Xbox One

[BurningDoom]

So I'm late to this, I know. I had to work, as I'm sure a lot of other people did at 1 in the afternoon.

But I really only have 2 things to say about it:

1. The hardware itself looks reminiscent of the original Xbox.

2. The only real upgrades I can see is that it plays live T.V., you can control it with your smart-phone, and you can record live gameplay.

Well, I can already watch live T.V. by simply turning off my XBox.

What's so hard about using a controller to control your Xbox? The smart-phone control upgrade really doesn't make sense to me.

Recording gameplay is admittedly pretty cool. But I'm not buying a whole new console just based on that.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I loved JT's 1984/2001 post.

Here is a great article on the problem of snooping "little brothers" from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magaz ... .html?_r=0

Personally, I think that the always on, always online aspect of the Xbox One invites this kind of snooping...

[BoneSnapDeez]

Just get a camera cover. Like they make for Web cams.

Do it Grandpa style who hates the blinking 12:00 on his VCR. A little electrical tape will fix that and the mic inputs.

That method fixes cars too. Just cover the Service Engine Soon light!

[ZenErik]

The point is that they want to replace your cable box.

I have Verizon FiOS and am able to watch SOME TV on my 360 because Verizon has some sort of deal with Microsoft. Without paying for a HD box in my room. Granted the selection is limited, and I have to have XBL Gold to use it.

Not really worth it to me right now. But if the Xbox One gets all FiOS channels and if I actually had friends with X1's to play online with, thus making XBL Gold almost worth it, then I could certainly see the value in that. I think Verizon charges something like 12 - 15 a month for each HD box.

I guess this all doesn't matter since I am more likely to get a PS4, but I certainly see the potential value in the X1 as a media hub.

[Krejlooc]

Indie games can be published on Xbox Live Indie Games or whatever that becomes. Currently on PS3 it is just called Minis and on Steam you have to get Greenlit. How is this different then now?

Minis are Sony's indie publishing model. When you publish an indie, you are not the publisher, sony is. When you publish a microsoft xbox live indie game, you are not the publisher, microsoft is.

the point is EA or Capcom or whatever can put out an XBLA game on the real market, not published my microsoft. If EA wants to make ShitFucker: The Game, they can publish it themselves on XBLA.

Contrast with steam greenlight, where ALL projects are subject to the process. EA wants to publish ShitFucker on steam? They go through greenlight. Just because your project is greenlit, doesn't mean valve is publishing your game.

The segregated nature of Xbox live indies and the poor publishing deals offered by Microsoft were primary complaints from indie developers last generation, across all distribution models. Microsoft's publishing practices for indie developers are awful. All other hardware manufacturers, even Nintendo, have moved towards a model where self-publishing is possible on their services, even if their sony or nintendo-sponsered indie publishing model also exists as an alternative. If I develop a game for the PS4 by myself, I can either let Sony publish it as a mini, or, provided I have the funds to do so, I could publish it on PSN myself, and it would be indistinguishable from any other major title. This isn't possible on the new Xbox.

[Krejlooc]

I won't be going anywhere near the Xbox One. I'm always excited by console launches and usually buy them on launch or close after but the new Xbox just isn't jiving with me. I do NOT want an always on camera in my home. Most important, I want freedom to do what I want with the physical media that I purchase. I will not support Microsoft's vision to control the second hand market.

Just get a camera cover. Like they make for Web cams.

Several internal documents leaked from microsoft talks about auto-pause features associated with Kinect. when it can't see you, it assumes you aren't there and pauses what you're doing for you. So if you're playing a game and you walk away, it self-suspends. If you're watching a movie and you go to the bathroom, the system halts until you return.

This means that covering the Kinect to make it not see you likely isn't an option.

[casterofdreams]

What's so hard about using a controller to control your Xbox? The smart-phone control upgrade really doesn't make sense to me.

Well you can use voice as well and it is supposed to recognize your voice.

I am interested in the controller more. I hope there is a PC variant. It wasn't confirmed but here is the article that got me excited: http://www.destructoid.com/will-the-xbo ... 4247.phtml

[Krejlooc]

The point is that they want to replace your cable box.

I have Verizon FiOS and am able to watch SOME TV on my 360 because Verizon has some sort of deal with Microsoft. Without paying for a HD box in my room. Granted the selection is limited, and I have to have XBL Gold to use it.

Not really worth it to me right now. But if the Xbox One gets all FiOS channels and if I actually had friends with X1's to play online with, thus making XBL Gold almost worth it, then I could certainly see the value in that. I think Verizon charges something like 12 - 15 a month for each HD box.

I guess this all doesn't matter since I am more likely to get a PS4, but I certainly see the potential value in the X1 as a media hub.

No, the point is to augment your cable box. None of this stuff will work without a cable box attached. What it's really doing, is trying to establish Xbox as the new smart-tv standard. I wouldn't be surprised if their long-term goal is to license this stuff to tv manufacturers in the future to build into their tvs as all-in-one boxes.

[Cronozilla]

People being mad about being required to install games ... I can understand that actually. The PC is an entirely different environment. You have control over how everything is stored, the hardware that it's stored on, and the software that is installed (usually). It's also a massive personal environment. Consoles, on the other hand, are really generic environments, you can't customize anything ... so it's more like you don't have YOUR system, you have A system. Where as if you're gaming on PC ... your PC's gaming ability and use is very specific to you. So I can understand being annoyed that two identical machines can't use a single game. But even on PC this isn't a universal fact for games ... so

In reality, it's something I think PC should stop doing as well, it's definitely something it should move away from, using better consumer models to help drive sales instead of locking people into terrible licensing deals.

So, I get it, I kind of agree actually. Installing should be optional, or like if you install something it should be assets. It actually doesn't make a lot of sense considering the media it'll use and the size of the HDD .. which you can't do anything about. It's almost like they're forming a situation where you have to rely on cloud services through Xbox Live. And I imagine that service isn't going to suddenly turn free.

I also got an email today from gamestop saying that the Xbox One's vibrating triggers were "high definition".

Feel jolts, crashes, and weapons in high definition with vibrating Impulse Triggers.

I wouldn't be surprised if their long-term goal is to license this stuff to tv manufacturers in the future to build into their tvs as all-in-one boxes.

What a horrible thing to say. Talk about not getting TV anymore in my house.

[MrPopo]

The vast majority of PC games sold in the past decade have A) been sold via a digital distribution platform like Steam which has a one time install code

It does? Since when?

I've already reinstalled all of my Steam games multiple times when I got my new computer I'm currently using. I mean, I only own about a hundred+ Steam games so maybe I just lucked out and haven't bought the ones which utilize this one time install feature that supposedly exists?

You misunderstood what Dave was saying. You apply a code once to your account and install the game, and now that code is invalid for any other user. That's what it sounds like the Xbox is doing, and it's what Steam has done for all the games on its service.