The Official NextBox Thread!

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » July 24, 2013, 9:58 pm

I just can't believe he doesn't get bored of himself and move on.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » July 25, 2013, 12:47 am

you keep paying attention to it and it will never leave.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 25, 2013, 10:29 am

Listen to kyoukan. She's like way smarter than the rest of you. She only comments on every one of my posts while you people give me attention every...oh wait...thanks kyoukan!

My #1 fan #1 stalker #1 creeper. Quite the trifecta.

Moore says that Microsoft reports Xbox One pre-orders trending ahead of Xbox 360

This comes just a few days after Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg tweeted that demand for Xbox One is “through the roof,” and after several retailers suspended pre-orders for the new console.

Meanwhile, GI.biz reports that Baird analyst Colin Sebastian believes Xbox One could outship PlayStation 4 this fall.

"Despite losing the headline battle at E3, Microsoft's Xbox One appears to be regaining some momentum, in part due to the used and online policy tweaks,” Sebastian noted. “Importantly, our supply chain checks suggest Microsoft may have the benefit of a 2-3x unit advantage at launch compared to Sony's PS4."

Sony is totally fucked if they can't outsell Xbox One at $100 less per unit at launch. Both consoles will probably be sold out for awhile after launch day. It will be interesting to see the total units sold for each after the first month.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 25, 2013, 11:11 am

Yeah. Just like they were fucked with the PS3 despite coming out a year later than the 360 yet have sold more total units. And that's without 33% of the owners having to buy another one (or two) due to RRoD like Xbox people had to.

I am sure they are quaking in their boots.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 25, 2013, 11:48 am

Can Microsoft Still Win the Console Wars of 2013?

By Anders Bylund
July 24, 2013

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) and Sony (NYSE: SNE ) are doing all they can to win the 2013 edition of the video game console wars. One analysts believes Mr. Softy may have done enough to overcome early missteps, calling the Xbox One a winner for the holidays.

The next-generation console painted itself into a corner early on as Microsoft outlined some downright draconian content policies. Sony's PlayStation 4 is comparable in every way that matters, but it also comes without restrictive content licenses and costs $100 less than the $499 Xbox One. It looked like game over in the first round.

But Microsoft quickly apologized for its heavy hand over what gamers can and can't do with their Xbox One games, and it ended up removing most of the unpopular restrictions. The console is still more expensive than the Sony product, but maybe that's not enough to hold the product back anymore.

Analyst firm Robert W. Baird says the Xbox is on a winning track. Analyst Colin Sebastian ran checks against the supply chains of both consoles and came away with a dramatic conclusion: "Microsoft may have the benefit of a 2-3x unit advantage at launch compared to Sony's PS4."

That's not a small victory, but a savage rout. If Sebastian's sources are on the money, Microsoft will most definitely win this round of the console wars.

Well, Redmond will take the early battles, anyway. Both systems are expected to launch into heavy demand, with manufacturing capacity becoming the limiting factor at first. In other words, Sony might still rule the roost when it comes to public opinion and the potential for long-term success. But Microsoft shows mastery of the supply chain game at this point -- secure more components, build more units, and look good in the early sales statistics.

The real takeaway from this unexpected win is this: Microsoft is serious about hardware.

We all know Microsoft as a software giant, built on decades of success via Windows and the Office suite. That's how Bill Gates got his Dow Jones (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) membership card, and these are still the core operations of a market giant with a $266 billion market cap and $78 billion in 2012 sales. But that's changing fast.

Yeah Sony (14 Billion in Debt) has been doing great! I'm sure they're not worried about anything! (junk status stock down 4% today)

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » July 25, 2013, 12:53 pm

So MS will have 2-3x more units sitting on the shelves. Is that really considered a road to victory?

I guess it's like releasing a less popular action movie the same weekend as a summer blockbuster in hopes of getting some bleed off sales when the blockbuster sells out.

If Sony has to worry about filling demand, I would imagine they would be doing even better than they had ever hoped.

Meanwhile, there is rumor of an October surprise from Sony by way of releasing the PS4 early. Whichever company releases first, even if it's just a few weeks, will have a big advantage at the start of this generation.

MS has to win a lot of people back. I am one of them.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 25, 2013, 8:10 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:So MS will have 2-3x more units sitting on the shelves. Is that really considered a road to victory?

More than likely both consoles will be sold out but Microsoft will have many more units at launch and be able to supply additional units faster. That will matter to the assloads of new (hot topic) Indy developers that can develop on any Xbox One out there that want their $1 a game from more people. (see crappy Android store vs iOS...also some or most Indy Xbox One games will port easy to Windows 8 making it even more attractive for your precious "Indy" peeps)

If units are sitting on the shelves it won't matter but I doubt that will be the case. Sony needs as many units as possible because their price advantage won't last and won't matter if no one can get them. Sony sells all hardware at a loss and while Microsoft may as well, it's not like that will matter to Microsoft much. They wrote off 1 Billion on the Surface without flinching. Meanwhile, Sony battles hedge funds and debt.

I'd also bet you'll see shortly after launch, if not before, a subsidized Xbox One offering, similar to the Xbox 360, for the same or less than 399.00. It doesn't matter if it ends up costing 599.00 after the Live contract as the general population is stupid. That's something you can count on.

The controller is also way better on the Xbox One so if given the choice, now that people think they got something great with forced disk DRM, and Microsoft offering better Indy support and every Xbox One also being an SDK, you're left with a PS4 machine that will be harder to come by due to the poor decision to make graphics memory be used for the entire system, slowing the OS and other non system graphics down due to latency issues, and a company with a poor networking history trying to implement a bunch of cloud streaming shit from a company they just bought.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 25, 2013, 8:34 pm

Winnow wrote:More than likely both consoles will be sold out but Microsoft will have many more units at launch and be able to supply additional units faster. That will matter to the assloads of new (hot topic) Indy developers that can develop on any Xbox One out there that want their $1 a game from more people. (see crappy Android store vs iOS...also some or most Indy Xbox One games will port easy to Windows 8 making it even more attractive for your precious "Indy" peeps)

lol. You do know that the "every XBO can be a dev unit" wont be in place at launch, don't you? Apparently you do not. You might want to read up on that.

Speaking of ports.. For the Square Enix games the PS4 is the lead development platform and the XBO version will be ports. Burn!

Winnow wrote:The controller is also way better on the Xbox One so if given the choice, now that people think they got something great with forced disk DRM, and Microsoft offering better Indy support and every Xbox One also being an SDK, you're left with a PS4 machine that will be harder to come by due to the poor decision to make graphics memory be used for the entire system, slowing the OS and other non system graphics down due to latency issues, and a company with a poor networking history trying to implement a bunch of cloud streaming shit from a company they just bought.

Jesus fuck shut up about the controller already. Not even sure how you can quantify "the controller is also way better on the Xbox One". "Forced disk DRM" .. What are you smoking? Whatever it is you might want to stop because I have a feeling it's toxic.

How does MS offer better Indie support? Sony is fucking LOANING dev kits to developers. Even when "every XBO becomes a dev kit" you still have to shell out four hundred ninety nine US dollars for the piece of shit. And on top of that a fee to have your XBO dev kit worthy. I can see how that is better indie support. Yes.. Indie.. Not Indy. This isn't fuckin Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Also that other shit about system slow down due to latency you're just pulling shit out of thin air now.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 25, 2013, 8:58 pm

Aslanna wrote: lol. You do know that the "every XBO can be a dev unit" wont be in place at launch, don't you? Apparently you do not. You might want to read up on that.

I'm well aware of that. It's brilliant. Sony has been throwing out bullshit about streaming crap that won't be at launch since their "reveal". Microsoft is finally lowering themselves to Sony's level and throwing out features that won't be there at launch. I'm totally fine with that since Sony has been using that tactic a lot longer than Microsoft...and we are all well aware that Sony has a reputation of taking features away after launch which Microsoft doesn't seem to do. Sony also pimped "Home" which was ass while Microsoft dished up the best and reliable multiplayer experience.

If I was putting long hours into testing out an Indy

game, I'd want to be using the most comfortable controller (Xbox).

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » July 25, 2013, 9:08 pm

Is there still an ignore feature? I looked but didn't see it - don't remember where it was in settings.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 25, 2013, 9:52 pm

it's been gone for a long time

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » July 26, 2013, 1:23 am

Aslanna wrote:For the Square Enix games the PS4 is the lead development platform and the XBO version will be ports

I have so much hope that they aren't going to fuck it up. Unfortunately, hope is a replacement for something more realistic.

Y'all are so angry at one another.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 26, 2013, 1:59 am

Winnow wrote:Hmmm, and now there are day one PS4 consoles available again....hmmmm

Will have to check Amazon best seller lists again in a week.

Why wait a week?

PS4 bundles sitting at #2, #5 and #15. Standard edition in 8th place. Not sure people are cancelling any orders. XBO all the way down at a sad #38.

Knack bundle all the way down at #63. A bit disappointing. Doesn't seem like there's a lot of interest in that.. Everyone wants lame shooters.

MS better start moving all that inventory they are sitting on! Having 2-3x the units doesn't do you any good if nobody is buying them.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » July 26, 2013, 11:00 am

Boogahz wrote:it's been gone for a long time

Well fuck.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 26, 2013, 1:13 pm

New Monopoly Board lets you play as an Xbox Controller. Only the best!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 27, 2013, 12:37 pm

May 21st - Console was revealed by Don Mattrick, People complained about how much they talked about TV

June 11th - Microsoft won back a few gamers by revealing a massive lineup of games, and stuck to their promise of just showing games nothing else but people were still annoyed about the DRM policies on the Xbox One

June 19th - Microsoft decides to get rid of the DRM requirements, but this mean't certain features had to go bye bye, games can be now shared, no 24 hour check, but console now needs a day one update.

July 1st - Don Mattrick leaves the company, Steve Ballmer takes charge of the Xbox Division until Microsoft finds a new CEO for Xbox

July 11th - Steve Ballmer reveals that Julie Larson Green is now in charge of the Xbox Division & Devices

July 18th - July 21st - Major Nelson reveals more system level features such as Kinect Face Mapping, Controller Recognition

July 24th - Microsoft announces Unlimited Cloud Storage through Xbox Live on the Xbox One at PAX Australia 2013

July 24th - Microsoft reveals Self Publishing on the Xbox One reversing the policy they said at E3 saying Indie Game Devs need a publisher to get there game on the marketplace

July 25th - Major Nelson says that it is up to developers to support mods, meaning that the Xbox One possibly can support mods for games

July 26th - Microsoft announces that they will be at Gamescom in August and Phil Harrison & Spencer will be hosting it

Just shows how much has changed on the Xbox One since the departure of Don Mattrick

Add to that the clearer understanding that PS4 doesn't have more ram for games (maybe even less) and that Microsoft's ESRAM is much faster than first thought and you have some serious momentum for the Xbox One. And fairweather should probably wait until the benchmarks are released as PS4's "power advantage" goes from the laughable 50%, to very close, to maybe eventually less with all things considered.

That's quite a turnaround in 2 months. Shows Microsoft is listening (even when it hurts smart people like taking away sharing to appease those that like to shove disks in their consoles to prove they own the game, most likely increasing the chances of piracy as opposed to online verification, which in addition to used game sales, hurts the game developer's bottom line)

For a huge company like Microsoft, that's a very impressive timeline of changes/announcements.

If this turns out to be true, it will help the momentum a bit as well:

According to some retailers the Xbox One will come out before the PS4. retail giant Toys R Us has claimed that the Xbox One will land before the PS4. Listing the Xbox One release date as November 29, the retailer has pegged the PS4 release date as December 13, less than two weeks before Christmas.

Anyone thinking consoles for either company will be sitting on shelves has a lack of understanding of how things work:

Don't blame Santa: Xbox and PlayStation supply probably won't meet demand ... again

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/dont- ... 6C10765763

Other analysts agreed with Otto's assessment that Sony and Microsoft might be aiming for what she called "the Apple effect" in their statements about demand outstripping supply. But Sebastian, who still estimates that Microsoft is better equipped to turn out as many as two times more Xbox One units than Sony is prepared to release of the PlayStation 4, said that the long life-cycle of these products has always made their launches a bit more bumbling.

It doesn't look like PS4 will be announcing any sort of launch sales smashing the Xbox One (most likely the opposite due to supply if nothing else) and then it comes down to momentum and performance as people get a chance to experience the online environments for both platforms. Microsoft is also better capable of handing the huge network demands of a console launch and shows a better/faster track record of reliable updates. From seeing Xbox One's monster square box with a zillion air vents, it looks like Microsoft also learned their lesson from the RRoD...also proven by their extremely quiet and reliable 2nd gen 360 boxes.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 29, 2013, 1:50 pm

We’ve already had the Xbox One Day One console pre-orders, but now they have been joined by a Day One Xbox Live Gold membership. It costs $59.99 when pre-ordered, and in return you get a 12 month subscription along with a couple of extra benefits. The first is a rather inconsequential commemorative Gold membership card, but the second is a free copy of Killer Instinct: Round One along with the exclusive character Shadow Jago.

Free Xbox Gold Live for a year if you happen to like the game Killer Instinct: Round One

If not, find Live Sub cheaper at Amazon, etc.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 29, 2013, 2:31 pm

I'm confused on the math. How is KI:RO a $60 game? I thought it was already free and you had to pay to unlock other characters.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 29, 2013, 5:14 pm

Free character worth $60.00 included!

Killer Instinct is being released in "Rounds". I don't know if the game is free for everyone right away of just with this Day One membership. Need more details. Just one added character wouldn't make sense.

Really only possibly worth it if you like the Killer Instinct fighting game which I guess has a big cult following from the early Xbox days.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 29, 2013, 5:25 pm

Winnow wrote:Killer Instinct is being released in "Rounds". I don't know if the game is free for everyone right away of just with this Day One membership. Need more details. Just one added character wouldn't make sense..

That information is out there.. Dig it up! The game is a free download and includes one character. If you want addition characters you pay to unlock that.

Now if they are giving people the game with all characters unlocked that's a different matter. Don't see it worth $60 however it is better than nothing which is what you usually get from MS.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 29, 2013, 5:52 pm

Winnow wrote:Really only possibly worth it if you like the Killer Instinct fighting game which I guess has a big cult following from the early Xbox days.

Noob.

It has been out since 1994.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » July 29, 2013, 9:13 pm

Winnow wrote:Free character worth $60.00 included!

Killer Instinct is being released in "Rounds". I don't know if the game is free for everyone right away of just with this Day One membership. Need more details. Just one added character wouldn't make sense.

Really only possibly worth it if you like the Killer Instinct fighting game which I guess has a big cult following from the early Xbox days.

Killer Instinct has never been released on anything other than Nintendo consoles JESUS CHRIST

As Aslanna said, you get 1 character to play and have to buy the rest. It's a microtransaction game.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 29, 2013, 10:01 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:
Winnow wrote:Really only possibly worth it if you like the Killer Instinct fighting game which I guess has a big cult following from the early Xbox days.
Killer Instinct has never been released on anything other than Nintendo consoles JESUS CHRIST

Consoles sure. It was in the arcades first a year or two prior to that.

Also MS bought Rare so that's why you wont see KI on other consoles other than Xbox.

Fairweather Pure wrote:As Aslanna said, you get 1 character to play and have to buy the rest. It's a microtransaction game.

It was announced that Killer Instinct will have a free game demo that includes only one playable character, Jago, with the ability to purchase additional fighters individually. Alternatively, a season pass can be purchased, providing immediate access to the entire cast for a single fee.

Not sure the word 'demo' belongs in there to be honest. Regardless, if whatever MS gives you includes the "season pass" I guess it could be a bit of value. Not $60 worth but then again I'm not a fan of fighting games. You'd probably be better off buying a year of Gold from Amazon or eBay for $35 and putting the rest towards KI.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » July 29, 2013, 10:38 pm

I wonder how people are going to play that game with only 1 character that comes for free? Do you just stand there smoking a cigarette until you buy someone to fight against your free guy?

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » July 29, 2013, 10:43 pm

One playable character. I'm sure the enemies will be varied! Meaning you can play the whole game as normal as Jago but if you want to play as someone else (sorry don't know KI character names) you'd have to buy that/those character(s).

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » July 29, 2013, 11:07 pm

I only know Orchid, cause her fatality was she flashed her boobs and the guy fell over dead.

Fighting games are not super up on women's issues.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 29, 2013, 11:08 pm

No clue on Killer Instinct. Had no idea if it was released on Xbox and don't really care. That's why I said "I guess" JESUS CHRIST!1!!

Anyway, if the deal is that you get all of the characters unlocked, it sounds OK if fighting games appeal to you. If you can still get Live year passes for 40.00 then it really just comes down to if it's worth 20.00 vs whatever it would cost to unlock all of the characters.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 29, 2013, 11:09 pm

Winnow wrote:No clue on Killer Instinct. Had no idea if it was released on Xbox and don't really care. That's why I said "I guess" JESUS CHRIST!1!!

Anyway, if the deal is that you get all of the characters unlocked, it sounds OK if fighting games appeal to you. If you can still get Live year passes for 40.00 then it really just comes down to if it's worth 20.00 vs whatever it would cost to unlock all of the characters.

Didn't it say that you unlocked one additional character?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 29, 2013, 11:15 pm

Boogahz wrote:
Winnow wrote:No clue on Killer Instinct. Had no idea if it was released on Xbox and don't really care. That's why I said "I guess" JESUS CHRIST!1!!

Anyway, if the deal is that you get all of the characters unlocked, it sounds OK if fighting games appeal to you. If you can still get Live year passes for 40.00 then it really just comes down to if it's worth 20.00 vs whatever it would cost to unlock all of the characters.
Didn't it say that you unlocked one additional character?

second is a free copy of Killer Instinct: Round One along with the exclusive character Shadow Jago.

Did you read it? "Exclusive character", meaning you only get the character as part of the Day One Live Gold deal. The question is what "Round One" entails. If it's a set of characters or whatever. Round One is probably in addition to whatever free character you start out with if you didn't buy anything at all.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 2, 2013, 10:51 am

The Xbox One's Insides Have Changed A Little Bit Since E3

Graphics and the machine

The highlights here: Whitten says they've got a driver they've built specific to the Xbox One. It's 100% optimized for it, he says. That, and they've managed to up the clock speed on the GPU.

Here's Whitten:

Since E3 we’ve dropped in what we internally call our “mono driver.” It’s our graphics driver that really is 100% optimized for the Xbox One hardware.

You start with the base DX driver and you take out all parts that don’t look like Xbox One and you add in everything that really, really optimizes that experience. Almost all of our content partners have picked it up now.

This is the time where we’ve gone from theory of how the hardware works—what do we think the yield is going to look like, what is the thermal envelope, how do things come together—to really having them in our hands. That’s the time where you start tweaking the knobs because either your theory was right dead-on or you were a little too conservative or you were a little too aggressive.

An example that’s actually been really good news for us, an example of that is we’ve tweaked up our clock speed on the GPU from 800 MHz to 853 MHz. Just an example of how you really start landing the program as you get closer to launch.

It’s just an example where we really get close to the final performance envelope of how the box works and really making sure we have a great product for our developers to build great games against.
What does that mean for Xbox One versus PS4? Well, according to John Carmack, the two consoles are closely matched in terms of power. So maybe not much, though he hasn't done extensive benchmarking on the two.

http://kotaku.com/the-xbox-ones-insides ... -992960685

Xbox has the advantage of DX 11.2 as well so on the optimization front, Microsoft has a better chance of closing the gap as opposed to Sony increasing it.

The article goes over Matchmaking and the Reputation System as well

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 2, 2013, 11:09 am

Although both will run AMD's Jaguar processor, expected to be clocked similarly, Sony's system has opted for more raw graphics power. Microsoft's change appears to be a reaction to that, allowing the company to up its graphics performance by around 6.5 percent. Sony's PlayStation 4 still has a 40 percent advantage over the Xbox One in raw graphics power, so there's still a gap despite Microsoft's changes

Try again.. Try harder.

Sony still has a slight upper hand with greater memory bandwidth, and a faster type of system memory, but given the similarities in architecture this leaves the PlayStation 4 with additional resources that game developers might not utilize initially. Microsoft has attempted to bridge the memory gap by introducing high-speed low-latency eSRAM to act as a buffer for the lower-speed RAM. It's a common tactic, but it's also more difficult for developers to make use of.

I love how Winnow keeps throwing out "eSRAM!" yet criticized the PS3 heavily for the difficulty of developing for the cell processor. My thoughts on that are this will only be utilized for XBO exclusives rather than multi-platform titles.

The two consoles look closer than ever on paper, but the upcoming war won't be won by a specifications battle alone. Games, policies, apps, entertainment, and future accessories and improvements will play the biggest role to determine the next-generation winner.

Don't forget value! As in save $100 by buying a PS4.

Dakanaf · Post by **Dakanaf** » August 2, 2013, 1:02 pm

Current issue of game informer has a pretty good feature on the xbox one. It illustrates what I have touched on before. You guys can and will argue all day long about which is better, the ps4 or xbox1 but it really doesn't matter. Both will have the same games running the same fps and both will have their own exclusives with their fan boys. And there will of course be people who don't care and those who realize competition and different consoles are good for the industry and buy both.

For most of the people on these boards the xbox one's extra stuff is just that, extra, and probably annoying. But for the target demographic that it's for, the whole entire zombiefied and tethered always online generation that needs to know what their friends are doing every second of every day and have the attention span of a gnat it's a genius move by Microsoft. Always online and running stuff in the background, like their skype and twitter and fb and web browser and the ability to switch back and forth without losing their progress in the game they are playing? Genius. In 4-5 years when both consoles are in many homes and the kids have grown up playing them they will wonder why the ps4 doesn't have that capability and they will wonder, mom why did you buy cod17 on ps4?! omg! now I can't Skype with billy while updating my twitter killing bitches

!!

Sad but true. And guess what? It still plays games! Just like the ps4. So buy whichever console you want, or both, or neither. And keep on arguing which is better, but in the end, they are both great and do different things, and the both do the same thing, which is play video games...if that's all you are after.

Carry on!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 2, 2013, 1:13 pm

Shame PS4 doesn't include the full package so developers can't rely on motion controls.

The systems will be close. PS4 better pray their system can keep up as they have very little positives to pimp at this point.

If they can't maintain a performance advantage, even if it's miniscule, they end up with a system that has less or same system ram for games with crappy latency DDR5 memory, worse controller, poor network and OS so the system UI will slug along, your hands will cramp while it maintains and extra 1 FPS...although the DDR3 memory in the Xbox One is better for physics, effects etc as well as Microsoft having the better cloud server support.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 2, 2013, 1:17 pm

Winnow wrote:Shame PS4 doesn't include the full package so developers can't rely on motion controls.

The systems will be close. PS4 better pray their system can keep up as they have very little positives to pimp at this point.

If they can't maintain a performance advantage, even if it's miniscule, they end up with a system that has less or same system ram for games with crappy latency DDR5 memory, worse controller, poor network and OS so the system UI will slug along, your hands will cramp while it maintains and extra 1 FPS...although the DDR3 memory in the Xbox One is better for physics, effects etc as well as Microsoft having the better cloud server support.

Delusional much?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 2, 2013, 5:30 pm

Microsoft patent reveals Oculus Rift-like head-mounted display

Microsoft's version of Oculus Rift

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » August 7, 2013, 5:45 pm

Xbox One has locked a good portion of it's features behind a pay wall. Game DVR, SmartMatch, NFL, and TV Guide are restricted to Xbox Live Gold Members only.

http://onehitpixel.com/2013/08/07/xbox- ... bers/48066

The Game DVR is a big one. The PS4 allows 15 minutes of recording, opposed to Xbone's 5, and it is unrestricted.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 7, 2013, 5:50 pm

To be honest those were pretty much always that way so not a big deal.

I don't care about the TV stuff but would be curious to see where Sony places the Share functionality. And whether they limit their recording to 720p 30fps. Which is fine in most cases but would still like to know!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 7, 2013, 8:01 pm

All of Xbox One's DVR videos will be stored in the cloud so won't take up HD space. File sizes for 720p are already large, I'd be surprised if Sony supported 1080P as those would be large chunks (especially at 15 minutes).

It may prove faster to upload those clips to services like Youtube from Microsoft's servers as opposed to trying to upload 720p or 1080p files from your home with most people's micro upload bandwidth. I'm curious how Sony handles it.

Microsoft has already confirmed that the same third party video capture products that work with the 360 will work with the Xbox One.

Marc Whitten shared the resolution and framerate details in direct response to a question by IGN, "Game DVR captures beautiful clips at 720p 30fps. The first thing you’ll see with our game DVR is the integration of our Upload service on the console. This service allows you to manage, edit, and share your content. Your clips are stored in the cloud. Also, you’ll see games making “magic moment” videos of your gameplay based on the game DVR functionality – all seamlessly integrated. You’ll be able to see these clips in the Xbox One Guide, in your own game DVR collection, and when you are looking at gamercards on the system. You’ll also see games take advantage of this platform capability and do interesting things to integrate captured game footage into the game experience itself."

Microsoft has made much of its Xbox Live server expansion, and with potentially millions of players regularly uploading game footage, that new capacity could quickly become important if these new sharing features are to be successful.

I'll be impressed if Sony doesn't put their DVR behind the pay wall and also stores their clips in the cloud. That will be ass tons of storage space for free. Don't see it happening.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » August 8, 2013, 11:54 am

Major Nelson does an unboxing of the Day 1 Edition.

Looks like they've decided to ship a headset as well as include a 4k-rated HDMI cable in each box. Nice!

http://youtu.be/lbrmAsxJPv4

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » August 8, 2013, 12:07 pm

Those piece of shit headsets? I went through 4 before I decided to buy the Turtle Beach one.

Adding an HDMI cable is nice though.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » August 8, 2013, 12:14 pm

More pictures of the new headset that comes with the Xb1. (There aren't pre-prepared press shots either. People asked and he took them with a Lumia 920 according to the metadata on Skydrive.)

http://t.co/BO1HK0he4g

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 8, 2013, 12:18 pm

Lynks wrote:Those piece of shit headsets? I went through 4 before I decided to buy the Turtle Beach one.

Adding an HDMI cable is nice though.

The PS4 headset is nice?

It it made out of gold or something?

bitch bitch bitch

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » August 8, 2013, 12:24 pm

Animalor wrote:Looks like they've decided to ship a headset as well as include a 4k-rated HDMI cable in each box. Nice!

Xbox 180 strikes again. Good for them though. Smart move in a sea of stupid.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 8, 2013, 12:35 pm

Winnow wrote:I'll be impressed if Sony doesn't put their DVR behind the pay wall and also stores their clips in the cloud. That will be ass tons of storage space for free. Don't see it happening.

Still need more details but...

The president of Sony Computer Entertainment confirmed, via a post on Twitter, that its machine would not restrict games recording and streaming features to paid subscribers.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 8, 2013, 12:44 pm

If it's unlimited and free cloud storage for their video clips I'll be impressed. That statement is pretty vague as are a lot of Sony statements that sound good when vaguely presented.

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » August 8, 2013, 12:56 pm

Winnow wrote:
Lynks wrote:Those piece of shit headsets? I went through 4 before I decided to buy the Turtle Beach one.

Adding an HDMI cable is nice though.

The PS4 headset is nice?

I don't know, never owned a PS. They both look like they suck so no sense bragging about it.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 8, 2013, 1:11 pm

I don't think they ever said they would be stored in "the cloud". So there's nothing vague about that.

Mainly why I said we still need more details. The point is the recording and streaming portion itself does not require PS+. Although not sure why someone WOULDN'T want PS+ since it's awesome. Whereas Live Gold currently isn't.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 8, 2013, 1:31 pm

As far as the headsets go it's pretty much a non-issue as long as there is something there to use out of the box and people can upgrade to something better later. Nobody is expecting a $100 quality headset to be bundled in with a console.

That Kaz guy... Such a joker!

(note that's a parody account!)

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » August 8, 2013, 2:31 pm

The fact anyone was whining about a headset cracks me up. If you are going to be playing multiplayer games that require a headset, and you can fork out 600 dollars for a console, you can fork over another 100 for a decent headset.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 8, 2013, 7:56 pm

What cracks me up is all of the posts I see saying Microsoft is nickle and dimming...um no they're not. Either you pay for Xbox Gold or you don't. They aren't taking on fee after fee. It's a do or don't one sub covers all service. If you don't play multiplayer games then PS4 would be a consideration (well, except for the torture device you have to hold to play their games) Microsoft is in this to make money. They are going about it in a way that does not nickle and dime. If they did that, you've have an ala carte service and be charged for each service individually instead of a package deal that is .83 cents more a month than Sony's online service but with a much more robust network and better actual matchmaking/dedicated servers for what Sony charges.

Of the shit ton of blogs that jumped on the DVR pay wall story, none at all mentioned if the videos were stored in the cloud using sony's version which would be much for helpful for actually uploading to youtube, etc and sharing/viewing with others whether you were using your PS4 or not. I don't see much use in the service for either console but for those who get into that stuff, HD videos are going to suck up a bunch of HD space if not stored in the cloud when both consoles are pushing digital downloads or big to full game installs to speed them up that will demand most of your hard drive space.

Microsoft is offering unlimited storage for all Xbox One services. That doesn't matter for you people with ass connections. (sucks to be you) but for the growing population that has fast bandwidth, it's very useful.

The closest feminine hygiene product I can compare the PS4 headset to is a tampon while Xbox One's is more of a Maxipad. For heavy gamers, you'd be wanting Microsofts headset or buy a better one for either set. Some little string hanging out of your ear and a mystery mic isn't going to cut it.

Here's Major Nelson's 3:30 Xbox One unboxing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbrmAsxJPv4&hd=1

The headset:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0YxqmoCQSM

Microsoft's service is worth .83 cents more a month to me than Sony's Network. At worst the price difference is negligible between the two.

Here are some of the most revealing details about the Xbox One:

The Day One edition of Xbox One is the version being unboxed in the video. It includes a special Day One packaging, unique controller, and a digital achievement. Quantities of the Day One edition will be limited at retail.

The new Kinect will feature a 1080p camera, four-microphone array, and IR blasting functionality (for control of all your electronic devices).

The Xbox One controller can switch to wired mode and work over Micro-USB without batteries. The same cord can be used to charge rechargeable batteries with the Play and Charge Kit.

Chat quality has three times the sampling rate it did on Xbox 360. The new headset can be worn on either your left or right ear and will feature a bendable, rotating boom mic. Mute and volume functions can be toggled without taking your hands off the controller.

An HDMI cable is included in the box (finally!).

The Xbox One will support A/B/G/N wireless protocols as well as 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies.