Xbox One Discussion Thread

[Lastpilot]

I know that the console is a dying race, but please try not to threadcrap into broad categorical claims.
I want to know what you think of Microsoft's approach to next-gen console gaming.

At this time, I do not think I will be owning an Xbox One.

[Tym]

I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console. Also (not thread crap) my 12 month old rig which cost me >$500 to put together out class' it and it is rumored to cost $600...soooo y'know. Also I think it looks like a DVD player not a console, there is no character to it. The controller is ugly; not quite the PS4 controller but they're fixing that which is not broken.

[SmallFry]

Cool. Meh.

[linziyi]

I am never a console fan, they lack the flexibility. Microsoft kind of address this "inflexibility" in the Xbox One by saying "TV" a lot:

[baldgye]

Not really sure who the XONE (giant bomb reference) is aimed at and if rumored spec's are true it's a fair chunk less powerful than the PS4, which is a bit of a problem.
I also live in the UK and Microsoft has had a pretty extensive history of ignoring anyone living outside the US, so while the TV stuff is 'neat' I can't see if working even half as well as it will in the US, which even then, will be pretty limited and bad.. almost to the point where it's a waste of time and energy, but any-who...

I really like the design of the box, it's clean lines and nice form factor make it a handsome box, I hated the 360 and the launch unit looked like a white Dell workstation, it was awful... but the XONE actually looks really nice, it has some nice touches and pulls from a far more industrial angle than Xbox's have in the past which is good.

But the games... games?

I'm a gamer so I'll be buying one of these systems (ps4 or XONE) at some point, but atm as a gamer the PS4 looks like the much better option, even if that extra grunt only leads to improved and more stable frame-rates on muti-system games

I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console. Also (not thread crap) my 12 month old rig which cost me >$500 to put together out class' it and it is rumored to cost $600...soooo y'know. Also I think it looks like a DVD player not a console, there is no character to it. The controller is ugly; not quite the PS4 controller but they're fixing that which is not broken.

??

The controller looks like a 360 controller, but with some slight improvements, how can that be a bad thing?

[Lastpilot]

I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console. Also (not thread crap) my 12 month old rig which cost me >$500 to put together out class' it and it is rumored to cost $600...soooo y'know. Also I think it looks like a DVD player not a console, there is no character to it. The controller is ugly; not quite the PS4 controller but they're fixing that which is not broken.

Or perhaps a VHS player? LOL.

Yes it does look rather...sedated. And yes PC seems like a far more viable option at that price point. I feel like including the Kinect will make it hard for Microsoft to keep opening costs down.

I actually think the controller does look like an improvement, and the multi-area rumble feature does sound interesting.

[Tym]

With my "not broken" comment; I was referring to this new trigger system they are working on, I have some "insider knowledge" [My mate said] that it feels awful. And by ugly I mean the fact its going to be shiny; Microsoft Sidewinder anyone?

[baldgye]

insider knowledge? looooooooool The new triggers are from all reports similar to the 360 ones only larger and with small motors in them so they can vibrate...

[Lastpilot]

With my "not broken" comment; I was referring to this new trigger system they are working on, I have some "insider knowledge" that it feels awful. And by ugly I mean the fact its going to be shiny; Microsoft Sidewinder anyone?

Here are two gawker articles that I've read about it:
http://gizmodo.com/xbox-one-controller-hands-on-rumbling-triggers-are-fre-509174701
http://kotaku.com/the-tiny-cool-details-of-the-new-xbox-one-controller-509188976

I'm not sure about the shiny parts, do you mean that top part?
And I've heard mixed reviews about less resistance in the triggers. I think this might be weird at first but it makes sense for extended playing sessions.

[Tym]

Nah, I'd heard they are buttons similar to the PS3 controllers more than the "switches" the 360 had.

[baldgye]

Nah, they are buttons similar to the PS3 controllers more than the "switches" the 360 had.

not from what I've heard (gb podcast), I'd trust there opinion probably more than anyone elses

[baldgye]

though, the Dual Shock 3's R2 and L2 buttons are not totally horrible. If they had a better shape and there switches used where better at sensing pressure they would be ****ing awesome... but as it is they have such a tiny threshold which makes games like GT5/F1 2012 harder to play than with a 360 controller.

[vun]

So far everything I've seen about the Xbone is horrible, the only positive thing that could come out of this is a relaunch of PC receivers for controllers, and while this would mean swapping the X360 controller with the Xbone one, it doesn't seem bad as the controller seems to be much the same as before.

[Tym]

This is confusing me now...

[Dubsgalore]

Don't think i will buy either the ps4 or xbox one...not much interest for me personally.
I think just from what we know, the ps4 looks like the console with more support at this point

if i had to get one, it would be a ps4

can't play xbox 360 games on the xbox one..

[Grim Fandango]

I have always been a pc gamer first (well, after the snes era anyway) , but have always owned at least one console for the exclusives and what not. Lately though, more and more games tend to go multiplatform, and I started thinking about the PC more as a mainstream gaming platform and alternative, instead of addition to a console.

With the new consoles, I was kind of curious to see what kind of features they would incorporate. Perhaps there would still be something cool and unique about them that would lead me to get a console next generation as well. But after the Xbox one presentation, I was not that impressed. It seems that the key features they are adding are more generally TV and media focused, rather than gaming focused. This is why I think I will just stick with only a PC next console generation. The reason I opt for the PC over console is because almost all the games I mainly play are PC exclusives (Starcraft 2, DOTA2) and for my favorite genre, FPS, I have strong preference for the default input devices on the PC.

Long story short. The new consoles do not add any unique features that appeal to me. And since multi-platform seems to be the standard for games nowadays (perhaps even more so in the future) , and I care more about PC than console exclusives, I will just stick to PC.

[baldgye]

Don't think i will buy either the ps4 or xbox one...not much interest for me personally.
I think just from what we know, the ps4 looks like the console with more support at this point

if i had to get one, it would be a ps4

can't play xbox 360 games on the xbox one..

Can't play PS3 games on a PS4 either

[Dubsgalore]

Don't think i will buy either the ps4 or xbox one...not much interest for me personally.
I think just from what we know, the ps4 looks like the console with more support at this point

if i had to get one, it would be a ps4

can't play xbox 360 games on the xbox one..

Can't play PS3 games on a PS4 either

* Dubsgalore doesn't own any PS3 games

if i were to get a new xbox one, i would want to be able to play my old games too lol

so stupid that they wouldn't just implement xbox 360 games

[Lastpilot]

Don't think i will buy either the ps4 or xbox one...not much interest for me personally.
I think just from what we know, the ps4 looks like the console with more support at this point

if i had to get one, it would be a ps4

can't play xbox 360 games on the xbox one..

Can't play PS3 games on a PS4 either

Good thing there are no PS3 games.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ps3-has-no-games

[Dubsgalore]

Good thing there are no PS3 games.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ps3-has-no-games

lol'd hard

[jwaz]

/thread

[Tym]

Already mentioned bro.

[DamienG]

I also live in the UK and Microsoft has had a pretty extensive history of ignoring anyone living outside the US, so while the TV stuff is 'neat' I can't see if working even half as well as it will in the US, which even then, will be pretty limited and bad.. almost to the point where it's a waste of time and energy, but any-who...
...
But the games... games?

They said integration with TV in 41 countries.

Games will reveal at E3.

I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console.

Errr... the current 360 started as a console now home entertainment. Ditto PS3. Gaming-only console concept is dead. And your $600 rig isn't a console either...

[)amien

[thp777]

whoever was in charge of the looks of this overpriced cable box with gaming capability was extremely lazy. lets make a rectangle anddddddd we're done start production.

[jwaz]

Already mentioned bro.

Yeah but this is so much more convenient

[Binge]

Already mentioned bro.

Yeah but this is so much more convenient

+1 he summed it up with a moving picture.  I am pleased.

[Tym]

I also live in the UK and Microsoft has had a pretty extensive history of ignoring anyone living outside the US, so while the TV stuff is 'neat' I can't see if working even half as well as it will in the US, which even then, will be pretty limited and bad.. almost to the point where it's a waste of time and energy, but any-who...
...
But the games... games?

They said integration with TV in 41 countries.

Games will reveal at E3.

I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console.

Errr... the current 360 started as a console now home entertainment. Ditto PS3. Gaming-only console concept is dead. And your $600 rig isn't a console either...

[)amien

I don't really follow your point?? I don't think you were making one.

[DamienG]

I'm saying "I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console" doesn't make any sense.

If you're a console purist then you'd have to get rid of an Xbox 360 or PS3 as they are already home entertainment systems. I'm an avid gamer and my 360 spends more time in Netflix and Hulu now. My friends list shows I'm not alone in this respect.

If you're concerned the focus is too far removed from games then wait until E3 as that's where the gaming aspects will be shown off.

There are plenty of reasons to not want an Xbox though - expensive games, controller-only gaming, no modding, ugly...

[)amien

[Michael]

Not sure why everyone dislikes the case. I think it matches nicely with most home theater components. People whining about it needing to 'do more'? I don't get that either. What can it not do that you need it to do? Give foot rubs? It plays Blu-Ray movies (something people have asked for for years), streams TV, plays games. That's pretty much what it promised, and what it does. Am I biased? Probably, but I will be buying one simply because it's the next gen, it's faster and it's pretty sexy, imo.

[Dubsgalore]

'for the first time ever...you will be able to watch TV...on your TV'
 )

[Tym]

I'm saying "I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console" doesn't make any sense.

If you're a console purist then you'd have to get rid of an Xbox 360 or PS3 as they are already home entertainment systems. I'm an avid gamer and my 360 spends more time in Netflix and Hulu now. My friends list shows I'm not alone in this respect.

If you're concerned the focus is too far removed from games then wait until E3 as that's where the gaming aspects will be shown off.

There are plenty of reasons to not want an Xbox though - expensive games, controller-only gaming, no modding, ugly...

[)amien

Fair point, but I bought a 360 before all this crap was on it. My console days are long gone now; quick question why do you always sign your name after a post ?

[DamienG]

It plays Blu-Ray movies (something people have asked for for years)

Has Blu-Ray movie playback been confirmed anywhere? The specs said Blu-Ray drive and somewhere else I saw "Blu-Ray capable". As well as a drive it will need video codecs and a Java Virtual Machine. The latter is a problem for Microsoft because of an old legal battle with Sun.

Knowing Microsoft and them liking to keep licensing costs as low as possible I'd imagine movie playback will be an extra download like iPod music playback is (for the same reasons). Hope that download is free too...

[)amien

[DamienG]

Fair point, but I bought a 360 before all this crap was on it. My console days are long gone now; quick question why do you always sign your name after a post ?

360 certainly has changed a lot since it launched. <trivia>Back then the flash was enough to hold the dash... now it's a bootloader for the dash... </trivia>

A habit I started back in the BBS & Usenet days...

[)amien

[Michael]

It plays Blu-Ray movies (something people have asked for for years)

Has Blu-Ray movie playback been confirmed anywhere? The specs said Blu-Ray drive and somewhere else I saw "Blu-Ray capable". As well as a drive it will need video codecs and a Java Virtual Machine. The latter is a problem for Microsoft because of an old legal battle with Sun.

Knowing Microsoft and them liking to keep licensing costs as low as possible I'd imagine movie playback will be an extra download like iPod music playback is (for the same reasons). Hope that download is free too...

[)amien

It has been confirmed. Movies and games will both be Blu-Ray format.

[tp4tissue]

I'm saying "I will not be owning one because it is a home entertainment system; not a console" doesn't make any sense.

If you're a console purist then you'd have to get rid of an Xbox 360 or PS3 as they are already home entertainment systems. I'm an avid gamer and my 360 spends more time in Netflix and Hulu now. My friends list shows I'm not alone in this respect.

If you're concerned the focus is too far removed from games then wait until E3 as that's where the gaming aspects will be shown off.

There are plenty of reasons to not want an Xbox though - expensive games, controller-only gaming, no modding, ugly...

[)amien

Fair point, but I bought a 360 before all this crap was on it. My console days are long gone now; quick question why do you always sign your name after a post ?

You know how animals pee everywhere to claim "their-territory"

The obsession with sigs etc, is an extension of that..

[baldgye]

I also live in the UK and Microsoft has had a pretty extensive history of ignoring anyone living outside the US, so while the TV stuff is 'neat' I can't see if working even half as well as it will in the US, which even then, will be pretty limited and bad.. almost to the point where it's a waste of time and energy, but any-who...
...
But the games... games?

They said integration with TV in 41 countries.

Games will reveal at E3.

Yeah, which countries, and how will it work with my SkyHD box? And I know about E3 lol

[baldgye]

Don't think i will buy either the ps4 or xbox one...not much interest for me personally.
I think just from what we know, the ps4 looks like the console with more support at this point

if i had to get one, it would be a ps4

can't play xbox 360 games on the xbox one..

Can't play PS3 games on a PS4 either

* Dubsgalore doesn't own any PS3 games

if i were to get a new xbox one, i would want to be able to play my old games too lol

so stupid that they wouldn't just implement xbox 360 games

It's not really stupid at all, and anyway they will be announcing a $99 360 at e3...

[Michael]

I also live in the UK and Microsoft has had a pretty extensive history of ignoring anyone living outside the US, so while the TV stuff is 'neat' I can't see if working even half as well as it will in the US, which even then, will be pretty limited and bad.. almost to the point where it's a waste of time and energy, but any-who...
...
But the games... games?

They said integration with TV in 41 countries.

Games will reveal at E3.

Yeah, which countries, and how will it work with my SkyHD box? And I know about E3 lol

Pretty sure MS isn't making the Xbox One to work with 3rd party hardware that competes with their own hardware for the same purpose. That's just how MS works.


Sounds like it's going to be an integrated tuner in the new xbox, so whatever your SkyHD box pulls in, content-wise, is what the Xbox One will need to be able to pull in. Otherwise, stick to your skybox thingy.

[Dubsgalore]

baldgye,
it would just be easier to be able to do it on one console. i havemy 360, but if i could use the xbox one to play my old games, that would be 10x better. it's just disappointing to hear that you can't play 360 games on the xbox one.

I think it's looking really bad for the xbox this time around.

[Michael]

baldgye,
it would just be easier to be able to do it on one console. i havemy 360, but if i could use the xbox one to play my old games, that would be 10x better. it's just disappointing to hear that you can't play 360 games on the xbox one.

I think it's looking really bad for the xbox this time around.

Xbox One and PS4 are both changing CPU architectures. There isn't going to be any way to play your old games sans emulation. It sucks, but that's the reality of it. I have tons of Xbox 360 games, but just keep your old one when you feel like playing those games. Not really any other choice in the matter.

[Dubsgalore]

baldgye,
it would just be easier to be able to do it on one console. i havemy 360, but if i could use the xbox one to play my old games, that would be 10x better. it's just disappointing to hear that you can't play 360 games on the xbox one.

I think it's looking really bad for the xbox this time around.

Xbox One and PS4 are both changing CPU architectures. There isn't going to be any way to play your old games sans emulation. It sucks, but that's the reality of it. I have tons of Xbox 360 games, but just keep your old one when you feel like playing those games. Not really any other choice in the matter.

yeah i never really intended on getting a new console from this upcoming generation, but the xbox one reveal truly sealed the deal LOL
just gonna stick it out with my 360 slim [for whenever i'm not on my pc]

[baldgye]

baldgye,
it would just be easier to be able to do it on one console. i havemy 360, but if i could use the xbox one to play my old games, that would be 10x better. it's just disappointing to hear that you can't play 360 games on the xbox one.

I think it's looking really bad for the xbox this time around.

Yeah it would be easier, but the hardware makes this almost impossible unless they slapped in a mini-360 into the XONE, which when Sony did that with the PS3 it made it pretty damn expensive...

I also live in the UK and Microsoft has had a pretty extensive history of ignoring anyone living outside the US, so while the TV stuff is 'neat' I can't see if working even half as well as it will in the US, which even then, will be pretty limited and bad.. almost to the point where it's a waste of time and energy, but any-who...
...
But the games... games?

They said integration with TV in 41 countries.

Games will reveal at E3.

Yeah, which countries, and how will it work with my SkyHD box? And I know about E3 lol

Pretty sure MS isn't making the Xbox One to work with 3rd party hardware that competes with their own hardware for the same purpose. That's just how MS works.


Sounds like it's going to be an integrated tuner in the new xbox, so whatever your SkyHD box pulls in, content-wise, is what the Xbox One will need to be able to pull in. Otherwise, stick to your skybox thingy.

I'm pretty sure they are going to have to make it work with 3rd party boxes as I highly doubt Sky or any US cable provider would willingly hand over the encryption software to MS... also the fact that the One has HDMI in, that you can use to connect your comcast box to your XONE, and if it dsnt have a HDMI out then the XONE also has an IR Blaster, its essentially a console with the Google TV stuff built it, nothing we havn't seen before and nothing that actually solves any problems.

baldgye,
it would just be easier to be able to do it on one console. i havemy 360, but if i could use the xbox one to play my old games, that would be 10x better. it's just disappointing to hear that you can't play 360 games on the xbox one.

I think it's looking really bad for the xbox this time around.

Xbox One and PS4 are both changing CPU architectures. There isn't going to be any way to play your old games sans emulation. It sucks, but that's the reality of it. I have tons of Xbox 360 games, but just keep your old one when you feel like playing those games. Not really any other choice in the matter.

Idd... and as someone who has a huge PS2/PSX library thanks to the HD updates there are only a handful of PS2 games I actually play... I don't think backwards compatibility is a big deal.

[Michael]

I'm pretty sure they are going to have to make it work with 3rd party boxes as I highly doubt Sky or any US cable provider would willingly hand over the encryption software to MS... also the fact that the One has HDMI in, that you can use to connect your comcast box to your XONE, and if it dsnt have a HDMI out then the XONE also has an IR Blaster, its essentially a console with the Google TV stuff built it, nothing we havn't seen before and nothing that actually solves any problems.

I believe it's going to work essentially like a cable card inside the Xbox. It's just up to cable and other content providers to work with MS and allow them to stream their content through the console. Being MS, I think they may have some success in this. But honestly, I couldn't care less about cable. I haven't had cable for years now. IMO, big waste of money. Hundreds of channels I will never watch and still have to pay for. Rather have on-demand options with a small monthly fee. Same with movies. I also stream most of my movies from my PC to my Xbox 360. So as long as I can still do that, I am fine.

[WRXChris]

So far everything I've seen about the Xbone is horrible, the only positive thing that could come out of this is a relaunch of PC receivers for controllers, and while this would mean swapping the X360 controller with the Xbone one, it doesn't seem bad as the controller seems to be much the same as before.

FYI, after my second 360 wireless receiver for pc died, I googled the problem.  It's an easy fix, a certain SMT resistor burns out, you simply have to desolder it and bridge the connections, since doing that my receiver hasnt had a problem in years.  Hope this helps!

[baldgye]

I'm pretty sure they are going to have to make it work with 3rd party boxes as I highly doubt Sky or any US cable provider would willingly hand over the encryption software to MS... also the fact that the One has HDMI in, that you can use to connect your comcast box to your XONE, and if it dsnt have a HDMI out then the XONE also has an IR Blaster, its essentially a console with the Google TV stuff built it, nothing we havn't seen before and nothing that actually solves any problems.

I believe it's going to work essentially like a cable card inside the Xbox. It's just up to cable and other content providers to work with MS and allow them to stream their content through the console. Being MS, I think they may have some success in this. But honestly, I couldn't care less about cable. I haven't had cable for years now. IMO, big waste of money. Hundreds of channels I will never watch and still have to pay for. Rather have on-demand options with a small monthly fee. Same with movies. I also stream most of my movies from my PC to my Xbox 360. So as long as I can still do that, I am fine.

I think you made that up lol... the XONE has no cable card/receiver inside it, nor anything that would work with satellite services... The Verge wrote an piece about how its going to work, and its going to work like Google TV (apparently) where you plug in the cable/sky box or what ever into the XONE and then the XONE over-lays its own interface on the top of the feed its getting from the box via the HDMI-in. But this means it has no access to any DVR functions and the XONE has no DVR functions of its own... if the cable/sky box cannot support this though the HDMI port there is also an IR Blaster built into it to help... but you still need your cable/sky box for it to work...

...and yeah I agree with you I have SkyHD but the only reason is so I can watch the F1, I don't watch any live TV other than maybe Top Gear and Have I Got News For You, both of which I can just as easily watch on iPlayer, which is already available on my TV/PC/PS3/Phone etc etc...



The biggest problem with the XONE as I see it, is that it's trying to go down a route that's quickly becoming a niche audience, with less and less people watching live TV and more and more watching on-demand services or using DVR functions to watch TV when they want/or can...

[DamienG]

It has been confirmed. Movies and games will both be Blu-Ray format.

All I see is "Blu-Ray Drive". Nothing about movie playback. Again, two pieces are required. Drive + player software. Anyone who has acquired a drive for their PC can attest to this. I suspect it will be a free extra download but not preinstalled.

[)amien

[baldgye]

It has been confirmed. Movies and games will both be Blu-Ray format.

All I see is "Blu-Ray Drive". Nothing about movie playback. Again, two pieces are required. Drive + player software. Anyone who has acquired a drive for their PC can attest to this. I suspect it will be a free extra download but not preinstalled.

[)amien

Given how much they want you to have sex with your TV, would make little sense for it not to be bundled.

[DamienG]

Given how much they want you to have sex with your TV, would make little sense for it not to be bundled.

Yes, it makes massive financial sense. Blu-Ray software on-console = paying a Blu-Ray movie playback licence fee for every single console even if people don't play movies on it.  Make it a free optional download and they can then pay just BR fees on that instead.

This is why the free "Optional Media Download" on the Xbox 360 is required to play iPod music (MP4/AAC licencing). Heck, Microsoft don't even include DVD playback in Windows any more as they don't want to pay for the codecs.

[)amien

[SmallFry]

So download an extra package or whatever? I don't see why it's a big deal.

[DamienG]

So download an extra package or whatever? I don't see why it's a big deal.

Nobody ever said it was a big deal. It was a trivial footnote that turned into a discussion

Unless of course the player download isn't free. Or isn't from Microsoft. <shrug>

[)amien