PS4 / Xbox One console war

[DJ Incompetent]

My friends list activity is dominated by Netflix and every non-gaming application.
Live has been collecting user activity data to sell ads for eons.
Their NXE updates continue to add more button presses to get to gaming categories.

Is Microsoft's conclusion to rebrand Xbox as a Roku VCR topbox wrapped in a varsity jacket with North Face logos really this surprising?

*goes back to tinkering with sad-Ouya and refreshing the Oculus Rift page*

[pestro87]

I don't think that this has been posted here yet. The "fee" that they mentioned that you need to pay in order to play a used game is apparently the retail price:

http://kotaku.com/you-will-be-able-to-t ... -509140825

So what's the point in having discs in the first place? Is it simply because "digital only" might scare off people? At this point, I'd rather buy Mattel's HyperScan than this...

[Jonathan Ingram]

Phil Harrison, the fucking man. Seven years ago he was in charge of damage control over Sony`s E3 2006 PR disaster. Fast forward to now and he is basically doing the very same thing again, except for Microsoft.

[Jeneki]

Hmm, if silver accounts are still free, everyone make a new account for every game they buy.

Has it been confirmed that you'll need to have a for-pay account to do any multiplayer gaming on the Xbox One?

Doesn't matter for me. My shmupsBox360 doesn't have any games oriented towards online play so I'm not sure why I'd pay for that.

[Friendly]

Xbox One spec analysis by Digital Foundry:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... s-xbox-one

Summary: PS4's GPU is 50% more powerful than Xbox One. Xbox One's DDR3 RAM is much slower, and much less of it available for running games. Fewer of its CPU cores are used for gaming. Xbox One's internal 500GB HDD is not user-replacable.

[Skykid]

Friendly, deep breath now... and exhale. Relax. All is going to be okay. We really (super really) understand which side of the fence you're on.

Whilst I'd obviously like to pay £0, I was never too bothered by paying for Live because it pissed all over Sony's online from a great height. I don't mind paying for quality of service.

It's the only thing that XB1 has going for it, but MS are shafting themselves by increasing the monthly subscription. Madness!

If anything they should have run with a strategy that tries to appease existing users by offering them a cut rate service to carry over to the new console. A bit like a good phone deal on a 24 months subscription. That way they guarantee a certain amount of purchasers based entirely on the kiddies who are XBL addicts (and that's a lot of people!)

So far I see no indication of trying to merge existing users into the new ecosystem this way, and that's a massive error imo.

[Friendly]

http://www.gamespot.com/twitter-battle/xbox-vs-ps4/

[system11]

I'm sure the discs will be region locked anyway.

[dave4shmups]

My only two major concerns about the Xbox One at this point are pricing and Kinect games. I am concerned that the Xbox One is really going to be the PS3 of this new generation, in terms of pricing, chiefly because it ships with the Kinect. And this not 2006-I don't think people (at least, not as many) will pay $600 for a new console, because there's just not as many that can afford to.

With regards to the new Kinect, quality is something that I want to see increase drastically with the games. I don't own a Kinect for my 360, and I don't know if anyone on these forums does, but the review scores that I've read of Kinect games have been pathetic. I think IGN gave one game a 7.0, but I'm not even positive about that. The new Kinect seems to work really well, from what was shown yesterday, but it's got to have quality software, and more mature software-ie, less titles like Kinectimals. It seems like Microsoft listened well to the complaints of gamers over the quality (or lack thereof) of the D-pad; I hope they've listened to complaints about Kinect games.

[Friendly]

We really (super really) understand which side of the fence you're on.

Actually, all we really understand is which side of the fence I'm not on. We still don't know about Sony's official stance regarding used games.


In other news, avatars won't carry over from Xbox 360 to Xbox One. And a new quote from Don Mattrick (president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft): "If you're backwards compatible, you're really backwards".

[Friendly]

Kinect, quality

Not gonna happen. According to official MS sources it will have 30-60ms less lag than the old Kinect, which is still way too much for any "core" gaming.

[Udderdude]

They've run out of feet to shoot. They're aiming right for the head.

[trap15]

They've run out of feet to shoot.

Time to start going for the wang and the hands.

[Skykid]

They've run out of feet to shoot. They're aiming right for the head.

Time Sony gave up their crutches for a good cause.

We really (super really) understand which side of the fence you're on.

Actually, all we really understand is which side of the fence I'm not on. We still don't know about Sony's official stance regarding used games.

No need for modesty, it doesn't become you. I think it's pretty clear that MS have fucked this one right up their own ass and then some. The internet is having a field day at the moment. Unless there are some drastic strategy overhauls prior to launch, it will take either a miracle or incredibly brilliantly good games and an unbeatable online service and a huge amount of casual family buy-in to get them to the top spot.

All of which are completely possible if they have the best marketing in za world (and we do know they have better marketing than Sony, discounting the complete ass of yesterday's reveal.)

[Udderdude]

First person to write a troll response article about how the internet backlash is from a bunch of fat shut-in neckbeards who are irrelevant in today's evolving gaming media Kinect-enabled entertainment focused market and should be ignored and ridiculed .. ::deep breath:: .. gets a cookie.

[steveovig]

I think there's a sense of genuine panic that they're losing relevancy, so they're trying whatever they can think of to be the "Next big thing" .. see: Windows 8 and the rush to turn Windows into a tablet OS.

I'm fine with this but why does it have to include control over the consumer? If you want this thing to do a lot more than play games, fine. But, don't alienate and restrict millions of gamers out there who don't want to not support your product.

[cools]

All of which are completely possible if they have the best marketing in za world (and we do know they have better marketing than Sony, discounting the complete ass of yesterday's reveal.)

No press is bad press. There's an absolute megaton of press going off foaming at the mouth at the moment, way in excess of the PS4 announcement. Job done MS. Repeat the process nearer the launch with an announcement that waters down the negative aspects based on all the feedback from this one, get an even greater amount of positive press.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if there's no rescission of what's been said - after all MS tend to like to go ahead despite the negative press - I'd not be at all surprised whatsoever if the above happens. You can pull off such a stunt occasionally, just don't try it while people remember the last one.

[ED-057]

I mean, what else could they have called it that wouldn't sound dumb?

Isn't it obvious? Xbox -> Why-box

[BIL]

Should've gone with "dick in a box."

[null1024]

Xbox One's internal 500GB HDD is not user-replacable.

That's a bit disappointing, especially when 1 and 2 TB drives are getting quite cheap now, and some people might look to dropping in an SSD. And then there's the whole have to "install games that are likely on blu-ray and thus effing huge" bit.
The USB3 ports might mitigate that, just plug in a HDD in an enclosure and away you go.

Ah well, there's a billion other things about the Xbox One that we've heard are worse. Didn't expect my money to go to Sony this upcoming generation, but it's starting to look that way [especially if the new GG is pushed to next-gen systems, that would be a system seller for me]. Was really hoping Nintendo wouldn't have made yet another piece of kit that was outdated at launch [and I wish they actually gave a damn about the thing, there is a sense of universal apathy regarding the Wii U]...

[Friendly]

[trap15]

I'm fine with this but why does it have to include control over the consumer?

It's like a dog humping a new pet who is getting more attention. Heavy-handed control is a common tactic for somebody whose power is waning.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'd be okay with that. I'll also make do if my Win 7 is the last MS OS I buy.

[Friendly]

I mean, what else could they have called it that wouldn't sound dumb?

Isn't it obvious? Xbox -> Why-box

I think the internet has decided to call it Xbone. Can also be used as a verb: We have been xboned.

[Phellan Wolf]

So in the end is a One shitty Box
I didn't expect Microsoft to do such a messy system. Looks really unbalanced for a gaming system and the new Kinect, they know is total shit and force everyone to have it.
After W8, this is IMO the worst decision in MS history.

[louisg]

So in the end is a One shitty Box
I didn't expect Microsoft to do such a messy system. Looks really unbalanced for a gaming system and the new Kinect, they know is total shit and force everyone to have it.
After W8, this is IMO the worst decision in MS history.

Worse than BOB, MS-DOS, or any Windows before 3.1? When I think of MS in the 80s, I think, "company who deserved to go out of business for how shitty and behind-the-times their software was".

[cools]

I think it's absolute genius. Not as a videogame console, but as a market place.

[Friendly]

Japanese gamers are apparently calling it batsuichi (バツイチ, X = batsu) which means "divorced".

http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1 ... ws038.html

Maybe that means they have officially divorced Xbox.

[blackoak]

rofl @ that seven gif

[Ji-L87]

Japanese gamers are apparently calling it batsuichi (バツイチ, X = batsu) which means "divorced".
*IMAGE HERE*
http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1 ... ws038.html

Maybe that means they have officially divorced Xbox.

Yeah,
so far it's also very very not at all interesting to the overseas XB360 audience because of TELEVISION, AMERICAN SPORTS and general lack of The IDOLM@STER or similar "app". Not sure CoD Ghosts is going to cut it there

Edit: Unless they go this route