News - Xbox One ‘A New Generation Revealed’

[kalniel]

What I'm not so happy about is that MS seem to want 2nd user titles to have no price difference to new titles - where's your environmental awareness?

Environmental awareness of what? The cost of digital 0 and 1s to the environment is the same for a new game as it is a second hand one

I would expect second hand costs to track down just like new game prices track down, and instead of you passing on a license you actually just sell the game 'back' to MS for a rebate (revoke license) when done. If the price of games decreases over time in line with traditional market valuation of second hand games at the moment then there's no difference between buying a second hand key or a new license key.

[TheAnimus]

Given all the speculation about it been called the xbox 8, with its 8 cores, 8 gb of ram, I think MS have been very honest calling it the xbox ONE. Because they are reminding you how many times you can play that game.

[Saracen]

....

Then for those of us who aren't perhaps interested in a purely gaming device, they've opened up a bunch of reasons to have this as an under TV box that gives you your streaming movies, HDD recording, blu-ray playing etc. At the moment I've got a couple of boxes, and if this does a good enough job I'd consider replacing them with it (or the PS4 if it can do the same). Don't forget the PS3 got a bunch of sales because it was a good route into Blu-ray (and came with a games console tacked on) for some

I wonder how effective it'll be as a replacement, though.

A large number of people have either Sky or Virgin boxes, etc,. Will it replace those?

And if you have those, most will have a recording capability. And increasingly, streaming capability too.

Personally, I would not consider replacing one of my HDRs with this unless the Xbox has a frame-level editing capability built-in, and isn't too castrated by DRM issues. I don't know how capable itcis in this regard as they lost me on other issues.

[Terbinator]

On the one hand they give us FM5 as a launch title and on the other they take away with all the shill. I will reserve final judgement until E3, or even later, but it hink i'll be missing this console cycle out for the foreseeable future.

[jnutt]

Well I think it fits fine as far a looks go. I also like the fact that the PSU is included in the box. I will be having one as soon as they are released.

[Saracen]

....

.... and instead of you passing on a license you actually just sell the game 'back' to MS for a rebate (revoke license) when done. If the price of games decreases over time in line with traditional market valuation of second hand games at the moment then there's no difference between buying a second hand key or a new license key.

At, no doubt, a price dictated by MS.

That's part of the problem. And if it effectively gives MS a monopoly over the used market, and qbsolute control over second-hand price. That alone is enough reason for me to refuse to buy into it, though it's academic for me as I already wasn't buying in for other reasons.

[kalniel]

At, no doubt, a price dictated by MS.

That's part of the problem. And if it effectively gives MS a monopoly over the used market, and qbsolute control over second-hand price. That alone is enough reason for me to refuse to buy into it, though it's academic for me as I already wasn't buying in for other reasons.

Indeed. But it's still a step up from Steam and most (all?) other digital services on the PC, which don't allow any resale.

[TheAnimus]

I wonder how effective it'll be as a replacement, though.

A large number of people have either Sky or Virgin boxes, etc,. Will it replace those?

And if you have those, most will have a recording capability. And increasingly, streaming capability too.

It's meant to replace the idea of receiving broadcast data via satellite/aerial isn't it?

Myself I find the only thing I watch 'live' on TV is when I wake up in the morning. I find the whole TV schedule thing invasive to my lifestyle, that is why I've always have had a PVR since living on my own.

Having something that allows you to navigate the things like iPlayer better, is the future, no doubt. Most people in the UK already have broadband available for it too.

The fact is this is a games console that is also general purpose. Kinect is an interesting way of interacting with the TV, and I think if they can nail down the phone integration too, they will have a device which in the same way as a dvd/bluray/sat box is the real use of the TV, becomes the main driving control of it.

I hope the antitrust people are watching if they do accomplish that. Actually maybe not, better than Murdock right?!

[Scribe]

My feelings on the matter:

Physical look: Cheap/dated/bulky, almost thought it was a joke, you can buy a fairy cheap case off the net and do a better job. I do like the drop in acoustics, however.

The Event: Lots of American-only or secondary entertainment options, no gameplay, focus on sport and a bit of fps only, mention but no showing of 13 exclusives by release.

The Kinect: Good improvement, would argue that unless it's going to be reliably millimetre accurate all the time, it already served its purpose for most regular kinect users.

The Specs: Similar to PS4 only DDR3 is going to see a real-term performance drop if the GPUs are similar. I believe GDDR5 will play a larger role in GPGPU compute and will simplify the optimisation process, especially for game engines used by smaller firms who can't commit resources to this. Have gone over the argument latency vs bandwidth in other forums, general consensus is modern GDDR5 has similar latency to DDR3 in real-terms and the reduced thread-count on console CPUs + high number of real cores reduces the requirement for low-latency in the first place, resulting in only an advantage, and that's almost x10 more bandwidth (according to leaked and now removed wikipedia specs from yesterday).

The Approach to the Industry: This is where I'm drawing my overall conclusion, specs aren't identical but in the same ballpark, the Kinect isn't going to be a game changer even with its improvements. However my impression is Microsoft's approach is to scrape the bottom of the jar with continued proprietary peripherals, mandatory and optional subscriptions and fees on second-hand gaming, some money passing to producers but out of the existing, already fully-tapped pot only. I felt Sony's approach with the 'share' button and always-on recording has potential to invigorate the market, opening new possibilities, especially for spectator sport and tournament gaming (League of Legends for example). It also brings an interesting social element, how well this takes off will depend on the implementation though. I hope Sony nail cross-game chat from the start.

[Kjnowak]

For me - yes it's not the prettiest thing I have seen but neither is it the ugliest, it still blends in with most other Entertainment equipment. I don't generally use the other services as I mainly live on my PC BUT if they are there and I have paid for them as part of the console I will use them, the amount I use them will depend on how well it performs and ease of use.

I know I will get one as my Xbox is on it's last legs and I will admit the (very sparse) gameplay footage actually got me a little excited again for the Xbox One - Yes my PC out performs it and PC games with mods far exceeds the playability and longevity of a game (I still play Star Wars EaW with the full Stargate conversion) but I do like just being able to chill in my living room and just pick up a controller and play for 20 minutes (sometimes more when I get the time) and turn it off again - So having a refreshed system with better graphics does appeal to me.

My thinking with the name is that they have taken a Hollywood 'Reboot' approach and they are saying, "No this is not the next evolution of our Xbox Games console but a brand new all-in-one entertainment platform"

However again it comes down to the usual factors:-

Price of console, accessories & games
Gameplay
Amount of games available

Ok I admit this whole post could have just been condensed to yes I will buy it eventually when I can afford it.

[Biscuit]

The problem i have with my current Xbox is the services that should be free, such as youtube, are only available to gold subscribers.
I don't game multiplayer on my Xbox, i have a perfectly capable PC for that, so why would i buy a subscription? Without the subscription the Xbox becomes pretty useless as an online media center. Now that Microsoft are really pushing this as a media centre, how much is going to be available without the subscription?

[crossy]

Environmental awareness of what? The cost of digital 0 and 1s to the environment is the same for a new game as it is a second hand one

Quite true - but you forgot to factor in the CD, box, etc which do have an environmental cost/impact - which reuse-via-resale would reduce.

Although on that point, MS were at pains to say how seamless it would be to be able to login on any XBoxOne and have your games follow you. Of course that won't work unless you're also in the habit of schlepping your entire library of optical media around so you can install on new systems. (And of course, stuff bought from XBL will have to download).

And will a "mere" 500GB be enough to store a good game library - especially as we're now talking about BD-hosted games, along with all the music and video content that you'd need to make XBO a decent home entertainment centre that they seem to be aiming for. Although I'll be the first to admit that perhaps storing your content on a (cheap?) USB3.0 crate plugged into the XBO might be the way to go.

I wonder how effective it'll be as a replacement, though.
A large number of people have either Sky or Virgin boxes, etc,. Will it replace those?
And if you have those, most will have a recording capability. And increasingly, streaming capability too.

If MS are thinking ahead then they need to partner with Sky, BT and Virgin so that subscribers of those companies can use their XBO's to access their subscriptions. That said, I've got a VM Tivo box so I'm pretty unimpressed with the TV selection - unless it's going to be dramatically enhanced for the UK when XBO launches.

My feelings on the matter:
The Event: Lots of American-only or secondary entertainment options, no gameplay, focus on sport and a bit of fps only, mention but no showing of 13 exclusives by release.

The Kinect: Good improvement, would argue that unless it's going to be reliably millimetre accurate all the time, it already served its purpose for most regular kinect users.

The video I saw said 15 exclusives with 8 new franchises.

Good point on the kinect - I'd be more interested to see if the XBO Kinect is capable of being used in a seated/close-to-screen mode. If not, then it's an instafail for me, (and I guess a lot of others), who have their XB's in bedroom rather than living room.

[Scribe]

My bad yeah it was 15

[kalniel]

Quite true - but you forgot to factor in the CD, box, etc which do have an environmental cost/impact - which reuse-via-resale would reduce.

Although on that point, MS were at pains to say how seamless it would be to be able to login on any XBoxOne and have your games follow you. Of course that won't work unless you're also in the habit of schlepping your entire library of optical media around so you can install on new systems. (And of course, stuff bought from XBL will have to download).

And will a "mere" 500GB be enough to store a good game library - especially as we're now talking about BD-hosted games, along with all the music and video content that you'd need to make XBO a decent home entertainment centre that they seem to be aiming for. Although I'll be the first to admit that perhaps storing your content on a (cheap?) USB3.0 crate plugged into the XBO might be the way to go.

Well assuming console gaming isn't going to flag behind PC gaming too much (no reason for it to) then it's mostly about digital downloads these days, and at the moment, yes a 500GB drive more than enough for me on the PC for gaming purposes. Most of my storage is needed for photo work/toolset use etc., not gaming/music.

[shaithis]

Other then it's rather confusing name and ugly looks (IMO it should be called the XBoxy )...it looks good.

If the gameplay teasers are really indicative of real world performance and they carry through with insane amounts of exclusives, I fear for the other platforms, including PC

I was actually hoping that the change to a PC architecture would end the bad PC ports - which it still might - but not liking exclusive this, exclusive that one bit

[Smudger]

So, if you've got 3 users of the console, and games are tied to Live memberships, does that mean you have to buy 3 copies of the same game? Someone asked this earlier, but I haven't seen a definitive answer...