Xbox One

[Brushfire]

EA Keynote:

Plants Versus Zombies Garden Warfare: An excellent trailer. Gameplay looked like a lot of fun.

Peggle 2: Nobody Clapped.

Star Wars Battlefront 3: FUCK YEAH!

EA Movies: IT'S IN THE FILM!

Dragon Age 3: Morgan returns to give everyone sweaty backs.

EA SPORTS: WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE WE DON'T PHONE IT IN I SWEAR!

Battlefield 4: Has cool tricks. EA really seems to think that online people are civil. Also it has a really pissed off Inception noise.

Mirror's Edge 2: HOLY FU.... "Coming when it is ready?" Fuck...

[Darklink42]

EA keynote:

Mirror's Edge 2

{'Nuff said}

I'm still not buying a new console, but this actually makes me think about it. Looks Gorgeous, especially with no sign of the cartoon cutscenes.

[Brandon Strader]

Mirror's Edge 2 will be on PC eventually. Don't bother getting it on console.

^ This brings up a good point. I never bought an iPad because the price is ridiculous, but it definitely makes the Xbone price seem... less ridiculous by comparison...

lol:

Edited June 10, 2013 by Brandon Strader

[liquid wind]

$500 is right around where I would've expected it to have been, the console looks completely unappealing for many other reasons and truth be told I don't think I'd pay $5 for one, but I don't see the price being the downfall of it compared with everything else. Wasn't the 360 around the same price in 2005?

[Crowbar Man]

360 was $299 for the Core model and $399 for the Premium model.

[liquid wind]

Ah

I still feel like the creepyness of Microsoft always watching you and physical discs not being treated as property are bigger deal breakers, maybe just me though

[EC2151]

They are deal breakers, and the high-price-point during an economic recession more or less guarantees lackluster sales. Though you can already count on the Xbone performing poorly in Japan and Europe (where it has traditionally sold like shit). So this is the console primarily for the American FIFA/Madden/Forza/COD player. But will those groups, many of them lower-income brackets, put up with the Xbone? My guess is: no.

[Cerrax]

So..........how about that Sony press conference.......I'm not quite sure how Xbox One can stand against that.

The only thing I can imagine is that in the long run, the always-on connectivity of the Xbox One will prime it for a lot of extra features that a totally offline device like PS4 couldn't do.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Cerrax

[FuriousFure]

So..........how about that Sony press conference.......I'm not quite sure how Xbox One can stand against that.

The only thing I can imagine is that in the long run, the always-on connectivity of the Xbox One will prime it for a lot of extra features that a totally offline device like PS4 couldn't do.

I agree... there are going to be some positives to the always online and installed game.

as for the higher price point... It's now the Xbros time to have that elitist and condescending attitude to other gamers. it's the "oh! well, if you can't pay 500 bucks for your hobby, then go do something else" mentality.

seriously, it's like a console had a three way with a PC and your cable box, the problem is you can't have every way. why keep physical disks if every game needs to be installed and verified?

[Cerrax]

From interviews I've seen with several developers working on Xbox exclusive titles, the always-on is being utilized to send data to the cloud for processing. Specifically, Forza 5's realistic driving personalities (which they've conveniently already buzzword'd as "drivetars") are formulated from data collected about players as they play the game. This is something that would require a guarantee that the console will be able to contact a server to send and receive that information.

Games on PlayStation do not have this guarantee, and as such, will not be able to utilize these resources.

Not to mention that the DRM, despite what consumers think of it, is a huge incentive to publishers. Take note that almost all of the features that Xbox One claims as part of its DRM are already practiced on Steam, GooglePlay, and Apple's App Store and no one seems to have batted an eye about it.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Cerrax

[Crowbar Man]

why keep physical disks if every game needs to be installed and verified

Not everybody wants to download huge games. Some people also still want physical copies of games.

None of that matters at this point though. Not a Sony fanboy (in fact, they are my least liked of the big 3) but PS4 has pretty much won this by default. Wii U is a good secondary. Xbox One? Maybe i you don't like videogames and like to watch TV. Really can't recommend it at this point

Edited June 11, 2013 by Crowbar Man

[FuriousFure]

Not everybody wants to download huge games. Some people also still want physical copies of games.

None of that matters at this point though. Not a Sony fanboy (in fact, they are my least liked of the big 3) but PS4 has pretty much won this by default. Wii U is a good secondary. Xbox One? Maybe i you don't like videogames and like to watch TV. Really can't recommend it at this point

I'm in the same boat, was an xbox and xbox live guy from the first xbox but now... I'm rethinking my next purchase. although Wii U might pull ahead for me. PlayStation exclusives have never really interested me and I love Nintendo's main 3 but I guess what it really boils down to what my friends play because I'm a social gamer.

unless fallout 4 get announced. That's a trump card for any system.

[Brandon Strader]

also rip xbone

On Mirror's Edge 2: https://twitter.com/mirrorsedge/status/344198222119587840

Edited June 11, 2013 by Brandon Strader

[The Coop]

I wonder if Microsoft is going to do a 180 on their stance regarding used games. Probably not, but one can hope.

Maybe they'll change their mind, then change it back again so that a 360 pun can live.

[Brandon Strader]

If Microsoft was going to change anything, they should have done it after the initial reveal but before E3. Now it's too late. If Call of Duty Ghosts moves Xbones off the shelf then it's a sad, sad day for gaming. People could put that $500 towards a computer than can run CoD Ghosts, and... actually be able to control it with a keyboard and mouse instead of a slow-butt xbox controller. Just sayin'!

[EC2151]

From interviews I've seen with several developers working on Xbox exclusive titles, the always-on is being utilized to send data to the cloud for processing. Specifically, Forza 5's realistic driving personalities (which they've conveniently already buzzword'd as "drivetars") are formulated from data collected about players as they play the game. This is something that would require a guarantee that the console will be able to contact a server to send and receive that information.

Games on PlayStation do not have this guarantee, and as such, will not be able to utilize these resources.

Not to mention that the DRM, despite what consumers think of it, is a huge incentive to publishers. Take note that almost all of the features that Xbox One claims as part of its DRM are already practiced on Steam, GooglePlay, and Apple's App Store and no one seems to have batted an eye about it.

I'm glad we can have a whole bunch of unnecessary shit so we can have behavioral AI in Forza. C'mon, it's a bullshit justification and anyone can see that.

As for DRM, it's big publishers that push for it in the first place, because they want to run the industry. The trend of the last decade is to see medium-sized publishers close or get bought-out by larger houses, and these big companies want to set the rules. MS doesn't at its base care about DRM or used games, but it cares about having unquestioned support from EA and Activision, who would love to ream their consumers day in and day out. The Xbone is more or less caving in to big publisher demands at the expense of the average gamer. I suspect this will translate into by-and-large apathy towards the console.

Not to mention that Apple and Steam have DRM-free products - there's at least a choice involved.

[prophetik music]

I'm glad we can have a whole bunch of unnecessary shit so we can have behavioral AI in Forza. C'mon, it's a bullshit justification and anyone can see that.

As for DRM, it's big publishers that push for it in the first place, because they want to run the industry. The trend of the last decade is to see medium-sized publishers close or get bought-out by larger houses, and these big companies want to set the rules. MS doesn't at its base care about DRM or used games, but it cares about having unquestioned support from EA and Activision, who would love to ream their consumers day in and day out. The Xbone is more or less caving in to big publisher demands at the expense of the average gamer. I suspect this will translate into by-and-large apathy towards the console.

Not to mention that Apple and Steam have DRM-free products - there's at least a choice involved.

two issues here.

1. are you seriously saying drm is bad for medium-sized publishers? those are the ones hit the hardest by piracy. when you only sell 75k of a game, and it's pirated 500k times, that's worse than selling 5m copies of a game and having it pirated 2m times. look at a game like demigod for an example of what can happen.

2. don't confuse drm on a console with drm on a pc or otherwise. PC drm involves tons of stupid bullshit that literally doesn't work at all at what it's supposed to do (prevent people from stealing your game). console drm isn't to prevent a person from stealing your game, it's to prevent a CORPORATION from stealing your profits.

it's one thing to be all high and mighty and complain about drm being wrong or some bs, but when it comes to consoles you're just being a cheapskate and trying to save a few bucks at the expense of your favorite developer.

[Crowbar Man]

1. DRM is bad for consumers, no if ands or buts. Piracy is and always has been just a scapegoat. A good game will sell plenty. A pirate will usually never buy a game (Unless they can play it first!) so it is not a loss, no matter how much publishers want to claim it is.

So it doesn't matter if they pirate 500K copies when the game sells "only" 75K: only 75K people wanted to give them money. The 500K download copies does not somehow by magic take money away from them, they are totally a wash, and quite possibly a part of the 75K people that DID give them money. If they add bad DRM, that 75K would of shrunk, not grown.

2. What are you even stating here? DRM is DRM. This DRM is pretty bad and it is ON a console. AntiPiracy is of course a default but they've added fighting the "evils" of used games, another scapegoat, in their quest of control of the consumer. A DRM specifically created to fight used games (perceived profit loss or not, it has been consumer right to sell/trade games) sounds a lot worse to me than one created to fight piracy. Pirates will eventually find a way to break it too anyways, then once again the only ones effected are legitimate consumers.

The reason the Xbox One has this new bad DRM is because giant publishers are greedy, and want in on the infinite money loop GameStop created as a business. While stepping on consumers left and right without a care.

Used games have existed since the dawn of gaming, and have never been quoted as source of "lost profit" (imaginary). Now magically they need this money.

Meanwhile who else is effected? People who sell/buy stuff on ebay/pawnshops/etc, people who lend games to each other, people without internet and/or travel to places without internet, etc. Gotta crush that, because PROFIT!

Edited June 11, 2013 by Crowbar Man

[Toadofsky]

Not to mention the fact that if things are that bad, they need to restructure HOW THEY MAKE games, not punish the consumer for their out of control spending.

[Cerrax]

The only part of the Xbox One that I think needs to be eliminated is the mandatory 24-hour check-in. It is ludicrous to expect a consumer to log on to the Internet once a day to use their device.

As it stands now, the Xbox One is a Cadillac with fingerprint recognition ignition that must go to the dealer every day before you turn it on. F-ing absurd. It's an awesome if you live next to a Cadillac dealer and are the only one driving it.

I understand what Microsoft is doing. By making Internet connectivity, the Kinect, and DRM mandatory, they're creating a standardized platform that developers and publishers can utilize to create interesting new software. Unfortunately, because Sony has not followed suit, those efforts are probably in vain, and likely will be reduced or eliminated. Microsoft tried to predict the market on this One, and they failed.

This feels very much like when 360 and PS3 released. 360 had nothing to really show besides a few games and PS3 made all kinds of promises of how "next gen" was gonna play out. Then when it came time to deliver, PS3 fell flat on its face because publishers didn't utilize any of the extra features that the PS3 had because they aimed for multi-platform releases. The 360 was arguably the less promising system at launch. I think Microsoft has promised things they can't deliver because publishers and developers will go for the lowest common denominator, and PS4 has promised much less than Xbox.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Cerrax

[Sir_NutS]

Loving the apologists.

The mandatory cloud usage is a bunch of BS. The behavioral calculations aren't done in the cloud. They are done in your console and the results are stored in a database in the cloud. You don't need these to play Forza, just as you didn't need to get online in spore just to get other creatures from other players. Does it make the experience better? indeed. Does the game NEEDS it for functioning properly? hell no.

Not every game needs server power to run, and those that do are mostly Massively Multiplayer Online games.

[avaris]

This feels very much like when 360 and PS3 released. 360 had nothing to really show besides a few games and PS3 made all kinds of promises of how "next gen" was gonna play out. Then when it came time to deliver, PS3 fell flat on its face because publishers didn't utilize any of the extra features that the PS3 had because they aimed for multi-platform releases. The 360 was arguably the less promising system at launch. I think Microsoft has promised things they can't deliver because publishers and developers will go for the lowest common denominator, and PS4 has promised much less than Xbox.

Well said! Dating back decades, whoever wins the developers wins the console war.

[Sir_NutS]

For those excited about the new KI, give this a read:

http://www.destructoid.com/killer-instinct-is-combo-tastic-and-it-s-free-to-play-255989.phtml

Is like there's somebody at microsoft that goes "hey guys, I thought of a good idea, let's find out how to completely fuck it up!"

[EC2151]

Extra DRM on a console is unnecessary. The console itself is the DRM. It's why by and large you can't pop in burned dvds into your Xbox and play games without serious modifications. Extraneous anti-used-game DRM is, as mentioned, only a tool to control gamers into acting exactly as EA and Activision want us to act (only buy the newest updates of their boring games, new, always).

As Crowbar and Toadofsky have mentioned, this is punishing consumers for the mistakes of the publishers, which means a less fulfilling game experience for the rest of us. The only people who will swallow this load a) deserve it, and just need to play their latest updates of Forza, COD Ghosts, Battlefield, etc.

[HoboKa]

Extra DRM on a console is unnecessary. The console itself is the DRM. It's why by and large you can't pop in burned dvds into your Xbox and play games without serious modifications. Extraneous anti-used-game DRM is, as mentioned, only a tool to control gamers into acting exactly as EA and Activision want us to act (only buy the newest updates of their boring games, new, always).

As Crowbar and Toadofsky have mentioned, this is punishing consumers for the mistakes of the publishers, which means a less fulfilling game experience for the rest of us. The only people who will swallow this load a) deserve it, and just need to play their latest updates of Forza, COD Ghosts, Battlefield, etc.

Well, at least it'll help spurn the inevitable game console crash, much like the one in the 80's =D. It'll give a chance for new players in the business to jump in and fix things where they went wrong.