Xbox One

[SocializingMogo Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close SocializingMogo]

So I basically get the same restrictions as I got with steam, but with full price (aka 60-70$) games? WTF Microsoft?
Good thing I switched back to PC gaming two years ago.

[Fearless Agent Orange Find all posts View Profile Close Fearless]

Nintendo of Japan president Satoru Iwata responds to Xbox One reveal

[Lantern A-train Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Lantern A-train]

Xbox One: What We Do and Don't Know

A bewildering flurry of stories has emerged from the Xbox One event, with Microsoft executives directly contradicting each other about several Xbox One features crucial to gamers. Foremost among these are the console's requirement for an Internet connection and the way that the console will handle pre-owned games, but there are several other areas of confusion as well.

After going through all the information and quote from as many different official Microsoft sources as I could find, these are the answers we currently have to these key questions.


Does it require an internet connection?
YES. Xbox One will need to connect to the internet frequently in order to let you play games, watch TV or do anything else. According to Microsoft's Phill Harrison it will need to do so approximately every 24 hours at least, more frequently for games and services that rely more heavily on the cloud. If you are somewhere without any Internet connection at all, such as a military base, you will NOT be able to use Xbox One.

It is reasonable to infer from this, and the other information Microsoft has provided regarding game-sharing, that Xbox One will need to connect to the Internet to authenticate you as well as connect to the Cloud. Games appear to be tied to your Xbox Live account, so without connecting to the Internet the Xbox One won't be able to verify that you own them.


Is it always-online?
Technically NO, but it depends on your definition of the phrase. You will be able to watch TV and Blu-Ray movies and play single-player games without being connected to the Internet at all times, but as outlined above, the console will need access to the Internet at least once a day. Microsoft's Harrison phrased it thus, speaking to Eurogamer: "Some bits of the system will work offline. I think the key point to make is that Xbox One requires an internet connection, but it does not need to be connected all the time. We think that most of the biggest games on Xbox One and most of the games and experiences and services you want to use will be internet-connected."


Can I play my friend's games on my console?
NO, not unless you're signed in as them. Otherwise you will have to pay, full-price, to access that game. The clearest stance on this comes from Eurogamer's interview with Harrison: "I can come to your house and I can put the disc into your machine and I can sign in as me and we can play the game. The bits are on your hard drive. At the end of the play session, when I take my disc home - or even if I leave it with you - if you want to continue to play that game [on your profile] then you have to pay for it. The bits are already on your hard drive, so it's just a question of going to our [online] store and buying the game, and then it's instantly available to play. The bits that are on the disc, I can give to anybody else, but if we both want to play it at the same time, we both have to own it. That's no different to how discs operate today."

Microsoft's Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb) put it this way: "Should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile." But then if you go home and leave the disc with your friend, they will have to pay for that game if they want to play it on their own profile.


What about members of my family on the same console?
YES. If a game is installed on a console, anybody who uses that console can play it through that console's parental controls. But what we don't know it how many accounts this will apply to: four? Five? Two?

Bottom line: you can only share games if your accounts are on the same console and parental controls are set up to do so.


Can it play pre-owned games?
YES, but we don't know how, and Microsoft isn't saying. It's likely to be based on a license system. The official Xbox One FAQ is brief on this issue: "We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games. We’ll have more details to share later." That has been echoed since by Harrison and Hyrb.

So you will be able to trade in games both at retail and through some kind of online service, but we're not likely to get the details on exactly how that works for some time yet.




What about game disc-rental services like Lovefilm and Gamefly?
That's obviously going to be affected, but we don't yet know how.


Does every game have to be installed?
YES. This is partly down to the speed of Blu-Ray drives. If you want to play a game, it will have to be installed on that system.


How big is the hard drive?
500GB, but you can't use all of it. Microsoft's official Xbox One information site contains a significant caveat in the small print: "Xbox One system software uses a significant amount of storage; less internal storage will be available to users."


Will it work without Kinect?
NO. Xbox's UK marketing director Harvey Eagle said at last night's Microsoft-hosted stream that Kinect requires to be attached to the console in all cases, and this has since been echoed elsewhere. "The all new Kinect is now an essential and integrated part of the platform. By having it as a consistent part of every Xbox One, game and entertainment creators can build experiences that assume the availability of voice, gesture and natural sensing, leading to unrivaled ease of use, premium experiences and interactivity for you," says Microsoft's Xbox One FAQ.

However, developers will not be mandated to use Kinect in every game, Phil Harisson clarified to Eurogamer. Another nugget of information: you also can't turn off Kinect's microphone, says hardware program manager John Link (via Polygon). It's always listening.


Will all that live TV stuff be available outside of the US at launch?
NO. At launch it will only work in the US, with a gradual global rollout planned.


How will Xbox One's live TV work with existing cable providers, like Sky?
DON'T KNOW. No Microsoft source has been clear on this - both Harrison and UK marketing director Harvey Eagle have stated that this will be revealed in due course. It's likely that all the requisite agreements are not in place yet. Xbox.com's own Xbox One information suggests that eventually it will work with any TV-viewing box via HDMI pass-thru: "Connect your cable or satellite box to your Xbox One and prepare for lift off."


Is it backwards compatible in any way?
NO. Not with any Xbox 360 games, digital or physical. "The system is based on a different core architecture, so back-compat doesn't really work from that perspective," according to Xbox Live vice president Marc Whitten.


Will my Xbox Live Gold account transfer?
YES, says the Xbox One FAQ: "You do not need to buy a new Xbox Live Gold membership. Your current membership will work on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One."


How about my Gamerscore?
YES, that's coming with you as well - along with your Avatar. "All of the gaming identity that you have on Xbox 360 will be there on Xbox One as well," said Harvey Eagle.


And my digital games library?
NO. You'll have to say goodbye to your Xbox Live Arcade purchases, as outlined by Eagle last night. But entertainment purchases WILL transfer over.


Will I still have to pay for Xbox Live Gold?
YES. The head of Xbox in Europe told The Metro: "Yes, we still see that as a chargeable service... I think that people understand that for a premium service that gives access to so many different rich parts of entertainment. Our consumers are happy and I think we represent great value there actually. If you look at the plethora of things available now through Xbox Live, particularly the Gold service and what we put behind Gold, we’ve got no plans to change that."

[Lantern A-train Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Lantern A-train]

GameStop President Weighs-in on Next-Gen Pre-Owned Games
The exact details of how it'll work haven't been confirmed, though.

GameStop's president has offered his two cents on the next-generation used games market, explaining he is confident both Sony and Microsoft are happy to see it continue.

Speaking to Forbes, Tony Bartel reassured consumers that next-generation games will still be bought and sold on the pre-owned market, as console manufacturers appreciate it's a necessary facet of the marketplace.

"Both Sony and Microsoft have said games can be resold and that's exactly what we anticipated," he said. "It's a recognised way to make these games more affordable. All three new platforms understand that.

"As people upgraded to PS3 they traded in their old systems and libraries, which is why Sony made the move to not support backwards compatibility with later iterations of PS3. That's why the 'buy, sell, trade' model works well. It enables people to purchase new games by trading in their old ones. We expect to see the same thing with this transition for PS4 and Xbox One. Trade-ins allow for a seamless transition."

Interestingly, Bartel revealed that 70 per cent of GameStop's $1 billion market sales comes from the sale of new games rather than pre-owned ones.

Confusion reigned yesterday when sources first reported that the Xbox One would require mandatory installs, with anyone wanting to play a game on more than one machine forced to pay for it again. Thankfully, this was later clarified as a misunderstanding - you can play a game using your own account from any machine, though you can't share that game with others unless they're signed into your account or playing on the same machine.

So that's nice and clear, then. To try and cut through the confusion surrounding Xbox One, we've put together a list of things we know for certain which we'll be updating as more comes out.

The exact constraints placed upon the resale of games have yet to be revealed.

[Rotten2thecorps Alpha-Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Rotten2thecorps]

yeah but everything in that time has jumped in cost. movie theater prices are crazy high it's about 10 dollars for the cheapest time of the day but people still go to the movies. the cost of dvd's and blu ray's are much more expensive then vhs was and people still purchase those. point being if you want type of the line entertainment you have to pay the cost for said entertainment or go without if everyone boycotts prices drop but if people continue to pay the high prices the industry has no reason to lower prices.

It is not realy the same thing. It would be like paying for the privlage to go to the movies,then buy a ticket then have to pay again to see the whole movie then pay alittle more to see all the characters in the movie,then pay a little more if you wanna wear your clothes to the movie. It is tack on after tack on.

It has gotten outta hand.

[W.West Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close W.West]

Xbox One: What We Do and Don't Know

Whelp...they just sold me on the PS4.

[Hybrid Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Hybrid Lantern]

PS3 turned me off of anything Sony.

Wii and lack of 3DS games I wanted turned me off of anything Nintendo.

Inability to sell unwanted PC games to local stores turned me off of PC gaming unless it is Starcraft.

Xbox has yet to turn me off.

[havik Anti-Monitor Find all posts View Profile Close havik]

i am loving everything about the new xbox thus far then again i never lend out games i work my ass off to buy for the simple fact of not trusting others to take care of my stuff properly. the all in one aspect will be fun and being able to audibly control my device will be fun just hope that it allows you to do a speech test for those people who speech issues

[Fearless Agent Orange Find all posts View Profile Close Fearless]

So far, all this has done is infuriate me.

Xbox One ALWAYS needs to be online? What the hell for? I don't play online, and I don't use any of the other services provided on the Xbox that require Internet. I can see how the majority of users may like this, but the constant need of having an internet connection is pointless, especially in a home such as mine where the poor connection between console and WiFi has been one of the mains reasons I don't play online.

This whole "separate consoles, separate games" bit really bugs me. So, what, if a friend gives me a disc does this mean I can't play it and have to buy it online separately and install it before I can do that? Not to mention the complete lack of pre-owned games being made available at this point. Odds are the games available at launch won't immediately grab me and I'll have to stick by my old games, which is a whole different issue in and of itself. What then? This whole trying to take two steps forward philosophy Microsoft has got going is really poorly outlined.

FUCK YOU and your Kinect. Not once, EVER, have I needed the Kinect for ANYTHING on my Xbox or my games, and now they're forcing it down my throat? And I know why they're doing it, too; there are stories that say that advertisements on entertainment services, such as Hulu and the like, will require physical interaction in order to complete it and allow whatever program you're watching to play. With them banking on this being the only device you need, I'm almost certain this is what they're going to be using it for, as well as conduct advertising research via the camera in order to find how many people at any given time are watching something, as well as monitoring background noise for buzzwords, certain types of music, etc.

Fuck you, Microsoft.

No backwards compatibility and no arcade games transferred over. Fucking hell...

Microsoft better clean it's act up real quick, before I switch over to Sony...

[SocializingMogo Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close SocializingMogo]

With them banking on this being the only device you need, I'm almost certain this is what they're going to be using it for, as well as conduct advertising research via the camera in order to find how many people at any given time are watching something, as well as monitoring background noise for buzzwords, certain types of music, etc.

Exactly this is what they're doing. Remember minority report with all the billboards playing customized ads for the Tom Cruise character? It's already happening through tracking via cookies and facebook, imagine what they can do with Kinekt 2.0.

[Fearless Agent Orange Find all posts View Profile Close Fearless]

Exactly this is what they're doing. Remember minority report with all the billboards playing customized ads for the Tom Cruise character? It's already happening through tracking via cookies and facebook, imagine what they can do with Kinekt 2.0.

Big Brother exists... and he makes shitty video game consoles now, apparently...

["Chosen" NOT his black friend Find all posts View Profile Close "Chosen"]

Havik,

Borrowing a game to a friend is not being cheap. I do not know where you get this idea from. Different people like different games. If a game intrigues me, but I am not completely sold on it, of course I will borrow from a friend and (vice versa) if they have it! Maybe my friends are different from yours, I trust them with my property, I respect theirs.

[Marvelous Iggy God Of Turtles Find all posts View Profile Close Marvelous Iggy]

That is the ugliest console yet. It's a black fucking brick. Right now Sony owns the next gen race by the balls.

[JohnnyV Pictionary Master Find all posts View Profile Close JohnnyV]

LOL, no one owns anything. Sony hasn't even shown the design of the console. Hell, the consoles aren't even coming out til later this year. I will say that if PS4 doesn't have any of the disc restrictions Microsoft has announced I'll be purchasing a PS4 over the Xbox-1. Cause I definitely don't plan on owning all three consoles like I did last gen. Not really worth it. The only way this will change is if Nintendo releases some killer first party games that I just can't live without.

[Lantern A-train Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Lantern A-train]

That is the ugliest console yet. It's a black fucking brick. Right now Sony owns the next gen race by the balls.

Do they really? What's their invisible system look like?