As revealed just moments ago at Microsoft's Redmond campus, the Xbox 360 successor, dubbed the Xbox One, is being positioned as an "all-in-one entertainment system" due to launch later this year.
Xbox One's new Kinect 2.0, which will be packaged with the console, will feature a verbal "on" command and promises "instant switching" between live television viewing, gameplay, web browsing, Skype.
On the hardware end, the Xbox One will feature an 8-core CPU, 8GB RAM, USB 3.0, WiFi Direct, a Blu-ray drive, 500 GB hard drive, native 64 bit architecture, and variable power states, affording "practically silent operation."
Microsoft also indicated that game developers would have access to its Azure cloud computing platform, enabling players to sync games to the cloud, participate in massively multiplayer online matches (up to 64 or 128 participants) and free up local processing power.
Visual verisimilitude was heavily touted throughout the reveal, with emphasis on the expanded technical specs to model "visuals so real, you'll see imperfections and the effects of time, weather and wear and tear on the world around you."
Much of the first half of Microsoft's presentation was dedicated to showing off the new, sharply-angled console's ability to multitask between live TV and apps, by simply talking to the machine.
Microsoft's Don Mattrick said the Xbox One is meant to defragment your entertainment. Through an "all in one system" that is taking a heavy cue from multi-purpose entertainment computing devices like tablets.
He added that the Xbox One's mantra is to be "simple, instant, complete."
The console takes commands through motion and voice via a new Kinect motion tracker and microphone. Microsoft's Marc Whitten said it was "human control for a human experience."
The new Kinect has a broader range of motion tracking, and the updated traditional dual-stick controller lets programmers assign feedback to its triggers.
Users can also use their mobile devices to interact with the device thanks to Smart Glass.
Whitten said the online focus of the console will be greater. To draw a comparison he said Xbox Live had 500 servers in 2002. Today there's 15,000, but this year there will be 300,000 servers dedicated to the console.
He said cloud storage will also be a key component of the Xbox One, and will feature native video and editing tools.
Whitten also confirmed in an interview with The Verge that the Xbox One would not be backwards compatible with existing Xbox 360 games, as was expected. "The system is based on a different core architecture, so back-compat doesn't really work from that perspective," Whitten said.
The rumor that the new console will require an always-online connection has also been officially squashed, according to The Verge.
Wired has also stated that games must be installed on the Xbox One's hard drive, requiring that purchasers of second-hand discs pay a fee to install the game on a new system. UPDATED: OXM's John Hicks has stated via Twitter that "At no point when I was talking to MS did they say there was a fee for used games." The publication suggested that game installation installs would be tied with a player's account, and players who sell their discs will be able to deactivate the license, removing the need for a second-hand owner to pay a fee.
Several large-scale franchises were on display, with a heavy showing of sports titles from EA including Madden, NBA, UFC and NFL, the last of which ties into a further program of live sports streaming. Activision's newest entry into the Call of Duty franchise, Ghosts, was also given its official unveiling.
On the game-adjacent front, 343 Studios announced a live-action Halo television seriest to be streamed over the console, produced in conjunction with Steven Spielberg.
In all, Microsoft promised 15 console exclusives for the Xbox One, eight of which being original IPs. The only original IP exhibited at the press conference, however, was Remedy's Quantum Break.
Inferior to PS4 reveal for me. So much focus on services and TV, and predictable blockbuster franchises.
Sony's conference was a lot more games-tilted, and developer-focused.
I believe (accessories aside) the PS4 is the superior hardware unit as well.
It does seem from the CoD trailer that it's still well below what mid range PCs are already capable of in "current gen" games. Maybe that desaturated, grubby look is just their style but it doesn't bode well for Microsoft if that's what they're pitching as the only game demo in the announcement.
The whole terrain navigation thing is something we've seen about 10 times in the last few years so it's nothing special in the next gen.
I'll reserve judgement to see what Watch Dogs shows at E3, so far that's the only game that appears to be taking advantage of the hardware to do something we've never seen before with more dynamic pedestrian AI rather than just making everything we already have bigger.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe they said that there will be more details at E3 at least twice throughout that reveal. I think Phil Spencer and Yusuf Mehdi were the ones who reminded us.
And according to Polygon, Aaron Greenberg of Microsoft said this prior to the event.
"The best way I can describe it is, we're really going to tell one story across two events. So we're going to start on the 21 [of May] and really that's about revealing the next Xbox platform and our vision for the future of games, the future of entertainment. We definitely have a lot of surprises planned."
And...
"It's a lot of laying the foundation, and then just a couple weeks later we go to E3, and E3 is all about the games. It's going to be tons of exclusives [and] world premieres."
I can't believe that the spyware aspect of the console has not received any attention at all from the press. The XBOX One will not work without Kinect attached and functioning correctly. Which means that Microsoft is now going to store a database of everyone's face and voice, connected to their real names, phone numbers, and addresses.
No doubt there will be a massive EULA before you can use the machine that will dictate how Microsoft can store your (very) personal information forever - basically your entire identity - and use it in god knows what ways to invade your privacy. That is terrifying.
@Kyle - I think the spyware aspect is even worse, an always on camera which reacts to your actions combined with a system that stores your videos in the cloud. wtf?
Am I the only one who had the feeling that this is more a threat then a blessing when I saw the following picture during watching the video?:
http://images.idgentertainment.de/images/idgwpgsgp/bdb/2399821/big image.jpg
My summary:
1) Now you can watch TV on your TV!
2) OMG football
3) Halo is finally the cinematic experience it always wanted to be, literally
4) Dirt under fingernails
5) We have a dog. Maybe we'll do cats next.
6) Are you ready for some football
Hilariously enough, I have Tourette's Syndrome so for me voice commands are not just useless but actually a de-feature. The last thing I want to do is have my console try to interpret random verbal outbursts as commands.
Lars has a point! While I'm open-minded about certain advanced technology, voice command controls are a double-edged sword, especially to people with a heavy accent (like me).
@Arnaud - and they live in their Mom's basement, right?
The thing is this is for more than self-identifying gamers, as is the 360, which has sold enough units to become a maintream entertainment device. I dlike tot alk to people and so do most humans in general. I agree that if it can't pick up accents that is a problem-just not to most Americans who will buy this console (or not).
Looks like a nice machine, nice tech. The TV control and such seem nice, but I am always a lil wary of voice control and such, but Im willing to hope that they finally have nailed it, that would be very nice.
As for all the social networking stuff, and added data, and flipping back and forth from different media, I have little use for that, and to be honest you could do all that for years with a pc but the younger gen may find that useful, I dont know
Games look nice, but again not enough actual gameplay footage ( when will they learn?)
Anyway looks like it may be decent and possibly nice to have at some point.
To be honest however, after having hands on experience with the Oculus Rift, this all seems a little meh.. I'm telling you, as a gamer since pong, Oculus Rift has me more excited than Ive been in decades about gaming.
but I guess we will see, it will be nice to have options.
My first thoughts were "you know all that task-switching stuff you've been doing on your computer since, like, forever? You can do that on Xbox now." Which is a good thing, because I often wished I could do more task switching, but it fails to answer the key question of why I'd want this rather than just sticking to my PC.
The demo showed switching between things like TV, movie, music, and game, but it didn't demonstrate how long the system boots up or how long it takes to get into a game or if you can switch games or run two simultaneously. That was a bigger deal for me in the PS4 reveal: how fast the system booted up and returned straight into an in-progress (suspended) game. Will the XB1 have suspend? I dunno.
Yes the big question is do you really care if you can task switch on your tv or not?
I see alot of functionality that you might as well just do on your phone since the demo showed you using your phone for half the control anyway. It would seem easier to leave your football game on the tv in full screen while checking out stats or calling a friend on your phone. I don't see the advantage of using your tv screen.
I guess they assume that more people sit in front of their TV than their PC so it's more convenient. That does raise the question as to whether the Kinect will be able to detect anything beyond a car crash victim from someone sitting down.
Maybe my experience is unique, but I often find that my son wants to watch something on Netflix, then play a LIVE Arcade game, then my wife wants something on Hulu or to play Boggle on Live, etc., and anything that makes taht switch neear instantaneous is a huge boon to me.
The only problem I have with it is that we keep seeing PC designed GUI's (mouse point and click, keyboard search) ported very badly to these "media machines" which makes them so clumsy and awkward to use that it's faster to pull out our phone to search or watch a video or whatever.
I think really think they're missing both sides here: the older people don't care, and the younger people all have better tools for the job.
The biggest problem is the devil is in the details. How much does it cost? Launch games? How well does that Kinect interface really work? How well does the smartglass stuff work? How does it actually connect with your cable company service? etc....
The stuff they showed was glossy bullshot-type stuff. They said they were showing Live tv, but notice the basketball game they were showing was a week old or so.
I expected this type of showing but wished for some more real hands on stuff. I guess it is too early for that. This is for suits and ties and major news outlets.
"How does it actually connect with your cable company service?"
That is a good question. I would follow up with: Does it require a cable/satellite subscription or will it be able to work with over-the-air television channels?
My guess is you need a cable box/subscription. And then the 360 talks to the cable box via a cable. The only way it would work with over the air is if it talks to a tivo or pc with ota channels. But the current 360 already works as a WMC extender.
My second guess is MS did deals with various providers to provide internet streaming of live cable tv. But not seeing how you switch channels as fast. Actually you can't switch channels that fast on a cable box either. Digital is slower than analog was.
My bet is their will be more then just gold memberships, some of which will come with cable like services provided by current cable providers. So it wouldn't be accessing your current cable/satellite it would be accessing a different cable service which you would pay separately for.
I don't think the Xbox1 will control your cable box. It will have added functions that will give the user voice command over switching things around between applications OS and internet services on Xbox1. The cable box will still be the cable box incapable of receiving voice commands only able to receive digital commands from a inferred device such as a remote. The DVR functions on the Xbox1 may optionally there because you will be able to feed your HDMI IN to the Xbox1 from the cable box and then feed the HDMI OUT from the Xbox1 to the TV. My guess is that if a user wants that show recorded to the Xbox1 they will need to leave the cable box on that channel and then have the Xbox1 record it instead of the cable box DVRing it while its in off mode.
So wait, if I buy a game, then download it to the machine then said machine dies somehow (I mean it is far fetched because we all know stable the XBox hardware has been already) and I buy a new machine do I now need to call Microsoft and explain to them that "yes this really is my game??". And what happens if I have two accounts?
And we lose backwards compatibility with old games... here's another question, if for the next I dunno year at least most games will come out on both the new and old machine why the hell would I buy the new machine??
@ Edge Walker - For the sake of the future Xbox One owners, let's hope that's the case! Otherwise, there will be a lot of ticked off customers if that's not the case.
Theoretically all I had to do with my recently bought Xbox360 was log into my account and re-download my games. Theoretically that's what happened.
In reality I had to go through three emails to Microsoft, set up another email account and have phone verification 3 times. So yeah, reality doesn't quite live up to the theory of it.
I haven't read the Wired article yet, but will do first thing in the morning (it's like 1am here).
movie...music... back to movie.....game....back to music.....back to game.....back to movie.... back to music....check stats.....watch sports...watch more sports.....play sports game....back to movie.....back to game....back to sports......watch Halo TV show.....
The ADD / ADHD community was going to provide feedback but got distracted.
In actuality, I think they nailed it for that segment. Queue to play your favorite game while in another game browsing the web on the side in a snapped on browser via your phone/tablet... does anyone actually need this? It's technically cool, but is it an improvement in user experience?
Design is terrible, well there is no design it's literally just a black shiny box.
Tech is definitely impressive, but it just leaves cold. Sports games, and a version of COD that look slightly better then what we already have.
I'll probably end up getting one, although I might be getting the PS4 sooner as it looks more like a gamers machine, the XBox one is more of a cable box that happens to play games.
But it's all a bit depressing, is this it? the pinnacle of gaming? FPS and sports games?
Time for someone to come along and shake things up me'thinks.
I wonder what the fee is going to be, if it's full price forget it. But if its under $20, you could just rent the game somewhere and install it vs buying it at full retail.
"Wired has also confirmed that games must be installed on the Xbox One's hard drive, requiring that purchasers of second-hand discs pay a fee to install the game on a new system"
I would like more info about this tidbit...If I have multiple consoles in my home and I buy one copy of a game, does that mean I can only install it on one console and have to pay a "second-hand fee" to install it on my others? Do I have to pay this "second-hand fee" every time I play the game on different console (as in does it disable other installs when you second-hand install it)? I can imagine some solution with tying the game to a live account or a family account, but family accounts only have 4 accounts right now (as far as I know).
I understand that if I wanted to play a game on multiple consoles *at the same time* (e.g. lan parties), then I would need to buy multiple copies of the game...that's what I do now. But some games I only play on one console *at a time*...so how does that work?
Probably tied to your live account (like on Steam). So you'd be able to play the game you bought on any console but only if you log in with your account. So the teenager would just have to log into his account at his friends place to play the game... after they wait the 35 minutes it will take to install :).
So if I have a child and we both want to play a game (each with our own live account), then I cannot buy one copy of the game for both of us to use separately (and each of us have our own achievements, save games, etc.). That's the point I'm getting at. Do I have to pay a "second-hand fee" for my son to play the game on his live account? And if I do go ahead and pay that fee, does that disable it on my account...meaning I have to be completely done with the game before I transfer it to my child's live account?
Something about the wording struck me as "You can play it off the DVD or the HDD. You get one free install with the purchase of the game." That is, if I have a game and I install in on my machine, I can then take the DVD elsewhere. Thus, the DVD itself serves as some kind of store for the game thus making every owner of the game a potential distributor.
That Wired article not only confirms that games will be locked to an account and require an install of the system's HD, it also says that "Xbox One will give game developers the ability to create games that use Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service, which means that they might be able to offload certain computing tasks to the cloud rather than process them on the Xbox One hardware itself. This would necessitate the game requiring a connection."
This is a tremendous step backward, and it's depressing that they haven't learned from "always online" failures from companies like Ubisoft and EA that this is a terrible, anti-consumer idea that will break your game and leave your customers unhappy.
" They also say that it will not need to be "always online" "
When did they say that? Was it in the presentation, then I must have overheard it. As I heard nothing about "not always on" I assumed, the console is "always on" otherwise they would have stated it (same with any kind of b/c no mention of b/c means no b/c).
"Xbox UK marketing director squashes always on rumours, but used game position remains ambiguous, and backwards compatibility is out"
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-21-xbox-always-onlin e-the-answer-i s-no
According to CVG developers can require it on a game-by-game basis.
I would recommend anyone who is unclear on what I'm talking about to read the Wired article linked in the body of this piece. They discuss Microsoft's desire for publishers to make online-only games (which will not be *required* but will be *supported*) among other things.
It's true that *not all* games will require an always online connection, but read the bit I quoted above. They certainly are supporting online only games and the Microsoft rep interviewed by Wired says they want developers to go that route.
Thanks, I read the article, but I remain skeptic, the wording is a little bit vague. It's even more vague, because he says "Xbox One is designed to always be connected to the internet", it sounds like you can play games, but I know this business long enough to see, where a direct quote is used in the article and where not.
The statement, that the XBox One can be used offline for games is not a direct quote. I think this means Harvey Eagle doesn't want to be quoted on anything else then "The answer is no" which is very vague. Maybe you can play offline for a certain ammount of time or maybe you can play, but you can't save. Unless somebody outside of MS marketing makes a statement I am not sure if the "always on" scenario is history.
What seems logical from Wired's article is that physical, disc based games do not require you to be online, just like now, and probably the same is true with Arcade games you are playing on "your" console. However, to play a Live game on someone else's console via the cloud that console would have to be connected. I knew I would find Christian here doing the same old same old with the baseless speculation. Some things never change (its been like 8 years Christian.
What you are saying Jonathan makes no sense, from the Wired article:
"You can install any game from the disc to the console’s hard drive, and then play that game whenever you like without having to put the disc in.
Wired asked Microsoft if installation would be mandatory. “On the new Xbox, all game discs are installed to the HDD to play,” the company responded in an emailed statement. Sounds mandatory to us."
According to your logic, you could take a game install it on your HDD WITHOUT being connected to the internet and play the game, then take the game to your friend install it on his HDD WITHOUT being connected to the internet so that he can play the game too - as long as he likes, because the game runs without the need to insert the disc.
I think it's a safe bet to say this will not work (and the Wired article says the exact same thing). This means the game requires at least an online activation. Depending on the way this activation works, it can mean the game checks the validity of your game at startup, you could have sold your disc, so there has to be checked if the game is still in you possession or transfered to a different account. If this is the case, you can play the game, if your internet connection is gone, but you can't start a new game, because the validity of the game can't be verified.
What you call baseless speculation I would call basic reading skills.
So Christian, amndatory installation means what to you? That the console requires a persistent online connection? I think you need to work on your reading skills. There is no basis, at all, for what you are saying based ont he article. It isn't impossible, but it isn't supported in teh article that I saw, and you didn't give any support for it all, just more rude, condescending speculation that I have come to know you for.
" So Christian, amndatory installation means what to you? That the console requires a persistent online connection?"
No, it means what I wrote, that you need an internet connection during the start of the game because the mandatory installation comes with the feature that the game runs without the disc inserted.
I quoted the part of the article that explains the system.
I don't know how you want to check if the game is still/already tied to the account it is started from without an internet connection, if you know a different way, please tell me.
Couldn't you link the game install to your account without being online? I have intermittent outages with my network and I still have a profile on the console.
"Couldn't you link the game install to your account without being online? I have intermittent outages with my network and I still have a profile on the console. "
How should this work? What would prevent me from setting up an account and then take my console from the Internet forever? I could rent any game I want and install it on the console, because the game runs without the disc.
The only way it would work offline is, when the console is writing something physical on the disc, but I don't think MS will develop a BluRay/BluRay Writable hybrid disc and put a BluRay Writer in any XBOX ONE just for this purpose.
How should this work? What would prevent me from setting up an account and then take my console from the Internet forever? I could rent any game I want and install it on the console, because the game runs without the disc.
Oh, you are talking about the games rental market and owning a game that way. That seems pretty easy to address (making specific rental discs).
That doesn't sound like a step back. In 2013 and with the clear cut path things are headed, you really think online functionality is a step backwards? They aren't saying the system has no processor and everything is online, just that some games can make use of online things. I don't see that as a negative.
" That doesn't sound like a step back. In 2013 and with the clear cut path things are headed, you really think online functionality is a step backwards? They aren't saying the system has no processor and everything is online, just that some games can make use of online things. I don't see that as a negative. "
That's not the point, the questions are:
- will the console a) work without an internet connection ?
- and b) will the console require a permanent internet connection ?
EDIT: The question is answered, the console needs to go online once every 24 hours:
"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.
There has been statements that the Xbox one would be required to connect at least every 24 hours. "the console will still need to connect to go online at least once every 24 hours, according to another Microsoft exec Phil Harrison, and possibly more often" http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/xbox-one-microsofts-mixed-messages
And have they said whether it is 24hr exactly or whether it is once a day; given that once a day could mean random check-ins, which means you'll be forced to keep it "always" online anyway so you wouldn't miss your slot...
As a gamer I found the conference largely boring. I barely watch any TV so most if just "wasn't for me" I guess. Really nothing to get pumped about from a games perspective, though it was great to hear there will be 8 new IPs rearing their heads soon.
Yeah except they said 15 new games in first year - 8 new franchises. 15 to me means quantity over quality. 15 is a lot. I would settle for 4 really good games. But I guess half of those are going to be Kinect family games - dance game, fitness type game, Kinect Sports, ....
That strategy isn't working for the Wii U so far. If they want to bring out 15 games, bring it on. They won't all appeal to me, but odds are I will find something I want.
How many are exclusive for 6 months to 1 year or so though? There really isn't any reason to believe they will be MS exclusives - they might even have a PC release... If it comes to games, this presentation did nothing to calm my nerves or convince me that I shouldn't have been on Sony's side this gen in the games department and make sure I didn't choose differently for next gen.
Non US customers got nothing from this launch. Lots of services that will be completely useless outside of the United States.
Developers only got "hey its like an Xbox 360, but better", which pretty much on par with the PS4, except in PS4 they showed that any kind of dev, indies included, were welcome. Whether this is good or not (for MS business perspective), I don't have a clue.
For gamers, maybe, maybe got CoD, now with a dog. But hey former gamer, who want games anyway on your game console?
I guess if this is some sort of "two parter" with the E3 filling the blanks, will work out better. But for now the PS4 get my attention more than the XBox One. Not sure if this whole "entertainment center" will work out better than a more standard game console though.
The target audience here was pretty clear. I don't suspect many of us will be kind to that press release but I'm going to guess that ESPN and CNN types as well as Frat-boy types are going to be beating their chests on this one. Football, Halo, Fortza, Halo TV, Football, CoD #, and a live action trailer for Quantum Break. The features are not very exciting for me so far though I'm sure they are saving the games for E3. With a rumored 15 games in the launch window I suspect some of them will be ready for E3.
I hesitate to be negative because there is a massive audience out there who is flipping their tables with excitement right now. They presented everything the XBox 360 already does, but more HD. Better Kinect, more Halo, more CoD, more SmartGlass. As uninteresting as that may sound for some of us, it is the logical progression for a device looking to become the "smart phone" of the living room. It's everything the college kid needs and a little something in there for the armchair quarterback dad. The fitness games are sure to make an appearance at E3 for the moms as well so they are covering all angles.
Personally I'm leaning hard to PS4 right now. I recently just read a confirmed rumor that XBox One is going to lock a game to a single LIVE profile because of their hard drive installation requirements. This means that two brothers under the same roof will have to buy the game twice, or taking a disk to a friends house means having to pay for it again; that doesn't sit right with me. This is also going to basically replace EA's online pass. I do wonder who is going to see that money however, the developers or is it going directly to Microsoft as further compensation for selling their hardware at a loss?
Agree with what you're saying. (well, except i actually don't know anyone who's excited. my non gaming friends and family don't care about xbox).
It would make sense for MS to adjust their "family xbox live" plan to allow everyone account in the family to use the same game to some degree, or get their unique access at wildly reduced rates.
But personally, as a game dev who doesn't give a shit about tv/ sports/ cars/ or military shooters, this event just served to shove me back towards PS4 and WiiU.
@Warren
"as a game dev who doesn't give a shit about tv/ sports/ cars/ or military shooters...."
I couldn't agree more, for someone who doesn't really watch tv(Or have time), doesn't give a damn about sports or any fantasy sports stuff or halo tv, What does this have to offer me? I don't see any RPGS on the horizon or anything that strikes a chord with me.
I like to call it the XBOX Bro at this point
But hey if that's the kind of stuff people are into, to each his/her own.
Not surprising, but I comments here are undervaluing the multi-tasking and media controls they were showing off. It is a significantly better experience to have that snazzy fantasy sports real time update next to a live hd broadcast of a game than anything you (or at least most people) can do on their computer. And come on, to get all that stuff happening on your computer requires a lot of technical know-how.
Further, I do think that the experience of watching, switching to a phone call, etc. etc. will be all around more pleasant and seamless on the xbox than on most computers.
well it will be interesting, "junior quit that Halo game, cant you see nana is trying to skype in. Put Nana up on the 72" screen already"
as far as fantasy football, the updated fantasy stats are already on every smart phone, tablet computer, I guess having them take up part of the screen is a good thing? not sure. The best thing however to happen to fantasy football is NFL Redzone, not some stat app from xbox1.
@Adam, this is just continuing the trajectory XBOX has been on since the launch of the 360. The console has been about more than just playing games for some time now.
Agreed, Adam. Most of the posters are complaining that the new interactive features may interfere too much with their gamins sessions. How about you don't use them then? And to those complaining they just want their machine to play games, it isn't hard at all to build a system that does that one thing. Why NOT have the extra capabilities in there? They're optional, not mandatory. This was a strong showing by MS imo and the gaming space isn't the only front on which they're waging a war.
I hear multi-tasking and I think "how much RAM and CPU is that consuming?" Even if they are hibernating the process to skip to the next app/game/show then it means either storing that in RAM or reserving an 8GB block on the hard drive. If that hard drive is a solid state (though not likely) all of those re-writes will likely mean a new (expensive) hard drive after about 2 years. On the other hand, not hibernating means taking away a good 1/2 of the RAM away from the games. So that 8GB is looking a lot more like 3-4GB now.
@William: The problem with 'how about you just don't use them' is that they're spending huge resources on it and it appears they only care about gaming as a way to get you watching TV.
It's like when you spend half your time and budget shoehorning multiplayer into something like Ratchet and Clank. The core experience suffers. Even worse in this case, it appears the gaming is not even considered the core experience.
Now maybe they'll have a different message at E3, but this is what they communicated today.
The phone and tablet will do better at providing stats and making phone calls. It seems so odd/awkward to show the phone being used to control what is on the screen when you can just look at your phone and leave the image on the tv at full size.
"Most of the posters are complaining that the new interactive features may interfere too much with their gamins sessions. How about you don't use them then?"
William, this website is meant for game developers. We don't want players to get distracted by other stuff going on at the console. Console gamers were thought of being totally focus on playing, not chatting, watching television or visiting websites.
Slate has a pretty decent article on the XBOX One also. He also speculates $300, with a ceiling of $400. This is an entire family mroe than games machine that MS clearly wants/needs to be ubiquitous. I can't imagine that it will cost mroe than the 360 did at launch, especially considering the economy is worse and the 360 is still such a useful piece of hardware.
Guys seriously. We just saw a GROUNDBREAKING Call of Duty game, the likes of which we have only dreamed of.
Call of Duty: Ghosts, featuring Lt. Shaggy and Sgt. Scoobs as they investigate sightings of ancient fallen warriors known as "ghosts". Together, they must overcome Shaggy's fear of the ghosts and reclaim the freedom from the ethereal monstrosities. Along with Major Velma, Lt. Shaggy and Sgt. Scoobs only have each other.
War is ruff. But it's about to get a whole lot ruffer.
We just saw a cinematic, you shouldn't do that kind of things without any gameplay sequence... For the moment, they are just selling graphics, that's worry.
My jaded gamer streak continues. Saw nothing today that peaked my interest.
No backwards compatibility I can live with. Not being able to play the same game on multiple consoles is a bad joke.
The TV, stat tracking, and other PC like features is nice. I do believe, however, that all that multitasking can be achieved by having a tablet along with a game console in your living room. I'd also imagine multiple windows being tough to see if you don't have a large TV.
Hoping E3 shows the gaming side of Xbox One.
Seriously I can hook up my PC to the TV in my living room. Why bother buying a new game console?
Hopefully its easier to use as an all-in-one games entertainmetn device in tandem with a TV than a PC is. I'm not PC savvy at all, but I can certainly press the power button on a console.
and most people cant or wont hook up a pc to a tv. if you were a company, which group would you go after? why do pc fans constantly talk about how much more powerful or customizable they are than consoles? at what point in history has this not been the case? people don't buy consoles for the power, they buy it for the ease of use. apple has made a fortune on limited, simple products and still you guys don't get the message.
My PC is channel 1 and XBox is channel 2. Microsoft doesn't allow me to play it's competitors but my PC allows both my Playstation and Wii on other channels. I think I prefer my set up even i I need to use a remote control.
While there were a couple neat features... there is NO reason that I'd spend money on the system. There was no sign of anything that appeals to my gaming side.
@Dave Smith: Not sure if you're trolling, or just missed the point. You can replace Mac with PC, and my point still stands. I'd wager there are a number of potential Xbox customers who already have a device in their home that can make calls on Skype, surf the web, and watch TV. Be it a laptop, tablet, desktop, or smartphone.
Game consoles are all about the games. So far there is more of the same, and new limitations to the used/rental market. Everything else is fluff. Curious to see what E3 has to offer.
I think the people predicting the cell phone service like pricing are going to be spot on. Sign up for XBox Live with cable service for 3 years and get your console free. You just have to pay 45 dollars a month. So in the end you're console would cost you over $1500... but you get cable with it so maybe you cancel your other cable service?
The biggest thing is that xboxs could now be sold at cable providers, with marketing for it directly on their websites. This is extremely big for xbox. Think about this, you're looking to change your cable provider (which you do about every 6 months with the stupid pricing they provide) and you see an option to pay $15 more for services but you get the xbox one with it. Which does average Joe, not average gamer but average Joe, buy at that point?
They're going to need a service like that with the multi user Skype chat. That's only available on Skype premium, unless they're going to give Xbox users special dispensation.
Yeah local Cable Company or was it AT&T Uverse down here in El Paso/Las Cruces area is also doing the "Free XBOX 360" thing so I can totally see the XBOX one being offered with certain huge bundle deals. :|
Can I use a mouse? I'm pretty sure the millions of PC gamers will agree to this one. If anything just have the right stick be considered the mouse. You have the stick and the button for left mouse...
Unable to play X-BoX and X-BoX 360 games, but what about XNA games? Since XNA runs on Windows, Windows Phones, and X-BoX 360? Since X-BoX OnE is now x86 or x64 and has some form of Windows, you'd think it should be able to.
Seriously though, indies never really fit in for Microsoft's grand plan. Indies don't own major broadcast networks, or huge publishing chains. Indies don't have the capitol to subsidize their underpricing consoles with lavish licensing fees, or have the staff to do large and impressive experiences for the masses.
Indies are niche and quirky and often speak to an audience that is less than 1M total units. They want Call of Duty numbers, not Fez numbers. It's easier to manage 5 hulking accounts than deal with pedaling out $250 here and there to some indies who are making money $1 at a time.
I could be wrong, but the more I look at XBox One the less I see indies as part of that picture.
@Benjamin Quintero
I agree. I'm confused as to why the PS4 cared. It seems to be more of a PR move and a slight product differentiator rather than a source of substantial revenue.
@Michael Galloway
So they're betting that Jonathan Blow and thatgamecompany become the next Blizzard and Valve? That is a longshot, but I'm glad they are getting support one way or another, even if it is under a false pretense.
Well a lot of these "indie" developers aren't like Terry Cavanagh. Indie nowadays pretty much just means you're not owned by a publisher or at least aren't tied to a particular publisher. So we're not really talking about "bedroom programmers".
News out of Gamespot that the former XBLA and Live Indie Games might be combined into the same storefront with the main games store. With good curation that could be an indie win compared to the obscurity of the Live Indie Games launch, such as it was hidden behind fourteen curtains and an elephant. But "good curation" might be asking a lot. Time will tell, and time has not favoured good curation in the industry so far.
Few things I have come to take away from the reveal...
- Xbox One? So basically choosing a name to further confuse people when trying to discern between the (original) Xbox 1 and this One.
- So EA's excuse for being completely absent in sports is to "make a new engine" for this thing? Is that also their excuse for dumping on the WiiU?
- If the TV Functionality still requires me to have the cable/sat provider's set top box to watch TV, that feature basically matters between *expletive* and all for me. Give it a CableCARD slot so it can REPLACE that box, and we'd have a reason to care.
- No word at all about whether it can play Xbox or 360 games, or any of the downloaded titles... which between it and the PS4's complete lack of any real BC makes the WiiU look more like a winner on that front.
- I do confess my first impression on the controller is nice... but I'm still not fond of being required to have a Kinect. I simply don't have the room that that thing wants me to have.
- Did get some good vibes from the new properties being announced/promoted for the One, I admit.
The last of it could be summed up as this...
Activision guy: "hey, we're making a new game for the Xbox One!"
*Shows Call of Duty*
everyone with a brain: "are you *expletive* kidding me?"
Seriously, how did that guy not see the irony in saying "new" and "Call of Duty" in the same sentence?
@ Jorge Ramos - "Xbox One? So basically choosing a name to further confuse people when trying to discern between the (original) Xbox 1 and this One." That's the thing that bothers me about that name! From my perspective, I'm assuming that the name is supposed to be a reference to all-in-one/all-for-one, but not all people will think like that and may actually get confused with the name, even with proper marketing being done. There are already people that tend to get confused with the name Wii U (especially thanks to the lack of proper marketing), not realizing that the Wii U is a whole new system, so one can only imagine the problem(s) that Microsoft could have with the name choice of Xbox One.
@Jefferson I tend to agree with you. I watched some of the reveal stuff with my wife and she was confused, and I'm assuming she is a large part of the audience for this "all-in-one" device. All-in-one is corporate mumbo jumbo jargon, like "synergy" and the average consumer isn't going to make the leap that XBOX One is short hand for MS's all-in-one device.
Somewhat un-inspired design, looks like an old school VCR player. I'll withhold judgment on its capabilities until i see more games, but so far it's very obvious Microsoft is aiming for the set-top market and cross over TV/games.
I thought it was a good showing. I wanted to hear about the features and functionality of the system more than games. No system has ever had a launch line-up large enough and varied enough to make the console worth the purchase imo so I wasn't dying for specific game news. Plus, I won't be buying it launch day or even launch year so games shown at the event would matter even less.
The functions they talked about were cool. Damn near everyday I will be playing a game online and get bored and decide to watch Netflix. Eventually i get bored of Netflix and want to go back the game. A single occasion hasn't passed where I wished I could just pause the game at the "Search for Match" screen, flip to Netflix, then flip back and be at that same screen.
Multiple windows is cool as well. If I'm stuck in a RPG and need help on a quest, I can just have a wiki or youtube up on the screen while I play rather than have to search for my phone (or wait for my laptop to boot up) to get the info I need.
The NFL stuff sounds like it could be pretty cool as well.
Overall I'd give it a 7/10. The biggest thing I wanted to know is if Live would get an instant game library like PS+ or if some form of online would be free. Neither of those got answered though.
Yes be nice if you don't have to totally reboot a game.
And yes launch lineups are generally meh. But what is the hurry then to learn anything about the console.
I wished they would have shown some new gameplay moments.
And even MS showed off the browser with phone control. Searching for help for a rpg using a game controller and Kinect will have you beating your head against the wall. Might as well just do it on your phone or tablet.
Really I just wish they would have waited to announce until September. This early announcement stuff is mostly just Everythingis going to shatter your world BS.
I'm surprised no one has called them on the fact it is TV tuner but no mention of DVR... honestly who watches TV in real time anymore? Everything is DVR'ed then I watch an hour show in 45 minutes instead. Does this have DVR capability? if it doesn't why would I care about how much TV integration it has?
The only thing they surprised me with is the fact they did notice that the current Kinect is garbage. I mean currently I'm already playing a game by the time the Kinect realizes the console turned on... What it really means is that it never sleeps. It is always on (not to be confused with always 'online'). And as much as we wish voice commands worked, they rarely do. The only reason to use them is because your interface sucks and you need a faster way to navigate to what you were really looking for. Seeming I would be on the gaming tab the whole time I don't really see any benefit here.
I see no specs. Why no specs Microsoft? No one seems to have them anywhere, not even here on Gamasutra. Why so secretive about the hardware? We just want to know.....
Not super detailed but better than nothing: http://t.co/bP1480Idw7
I read somewhere else that both consoles are 1.6Ghz per core but PS4 squeezed out a few more stream cores on their GPU so overall TFlop of xbox vs ps4 is 1.2 vs. 1.8 respectively.
What's most interesting is that it seems only 5GB of RAM for games in XBox while PS4 is likely to share something closer to 6-7GB (probably from the lack of multi-tasking on PS4 or maybe the hunger of Windows Kernel). This probably won't be an issue until mid-life of these consoles but still an interesting fact.
I embrace new technologies, but gesture to expand to full screen? why not just voice control, voice control is better than gesture no?
if there is a custom voice to activate applications that would be great!
calling out tv programs by channel names is cool, but what if I want to flip through the channels? I am sure lots of by flip through channels to find interesting programs.
can't play with no internet, if I have an internet issue who is going to pay for my lost of time? MS or IPS?
The only thing that I am interested was the halo series, if the show is exclusive on XBOX ONE I will consider, if not, the TV features is not selling.
Kinect is awesome! can't wait to see what it will do for games!!
Actually the Sony reveal didn't do much either for the community here. Honestly I think most of us are jaded because we make games and unfortunely it doesn't appear that anyone makes a gaming console anymore for us to deploy those games on.
Criticizing the new xbox do not mean we are pro-sony, my PS3 is taking dust not my 360 but with "the console" , heuuu the thing they are showing. Many people should change and come to the ligth side (i've never been so subjective :)
You should have been here when the Kinect was launched. Most here predicted spectacular flop-some of the same people are commenting here today.
I think part of the resistance to the XBOX brand here is that it is so US focused and a large number of the the audience for this site are not based in the US.
Anyway, I thought the XBOX One looked great and is a big step forward in the direction the 360 was heading and so for me the launch was a success. There are still a lot of unanswered questions but I don't think the plan was to answer every possible question.
As far as next gen I think current trends will likely continue, with Ninetendo continuing to fade in the console space, XBOX One leading in the US and PS4 leading everywhere else, but who knows, its way to early to say.
"You should have been here when the Kinect was launched. Most here predicted spectacular flop-some of the same people are commenting here today."
And it was a huge flop, the number of sensors MS sold (most were bundled with consoles) stands in strong contrast to the non charting of Kinect titles anywhere in the world.
Totally agree, even if it's been well sold and some people are still dancing on dance central, Not much games are interesting and people prefer to rest and play a good old game with a pad.
That's why, like many wii (not the most but an important amount), it's a family an friend stuff which is taking dust in the TV furniture. This audience, moreover does not represent the loyal players who were so many on gamecube.
MS is selling the tech, it's impressive but has a limited future and not among gamers. I think it's better to trust VR (Occulus rift) + pad.
Look at the Xbox one like this: MS makes games that are games not interactive fiction like sony so the games they make will be actual games, also AAA gaming is about to implode and MS is preparing to weather the storm with all the non-gamer features. We gamers will still get a few AAA games (mostly from Nintendo and a few from MS) largely paid for by non-gamers watching/streaming their crap. The rest of our gaming needs can be met by the Ouya and Linux/Windows platforms.
MS will still give us games but they will give our grilfrineds and wives reasons to buy their machine too, now more of our family can use the machine and MS can make enough to justify providing a platform for us to develop/play games on.
After this gen I expect the traditional gamers will largely be on Nintendo platforms, and the family gamers will largely be on MS platforms, and both groups will either have a Linux/windows PC and/or an Ouya *insert number*.
As long as it can play games and MS encourage games and not interactive fiction the world is not ending. Now if MS start pushing interactive fiction instead of games then we can get up in arms cause two out of three of the big players pushing interactive fiction over games will only hurt our medium!
Ask yourself this what is the best gaming console to buy, the console that is trying to be other things like a voice command remote control or the a console that is focusing on the just gaming like the ps4 and nintendo wii
Of course Microsoft intends to reach the mass market with this machine but none of that is really about having more Xbox One out there than Playstation 4 or Apple Tv.
You have to relate everything they said with the presence of Kinect and the fact it has to be always on and the fact that the console has to be always connected. The main purpose of this is DATA : Kinect scans faces/living rooms/behaviours and the programs you watch or the people you chat with on Skype, all of that will bring data. And that's where they intend to get (most of) their money from, the same way as Facebook, the same as Google.
If they sell 10 or 20 millions less Xbox One than any of their competitors, it's not the way they'll measure success or fail. It's about how meaningful the data they pull out can be : Tv ratings more precise than ever, what ads really catch up your attention, how many persons are in the room, male/female, can we identify the unknown person that is with you in the room based on your recent Skype communications, are you single, kids around, etc ?
This is where they want to be 10 years from now. And for gaming. It's very independent from that (except for some of the resources). They believe they will be successul enough in the industry whatever happens and even if they're far behind the Ps4 (considering the Xbox One could never be released in Japan or in 2015-2016 minimum).
A few thoughts that I had during watching the presentation:
- I doubt that this TV stuff will work in my country
- I will not install an always on camera which reacts to me in my apartment, especially not when the box it is connected to also claims to save everything to the cloud ;)
- I don't want to talk to my TV
- I don't want to do any gestures
And on the positive side: the new controller looks nice and I think smart glass is a good idea.
I am looking forward to the e3 presentations. I think a lot will depend on the 15 exclusive games in the first year they talked about. And I hate it that you can't exchange games with friends anymore, very bad decision which is devaluating the games, wonder what prices they will charge.
lol, what a cynical bunch the gaming community is. Everything from the name, to the design, to the features, its games, etc has been criticized. Its just a reveal folks, I think its pretty safe to say that one would need to wait a little longer at least until after e3 to make sound judgments.
I agree with Dave. It's their big reveal, with countdowns and epic music and everything... they were trying pretty damn hard to impress. The criticisms are perfectly justified, until/if they can change our minds.
@ Nathaniel Smith - I'm not being cynical; I'm being realistic. Since I am one of the ones that talked about the system's name, I'll explain my point-of-view on it. I paid/pay attention to people's reaction on the Internet as well as on the outside, so I tend to determine different emotions and opinions from people when it comes to game systems, games and game companies. When the Wii U came out, there was confusion among the masses to the point that some people didn't even know that the Wii U was a whole new system. Lack of proper marketing to explain the system was/is to blame, but that doesn't change that the name Wii U may have caused confusion to potential customers. That was something that was talked about by the Gamasutra commentators in the past, and while I don't have a problem with the name Wii U, I can understand their point-of-view on the name and tend to agree that Nintendo should have been more strategic with the system's name. Microsoft should have paid attention to people's reactions towards Wii U's name and thought more carefully about what name to give to the system. Not everyone will think that the name Xbox One is a reference to it being an all-in-one system and that may cause a branding confusion among potential customers. It doesn't matters that there were other rumored names for the system, either.
Colour me unimpressed too. There's not a single feature in that description that I want, and several that I don't.
I'll be hanging on to my 360 for the foreseeable future, and perhaps (since there's no backward compatibility) rejoicing as second-hand 360 games eventually get cheaper and cheaper.
Voice commands, gestures, multitasking: All just "cherry on top" features I'm not lazy enough to want. Does it play games too? Presumably, but with various systems in place to make sure, you, the consumer, is kept in place.
While many people here may not like it, the product does indeed make the living room more relevant in terms of entertainment.
There are still obvious risks, and I think it should have been IPTV based instead of using current cable boxes, but hey that's just me and another debate.
I still can't get over the name, which I feel is a mistake from a marketing perspective. There will be some confusion but nothing a massive promotional campaign can't fix. My issue with it is that it is rather dull. You don't give your products dull names. History demonstrates how confusing and dull names can ruin automobiles, among other products. The rumoured "Xbox Infinity" was far more inspiring, and equally descriptive. MS took the "one" from "all in one" when they should have taken the "all". Infinity means it can do everything and anything you can think of. That is, if it had Windows 8 App support, which I think is major mistake #2.
I do still think it will be there, ultimately, but it would have been wise to have announced App support for the console. Using a NASA Space Exploration App with Kinect would have been a marvelous experience. It would have opened the door to educational apps, something that tablets and phones are seeing more of. It would have opened the door to practical apps to use while watching TV, like pulling up a To-Do list, or a calculator. It would have opened the door to more imaginative and risky Kinect titles from Indie developers. Much like how Apps opened up the iPhone to never imagined possibilities, App support on the One could have opened up people's Living Rooms to infinite possibilities. Hey, there's that word again.
Most people are being too hard on it because it doesn't fit into the paradigm of what they think a games console should be. This is an entertainment device. It does games, along with movies, TV, and music.
You know what is also a massively large entertainment industry besides movies, TV, and music? One that is worth $480-620 BILLION dollars world-wide? SPORTS. People seemed to hate the attention it got during the presentation, but it is a large part of many lives in today's world and can be leveraged using modern, powerful technology.
There is no harm in making a box more relevant to more people, as long as games aren't mitigated in their growth, potential, and execution. Not much in this presentation demonstrated that (lack of self-publishing options notwithstanding). If E3 disappoints in this regard, then sure, I'll be joining the chorus. But thus far I believe the chorus to be jumping to conclusions and being short-sighted.
what exactly does it do better than what I already have? it's not even a true all in one device. it seems to be little more than an extra layer of spam on top of cool stuff I already have.
I agree that it was a good strategy to go after the living room, but the execution is bungled in the extreme.
"Most people are being too hard on it because it doesn't fit into the paradigm of what they think a games console should be. This is an entertainment device. It does games, along with movies, TV, and music."
People already have things where you can play movies, television and music. Ok, game consoles now can also play movies and music from discs. But that's old news. The news about new console generation is what new kind of games it can play, and that lacked.
Featuring a web browser and Skype is interesting. But computers already do that.
"People seemed to hate the attention [sports] got during the presentation, but it is a large part of many lives in today's world and can be leveraged using modern, powerful technology."
Agree, but what does it have to do with a game console? People have watched sports television, read sports websites, and played sports games for decades. What's new about sports in this console?
Dave said, "what exactly does it do better than what I already have? "
Well, all I can tell you is what they're pitching, I'll have to see for myself, but it looks like the goal is to have everything you want quickly accessible on one screen, which we have on our PCs and Tablets/Phone...but not yet on our TV.
Titi said, "But that's old news."
I think it's to do with the convenience that's supposed to be on par with our phones, PCs, and other devices. It is old news...but they're pitching that this experience will be much more convenient. And I'll concede that my tablet is better at multitasking than my current consoles.
"What's new about sports in this console?"
The big thing is that it takes something millions of people do around the World and makes it a console experience. This could be a complete article in and of itself, there is a lot of potential here. Potential that many Sports TV companies have been attempting to address. For example, CBC Sports has a Second Screen feature for their NHL broadcasts (they also have a 360 app to watch live games). I don't have the time to go into details, but the one feature of fantasy leagues being tied into the experience is going to be huge for the console. Sports is also changing with social interaction. Now you have many at-home stats experts that extrapolate stats that the leagues don't even record. With social platforms like Twitter they share these results. To be able to see them on the TV during a game would be a huge feature as well. Anyways, I didn't want to make this too long, but I did want to show appreciation for your comment because you asked a very good question.
"Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc."
resume : Pay to install, but with just the Disc ???
"further details are forthcoming"
Woring... Since used market had been the possibility for everybody to et games, will they now move out?
Sony's conference was a lot more games-tilted, and developer-focused.
I believe (accessories aside) the PS4 is the superior hardware unit as well.
The whole terrain navigation thing is something we've seen about 10 times in the last few years so it's nothing special in the next gen.
I'll reserve judgement to see what Watch Dogs shows at E3, so far that's the only game that appears to be taking advantage of the hardware to do something we've never seen before with more dynamic pedestrian AI rather than just making everything we already have bigger.
And according to Polygon, Aaron Greenberg of Microsoft said this prior to the event.
"The best way I can describe it is, we're really going to tell one story across two events. So we're going to start on the 21 [of May] and really that's about revealing the next Xbox platform and our vision for the future of games, the future of entertainment. We definitely have a lot of surprises planned."
And...
"It's a lot of laying the foundation, and then just a couple weeks later we go to E3, and E3 is all about the games. It's going to be tons of exclusives [and] world premieres."
Just sayin'
I can't believe that the spyware aspect of the console has not received any attention at all from the press. The XBOX One will not work without Kinect attached and functioning correctly. Which means that Microsoft is now going to store a database of everyone's face and voice, connected to their real names, phone numbers, and addresses.
No doubt there will be a massive EULA before you can use the machine that will dictate how Microsoft can store your (very) personal information forever - basically your entire identity - and use it in god knows what ways to invade your privacy. That is terrifying.
Am I the only one who had the feeling that this is more a threat then a blessing when I saw the following picture during watching the video?:
http://images.idgentertainment.de/images/idgwpgsgp/bdb/2399821/big image.jpg
1) Now you can watch TV on your TV!
2) OMG football
3) Halo is finally the cinematic experience it always wanted to be, literally
4) Dirt under fingernails
5) We have a dog. Maybe we'll do cats next.
6) Are you ready for some football
Too bad gamers are the opposite.
The thing is this is for more than self-identifying gamers, as is the 360, which has sold enough units to become a maintream entertainment device. I dlike tot alk to people and so do most humans in general. I agree that if it can't pick up accents that is a problem-just not to most Americans who will buy this console (or not).
As for all the social networking stuff, and added data, and flipping back and forth from different media, I have little use for that, and to be honest you could do all that for years with a pc but the younger gen may find that useful, I dont know
Games look nice, but again not enough actual gameplay footage ( when will they learn?)
Anyway looks like it may be decent and possibly nice to have at some point.
To be honest however, after having hands on experience with the Oculus Rift, this all seems a little meh.. I'm telling you, as a gamer since pong, Oculus Rift has me more excited than Ive been in decades about gaming.
but I guess we will see, it will be nice to have options.
The demo showed switching between things like TV, movie, music, and game, but it didn't demonstrate how long the system boots up or how long it takes to get into a game or if you can switch games or run two simultaneously. That was a bigger deal for me in the PS4 reveal: how fast the system booted up and returned straight into an in-progress (suspended) game. Will the XB1 have suspend? I dunno.
I see alot of functionality that you might as well just do on your phone since the demo showed you using your phone for half the control anyway. It would seem easier to leave your football game on the tv in full screen while checking out stats or calling a friend on your phone. I don't see the advantage of using your tv screen.
I think really think they're missing both sides here: the older people don't care, and the younger people all have better tools for the job.
The biggest problem is the devil is in the details. How much does it cost? Launch games? How well does that Kinect interface really work? How well does the smartglass stuff work? How does it actually connect with your cable company service? etc....
The stuff they showed was glossy bullshot-type stuff. They said they were showing Live tv, but notice the basketball game they were showing was a week old or so.
I expected this type of showing but wished for some more real hands on stuff. I guess it is too early for that. This is for suits and ties and major news outlets.
That is a good question. I would follow up with: Does it require a cable/satellite subscription or will it be able to work with over-the-air television channels?
My second guess is MS did deals with various providers to provide internet streaming of live cable tv. But not seeing how you switch channels as fast. Actually you can't switch channels that fast on a cable box either. Digital is slower than analog was.
It will involve cable companies. In the presentation they even mentioned Comcast.
MS XBox Division......who?
And we lose backwards compatibility with old games... here's another question, if for the next I dunno year at least most games will come out on both the new and old machine why the hell would I buy the new machine??
In reality I had to go through three emails to Microsoft, set up another email account and have phone verification 3 times. So yeah, reality doesn't quite live up to the theory of it.
I haven't read the Wired article yet, but will do first thing in the morning (it's like 1am here).
In actuality, I think they nailed it for that segment. Queue to play your favorite game while in another game browsing the web on the side in a snapped on browser via your phone/tablet... does anyone actually need this? It's technically cool, but is it an improvement in user experience?
Tech is definitely impressive, but it just leaves cold. Sports games, and a version of COD that look slightly better then what we already have.
I'll probably end up getting one, although I might be getting the PS4 sooner as it looks more like a gamers machine, the XBox one is more of a cable box that happens to play games.
But it's all a bit depressing, is this it? the pinnacle of gaming? FPS and sports games?
Time for someone to come along and shake things up me'thinks.
Good night sweet prince.
I would like more info about this tidbit...If I have multiple consoles in my home and I buy one copy of a game, does that mean I can only install it on one console and have to pay a "second-hand fee" to install it on my others? Do I have to pay this "second-hand fee" every time I play the game on different console (as in does it disable other installs when you second-hand install it)? I can imagine some solution with tying the game to a live account or a family account, but family accounts only have 4 accounts right now (as far as I know).
I understand that if I wanted to play a game on multiple consoles *at the same time* (e.g. lan parties), then I would need to buy multiple copies of the game...that's what I do now. But some games I only play on one console *at a time*...so how does that work?
Hell, I do that myself at Christmas--I take all my game discs home with me so my step-brother can try any of my games that he doesn't already own.
So if I have a child and we both want to play a game (each with our own live account), then I cannot buy one copy of the game for both of us to use separately (and each of us have our own achievements, save games, etc.). That's the point I'm getting at. Do I have to pay a "second-hand fee" for my son to play the game on his live account? And if I do go ahead and pay that fee, does that disable it on my account...meaning I have to be completely done with the game before I transfer it to my child's live account?
Highly doubt it.
Of course... this might be wishful thinking.
This is a tremendous step backward, and it's depressing that they haven't learned from "always online" failures from companies like Ubisoft and EA that this is a terrible, anti-consumer idea that will break your game and leave your customers unhappy.
When did they say that? Was it in the presentation, then I must have overheard it. As I heard nothing about "not always on" I assumed, the console is "always on" otherwise they would have stated it (same with any kind of b/c no mention of b/c means no b/c).
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-21-xbox-always-onlin e-the-answer-i
s-no
According to CVG developers can require it on a game-by-game basis.
They said it in the article he linked above.
A constant online connection is not required to play single player games.
It's true that *not all* games will require an always online connection, but read the bit I quoted above. They certainly are supporting online only games and the Microsoft rep interviewed by Wired says they want developers to go that route.
Thanks, I read the article, but I remain skeptic, the wording is a little bit vague. It's even more vague, because he says "Xbox One is designed to always be connected to the internet", it sounds like you can play games, but I know this business long enough to see, where a direct quote is used in the article and where not.
The statement, that the XBox One can be used offline for games is not a direct quote. I think this means Harvey Eagle doesn't want to be quoted on anything else then "The answer is no" which is very vague. Maybe you can play offline for a certain ammount of time or maybe you can play, but you can't save. Unless somebody outside of MS marketing makes a statement I am not sure if the "always on" scenario is history.
What you are saying Jonathan makes no sense, from the Wired article:
"You can install any game from the disc to the console’s hard drive, and then play that game whenever you like without having to put the disc in.
Wired asked Microsoft if installation would be mandatory. “On the new Xbox, all game discs are installed to the HDD to play,” the company responded in an emailed statement. Sounds mandatory to us."
According to your logic, you could take a game install it on your HDD WITHOUT being connected to the internet and play the game, then take the game to your friend install it on his HDD WITHOUT being connected to the internet so that he can play the game too - as long as he likes, because the game runs without the need to insert the disc.
I think it's a safe bet to say this will not work (and the Wired article says the exact same thing). This means the game requires at least an online activation. Depending on the way this activation works, it can mean the game checks the validity of your game at startup, you could have sold your disc, so there has to be checked if the game is still in you possession or transfered to a different account. If this is the case, you can play the game, if your internet connection is gone, but you can't start a new game, because the validity of the game can't be verified.
What you call baseless speculation I would call basic reading skills.
No, it means what I wrote, that you need an internet connection during the start of the game because the mandatory installation comes with the feature that the game runs without the disc inserted.
I quoted the part of the article that explains the system.
I don't know how you want to check if the game is still/already tied to the account it is started from without an internet connection, if you know a different way, please tell me.
How should this work? What would prevent me from setting up an account and then take my console from the Internet forever? I could rent any game I want and install it on the console, because the game runs without the disc.
The only way it would work offline is, when the console is writing something physical on the disc, but I don't think MS will develop a BluRay/BluRay Writable hybrid disc and put a BluRay Writer in any XBOX ONE just for this purpose.
Oh, you are talking about the games rental market and owning a game that way. That seems pretty easy to address (making specific rental discs).
That's not the point, the questions are:
- will the console a) work without an internet connection ?
- and b) will the console require a permanent internet connection ?
EDIT: The question is answered, the console needs to go online once every 24 hours:
"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-internet-connection-cant-p lay-o-50916410
9
There are so many f***ups in this entire story...
*) Xbox One... What??
*) Looks like a Laserdisc player from the 90s
*) So, what exactly is new? Sounds like a Xbox 360 ²
Still, I will wait for E3 before judging. PS4 still ahead in my view.
Developers only got "hey its like an Xbox 360, but better", which pretty much on par with the PS4, except in PS4 they showed that any kind of dev, indies included, were welcome. Whether this is good or not (for MS business perspective), I don't have a clue.
For gamers, maybe, maybe got CoD, now with a dog. But hey former gamer, who want games anyway on your game console?
I guess if this is some sort of "two parter" with the E3 filling the blanks, will work out better. But for now the PS4 get my attention more than the XBox One. Not sure if this whole "entertainment center" will work out better than a more standard game console though.
I hesitate to be negative because there is a massive audience out there who is flipping their tables with excitement right now. They presented everything the XBox 360 already does, but more HD. Better Kinect, more Halo, more CoD, more SmartGlass. As uninteresting as that may sound for some of us, it is the logical progression for a device looking to become the "smart phone" of the living room. It's everything the college kid needs and a little something in there for the armchair quarterback dad. The fitness games are sure to make an appearance at E3 for the moms as well so they are covering all angles.
Personally I'm leaning hard to PS4 right now. I recently just read a confirmed rumor that XBox One is going to lock a game to a single LIVE profile because of their hard drive installation requirements. This means that two brothers under the same roof will have to buy the game twice, or taking a disk to a friends house means having to pay for it again; that doesn't sit right with me. This is also going to basically replace EA's online pass. I do wonder who is going to see that money however, the developers or is it going directly to Microsoft as further compensation for selling their hardware at a loss?
It would make sense for MS to adjust their "family xbox live" plan to allow everyone account in the family to use the same game to some degree, or get their unique access at wildly reduced rates.
But personally, as a game dev who doesn't give a shit about tv/ sports/ cars/ or military shooters, this event just served to shove me back towards PS4 and WiiU.
"as a game dev who doesn't give a shit about tv/ sports/ cars/ or military shooters...."
I couldn't agree more, for someone who doesn't really watch tv(Or have time), doesn't give a damn about sports or any fantasy sports stuff or halo tv, What does this have to offer me? I don't see any RPGS on the horizon or anything that strikes a chord with me.
I like to call it the XBOX Bro at this point
But hey if that's the kind of stuff people are into, to each his/her own.
Further, I do think that the experience of watching, switching to a phone call, etc. etc. will be all around more pleasant and seamless on the xbox than on most computers.
as far as fantasy football, the updated fantasy stats are already on every smart phone, tablet computer, I guess having them take up part of the screen is a good thing? not sure. The best thing however to happen to fantasy football is NFL Redzone, not some stat app from xbox1.
It's like when you spend half your time and budget shoehorning multiplayer into something like Ratchet and Clank. The core experience suffers. Even worse in this case, it appears the gaming is not even considered the core experience.
Now maybe they'll have a different message at E3, but this is what they communicated today.
How about we don't use it?
how about we don't buy it...
The phone and tablet will do better at providing stats and making phone calls. It seems so odd/awkward to show the phone being used to control what is on the screen when you can just look at your phone and leave the image on the tv at full size.
William, this website is meant for game developers. We don't want players to get distracted by other stuff going on at the console. Console gamers were thought of being totally focus on playing, not chatting, watching television or visiting websites.
Call of Duty: Ghosts, featuring Lt. Shaggy and Sgt. Scoobs as they investigate sightings of ancient fallen warriors known as "ghosts". Together, they must overcome Shaggy's fear of the ghosts and reclaim the freedom from the ethereal monstrosities. Along with Major Velma, Lt. Shaggy and Sgt. Scoobs only have each other.
War is ruff. But it's about to get a whole lot ruffer.
This product not yet rated.
Lmao. You are killing me
No backwards compatibility I can live with. Not being able to play the same game on multiple consoles is a bad joke.
The TV, stat tracking, and other PC like features is nice. I do believe, however, that all that multitasking can be achieved by having a tablet along with a game console in your living room. I'd also imagine multiple windows being tough to see if you don't have a large TV.
Hoping E3 shows the gaming side of Xbox One.
Seriously I can hook up my PC to the TV in my living room. Why bother buying a new game console?
My PC is channel 1 and XBox is channel 2. Microsoft doesn't allow me to play it's competitors but my PC allows both my Playstation and Wii on other channels. I think I prefer my set up even i I need to use a remote control.
While there were a couple neat features... there is NO reason that I'd spend money on the system. There was no sign of anything that appeals to my gaming side.
Game consoles are all about the games. So far there is more of the same, and new limitations to the used/rental market. Everything else is fluff. Curious to see what E3 has to offer.
The biggest thing is that xboxs could now be sold at cable providers, with marketing for it directly on their websites. This is extremely big for xbox. Think about this, you're looking to change your cable provider (which you do about every 6 months with the stupid pricing they provide) and you see an option to pay $15 more for services but you get the xbox one with it. Which does average Joe, not average gamer but average Joe, buy at that point?
I think I recall an article pointing to this as a misleading reason why Xbox had higher selling numbers - because they were giving them away.
Edit: Referring to the 360, obviously
Unable to play X-BoX and X-BoX 360 games, but what about XNA games? Since XNA runs on Windows, Windows Phones, and X-BoX 360? Since X-BoX OnE is now x86 or x64 and has some form of Windows, you'd think it should be able to.
Please no. Well, whatever I won't buy one anyway.
Seriously though, indies never really fit in for Microsoft's grand plan. Indies don't own major broadcast networks, or huge publishing chains. Indies don't have the capitol to subsidize their underpricing consoles with lavish licensing fees, or have the staff to do large and impressive experiences for the masses.
Indies are niche and quirky and often speak to an audience that is less than 1M total units. They want Call of Duty numbers, not Fez numbers. It's easier to manage 5 hulking accounts than deal with pedaling out $250 here and there to some indies who are making money $1 at a time.
I could be wrong, but the more I look at XBox One the less I see indies as part of that picture.
I agree. I'm confused as to why the PS4 cared. It seems to be more of a PR move and a slight product differentiator rather than a source of substantial revenue.
So they're betting that Jonathan Blow and thatgamecompany become the next Blizzard and Valve? That is a longshot, but I'm glad they are getting support one way or another, even if it is under a false pretense.
People are kind of tired of paying full price for a game, and then having the game bug us for more real money for little things.
- Xbox One? So basically choosing a name to further confuse people when trying to discern between the (original) Xbox 1 and this One.
- So EA's excuse for being completely absent in sports is to "make a new engine" for this thing? Is that also their excuse for dumping on the WiiU?
- If the TV Functionality still requires me to have the cable/sat provider's set top box to watch TV, that feature basically matters between *expletive* and all for me. Give it a CableCARD slot so it can REPLACE that box, and we'd have a reason to care.
- No word at all about whether it can play Xbox or 360 games, or any of the downloaded titles... which between it and the PS4's complete lack of any real BC makes the WiiU look more like a winner on that front.
- I do confess my first impression on the controller is nice... but I'm still not fond of being required to have a Kinect. I simply don't have the room that that thing wants me to have.
- Did get some good vibes from the new properties being announced/promoted for the One, I admit.
The last of it could be summed up as this...
Activision guy: "hey, we're making a new game for the Xbox One!"
*Shows Call of Duty*
everyone with a brain: "are you *expletive* kidding me?"
Seriously, how did that guy not see the irony in saying "new" and "Call of Duty" in the same sentence?
The functions they talked about were cool. Damn near everyday I will be playing a game online and get bored and decide to watch Netflix. Eventually i get bored of Netflix and want to go back the game. A single occasion hasn't passed where I wished I could just pause the game at the "Search for Match" screen, flip to Netflix, then flip back and be at that same screen.
Multiple windows is cool as well. If I'm stuck in a RPG and need help on a quest, I can just have a wiki or youtube up on the screen while I play rather than have to search for my phone (or wait for my laptop to boot up) to get the info I need.
The NFL stuff sounds like it could be pretty cool as well.
Overall I'd give it a 7/10. The biggest thing I wanted to know is if Live would get an instant game library like PS+ or if some form of online would be free. Neither of those got answered though.
And yes launch lineups are generally meh. But what is the hurry then to learn anything about the console.
I wished they would have shown some new gameplay moments.
And even MS showed off the browser with phone control. Searching for help for a rpg using a game controller and Kinect will have you beating your head against the wall. Might as well just do it on your phone or tablet.
Really I just wish they would have waited to announce until September. This early announcement stuff is mostly just Everythingis going to shatter your world BS.
The only thing they surprised me with is the fact they did notice that the current Kinect is garbage. I mean currently I'm already playing a game by the time the Kinect realizes the console turned on... What it really means is that it never sleeps. It is always on (not to be confused with always 'online'). And as much as we wish voice commands worked, they rarely do. The only reason to use them is because your interface sucks and you need a faster way to navigate to what you were really looking for. Seeming I would be on the gaming tab the whole time I don't really see any benefit here.
The only other way is to strike Internet streaming deals with cable companies that will let you play shows anytime with a subscription.
I would really welcome a SteamBox right now...
I read somewhere else that both consoles are 1.6Ghz per core but PS4 squeezed out a few more stream cores on their GPU so overall TFlop of xbox vs ps4 is 1.2 vs. 1.8 respectively.
What's most interesting is that it seems only 5GB of RAM for games in XBox while PS4 is likely to share something closer to 6-7GB (probably from the lack of multi-tasking on PS4 or maybe the hunger of Windows Kernel). This probably won't be an issue until mid-life of these consoles but still an interesting fact.
if there is a custom voice to activate applications that would be great!
calling out tv programs by channel names is cool, but what if I want to flip through the channels? I am sure lots of by flip through channels to find interesting programs.
can't play with no internet, if I have an internet issue who is going to pay for my lost of time? MS or IPS?
The only thing that I am interested was the halo series, if the show is exclusive on XBOX ONE I will consider, if not, the TV features is not selling.
Kinect is awesome! can't wait to see what it will do for games!!
Neither of them were memorable in a good way.
I think part of the resistance to the XBOX brand here is that it is so US focused and a large number of the the audience for this site are not based in the US.
Anyway, I thought the XBOX One looked great and is a big step forward in the direction the 360 was heading and so for me the launch was a success. There are still a lot of unanswered questions but I don't think the plan was to answer every possible question.
As far as next gen I think current trends will likely continue, with Ninetendo continuing to fade in the console space, XBOX One leading in the US and PS4 leading everywhere else, but who knows, its way to early to say.
And it was a huge flop, the number of sensors MS sold (most were bundled with consoles) stands in strong contrast to the non charting of Kinect titles anywhere in the world.
Totally agree, even if it's been well sold and some people are still dancing on dance central, Not much games are interesting and people prefer to rest and play a good old game with a pad.
That's why, like many wii (not the most but an important amount), it's a family an friend stuff which is taking dust in the TV furniture. This audience, moreover does not represent the loyal players who were so many on gamecube.
MS is selling the tech, it's impressive but has a limited future and not among gamers. I think it's better to trust VR (Occulus rift) + pad.
MS will still give us games but they will give our grilfrineds and wives reasons to buy their machine too, now more of our family can use the machine and MS can make enough to justify providing a platform for us to develop/play games on.
After this gen I expect the traditional gamers will largely be on Nintendo platforms, and the family gamers will largely be on MS platforms, and both groups will either have a Linux/windows PC and/or an Ouya *insert number*.
As long as it can play games and MS encourage games and not interactive fiction the world is not ending. Now if MS start pushing interactive fiction instead of games then we can get up in arms cause two out of three of the big players pushing interactive fiction over games will only hurt our medium!
Guys, yesterday I listened two things : TV and Sports!
Oh forgot! COD and dogs too... Fantastic innovation !
Please MS, are you mocking me ?
Like in CoD2 and CoD4...
You have to relate everything they said with the presence of Kinect and the fact it has to be always on and the fact that the console has to be always connected. The main purpose of this is DATA : Kinect scans faces/living rooms/behaviours and the programs you watch or the people you chat with on Skype, all of that will bring data. And that's where they intend to get (most of) their money from, the same way as Facebook, the same as Google.
If they sell 10 or 20 millions less Xbox One than any of their competitors, it's not the way they'll measure success or fail. It's about how meaningful the data they pull out can be : Tv ratings more precise than ever, what ads really catch up your attention, how many persons are in the room, male/female, can we identify the unknown person that is with you in the room based on your recent Skype communications, are you single, kids around, etc ?
This is where they want to be 10 years from now. And for gaming. It's very independent from that (except for some of the resources). They believe they will be successul enough in the industry whatever happens and even if they're far behind the Ps4 (considering the Xbox One could never be released in Japan or in 2015-2016 minimum).
Thanks.
- I doubt that this TV stuff will work in my country
- I will not install an always on camera which reacts to me in my apartment, especially not when the box it is connected to also claims to save everything to the cloud ;)
- I don't want to talk to my TV
- I don't want to do any gestures
And on the positive side: the new controller looks nice and I think smart glass is a good idea.
I am looking forward to the e3 presentations. I think a lot will depend on the 15 exclusive games in the first year they talked about. And I hate it that you can't exchange games with friends anymore, very bad decision which is devaluating the games, wonder what prices they will charge.
I'll be hanging on to my 360 for the foreseeable future, and perhaps (since there's no backward compatibility) rejoicing as second-hand 360 games eventually get cheaper and cheaper.
Really ? True ? or more speculations ?
Fascinating... Xbone is a big box of surprises!
There are still obvious risks, and I think it should have been IPTV based instead of using current cable boxes, but hey that's just me and another debate.
I still can't get over the name, which I feel is a mistake from a marketing perspective. There will be some confusion but nothing a massive promotional campaign can't fix. My issue with it is that it is rather dull. You don't give your products dull names. History demonstrates how confusing and dull names can ruin automobiles, among other products. The rumoured "Xbox Infinity" was far more inspiring, and equally descriptive. MS took the "one" from "all in one" when they should have taken the "all". Infinity means it can do everything and anything you can think of. That is, if it had Windows 8 App support, which I think is major mistake #2.
I do still think it will be there, ultimately, but it would have been wise to have announced App support for the console. Using a NASA Space Exploration App with Kinect would have been a marvelous experience. It would have opened the door to educational apps, something that tablets and phones are seeing more of. It would have opened the door to practical apps to use while watching TV, like pulling up a To-Do list, or a calculator. It would have opened the door to more imaginative and risky Kinect titles from Indie developers. Much like how Apps opened up the iPhone to never imagined possibilities, App support on the One could have opened up people's Living Rooms to infinite possibilities. Hey, there's that word again.
Most people are being too hard on it because it doesn't fit into the paradigm of what they think a games console should be. This is an entertainment device. It does games, along with movies, TV, and music.
You know what is also a massively large entertainment industry besides movies, TV, and music? One that is worth $480-620 BILLION dollars world-wide? SPORTS. People seemed to hate the attention it got during the presentation, but it is a large part of many lives in today's world and can be leveraged using modern, powerful technology.
There is no harm in making a box more relevant to more people, as long as games aren't mitigated in their growth, potential, and execution. Not much in this presentation demonstrated that (lack of self-publishing options notwithstanding). If E3 disappoints in this regard, then sure, I'll be joining the chorus. But thus far I believe the chorus to be jumping to conclusions and being short-sighted.
I agree that it was a good strategy to go after the living room, but the execution is bungled in the extreme.
People already have things where you can play movies, television and music. Ok, game consoles now can also play movies and music from discs. But that's old news. The news about new console generation is what new kind of games it can play, and that lacked.
Featuring a web browser and Skype is interesting. But computers already do that.
"People seemed to hate the attention [sports] got during the presentation, but it is a large part of many lives in today's world and can be leveraged using modern, powerful technology."
Agree, but what does it have to do with a game console? People have watched sports television, read sports websites, and played sports games for decades. What's new about sports in this console?
Well, all I can tell you is what they're pitching, I'll have to see for myself, but it looks like the goal is to have everything you want quickly accessible on one screen, which we have on our PCs and Tablets/Phone...but not yet on our TV.
Titi said, "But that's old news."
I think it's to do with the convenience that's supposed to be on par with our phones, PCs, and other devices. It is old news...but they're pitching that this experience will be much more convenient. And I'll concede that my tablet is better at multitasking than my current consoles.
"What's new about sports in this console?"
The big thing is that it takes something millions of people do around the World and makes it a console experience. This could be a complete article in and of itself, there is a lot of potential here. Potential that many Sports TV companies have been attempting to address. For example, CBC Sports has a Second Screen feature for their NHL broadcasts (they also have a 360 app to watch live games). I don't have the time to go into details, but the one feature of fantasy leagues being tied into the experience is going to be huge for the console. Sports is also changing with social interaction. Now you have many at-home stats experts that extrapolate stats that the leagues don't even record. With social platforms like Twitter they share these results. To be able to see them on the TV during a game would be a huge feature as well. Anyways, I didn't want to make this too long, but I did want to show appreciation for your comment because you asked a very good question.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/05/xbox-one-analysis/
"Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc."
resume : Pay to install, but with just the Disc ???
"further details are forthcoming"
Woring... Since used market had been the possibility for everybody to et games, will they now move out?