Xbox One Catch-all

There has been a hundred posts or so since I've checked this, so I didn't read it all and I'm sorry if this was already brought up.

Anyone find it interesting that I can still go onto amazon and order the day one edition of the xbone and I can't order a launch edition of the ps4?

MannishBoy wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:
TheCounselor wrote:

Now, if Microsoft can replace the cable box with an XBox that can be controlled with simple voice commands, they win. Sony can have all the games in the world, but they will always be second input.

I'm still not 100% sold unless they give a DVR option, or I can stream pretty much everything I want easily from a few services that don't cost me too much.

They would need a new console revision. I have an HD TiVo and it requires a CableCard in order to decode the digital signal from the cable provider. So I don't think they can be the DVR without this.

There are multiple ways to get there. One would be an ethernet based CableCard appliance. They already exist. As do ones that plug into USB. Take that basic solution and tie it to a bigger attached hard drive.

And surprise, MS owns the only encryption DRM used by CableCard solutions in PlayReady. Microsoft even has the guide data solution, because it feeds Windows Media Center today.

The pieces are all there at hand, waiting to be bundled up and a bow placed on them.

Heck, allow Ceton to build the appliance with a tuner and a HD attached to it and allow them to publish an app for the XO.

I've been running an HTPC running WMC since 2006 or so. It currently has 7 tuners feeding four Xbox 360s around the house live and recorded TV. MS knows how to do this stuff. All they really need to do is cut the complexity out of having to have the PC feeding it, and with new SOC stuff, it shouldn't be that big of a hardware requirement to have a tuner/recorder box running on ARM or something that would be able to do the lifting for the DVR functionality that gets displayed on the XO.

That ship sailed a long time ago Mannish. I've posted before my frustrations on how MS could've owned the living room last generation with a mix of Windows 7 Media Center and Xbox 360. That makes their upcoming lackluster tv offering all the more baffling to me. The only positive I see is saving an HDMI input - which I'm all out of currently on my main television.

PaladinTom wrote:

That ship sailed a long time ago Mannish. I've posted before my frustrations on how MS could've owned the living room last generation with a mix of Windows 7 Media Center and Xbox 360. That makes their upcoming lackluster tv offering all the more baffling to me. The only positive I see is saving an HDMI input - which I'm all out of currently on my main television.

I know WMC is a dead man walking, but if they're doing this TV guide and control stuff, sell me a peripheral that makes it useful, since I rarely watch anything live. The hardware to make a box to tune, record, and decode 1080i TV streams is commodity at this point. A mid range smart phone chip can do it.

MannishBoy wrote:

Looks like the rumors of low yields or some kind of other supply constraint may truly exist on the XO. Gamestop stops taking preorders.

Makes me wonder if this is where the subsidized version went, and it will show back up when supply catches up early 2014?

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/34...

obirano wrote:

There has been a hundred posts or so since I've checked this, so I didn't read it all and I'm sorry if this was already brought up.

Anyone find it interesting that I can still go onto amazon and order the day one edition of the xbone and I can't order a launch edition of the ps4?

Dunno, Amazon claimed they were seeing unprecedented demand for the Xbox One. Maybe they upped their supply?

MannishBoy wrote:
nel e nel wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:
nel e nel wrote:

Well, if the gold membership sharing works as I'm thinking it does, what's to stop your son from creating 2 different gamer tags and having them be part of different families (while sharing 1 gold membership)?

Nothing. Gamerscore pride? I guess that matters to some people.

SallyNastySallyNastySallyNastySallyNastySallyNasty

I was trying not to get personal :)

Lol, I never get offended when community members make fun of my score chasing:) I laugh at myself all the time for it - but I do love me some cheevs!

Had Nel not beat me to the punch I would have posted, "You rang?"

MannishBoy wrote:

Looks like the rumors of low yields or some kind of other supply constraint may truly exist on the XO. Gamestop stops taking preorders.

Makes me wonder if this is where the subsidized version went, and it will show back up when supply catches up early 2014?

Didnt this happen also with the 360 launch? (been so long but it may have been an issue with production of chips in Taiwan) Either way it caused a frenzy on launch day.

Sony is out of their launch allocation on Amazon as well. And I've noticed that several stores (including Amazon) are no longer offering the $399 base console, but instead only offering bundles; probably to get the most money out of their allocation. Or perhaps Sony is even encouraging the bundles, so they can advertise a $399 base price while limiting the number of units that go out the door at MSRP (which is just a conspiracy theory, so don't take me too seriously on that).

MannishBoy wrote:

Looks like the rumors of low yields or some kind of other supply constraint may truly exist on the XO. Gamestop stops taking preorders.

Makes me wonder if this is where the subsidized version went, and it will show back up when supply catches up early 2014?

Yes, and Microsoft was running some games at E3 on dev kits rather than finished hardware. They do seem a bit behind Sony in terms of overall preparation. This probably won't matter long-term, but it'll hurt launch day sales, and I'm sure it's part of the reason why the launch will be limited to only 21(?) countries.

On the other hand, the fact Microsoft development cycle seems behind makes Sony's lack of strong exclusives confusing. If they're spent so much effort, and are so ready to go, why is their exclusive library so weak? Is it really going to be enough to rely heavily on free-to-play games ported over from PC? I guess we'll see.

The Conformist wrote:
TheCounselor wrote:

Remotes are the worst. Why do TV's come with remotes these days? Seriously, I only use mine because it's the best way to switch inputs. I can't use the remote that came with my TV for my cable box, and the universal remote that the cable box comes with doesn't work all that great with my TV. Sure, I can figure it out, but it's a pain. Any my wife, who is by no means technically challenged, doesn't have the patience to figure it out. She'd sooner grab her iPad and watch something on that. I've tried lots of ways to simplify the situation, including Harmony remotes and other solutions, but it only makes things more complicated. Adding another layer of stuff to not work doesn't help anything.

Now, if Microsoft can replace the cable box with an XBox that can be controlled with simple voice commands, they win. Sony can have all the games in the world, but they will always be second input.

I'm really confused on why it's difficult to either just have two remotes, one for cable and one for T.V. Or just program the cable remote to be universal? It always seemed pretty simple to me, "T.V. on" and "T.V. off". "Imput" to change to your HDMI ports for games and then back to cable. It literally should only take you a few button presses. Perhaps people just have more entertainment peripherals than myself?

It's not that it's difficult, it's just that it's an unnecessary hassle. TV remotes are basically useless, except for switching inputs. But, I have to switch inputs all the time, because I have a cable box, XBox and PS3 hooked up to the TV.

Faceless Clock wrote:

On the other hand, the fact Microsoft development cycle seems behind makes Sony's lack of strong exclusives confusing. If they're spent so much effort, and are so ready to go, why is their exclusive library so weak? Is it really going to be enough to rely heavily on free-to-play games ported over from PC? I guess we'll see.

I really think the days of system exclusives being systems sellers is dwindling to negligible numbers. I think both Microsoft and Sony realize it's the service offerings that drive the platform adoption now. Live had voice on the first gen Xbox. It readily lent itself to multiplayer gaming. This continued into the 360. Yes, PS3 was free multiplayer, but no one had a mic (smart move to include a headset in every box, MS). Sony felt very Gamespy circa 1998 and MS was really easy to get into a game with or without your friends. They've since refined that. Sony counters with PS+ and free games, keeps some apps in front of the pay wall (Netflix, Hulu, etc...) unlike MS requiring Gold. Going into the XB One and PS4 era, both will require Gold or PS+ for multiplayer, but will MS be dropping the requirement for things like Netflix?

Rumour. DRM may be going :neutral:.

This would be great news.

Giant Bomb reporting similar. Holy crap guys, I think they listened. Please, please, please be true.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

Giant Bomb reporting similar. Holy crap guys, I think they listened.

I wonder if/how this will affect the positive side of the Xbone's direction (and yes there was a positive side): playing without the disc, selling/trading digital-only games, etc.

It is unclear what caused this huge change in policy right after E3...

Really?!

This is why we wait on preordering consols.

PaladinTom wrote:
It is unclear what caused this huge change in policy right after E3...

Really?!

I think that means they aren't sure if it's Sony's showing, consumer backlash or (conspiracy time), the leaked potential of Steam game sharing today. Or all three.

So, what is their plan, then? I would think they have to have check-ins in order to not allow a disc-less install that is also on 3 other Xboxen. Also, what of games that really do make use of their cloud infrastructure? Will this limit what developers will be able to do? Will they not be able to assume the existence of a connection to the cloud in designing their games?

I am happy to see things like region locking and 24 hour check-ins go away, but it would be a kick in the nuts to a developer to not be able to assume a connection is available on their game that is nearly complete. I guess they're kicking the can to the developers, putting the onus on them to explain their policies for individual games to their consumers.

If true, this smacks, however, of one of two things:

1) They haven't really thought any of this through deeply enough (I'm including their initial announcement).

2) There was an internal struggle within MS, and the community reaction has pushed the other side into the winner's circle.

Wow, this should be exciting to watch if it pans out to be true!

IMAGE(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vpE6uMJ37dk/UOScrne47aI/AAAAAAAAEL4/Ki-4IWO-SoY/s1600/ron-paul.gif)

I imagine there was publisher pressure to include the DRM rules, and Microsoft was like, ok but watch what happens... and then when it happened they went back to the publishers and were like, yeah we're not doing that.

Good. We're going to have at least two really great consoles this generation.

Giant Bomb has crashed. Here's the bullet points from the story but you should still try to give them the clicks:

Patrick Klepek, leaving San Francisco in a blazy of glory wrote:

No more always online requirement
The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
Authentication is no longer necessary
An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
Region locks have been dropped

firesloth wrote:

So, what is their plan, then? I would think they have to have check-ins in order to not allow a disc-less install that is also on 3 other Xboxen. Also, what of games that really do make use of their cloud infrastructure? Will this limit what developers will be able to do? Will they not be able to assume the existence of a connection to the cloud in designing their games?

I am happy to see things like region locking and 24 hour check-ins go away, but it would be a kick in the nuts to a developer to not be able to assume a connection is available on their game that is nearly complete. I guess they're kicking the can to the developers, putting the onus on them to explain their policies for individual games to their consumers.

If true, this smacks, however, of one of two things:

1) They haven't really thought any of this through deeply enough (I'm including their initial announcement).

2) There was an internal struggle within MS, and the community reaction has pushed the other side into the winner's circle.

Wow, this should be exciting to watch if it pans out to be true! :)

Kinda like the whole Start button issue with Windows 8. MS is having a rough go lately.

If the playing/sharing games without the disc features get killed off as a result of this I'm actually going to be supremely disappointed.

Because I just don't care in the slightest about the rest of the stuff everybody's been flipping their friggin wigs over.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

Giant Bomb has crashed. Here's the bullet points from the story but you should still try to give them the clicks:

Patrick Klepek, leaving San Francisco in a blazy of glory wrote:

No more always online requirement
The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
Authentication is no longer necessary
An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
Region locks have been dropped

boom goes the dynamite.

TempestBlayze wrote:

This is why we wait on preordering consols.

No reason to wait. For me pre-ordering just acts as a reservation that can be cancelled at any time. I have no financial investment.

Gumbie wrote:

IMAGE(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vpE6uMJ37dk/UOScrne47aI/AAAAAAAAEL4/Ki-4IWO-SoY/s1600/ron-paul.gif)

I lol'ed, in a pretty girly way.

EvilDead wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

This is why we wait on preordering consols.

No reason to wait. For me pre-ordering just acts as a reservation that can be cancelled at any time. I have no financial investment.

An argument could be made that if pre-order numbers are low enough, it could persuade the company to change its mind about whatever policies are in question.

Drop the price $50 and get rid of the camera plugged in requirement and I might switch over.

Thin_J wrote:

If the playing/sharing games without the disc features get killed off as a result of this I'm actually going to be supremely disappointed.

It's ok, Steam's got your back now. Or might have your back soon.

Thin_J wrote:

If the playing/sharing games without the disc features get killed off as a result of this I'm actually going to be supremely disappointed.

Because I just don't care in the slightest about the rest of the stuff everybody's been flipping their friggin wigs over.

+1

It's gonna be crap when all the people flipping out, and cheering now, still don't buy an XBO, but those that do have lost the benefits we thought we were getting.

Thin_J wrote:

If the playing/sharing games without the disc features get killed off as a result of this I'm actually going to be supremely disappointed.

Because I just don't care in the slightest about the rest of the stuff everybody's been flipping their friggin wigs over.

I don't see how they could do it for discs but they could still have that system for downloaded games. I would be OK with that.