25th May 2013, 4:58 PM
So, Microsoft has been giving some VERY mixed messages about the always-online and used-game fronts.
On always online, apparently the system will need to call the servers once per day. So you can take it offline, but only for less than 24 hours; if it's beyond that, it'll require you to hook it up before you can do anything. If you don't have online, or live out in the country where online access is bad... well, that's just too bad. Microsoft does not care about you, that's for sure.
As for used games, MS has been EXTREMELY evasive. I could link the various statements they have made, but none of them clarify thing much, so I don't think it's worth it. Basically they have claimed that you will be able to buy "used" games in some fashion, but have refused to explain how it'll work. It is possible that it might require a registration fee to "buy" a used game. Or maybe there won't be a fee; it's not clear. And maybe Microsoft and the developers will take a cut of the resale price, which would mean that only authorized resellers could resell the games, because they'd need new keys and such, so that the new owner could use the game. Or something. That latter one, of course, basically completely rips apart any shreds that were left of the idea of you actually owning anything you've paid for, and is completely ridiculous. I'm sorry, but no. Once I have bought something, the company that originally made it does NOT have a right to take a cut when I, or anyone else, sell it! But with how the courts seem to care more about companies than people, if this ever did go to court, I imagine that Microsoft would win. It's sad.
Oh, and how will they enforce that you can't keep the games you've sold, considering that all games are required to be installed to your hard drive? Well, it's not proven, but it's likely that there'll be some kind of check connected to that "you must connect once every 24 hours in order to use it" requirement the system has...
And I'm not even going to start on the rumors about Kinect camera-enforced DRM stuff. I just hope that never happens.
As for a 360 shutoff, I'd guess ~5 years, so I don't think it's imminent. Original Xbox's Live was only shut down in 2010. But it is coming eventually, and it'll take all legal XBLA purchases with it. As someone who loves buying older games, and who cares about game preservation, the DD future is not a good one.
The controller looks better than the 360 one, though, at least...
On always online, apparently the system will need to call the servers once per day. So you can take it offline, but only for less than 24 hours; if it's beyond that, it'll require you to hook it up before you can do anything. If you don't have online, or live out in the country where online access is bad... well, that's just too bad. Microsoft does not care about you, that's for sure.
As for used games, MS has been EXTREMELY evasive. I could link the various statements they have made, but none of them clarify thing much, so I don't think it's worth it. Basically they have claimed that you will be able to buy "used" games in some fashion, but have refused to explain how it'll work. It is possible that it might require a registration fee to "buy" a used game. Or maybe there won't be a fee; it's not clear. And maybe Microsoft and the developers will take a cut of the resale price, which would mean that only authorized resellers could resell the games, because they'd need new keys and such, so that the new owner could use the game. Or something. That latter one, of course, basically completely rips apart any shreds that were left of the idea of you actually owning anything you've paid for, and is completely ridiculous. I'm sorry, but no. Once I have bought something, the company that originally made it does NOT have a right to take a cut when I, or anyone else, sell it! But with how the courts seem to care more about companies than people, if this ever did go to court, I imagine that Microsoft would win. It's sad.
Oh, and how will they enforce that you can't keep the games you've sold, considering that all games are required to be installed to your hard drive? Well, it's not proven, but it's likely that there'll be some kind of check connected to that "you must connect once every 24 hours in order to use it" requirement the system has...
And I'm not even going to start on the rumors about Kinect camera-enforced DRM stuff. I just hope that never happens.
Quote: The system apparently has the Windows 8 kernel built in. Okay then, why did you feel the need to tell me that? Unless you're telling me I can now run Windows games on the system (doubtful, the kernel is likely limited), this is nothing I really care about.I think the apps run in the Windows kernel -- Skype and such. Both OSes are running at all times -- the system dedicates 3GB of RAM and 10% of the CPU to the Windows and connecting OSes, so games can, while running fullscreen, only use 5GB of RAM and 90% of the CPU. The idea was to have greater support for social stuff and TV stuff and all that, at the cost of some game performance. Yeah, not exactly a design decision I, or many other gamers, think much of... you play console games to get away from that kind of PC-centric thing.
Quote: You want a reason why so many people got upset about things like dedicated servers when "their online service is way better than anything you could cobble together"? That's why. Some of us like playing retro experiences with friends, and this generation in particular has made such a proposition harder than it has ever been before. It's going to suck for game collectors in the future unless some novel hackers come along with a modified 360 interface to allow custom online servers. Even then, there will be difficulties, there will be problems, all because those hackers are going to be editing HEX code instead of working directly with the original source code.Supposedly all games are going to have dedicated servers for online, so they're doing that. But yeah, future collectors? Unless the system gets completely hacked open, it's a horrendously bad future for everyone wanting to play Xbox One games, that's for sure. This generation started us on that path, with XBLA, PSN, WiiWare/VC, and such all being like that, but now on the XO (or whatever the acronym's going to be) ALL games are pretty much that. Yeah, it's pretty awful.
As for a 360 shutoff, I'd guess ~5 years, so I don't think it's imminent. Original Xbox's Live was only shut down in 2010. But it is coming eventually, and it'll take all legal XBLA purchases with it. As someone who loves buying older games, and who cares about game preservation, the DD future is not a good one.
Quote: Also, while they won't require an "always on" connection, they DID include functionality in the system for individual game developers (Ubisoft, maybe Capcom) to require that on an individual game basis. MS, that doesn't absolve you of responsibility. You might as well include electric shock pads in the controller, stating you'll never use them yourselves, but hey, if a 3rd party developer wants to, hey, they have the option.On this point, I think Sony's going to do the same thing. Rumor has it that Sony might even allow developers to block used games/resale without a license fee if publishers want, thought they might not be doing it themselves, which would explain why Sony's been evasive about this... though there are Sony statements saying that they understand that not all people have or can have internet access and the PS4 will not be required to be online, so there's pretty certainly no system-wide online requirement with the system.
Quote: The device looks like my dad's old VCR. Basically, what all entertainment devices looked like when they ditched wood paneling. The d-pad, for the first time, looks like a d-pad. If it actually is what it looks like, I wonder how they managed it. Did they sign some sort of deal with Nintendo? Looks like they added rumble to the triggers on the device. Hmm... I mean, we've all talked about "real force feedback" before, where you might have to "fight the controls" on a plane or something. This isn't that, it's just rumble on the triggers. No hint of touch interface outside requiring the separate purchase of a smart phone to use their "smart glass".Yeah, the thing looks like an early '90s media player, or something, just with slightly modern styling. And it looks big, too. It's clearly not a "game console" design, and that must be on purpose, but it doesn't make it look good.
The controller looks better than the 360 one, though, at least...
Quote:The stats on the thing are pretty nice, much like the PS4.Actually PS4's looking like it's a good bit more powerful.
Quote: The people they set up to answer questions apparently barely knew anything about the system. One of them refused to answer something as basic as whether or not the Kinect could be removed and the system still function. Another said "no, it must be plugged in forever", or something like that. Microsoft really wants us all to use that thing to navigate the menu. Yes, the novelty factor of telling the xbox to start a game is nice, but it wears off. Using your hands to point to things or your voice to input commands is, simply, much slower and less accurate than using the controller. It probably always will be. Star Trek used the voice command thing a lot as a plot device, but realistically I'm pretty sure in actual space emergencies, it would simply be quicker to input the commands using their consoles than to navigate that phone tree of a voice system. For one, a line of text can be displayed all at once on a screen or input faster than speaking speed, but sound has to come out syllable by syllable, at a steady slow speaking rate. At the very least, we know that the system will not be backwards compatible with the 360.I agree entirely -- voice is never going to be faster than buttons. It makes for a neat presentation, but it's not faster.
Quote: The PC has been gaining a lot of traction lately. MS is fine with that, I'm sure. The PC may "take over" the role of system of choice, especially if well designed "system in a box" setups start taking off and Steam's "big picture" mode proves popular enough.I'm sure they are fine with that, but they've said that they don't plan on bringing much of anything other than browser and mobile and such games over to the PC. Real games are console only.
Quote: The PS4 is looking like the better deal, but E3 will answer more questions there too. In the end, we may look upon the Wii U as the last true gaming console. Both the PS4 and XBox One are certainly going to be incredibly expensive, so Nintendo may yet turn their sales around completely. People may be perfectly satisfied with the "current gen" of graphics after all if the next big upgrade requires sacrificing so much.Yeah, that's got to be what Nintendo is hoping now... and it could happen!
Quote:The hard disk took a generational step backwards. It is built into the hardware permanently, can't be upgraded, much like the actual XBox 1. You can plug in external hard drives, but even at USB 3.0, that's still under the transfer rates of a direct SATA connection. Nintendo's console behaves the same, but we sort of expect better from Microsoft's hardware division at this point. They really should have allowed the disk to be slid right out and upgraded by the user. As it is, I'm already seriously considering modding my original XBox so I don't lose my data to a hard drive failure (all hard drives eventually fail, it is only a matter of time, I may replace the existing drive with a solid state solution, I mean heck even a 32GB memory card would be 4 times the existing storage space on the original).Yeah, fortunately that's not all that hard to do.
Quote:The interface focused a lot on TV. Again, this is a page from Nintendo's book. Most modern cable boxes have HDMI out at this point (surround sound systems do as well), so the second port handily solves the issue that Nintendo's lack of ports fails to address. All the same, I ditched cable some time ago in favor of using the internet for the scant few TV shows I want to watch (mainly, Daily Show and Colbert Report). Adding TV broadcast support feels a little anachronistic at this point. Heck, my cell phone is set up to receive emergency weather alerts, so I'm less and less inclined to care about broadcasts any more.And it's for live TV only -- anyone with a DVR has to use their DVR for anything there, of course. This is live-broadcast only. There's no way the XO could be a DVR, not with its install mandate and only 500GBs of HDD space.