E3 2019: Microsoft Conference [June 9th, 4PM EST]

Phades wrote:

The number of great looking games they showed that will be on GamePass day one is pretty crazy. I was also excited to see Metro: Exodus on there since I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet.

I'm not sure what I was really expecting from Scarlet, but I found that presentation pretty underwhelming. I was hoping for more than just another video like we got for Scorpio.

I'm sure you'll see way more next year at E3.. its a holiday 2020 release so I'm sure they don't have quite final hardware yet.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

I bet they get it sorted eventually, but with a terrible UI. Then later a good UI. Then later ruin it by integrating Game Pass with some other MS atrocity. Or it kind of languishes like that last round of MS PC gaming, Games for Windows Live?

Looking at it positively, when they start taking money monthly from users, their current software will be much less acceptable. It might finally lead to improvements.

IMAGE(https://pics.me.me/its-been-84-years-13865743.png)

Phades wrote:

I'm not sure what I was really expecting from Scarlet, but I found that presentation pretty underwhelming. I was hoping for more than just another video like we got for Scorpio.

I feel like this year it was mostly just a "hey we have that too" type thing responding to what Sony has released so far. I don't think either company really wants to show their hands yet and moving to an SSD based solution makes a ton of sense. I wouldn't be surprised to see Scarlet to ship with some sort of ReadyBoost/Optane style implementation using a smaller super fast SSD and a larger spinning HDD to maybe be a cheaper than a single large SSD would be while offering very similar performance and more storage space. But anyway basically at this point we have Sony saying they will have super fast SSDs and MS countering with super fast SSDs and super fast RAM and ray tracing. Next Sony gets to say they are using HBM2 instead of GDDR6 (there are benefits that can be argued for both) and that they are tracing rays that have never been traced before and further hyperbole back and forth until finally we get new systems next year which while being 4x to 6x as powerful are still just used to play Minecraft and watch Netflix

And really, that's all we need, at this point. I'm not positive I will upgrade next year. I kind of feel like I did at the end of the OG Xbox gen. I didn't even consider grabbing a 360 at launch. The OG Xbox was rolling, I didn't have an HDTV, and out seemed like overkill.

With backwards compatibility now a thing Microsoft is using as a selling point, I doubt I upgrade until there is game I feel like I need right now that either won't run on the XB1X, or, won't run with features I would like to see. I expect Halo Infinite to launch on Scarlet and the XB1X, and we are all going to play together, regardless of the system.

And then, when I feel like upgrading, every single game on my hard drive will be playable on Scarlet day one. It's how console generations should have always worked.

The $1 upgrade thing is getting me to max out my Live Gold sub tonight. Gamepass was already pretty great and this has just made it even better. I am not crazy about the Windows Store / Xbox App thing and it seems typical Microsoft branding and packaging problems but the value prop is so appealing that I'll jump through the hoops.

Certis wrote:

This conversation is making me nostalgic.

We had some good times, didn’t we, in the Sony haterade thread? You didn't have to lock it!

TheGameguru wrote:
Vrikk wrote:

Ok, so updating the Windows Store app manually allowed me to download the games!

For shame on Microsoft for f*cking up the launch of this, but it's been less than a day. So whatever. I'm sure they'll update webpages and get out some press notes so us insane early adopters are the only ones confused.

I’m not sure. When I went to try it clearly told me I needed to update to see the latest “beta” Xbox App. Granted these days everyone expects beta to work flawlessly.

It did for me...

Quick thought "conspiracy theory":

They are letting people convert XBL Gold into Gamepass for so cheap because they want multiplayer to be free in the future. This way they get people on long term Gamepass plans with the hopes that they get hooked. At the same time they could pull multiplayer out Gold paywall. This would let people jump in all these huge free to play multiplayer games, including all their IAPs, with silver accounts.

I won't be able to play for a few weeks but just upgraded in case the deal is time limited. Ended up getting a couple years out of it. Looking forward to trying out more stuff on the PC.

The gamepass stuff is really making me wish I had an xbox. It’s just so cheap!

Phades wrote:

I'm not sure what I was really expecting from Scarlet, but I found that presentation pretty underwhelming. I was hoping for more than just another video like we got for Scorpio.

Yeah, it was underwhelming. As was the Halo tease.

Strategically though, there's no need or benefit to announcing further specs or details at this point - especially with Sony being a no-show. They're keeping their powder dry for next year.

At this point, I think both Sony and Microsoft are playing chicken with their technical specs. Both sides are holding off disclosing any hard numbers for as long as they possibly can. Each side wants the other to lock in first so that they can adjust their tech specs to be a bit better.

Evildead - You can already play free to play multiplayer games on silver. They are a special exception.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Evildead - You can already play free to play multiplayer games on silver. They are a special exception.

Ah, I didn't know that. Well it still might make sense to allow paid games as they have a lot of paid mulitplayer content that silver people aren't buying right now. Also, it would get them some good will and put pressure on Sony. So I'm not backing off my theory just yet!