Nextbox rumors..

Gravey wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

Since gamerscore is shared amoung Xbox, GFWL (xbox games for windows or whatever the new name is), and Win Phone, I don't think you'll get a reset.

Would be interesting if they broke the score down into a single score for each platform.

You're breaking Jonman's heart.

Psh. Like Elysium, I had Heart 2.0 installed back in '91. Fixed the breakability bug that crept into the initial release. Thing's bloody bombproof now.

Seriously though, if you want a gamerscore reset, it's as simple as starting a new gamertag. Nothing stopping you from doing that.

I'd love to see gamerscore reset. Not attached to mine except as a measure of my progress through a game. It's taken me 6 years to accumulate 19,000.

DSGamer wrote:

It's taken me 6 years to accumulate 19,000.

Ha! 6 years for 15k here, you overachiever!

DSGamer wrote:

I'd love to see gamerscore reset. Not attached to mine except as a measure of my progress through a game. It's taken me 6 years to accumulate 19,000.

As much time as I've spent working on some low hanging fruit achievements in the last couple of years, if I was given the option tomorrow to not only reset my GamerScore but have it not count up anymore, I'd probably take it. Nothing against achievements as a whole, just my own compulsions I think do impact my enjoyment of some games and it would be a lot easier if I could just eliminate what causes them so I wouldn't think about it anymore. I don't see them giving me the option though.

Will this be the first generation with a significant cross over of profile data like that?

True. If I were actually given an option I'd disable it.

TheGameguru wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

Going back some pages to what people were saying about the graphics technology, I think the real limit for the next gen consoles will be TVs, not the systems themselves. HDMI 1.4 currently can't do more than 720/60p in 3D, or 1080/60p in 2D. So there's no need for super powerful GPUs.

You still need a significant upgrade from what is in there today.. 1080P 60FPS isnt really achievable with significant details unless you increase the GPU speed.. I agree you won't need a 7970 class GPU but you need a step above what is in there today.. todays midrange tech should be more than sufficient for the nextbox to hit those numbers.

But yes.. 1080P/60FPS will be the hard limit for some time to come.. I don't see any significant TV upgrades hitting mainstream until the next generation after this..

Yeah I didn't mean to suggest the current gen was anywhere near acceptable. But if the new Xbox has a 6670 with a faster CPU, I think it will come pretty close to the limits of HDMI. So people who are concerned about it not using the latest hardware, like the 360 did in 2005, probably don't need to be. That said, I can also see Mannish's point about using the GPU for other tasks. Better physics would be really nice to have.

I want a text box in the bottom corner of the screen where I can type /pizza and /turkey sandwich and have those delivered within 30 minutes of pressing enter.

All from the comfort of my livingroom sofa.

Scratched wrote:

Will this be the first generation with a significant cross over of profile data like that?

I believe it will be.

On a somewhat related note, I haven't had access to Live in about a month, and it sucks. It makes the Xbox schizophrenic. Some (single player) games play fine, while others are hobbled or annoying, constantly trying to connect to leaderboards or reminding me over and over that certain features are unavailable. I can't play Ghostbusters because my saved game is out in the cloud somewhere. A few titles are completely locked out, as they were originally purchased on a different console. They're right there on the hard drive; I just can't play them, because I'm a temporary exile from the central hub.

It's weird.

LiquidMantis wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

It's taken me 6 years to accumulate 19,000.

Ha! 6 years for 15k here, you overachiever!

Amateurs: 8 years, 16k. It's like I'm not even trying.

ColdForged wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

It's taken me 6 years to accumulate 19,000.

Ha! 6 years for 15k here, you overachiever!

Amateurs: 8 years, 16k. It's like I'm not even trying.

Eight years? How is that even possible? The 360 only launched six years ago.

Clemenstation wrote:
Scratched wrote:

Will this be the first generation with a significant cross over of profile data like that?

I believe it will be.

On a somewhat related note, I haven't had access to Live in about a month, and it sucks. It makes the Xbox schizophrenic. Some (single player) games play fine, while others are hobbled or annoying, constantly trying to connect to leaderboards or reminding me over and over that certain features are unavailable. I can't play Ghostbusters because my saved game is out in the cloud somewhere. A few titles are completely locked out, as they were originally purchased on a different console. They're right there on the hard drive; I just can't play them, because I'm a temporary exile from the central hub.

It's weird.

I booted up Castle Crashers one day without a connection to Live, but it allowed me to play nonetheless. However, I couldn't use my save file. I figured whatever, I'd just let my niece play it for a while (which I believe it stopped and said "If you'd like to buy the full version..."). I don't know if it's because I played and it overwrote or what, but my original save file was lost forever after that.

So yeah, this whole "must be connected to the Internet" thing is total bullsh*t if I can't even play a game I paid for offline with my save file.

On another note: I wonder if Microsoft will try and build this console to be easier with developers or try and force them into their own unique architecture. I remember Vigil Games mentioning porting a game to Wii-U being really easy, though here they claim it took five seven-day weeks to port it. Doesn't really go into the hours spent, but all in all that still sounds pretty good to have a game mostly running on other systems, and then being able to move it over in just five weeks (though those could have been 80+ hour work weeks for those involved, easy).

Right now, developers have learned that building a game for just one console is a bit of a risky bet. Yet both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are built with the intent of tying a developer to their console's architecture. Yes, Microsoft focuses on providing ease of development with tools like XNA, but that ties the developer specifically to C# and their framework. Porting that to PS3 would likely take time, especially considering the Cell architecture being quite different. Meanwhile, programming specifically for the Cell pretty much guarantees your game will need a lot of retooling to work properly on other platforms.

Which, as mentioned several times in this thread, ties into most of the games not really using any system to the best of their abilities. When you get right down to it, developers need to stick to the superficial things both systems have in common so it is easier and cheaper to develop for both. It might be in everyone's best interest to actually make their platforms more cross-compatible.

On a final note: I loved how the end of the Xbox and start of 360 was indicating an end of pre-rendered cut-scenes and moving towards in-game cut-scenes instead. Now, I'm seeing pixilization and artifacts all over pre-rendered cut-scenes on the 360. I know the PS3 handles video better, but for God's sake, the end of Dragon Age: Origins looked like I was back around 2000 watching a video off the Internet in a 240x240 window stretched out to full screen.

Let's get back to in-game cut-scenes again, shall we?

Minarchist: Xbox Live was launched at the tail end of the original Xbox's cycle.

ccesarano: Were you perhaps playing on a 360 unit that you didn't originally purchase Castle Crashers on? If you got a replacement unit due to RRoD or upgraded to Slim or something, the license for your older purchases are tied to your older machine. This is basically a copyright protection to keep you from logging onto other people’s consoles with your active Live account and downloading all your purchased content to their machines so they can play them for free.

When this happens, you have to be online to play any of your XBLA content. However, it's easy to change your license over to your new unit (I think you can do it once a year). It's been a while since I got my launch Slim, but I remember the transfer being a painless process. After that I was able to play all my purchased digital content offline.

Aaron D. wrote:

Minarchist: Xbox Live was launched at the tail end of the original Xbox's cycle.

True, but achievements and gamerscores were introduced on the 360 IIRC.

Aaron D. wrote:

Minarchist: Xbox Live was launched at the tail end of the original Xbox's cycle.

ccesarano: Were you perhaps playing on a 360 unit that you didn't originally purchase Castle Crashers on? If you got a replacement unit due to RRoD or upgraded to Slim or something, the license for your older purchases are tied to your older machine. This is basically a copyright protection to keep you from logging onto other people’s consoles with your active Live account and downloading all your purchased content to their machines so they can play them for free.

When this happens, you have to be online to play any of your XBLA content. However, it's easy to change your license over to your new unit (I think you can do it once a year). It's been a while since I got my launch Slim, but I remember the transfer being a painless process. After that I was able to play all my purchased digital content offline.

It's been long enough that I cannot recall whether Castle Crashers was before or after the RROD. I'd have to go back and browse my long-abandoned LiveJournal account, and I'd much rather not.

Well, if you're ever interested, you can transfer your license directly from your console's Setting menu.

Here's the details from Xbox.com.

MeatMan: You're right. But it still does log consecutive years that you've had an active Live account (though technically the 16K would be over the past 6 years).

I am still sittings South of 13k, 6 years on.

One thing I just pray Microsoft DOESN'T mess with is the controller design.. I can tolerate a few tweaks.. or higher grade material..but dont fix what aint broke.

d-pad could still use some work, but otherwise I'm with you.

Yup. By far my favorite controller ever.

Minarchist wrote:

d-pad could still use some work, but otherwise I'm with you.

I get that... but for most dpad centric games I almost would welcome a completely different designed controller for those games... I think then you have the best of both worlds..

Yeah, the 360 pad is the best standard controller I've ever used.

Don't mind some D-Pad reworking, but I hope MS doesn't feel like they need to reinvent the wheel to stay fresh.

I really don't like the buttons on the Xbox controller. They're too smooth, perhaps?

Aaron D. wrote:

Yeah, the 360 pad is the best standard controller I've ever used.

Don't mind some D-Pad reworking, but I hope MS doesn't feel like they need to reinvent the wheel to stay fresh.

There's going to be a controller next time? "You are the controller".

The exciting part of Kinect "You are the controller." nonsense is that both Kinect and standard pads will presumably ship with each unit, allowing developers to use Kinect in creative, but most importantly, ancillary ways with core games.

It could be the best of both worlds where we get the precision we've come to expect with 360 pads, but could also do fun stuff like talk to our games or whatever.

I've always thought Kinect had the most potential for core gamers when working in concert with standard controllers.

Aaron D. wrote:

The exciting part of Kinect "You are the controller." nonsense is that both Kinect and standard pads will presumably ship with each unit, allowing developers to use Kinect in creative, but most importantly, ancillary ways with core games.

It could be the best of both worlds where we get the precision we've come to expect with 360 pads, but could also do fun stuff like talk to our games or whatever.

I've always thought Kinect had the most potential for core gamers when working in concert with standard controllers.

Pretty much this... I actually look forward to the potential of a standard mixed environment.

What do people think about Mass Effect3's use of kinect? It seems a bit bolted on to me, although not surprising seeing as it's the third entry in an established game.

I guess I come back to the common denominator problem, plus that companies are going to use it for lock-in, so a company will pay a developer X million to make it with their motion tech and leave any other ports as 'lesser' versions.

I think today's games hybrid use of Kinect will be pretty much always bolt on. We need to have it as part of the base platform to ensure that developers invest enough time/development to leverage the technology in interesting ways. That of course doenst mean that developers WILL but it does mean that perhaps developers will feel rewarded in doing so.

The biggest limitation of course is the cross-platform nature of development these days.. games that are not exclusive will rarely have specific console features built into the core gameplay.. as that would limit the usefulness of cross platform development.

So really it will boil down to the console specific exclusive titles to make the best use of this "new" standard platform.

I don't see the Mass Effect 3 Kinect stuff adding much to the game. I also don't think they need a Kinect to do that since voice recognition has been in Unreal Engine since 2003.

Speedhuntr wrote:

I want a text box in the bottom corner of the screen where I can type /pizza and /turkey sandwich and have those delivered within 30 minutes of pressing enter.

All from the comfort of my livingroom sofa.

Didn't Sony try this with Everquest II?

Has Sega announced a new Seaman game for Kinect yet? That seems like an obvious franchise.

And no, Milo doesn't count. If I'm going to have creepy interactions with a game, I'd at least like the creepy thing on the screen to look unnatural about it instead of just uncanny valley pedophilia.