PS4 / Xbox One console war

[Casey120]

There's no doubt the PS4 will be the somewhat more powerful one but I don't think MS actually cares !

[TransatlanticFoe]

Well, with a bad economy, a non-game-centric console, and no backwards-compatibility, who exactly is going to buy this thing?

It's like that time when the Cd-i and 3DO and those other multi-media consoles came out, and tanked, because no one gave a shit about a game console that wasn't about games.

The people in charge of gaming, big shocker here, don't understand gaming at all.

The thing is, the hardcore will buy it because it's a new console and it has the big franchises. Then it's about the untapped market and getting casual gamers on board. Don't have a smart TV? Get an Xbox One. Multi-media consoles didn't work before because there wasn't a market for them and the price was far too high (the 3DO was actually a nice bit of kit with some good games, but was twice the price of the competition) - the same isn't true now. This generation has lasted twice as long as the usual console cycle and there's not much further gaming can go - so it's about seeing what you can do as well. I know of plenty of people who use the 360 as much for media streaming as they do gaming.

As for not understanding gaming. I don't think what's perceived as gaming is gaming anymore. This social stuff might sound like bullshit to some of us but the mobile gaming market and "social" gaming is seen as the future by many software houses - not least because they're much cheaper. When people talk about a boom in gaming and gamers, that's what they mean... scarcely "real" games at all

When was backwards compatibility a deal-breaker? Later PS3 models dropped PS2 support and no-one bought a Wii for Gamecube support (a feature only present out of convenience anyway). Xbox backwards compatibility on the 360 was limited to a few titles and often buggy as hell.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Sony's stock UP 10% after Microsoft's press conference

LMFAO

[Acid_Rain]

Who needs these events at all?

just blabla…

[Vexorg]

Aside from the fact that I already have a Wii U (which cost hardly anything after getting some semi-ridiculous amounts of Lamestop trade-in credit during a promo) and a 3DS I'm pretty sure at this point I'm just skipping everything else in this generation. I'm pretty sure I'd get more mileage out of putting a second GTX 660 Ti in my system than I'd get out of either of the new systems.

[charlie chong]

seriously this sounds shit but please friendly can you stop this smarmy fanboi shit cos it is quite irritating. sony and xbox are both terrible console providers yet you give one company excessive grief and lick the anus of the other again and again and again and again and again. you are like the most boringest stuck record that has ever been stuck on a turntable. in fact i think you and skykid should get married

[Friendly]

"Excessive grief", and me specifically? Did you just watch the same conference as the rest of us? Nothing excessive there.

[Bananamatic]

drm wagglan, now with turning oversized living rooms of sport loving americans into an entertainment centre
at least discussing it during the live stream was funny

To me the worst part is that Xbox One blocks used games, and even if the game is yours you have to pay
to play on a second console. Unbelievable.


They destroy the concept of ownership.

is it account bound or console bound? because if it's the former you can't even bring your games over when visiting a friend

[lilmanjs]

From all the reaction I've seen on twitter of folks who were there, There's some good stuff to be had, but I think the bad far outweighs the good. I'm not a fanboy of any company's systems as that is stupid to me, but from all the stuff we now know about this system, this is a crap system. Making people pay to play a game with you? That's pretty much making this seem like the Dreamcast all over again. The fact that it sold pretty badly.

[BulletMagnet]

Well, if nothing else they say they've improved the d-pad.

[KAI]

you can't even bring your games over when visiting a friend

Anti-sociality 4.0. Who needs friends, the Xbox One is your new and best friend.

[Friendly]

https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/336928914377175040

You'd think this is parody.

[ZellSF]

Well, if nothing else they say they've improved the d-pad.

They've said the same thing about two past 360 controller revisions. I'll believe it when I get to actually try it.

[Moniker]

seriously this sounds shit but please friendly can you stop this smarmy fanboi shit cos it is quite irritating.

Ditto this. Please just keep the PS4 shit in the PS4 thread. I want to read about the Xbox here.

[Jonathan Ingram]

Sooo...

1)All Xbox One retail games require an installation to the HDD
2)Xbox One is required to be connected to the internet during the installation process
3)Installing a game to another console involves a fee and deactivates it on the first account rendering it unplayable

Talk about consumer friendly.

[dave4shmups]

Well, with a bad economy, a non-game-centric console, and no backwards-compatibility, who exactly is going to buy this thing?

It's like that time when the Cd-i and 3DO and those other multi-media consoles came out, and tanked, because no one gave a shit about a game console that wasn't about games.

The people in charge of gaming, big shocker here, don't understand gaming at all.

The thing is, the hardcore will buy it because it's a new console and it has the big franchises. Then it's about the untapped market and getting casual gamers on board. Don't have a smart TV? Get an Xbox One. Multi-media consoles didn't work before because there wasn't a market for them and the price was far too high (the 3DO was actually a nice bit of kit with some good games, but was twice the price of the competition) - the same isn't true now. This generation has lasted twice as long as the usual console cycle and there's not much further gaming can go - so it's about seeing what you can do as well. I know of plenty of people who use the 360 as much for media streaming as they do gaming.

As for not understanding gaming. I don't think what's perceived as gaming is gaming anymore. This social stuff might sound like bullshit to some of us but the mobile gaming market and "social" gaming is seen as the future by many software houses - not least because they're much cheaper. When people talk about a boom in gaming and gamers, that's what they mean... scarcely "real" games at all

When was backwards compatibility a deal-breaker? Later PS3 models dropped PS2 support and no-one bought a Wii for Gamecube support (a feature only present out of convenience anyway). Xbox backwards compatibility on the 360 was limited to a few titles and often buggy as hell.

All excellent points, but they're still shoving Kinect down everyone's throats. Why can't they just let people buy it as an add-on if they want? Same with Windows 8-I've played with it at Office Depot and I think it's great, but not everyone does. And will this thing even turn on unless you talk to it? Diddo with the menus-can you just use the controller to navigate through them? Who knows, because no one at the press conference even picked up the controller. And yes, the D-pad looks better, but like someone else said, I'll believe it when I go-hands on with it, or when I read about other people's positive impressions of it.

[Friendly]

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

But what if you want to bring a game disc to a friend's house and play there? You'll have to pay a fee—and not just some sort of activation fee, but the actual price of that game—in order to use a game's code on a friend's account. Think of it like a new game, Harrison says.

[shmuppyLove]

Sooo...

1)All Xbox One retail games require an installation to the HDD

Meh, I have all my 360 games installed anyway. I mean, unless I run out of storage (which would take a while with 250GB, presumably longer with whatever the One is going to ship with, 1TB?), why wouldn't you want to do this? Speeds up load times, makes the system operate more quietly and saves wear on your discs and drive. Win / win /win.

2)Xbox One is required to be connected to the internet during the installation process

Again, why wouldn't it be connected to the internet? Only people this hurts are pirates/hackers.

3)Installing a game to another console involves a fee and deactivates it on the first account rendering it unplayable

This sucks, if it's true.

I like the way Steam works, where you can install (an unlimited number of times I think?) on any supported device once logged in, but you can only log in once.

It addresses the scenario where you take a game over to a friend's house, and as long as you download and log into your Live account -- which, if it's stored "in the cloud", should be no problem -- you can play a game you've "activated". Having to install the game to the HDD sucks though in this case.

So the game could be installed on your friend's One, but couldn't be played unless an authorized account was logged in, and you could only have 1 active login at a time.

What's the issue with the way it currently works on 360, where you can install the game but only play it if the disc is present? Seems to also address the same issues ... but I guess "consumers" complained about this?

It would be pretty cool to be able to fire up any installed game without having to swap discs around. Of course you can do this now with the Games on Demand stuff I imagine?

I'll be really upset if what people are saying about "no used games" is true. I am loathe to spend more than $20 on a game, so generally I only buy used unless I can get it new for a crazy deal. Not sure how the game stores would feel about this either, especially the big 'uns like EB Games/Gamestop who make crazy amounts of profits off used games.

[Friendly]

Again, why wouldn't it be connected to the internet? Only people this hurts are pirates/hackers.

Or people who want to use the console in a location without internet? Or long after next gen has ended?
Newsflash: DRM is of no concern to pirates/hackers.

Anyway, if you knowingly buy a system like that, you totally deserve to be screwed.

[Ed Oscuro]

https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/336928914377175040

You'd think this is parody.

Aside from it being retweeted by the daft Xbox account handlers, it is.

[Friendly]

https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/336928914377175040

You'd think this is parody.

Aside from it being retweeted by the daft Xbox account handlers, it is.

Hah!

This is a real quote, though:

Here's how the system works: when you buy an Xbox One game, you'll get a unique code that you enter when you install that game. You'll have to connect to the Internet in order to authorize that code, and the code can only be used once. Once you use it, that game will then be linked to your Xbox Live account. "It sits on your harddrive and you have permission to play that game as long as you’d like," Harrison said.

[Ruldra]

Didn't watch the conference but from the reactions alone I can tell I'm not jumping to next gen anytime soon, if at all.

[VixyNyan]

I'm happy enough with my existing X360 with actual good games, mostly Arcade, shmups and a mix of other genre, but it's something I at least enjoy.

Today, two trailers for new PS Vita games were released, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho5OR6Xl1xY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFxhpS2N5GQ
Both were infinitely more exciting than this.

Those are my type of games. Thanks, Friendly, I'll look forward to those.

[Friendly]

It gets worse:

Kotaku: If I’m playing a single player game, do I have to be online at least once per hour or something like that? Or can I go weeks and weeks?

Harrison: I believe it’s 24 hours.

Kotaku: I’d have to connect online once every day.

Harrison: Correct.

http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require ... -509164109

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsW9MlYu31g

[ZellSF]

They can't possibly be seriously doing this if Sony's not going to do something similar. Praying that they're that arrogant, but I expect bad news from Sony eventually.

[Jeneki]

Someone should ask if "activation" includes an IP check to verify you're playing in the correct region. No, scratch that, don't give them any ideas.

[ZellSF]

Someone should ask if "activation" includes an IP check to verify you're playing in the correct region. No, scratch that, don't give them any ideas.

I'm sure you can find a VPN service to get past that problem when it shows up, but yes that's something I have feared is coming for a while too...

[shmuppyLove]

Or people who want to use the console in a location without internet?

Yeah, I don't know how common this actually is, but for sure there has to be people who can't get proper broadband Internet service. That would suck.

[Aliquantic]

Gaming tournaments will be awesome to run on that, what with needing Internet and using one-use codes

[dave4shmups]

I think I've been waaay to quick to write this console off today, and to just verbally slaughter it. I say this after having watched the following video from Adam Sessler-definitely check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kENCgBu2o4

I'm actually kind of stoked for this console now!