Thoughts? Internet connection not always required, gamerscore/gamertag carries over, not backwards compatible (neither is PS4).

Very excited for E3.

Not very excited here.

Used games are done-for unless you pay a fee for for each game. So bye-bye to Gamefly or any other rental service and bye-bye to borrowing that copy from your buddy. Bullshit --this alone could be what sinks this console.

No backwards-compatibility of any kind including digital purchases. Bullshit. As I explained in the PS4 thread, this should an incredibly easy thing to implement now with the advent of streaming gaming services and such. No more worries with hardware incompatibilities and emulation bullshit. The technology is out there and it works. So this reveal just reeks of gouging and making people pay for the same thing over and over again.

Mandatory hard drive installs for all games including disc-based ones? Fucking horseshit. Get ready to pay triple the price for one of Microsoft's laughably outdated and undersized proprietary hard drives when the already woefully-undersized-at-launch hard drive that comes with system inevitably fills up (or just get used to deleting games all the time).

And get ready to have that Kinect nonsense crammed into every single Xbox game from here on out. Because now the console won't turn on without it. I guess this was to be expected with the original Kinect being a smashing success and all (/sarcasm).

This is all besides the point because it was blatantly obvious from that reveal that Microsoft doesn't give one red-hot shit about games anymore. They care about cramming every single multimedia feature into that box that they can while making you pay an extra 70 dollars a year for it. And most of it will require you to have a constant internet connection to take advantage of it anyway so there goes the "always-on" argument (really an over-blown argument since the 360 is like that and has been for a while now)

On the upside, at least they didn't fuck with the controller too much.

Steam Box, here I come.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Actually, it has a USB 3 port, for attaching any external drive to it (and the system will treat it like a JBOD setup, adding your external device to the internal drive's total space). With 2TB drives under $100 these days, that's better than including a larger standard drive at launch (which is 500GB).

I don't see anything compelling about the hardware. MS was quiet about the GPU (contrary to Sony, which is really going to be pushing 4K as a selling factor for the aptly named PS4), and unless the integrated cable box/dvr talks nice to my cable company, it's a completely useless feature. It's also confusing that it runs 3 different operating systems.

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In space, nobody can hear you ride breakfast goat

I'm actually shocked that they included something like that but I'll wait to see what the final implementation looks like. They'll find some way to boob it up, I'm sure. I'm sure they made a shitload off of those proprietary drives for the 360 so I'm surprised they won't be doing something similar for the One.



The live TV integration does look great until about half-way through the presentation when you realize that they shown no DVR-like functions of any kind. No pausing or rewinding what you're watching -- something which I think the 360 actually does if I'm not mistaken. And if it is capable of that, they didn't show it. I fully expected there to be no stored or recorded programming function so that was no surprise. But if they somehow get this thing to work with your actual DVR for accessing your recorded shows and managing your series recordings, then they might actually have something here. Otherwise, I agree with your "useless" assessment.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

I give no shits about console wars, but I think Sony just won. It just seems like the correct assumption.

If only due to the Mandatory Once-A-Day Internet Connection rule, alone. There's no way that wasn't a compromise made at the very last moment where Microsoft suddenly realised everyone was losing their shit over an always-on connection.

Sony meanwhile is eyeballing indie developers hardcore as fuck (cynical marketing ploy for certain, but I still appreciate the move) making sure every game for the PS4 can be streamed wireless to the Vita and releasing press statements saying they're not blocking used games or having constant online connections, period (though it does seem to be that online passes are going to be an across-the-board thing. They definitely are for Sony-specific Vita games, at least. Probably will be up to the developer) means it's pretty much a lock for me.

But Jesus CHRIST, this new generation of consoles are butt fucking ugly as sin.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

I'm not very excited, but I'm not at all bothered by the multi-media thing. All consoles are going that way and have been for years. Heck, both Microsoft and Sony were touting this sort of thing two console generations ago. A lot of those features for the last gen have been pretty great, actually.

Not a fan of a lot of the other stuff, though. Installs, no BC, and so on. Eh.

But this is the way consoles are going, so none of it is a surprise.

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"Hitler had a pretty good idea there." - Eric

The Kinect's microphone capabilities will always be on, even when the console is off.

CREEPY.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

THIS IS A GOOD SUMMARY OF THE NEW XBOX:

http://youtu.be/KbWgUO-Rqcw

SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS, I'M NOT YELLING, IT'S A SOFTWARE THING - IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG TO EXPLAIN. SUFFICE TO SAY, JUST IMAGINE THIS ISN'T ALL CAPS.

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In space, nobody can hear you ride breakfast goat

I love the idea of having an all-in-one media center, but I just don't watch much television. Not enough to even bother having cable, or even a digital antenna. And if I want to listen to music, I'm not a dick in my apartment, I'll usually have my mp3 player on with my headphones in.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

Like in order for the next generation of consoles to get my attention in terms of being an all-in-one media center is Sony or Microsoft would have to say "Yo, we support the .MKV codec on video playback," drop the microphone and I'd be sold, basically.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

I don't care one way or the other about media integration, hard drive sizes or persistent internet connections. Just show me a game that I have to play and I will buy your stupid console.

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"Look, when you need 25 copies of V.I. Warshawski, you need 25 copies of V.I. Warshawski." - JFelix

My thoughts as well. We will find out about the exclusive titles at E3 which is a pretty big decision in my purchase. I haven't got to play a good baseball game in years, I'd almost buy a PS4 just to play MLB The Show.

I'm still disappointed in the lack of actual game footage though, Microsoft fucked up not at least having 1 game to show off.

EXACTLY. THIS IS WHY I BOUGHT THE N64, PS1, DREAMCAST, GAMECUBE, AND THE PS3 (ALTHOUGH THE LATTER WAS FOR BLU-RAY MOVIES AS WELL, BUT I WAITED UNTIL GT5 WAS ANNOUNCED).

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In space, nobody can hear you ride breakfast goat

The used game fiasco widens. There is now a pricing scheme being bandied about for "activating" a used game on Microsoft's new console. Take a breath...

40, 50, or 60 bucks!!!

Are you fucking kidding me???!!!

I thought at most it would be an annoying 10-15 bucks.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/21/xbox-one-may-have-mandatory-game-installs

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Ouch...obviously, this is EA and Ubisoft's doing, in exchange for giving MS exclusive titles and DLC, etc. Probably the old man in me talking, but (Gran Turismo and Star Wars aside), I've never spent more than $20 on a video game, and that will never change. Paying full price for a 3 year old title (which I often buy) seems a bit off-putting.

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In space, nobody can hear you ride breakfast goat

Holy shit, stop shooting yourself in the foot, Microsoft.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

As it stand now I won't be buying this and if that is the end of my gaming days then so be it.

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God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

Letterboxed

At least they got this part right. Well, aside from the fact that they should've gotten rid of Gold Memberships a long time ago:

One Gold membership for both 360 and One

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Why are you typing in all caps? Please take the time to explain.

Also, I pictured them using some stupid name like Xbox Next or NextBox or some crappy shit like that. But no, they did me worse, Xbox One? Yeah, yeah, one device to rule them all, or "all in one box!", but really, it's Xbox 3, kind of dumb to call it Xbox One. Fuck you, Microsoft. Sale LOST!

Yeah, but you can buy little media players that do that for next to nothing anyways. WDTV is a good starter.

This animation software I use speeds up rendering when the Caps Lock key is on (specifically, it disables screen redrawing). Normally, I don't use the machine that's rendering to browse, but I couldn't be bothered to turn my laptop on.

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In space, nobody can hear you ride breakfast goat

Is this like the Turbo key on my parent's old 386 computer? It made Doom run raster. Turbo! They should bring that feature back.

All in One, yo.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

So is your cell phone's.

I can't even remember the last great baseball game I played. It was a long time ago. I'd kill for one that combined good gameplay with deep, rich simulation and management, though, where you could play out multiple seasons and the like.
I rarely pay full price for a game anymore, either. Maybe once a year, and recently I'm not even sure it's that much.

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"Hitler had a pretty good idea there." - Eric

As for the multimedia stuff, I'd like those features -- I use them already, and quite a lot, actually* -- but they won't sell a console for me.

Great games and backwards compatibility will.


*My music is run through my Xbox to my outdoor speakers; it provides the soundtrack to my summers. Hard drive hooked up with my whole library. My whole digital video library is also hooked up to it. TV shows, movies, documentaries, we watch all that stuff through the Xbox. If I had my druthers, we'd cancel the cable.

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"Hitler had a pretty good idea there." - Eric

No, it just allows whatever CPU cycles were being dedicated to drawing information on the screen to be redirected to actual rendering - probably a 5 percent increase in speed. Doesn't seem like much, but it adds up over a year.

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In space, nobody can hear you ride breakfast goat

Good thing I don't have a cell phone.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

More proof that Microsoft is firmly in the pocket of EA and Ubisoft:

Indie devs can't self-publish on Xbox One

Don't expect to see your next Super Meat Boy or Braid on the Xbox One.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

I'll be over here enjoying Hotline Miami on PS3/Vita (crossbuy - another thing that Sony's surprisingly on the ball about) Microsoft, thanks, I'll keep in touch (I probably won't keep in touch).

(EDIT: Every time I mention Hotline Miami ANYWHERE I always end up calling it "Miami Connection" instead, proving once again that we all turn into our parents eventually)

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

Why not? Indie devs can't self publish on Xbox right now. Braid, for example, was published by Microsoft Game Studios for the XBLA platform. This is just a continuation of existing policy, policy that did not stand in the way of games like Super Meat Boy and Braid being released on XBLA.

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"Hitler had a pretty good idea there." - Eric

Microsoft is trying to keep the door closed as hard as humanly possible, whereas Sony and Nintendo have ripped the hinges off their doors, trying to get as much content as possible.

It all just feels a touch old fashioned.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

True, but both of those developers have been vocal about how much of a pain in the ass it was dealing with Microsoft to get their stuff on the Xbox. Team Meat has said repeatedly that they'll never deal with Microsoft again after their experience getting Super Meat Boy published. Microsoft's policy only serves to gouge fund-starved indie devs by forcing them to give Microsoft publishing rights in order to have their games on the Xbox. Also Microsoft has final say what content will go into game. And they also set the pricing scheme for any DLC that may come along. Ever wonder why the user-created levels for Super Meat Boy didn't make it into the XBLA version? Because Microsoft would have forced Team Meat to charge extra for them -- something Team Meat never planned on doing with those levels (those levels should be free anyway as they're user generated).

Regardless of how long they've been using that policy, it's still painfully unfair to the devs. Sony, Nintendo, and Steam all have much better policies and they don't make the games so hard to find on their marketplace.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

EA: PS4/Xbox One 'a generation ahead' of gaming PCs

Wow -- I laughed pretty good at this. Any tech in these consoles is already almost 2 years-old at this point -- hardly a generation ahead. Hype on, guys!

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin

Not that it matters, considering EA just ports console titles to the PC. And breaks the ones that aren't ported (eg. SimCity).

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In space, nobody can hear you ride breakfast goat

PC gamers don't have used games, and we're just fine

This article is right on the money. Steam has already been doing what they're trying with the One with one major difference -- Steam sales. I seriously doubt Microsoft will adopt Steam's model for this but it could be a major coup if they did. Of course, EA would never be OK with this.

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"You know the best thing about necrophilia? You don't have to bring flowers. They're usually already there." -- George Carlin