Microsoft, in their drive to sell the Xbox as an online entertainment center, forgot about the hardcore gamers and failed to secure awesome exclusive games to carry the brand into the future. Their flagship franchises have lost all luster and popularity. They really have nothing of not to show for the future. THAT is why they lost this generation's console war.

 

I think you and I have had this particular conversation before, actually, wherein I typically favor the multimedia aspects whereas you bemoan the video gaming portion (or lack thereof).

It's a valid argument, of course, as the lack of numerous solid titles from third-parties is what historically has cost Nintendo its throne in the console market.

Admittedly, the above list hasn't affected me at all, as I still get to play the games that I enjoy on my Xbox (the Assassin's Creed series, Mass Effect, Telltale games, the occasional match in Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat, etc). Yes, those games are multiplatform for the most part, which is also why exclusivity hasn't affected my enjoyment of the Xbox One.

There was only one notable exception--Street Fighter. I was a little shocked that Sony landed that exclusive deal with Capcom for the new Street Fighter game. It was, without a doubt, a huge punch in the gut for Microsoft.

 

Guess that continues to prove my point. Consoles are and will always be, first and foremost, gaming platforms first and entertainment centers second. And if you're selling an admittedly awesome gaming device but can't be bothered to offer great first or third party exclusives, then all you're selling is an expensive paperweight. My gaming habit of late is very limited, but when I continually see Sony kicking M$' ass and all M$ offers as an exclusive so far is...Sea of Thieves...yeah, it's safe to say that the Xbox brand has lost their way.

 

I'm biased towards Playstation, but I think by the end of the last generation the PS3 had almost caught up to the 360. It started far behind, but it was doing decently by the end of the last generation at least.

I think the initial bad start was a big factor for PS4's big lead. It wasn't just the DRM, price also played a big part along with all the negative press. There was this hilarious commercial showing how you'd share a PS4 game back at launch. Originally the Xbox cost an extra $100 than the PS4, mainly due to the Kinect, which was never that popular. By the time they threw out the Kinect to lower the price (and also showed that thing about requiring Kinect connection all the time was... inaccurate to say the least), the damage had been done.

I also think exclusives are still a big deal. The PS3 was hard to program for, but they fixed that for the PS4 so the Xbox didn't have much of an advantage there. And I don't see the point of a podcast app on the Xbox when I have that on my PC or tablet or whatever. Its handy but not a draw for me (though of course that depends on the person).

I don't know how much of a factor it is, but aside from stuff like God of War (which is really good) there's also more niche stuff like Nier, Persona 5, Yakuza and Bloodborne, all quite popular games in their own right. That's on top of headliner stuff like Uncharted and surprise hits like Horizon Zero Dawn, while Microsoft has, um, Halo 6 eventually? Well, there's the yearly Forza, but then you also have bad news like the cancelled Scalebound. That's on top of Sony being aggressive with (timed) exclusive DLC for their games too. Before games like Fallout 3 didn't run so good on PS3 (or something like that) but that gap is gone now.

The Xbox One X is great too from what I've heard, though also quite expensive, but while backwards compatibility is appealing, its not that big of a draw for me, especially at that price point (XBX enhanced isn't really worth it to me). I got a One S eventually for UHD Blu-ray viewing (as Sony didn't bother with including a UHD for their Pro, but then maybe they figured with so much streaming it wasn't worth the cost), so there's something to be said for the multimedia, but obviously its not enough for winning this generation. I remember I originally got a 360 for the Mass Effect games, but those aren't exclusive anymore either (and the franchise is near dead by now too). I doubt Microsoft can pull back in this generation, not to mention now they've got Nintendo making a big push into the game market again, and this time it looks like Nintendo's got their release schedule lined up for months to come.

At this point its more likely Microsoft is focusing on the next generation already. Its only speculation, but there was this rumor a few months back that Microsoft might do something crazy like buy EA. It was just a rumor, but that it even got attention shows how sparse the Xbox's library is.