The Official NextBox Thread!

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » February 24, 2014, 2:55 pm

I've been thinking about buying one of these for no other reason than because I have tax money burning a hole in my pocket and not much else I want at the moment.

That being said, I'm having a hard time getting over the fact that tot can't replace the HD without voiding the warranty. I've already filled the HD on my ps4 more than half way, and it's only been a few months.

I know I can always reinstall / re download stuff I delete from my drive, but I honestly hate managing HD space and would rather not be fucking around with this.

We'll see if I can get past this, I just don't understand why Microsoft would do this.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 24, 2014, 3:02 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:I've been thinking about buying one of these for no other reason than because I have tax money burning a hole in my pocket and not much else I want at the moment.

You could like.. Save it for retirement or something.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 24, 2014, 3:07 pm

You can upgrade the Xbox One hard drive but it voids the warranty so maybe after a year or whenever the warranty ends, you can upgrade it or use an external HD once that's supported for games.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » February 24, 2014, 3:16 pm

Aslanna wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:I've been thinking about buying one of these for no other reason than because I have tax money burning a hole in my pocket and not much else I want at the moment.
You could like.. Save it for retirement or something.

That's entirely too sensible for me.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » February 24, 2014, 3:18 pm

Winnow wrote:You can upgrade the Xbox One hard drive but it voids the warranty so maybe after a year or whenever the warranty ends, you can upgrade it or use an external HD once that's supported for games.

Hmm.. Well I guess, if I buy it from Best Buy and get the extended warranty there.. if something goes wrong I can switch the old hard drive back in, not like Best Buy is gonna check... They hardly even open the boxes to make sure everything is there when you replace stuff.

Still not decided.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 24, 2014, 3:47 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:
Aslanna wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:I've been thinking about buying one of these for no other reason than because I have tax money burning a hole in my pocket and not much else I want at the moment.
You could like.. Save it for retirement or something.
That's entirely too sensible for me.

You have a PS4. Don't see why you'd spend $560 for an XBO. If its just Titanfall get that on PC. Throw in the new Nvidia 750Ti video card for like $175 (or whatever) and you're all set!

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » February 24, 2014, 4:07 pm

Definitely not just for Titanfall, but I know I'll want one generally, and I don't usually have 600 dollars laying around, so I'm thinking of getting it out of the way now.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » February 24, 2014, 4:15 pm

Honestly, you'd be better off getting a WiiU and a handful if games for that price. The Xbone does not have a large enough exclusive library yet. There are Xbone games in the pipe though.

My Xbone has Dead Rising 3 and Peggle 2. Not really worth $500 to play those IMO. I'd suggest waiting for at least 5+ must play exclusives!

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » February 24, 2014, 5:19 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:Definitely not just for Titanfall, but I know I'll want one generally, and I don't usually have 600 dollars laying around, so I'm thinking of getting it out of the way now.

Allow me to enable your spending. This is a legit reason! It's one of the reasons I was so glad to get it for Xmas. Hey, I was going to get it eventually

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 24, 2014, 5:31 pm

Don't be an enabler!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 24, 2014, 5:39 pm

Wii U, lol

Fairweather Pure wrote:Honestly, you'd be better off getting a WiiU and a handful if games for that price.

Wii U, lol

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » February 24, 2014, 7:16 pm

Winnow wrote:Wii U, lol
Fairweather Pure wrote:Honestly, you'd be better off getting a WiiU and a handful if games for that price.
Wii U, lol

He already owns a PS4 for the superior multiplatform titles and the Xbox has 2-3 exclusives total. It's an extremely valid option because paying $500 bucks for the system plus whatever for the games isn't a good deal at all right now, whereas the WiiU is only $300 and the games can be gotten pretty cheap. The WiiU exclusives are much better than the Xbone's or the PS4's for that matter.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 24, 2014, 7:27 pm

Kids outgrow the Wii U by the time they leave the womb.

The two consoles to have now and in the future are the PS4 and Xbox One. Wii U isn't even a factor for adult gamers.

Dakanaf · Post by **Dakanaf** » February 24, 2014, 9:35 pm

I'm an adult gamer and I'd rather have the Wii U over the PS4 and Xbox one combined.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 24, 2014, 9:47 pm

You can thank Sony for your free Titanfall. And price drop if you're in the UK.

This is a good deal for anyone who had the foresight to hold off on buying the system, and it will definitely cause systems to move off the shelves, but these aren’t the actions of a company that’s winning a console war.
...
Microsoft isn’t dropping the price on hardware in some regions and giving away what is widely seen as the Xbox One’s killer app because they’re excited about how well they’re doing; this is in response to a competing system that’s $100 less expensive, is doing better at retail and is seeing better performance in multiplatform games.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 25, 2014, 12:45 am

Dakanaf wrote:I'm an adult gamer and I'd rather have the Wii U over the PS4 and Xbox one combined.

I'm not so sure. I hear you wear bunny slippers!

Aslanna wrote:You can thank Sony for your free Titanfall. And price drop if you're in the UK.

This is a good deal for anyone who had the foresight to hold off on buying the system, and it will definitely cause systems to move off the shelves, but these aren’t the actions of a company that’s winning a console war.
...
Microsoft isn’t dropping the price on hardware in some regions and giving away what is widely seen as the Xbox One’s killer app because they’re excited about how well they’re doing; this is in response to a competing system that’s $100 less expensive, is doing better at retail and is seeing better performance in multiplatform games.

Microsoft wants to be the winner at the end of this console generation so they're taking Sony's strategy for last gen. Suck in the beginning (except Xbox Ones exclusives are better) and then kick ass at the end to catch up and win. Microsoft could release an Xbox Slim half the size of the current Xbox. They bloated the shit out of their console to make their slim look good a year down the road.

A free copy of Titanfall sounds like an awesome deal to me if I was a new Xbox One buyer...a hell of a lot better than...Knack!

I still wonder if Sony can compete financially with Microsoft when it comes to this stuff. WhatsApp was just purchased by Facebook for 19 Billion...that's more than Sony's ENTIRE market cap...a single phone app just got bought for more than the entire value of Sony...pretty amazing when you think about it. I don't think Sony can hang if Microsoft pulls an Amazon and undercuts everything for a big loss.

Then again:

Microsoft gives former Nokia boss Stephen Elop full control of games and hardware

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/24/54441 ... s-services

Stephen Elop may not be Microsoft's new CEO, but the former head of Nokia is not going unrewarded for bringing the phone manufacturer into the Microsoft fold. According to an internal memo, Elop will replace Julie Larson-Green as the head of Microsoft's Devices and Studios business, putting him in charge of Xbox, Microsoft Surface, and Microsoft's game development efforts, in addition to the new cellular handset business. A Microsoft rep tells us that Elop had been slated to take over Devices and Studios ever since the Nokia acquisition, but originally Larson-Green would have stayed with the team as a subordinate.

Part of Elop's campaign to be Microsoft CEO was to spin off the Xbox division so you have to wonder what will happen now.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 25, 2014, 1:34 am

Good ole "Trojan Horse" Elop. No further comment on that!

----

Sure, MS has deep pockets, but hasn't Xbox been losing billions a year? Not sure how long investors will put up with that if true. That's money out of their pockets!

One of Sherlund's key points in the note is that the Xbox platform, despite being largely viewed as a success, is actually losing huge amounts of money for Microsoft, according to his own estimates.
...
"If we start with the overall traditional [Entertainment and Devices Division] business that actually loses money before corporate allocations and back out the nearly $2 billion 95 percent gross margin Android phone royalties, we conclude that Xbox platform plus Windows phone and Skype lose about $2.5 billion per year, and we estimate that the Xbox platform may account for roughly $2 billion of this,"

Good thing they're making money off Android!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 25, 2014, 2:06 am

Aslanna wrote:Good ole "Trojan Horse" Elop. No further comment on that!

----

Sure, MS has deep pockets, but hasn't Xbox been losing billions a year? Not sure how long investors will put up with that if true. That's money out of their pockets!

Sony lost 5 billion on PS3, losing more money than ANY console in history

How long will investors put up with it? A really long time if you take Sony as an example.

I'm not sure what your point is, My point is which company can afford to lose 5 Billion? One that makes 5 Billion a quarter in profits or one that has a 79% chance of filing bankruptcy in the next year and makes no money?

Sony Market Cap: 18 Billion with 14 Billion in debt
Microsoft Market Cap: 312 Billion with 70 Billion in Cash

Sony has a lower market cap than the 19 billion Whatsapp was purchased by Facebook for. It boggles the mind that a single phone app is worth that much. IMO Sony is way undervalued but they do have lots of issues. They finally got rid of the hedge fun screwing with them but if Microsoft decides to, they're not going to be able to shrug it off. Ask all the out of business bookstores how they feel about Amazon taking losses for years on book sales yet crushing the competition in the long run. I'd say Sony is lucky that Xbox doesn't seem to be a priority to Microsoft. If it was, they'd be more cut throat.

Sony still loses money on the PS4 but not nearly as much. They still lose. IMO Sony's biggest opportunity is Playstation NOW and pumping their large user base for more monthly fees. This "for the gamerz" is crap. They need to be making money.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 25, 2014, 2:39 am

My point is plain.When you have a division losing $2 billion a year you gotta cut the cord on the losers and from the sounds of it one of those losers is the Xbox!

Just because you have tons of money doesn't mean you should keep throwing it into a bottomless pit.

Winnow wrote: I'd say Sony is lucky that Xbox doesn't seem to be a priority to Microsoft. It was, they'd be more cut throat.

And I'd say I totally disagree with that. Windows 8 is a priority and look how poorly it's doing!

The bill of materials (BOM) for the PlayStation 4 amounts to $372. When the manufacturing expense is added in, the cost increases to $381. This comes in $18 lower than the $399 retail price of the console.

That $18 gap is likely swallowed by shipping and other costs, but the fact that Sony is already sitting at the break-even point during launch is a far cry from the PS3. With an starting retail price of $599 against component costs of over $800, PS3 profitability was very much at the mercy of game sales. Ultimately, the PS4 is probably being sold at a loss, but a loss that is immediately covered by just one sale (be it a game, a controller, or a PS Plus sub).

"break-even point" doesn't really sound like a loss on each console sold! And if there is a loss it's small which is offset by anything else they sell. And that's at launch. It wont take long for any potential loss to disappear due to reduced component costs.

Not really sure where you were going with that train of thought though. I must be missing something.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » February 25, 2014, 11:29 am

That's pretty amazing, really. Transistors, man, how do they keep getting smaller?

I would love to see Sony regain some respect as a company. It would take a lot... but I really hate Microsoft.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » February 25, 2014, 2:25 pm

I really don't understand the irrational hate for Microsoft.

But here. Here's a bit of Rayman Legends that I recorded with the Game DVR last night. It's fun!
http://1drv.ms/1c4S3Tw

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 25, 2014, 2:54 pm

What makes you think it's irrational?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 25, 2014, 3:19 pm

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

Another Xbox console exclusive with better review scores than any PS4 exclusive released to date.

Check out some of the game play videos. Looks like fun!

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » February 25, 2014, 4:41 pm

Animalor wrote:I really don't understand the irrational hate for Microsoft.

Windows XP was a masterpiece.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » February 25, 2014, 5:44 pm

Twitch Broadcasting coming to Xbox One with Titanfall - March 11th
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/02/comple ... -xbox-one/

With a bit more information from Microsoft:

UPDATE: More details from Microsoft:
To start streaming with Kinect, you’ll say “Xbox, broadcast. (You can also use button commands). To stop streaming, you can say “Stop broadcast” or “Xbox, stop broadcast.
You can send ask to join a game that’s being broadcast if it’s coming from an Xbox One and you’re on an Xbox One.
You can view streams from any system. In a press release this morning, Microsoft mentioned the following examples as options: “Titanfall (Xbox One), Minecraft (Xbox 360), Star Craft II (PC), Uncharted (PS4) — watch all the games you want to watch on Xbox One.”

The bit about asking the streamer to join their ongoing game/stream seems like pure gold to me. Great thinking there. About that last point though.. Can you only view PS4 content from the PS4 Twitch application?

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » February 25, 2014, 5:59 pm

I don't know the answer to that. I haven't played with streaming at all on either system really.

I know Twitch has taken some flack lately for the added delay time. They pretty much have a monopoly on the streaming stuff though.

I'm still not really into the "watching other people play video games" thing. I've tried it out many times, but it's never really hooked me in any meaningful way.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » February 25, 2014, 6:02 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:I don't know the answer to that. I haven't played with streaming at all on either system really.

I know Twitch has taken some flack lately for the added delay time. They pretty much have a monopoly on the streaming stuff though.

I'm still not really into the "watching other people play video games" thing. I've tried it out many times, but it's never really hooked me in any meaningful way.

I've never used Twitch either but the way people go on about it, it's the best thing in the world. I doubt that I'll ever broadcast myself getting owned in Battlefield 4 live. I will probably keep using GameDVR though for those great moments.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 25, 2014, 6:21 pm

Animalor wrote:Can you only view PS4 content from the PS4 Twitch application?

It's like any Twitch channel. Just give people the URL and they can view it regardless of the device they are using. This I did test when I tried streaming Resogun a bit just to mess around. I was able to watch what was streaming on my PS4 on my computer. However the viewer on PS4 itself (is there even one? Never looked) I can't tell you. Maybe you could use the web browser? No clue. I have a PC so if I wanted to watch some other stream that's the place I do it.

PS4 also supports uStream. I could never seem to get my account synched or whatever though so I gave up on trying to get that working.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » February 26, 2014, 6:18 pm

I really hope that Elop doesn't meddle too much and let the Xbox team do their thing. They just now started to de-Mattrick the place and things are starting to feel normal again.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 27, 2014, 7:44 pm

Xbox One shows off 65 new indies: Playdead, Behemoth, Ska, Fatshark

More than 200 developers currently have Xbox One dev kits through Microsoft's indie outreach program, ID@Xbox, Director Chris Charla announced on Xbox Wire. He provided a list of 65 unannounced Xbox One developers, including the following notables:

Limbo studio Playdead, Monaco port team Empty Clip Studios, War of the Roses developer Fatshark, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD studio Robomodo, Crush3D team Zoe Mode, Gateways developer Smudged Cat Games, QUBE studio Toxic Games and new developer 4gency, working on space base sandbox game, Habitat. 4gency founder Charles Cox helped launch the Xbox One before going indie in September.

Microsoft veterans such as Ska Studios (Charlie Murder), Mediatonic (Foul Play), The Behemoth (Castle Crashers) and Humble Hearts (Dust: An Elysian Tail) are also on board for Xbox One. A few studios with projects exclusive to PS4 are on Microsoft's list, such as Bloober Team (Basement Crawl) and Compulsion Games (Contrast), and even Triple Town developer Spry Fox, whose next game, Road Not Taken, is in development for PS4, Vita and desktops.

See the 65 developers that Microsoft wants to show off below.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/27/xbox- ... _truncated

[Show]: 4gency
A Crowd of Monster
Alientrap Games
The Behemoth
BetaDwarf
Big Ant Studios
Bloober Team
Blowfish Studios
Brain in a Jar
Brushfire Games
Cherry Pop Games Ltd
Codeglue
Code-Monkeys
Compulsion Games
Crunching Koalas
Deco Digital
Empty Clip Studios
Escalation Studios
EXOR Studios
FarSight Studios
Fatshark
Flix Interactive
Four Door Lemon Ltd
Frambosa
Frima
Glass Bottom Games
HB Studios
Headup Games
Heart Machine
Holmade Games
Humble Hearts LLC
I Fight Bears
Implausible Industries
Iridium Studios
iSquared Games Ltd
Larian Studios
Mediatonic
MeinMein
Mighty Rabbit Studios
Mimimi Productions
nDreams Ltd
NeocoreGames
No Goblin
n-Space
Piwot
Pixel Balloon
Playdead
Rebellion
Relentless Software
RetroCoders
Ripstone
Robomodo
Ska Studios
Smudged Cat Games Ltd
Snowrunner
Spry Fox
Tiny Castle Studios
Toxic Games
Vector Unit
Vertigo Games BV
VooFoo Studios
Warhorse Studios
WaterMelon
Xona Games
Zoë Mode

Hmmmm thought Xbox One had no indies. Not many care about Indies but check off another thing PS4 was supposed to have that the Xbox One didn't.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 27, 2014, 7:58 pm

Winnow wrote:Hmmmm thought Xbox One had no indies.

Not sure why I'm responding to this since that there tells me you're being a dumbo.

Even when MS was anti-indie they still had indies. Nobody said otherwise.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 28, 2014, 1:28 am

Interesting use of Kinect to scan yourself and be placed into a video game within minutes..

This is done with the original Kinect and already looks decent. It will look better with the higher res Kinect 2:

http://gizmodo.com/this-dead-simple-rig ... phentotilo

In the comments, someone thought it might be disturbing to shoot someone you know in an FPS when it's a realistic 3D representation of that person. It probably would be if it was violent enough so you naysayers focus on that one potential use while the rest of you check out how cool this is.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » February 28, 2014, 11:13 am

Got an invite for the March Update preview earlier this week and I got the update yesterday. I haven't had a chance to play with it too much however NeoGaf has compiled a nice list of changes.

Let's hope Microsoft keeps improving the software at this pace. A solid update every 2-3 months would be nice.

General changes
•Option to disable Kinect hand gestures while watching a video
•Kinect gesture and voice command tutorials are in the Kinect settings menu
•Ability to choose the value by which volume increases or decreases when using the “Xbox, Volume Up” or Xbox, Volume Down” voice commands
•Optical audio is now supported
•NOTE – Some users are currently experiencing issues with this feature

Twitch App
•Twitch streaming via an Xbox One will be enabled in this update
•The “Xbox, Broadcast” voice command will begin a Twitch streaming session
•NOTE – using this command during the early access period will only start the Twitch app
•As before, you will be able to view Twitch streams that are being broadcasted from other systems i.e. PS4, PC, etc.
•Chat is now enabled
• - Name color and emoticons included
•Viewers can send party invites to Broadcasters
• - Broadcasters, in turn, can send invites to viewers in the Chat
•Ability to broadcast a full-screen view of the game you're playing or use an on-screen viewer indicator to keep an eye on how popular your live broadcast is
•Ability to archive broadcasts
•Ability to set up a notification for when a Favorite begins a broadcast
•Earn unique Media Achievements

Party App
•Ability to see what games/apps your party members are using if they are not in the same game as you
•“Turn Party Chat On” is turned on by default
•Option to send someone a Party invite, Game invite, or Party & Game invite
•Option to invite Party to Game

Friend App
•On the Dashboard, the Friends App will cycle through the number of friends, favorites, and broadcasters who are currently online
•Friends are listed by whoever is currently online
•People who are listed as Favorites will show up first and will have a star on the top right side of their gamerpic
•Ability to see Recent Players
•Find Someone is on the top level page
•New Menu button options
• - Send message
• - Invite to Party
• - Compare games
• - Find someone
• - People I’ve blocked
•New Profile page options allow you to send game and party invites

Xbox One Controller Update
•This is a firmware patch that will allow the Xbox One Headset Adapter to work with your Xbox One Controller
•NOTE – If you already have an Xbox One Headset Adapter, install this update so that you can use it with your compatible headset
•A micro-USB cable is needed in order to install this update

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 1, 2014, 1:29 am

That's a sad chart. XBO following the Wii U trajectory pretty closely so far!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 1, 2014, 1:26 pm

That should change in March with Titanfall and people realizing that the only good exclusives coming out have been with the Xbox One.

In other news:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=777425

Digital Foundry: Thief for Xbox One edges out the PS4 version

Visually, the PS4 should be the front-runner given its 1080p presentation, but through the virtues of effective anti-aliasing, the 900p frame-buffer used on Xbox One holds its own in practice. However, the PS4's weaker texture filtering does factor into the comparison more visibly, with assets appearing blurrier than they should at a distance, and asset pop-in proving slightly more evident. Given that all other settings are a match between next-gen platforms, the Xbox One release - surprisingly - stacks up favourable against a maxed-out PC playthrough.

Here we go again...crappy textures on the playstation platform! Enjoy your blurry 1080P. Xbox One is the version to get.

Wow pretty crappy on PS4. bu-bu-buuut it's 1080 peeeeee!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 1, 2014, 3:09 pm

I'm not sure you want a game that, by all accounts, is terrible on either console to be your banner carrier. But take what you can get I guess. Beggars can't be choosers!

The expected turn-around for each frame on a 30fps game like Thief is 33ms, with no hitches. However, both Xbox One and PS4 succumb to stunning lows in response, with a nadir of 200ms as we move into new areas

200ms. Stunning lows! Sounds fantastic!

Each version is guilty of genuine frame-rate drops too, especially when traversing main roads in The City. This manifests more aggressively on Microsoft's platform, where drops down to 20fps are possible

20 fps! Sounds about right considering the XBO's less powerful hardware.

Bird cages shimmer, while hair and fur shaders show up aliasing artefacts to a more notable degree on Xbox One in motion

Sounds hideous! Just don't move and you wont notice.

Winnow wrote:Xbox One is the version to get.

Sounds like neither version is the one to get.

Performance on PS4 and Xbox One counts as a bigger concern, and neither deserves any sort of recommendation here. We'd encourage buying the well-optimised PC version, as handled by port veterans Nixxes, over either of these next-gen releases as there are far fewer issues in this regard.

All in all, it's hard not to be disappointed on a technical level with Thief. It's often our refrain, but in this case we'd strongly urge opting for the PC release if it's an option.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 1, 2014, 5:25 pm

All that and Xbox One is still better than the PS4 version. PS4 version must suck! Shame they try to cram 1080P on everything at the expense of quality:

That looks horrible on the PS4....HORRIBLE!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 1, 2014, 6:09 pm

Winnow wrote:Shame they try to cram 1080P on everything at the expense of quality

So then blame the developers. That has nothing to do with the hardware. I'm fairly sure Sony didn't call up demanding they make this game 1080p.

There are lots of examples in other games, both exclusive and multi-platform, that don't support what you're asserting.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 7, 2014, 11:02 pm

Yeah.. Ads on PS4 (IN THE STORE) are so much worse than on the XBO... Pull the other one! At least there's a large chance you also be seeing political ads. Enjoy that!

Microsoft is using your data to target political ads on Xbox Live

Microsoft is trying to persuade politicians to take out targeted ads on Xbox Live, Skype, MSN and other company platforms as midterm elections begin heating up around the country. To plug the idea, Microsoft officials handed out promotional materials Thursday at CPAC, the annual conference for conservatives.

It's the latest move by tech companies to seize a piece of the lucrative political ad market. The ads, which would appear on the Xbox Live dashboard and other Microsoft products, combine Microsoft user IDs and other public data to build a profile of Xbox users. Campaigns can then blast ads to selected demographic categories, or to specific congressional districts. And if the campaign brings its own list of voter e-mail addresses, Microsoft can match the additional data with individual customer accounts for even more accurate voter targeting.

What a joke. I'm so glad I didn't give MS my console business this generation. And never will!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 15, 2014, 8:28 pm

Today's my daughter's birthday and she asked for Just Dance 2014 so I got it on the Xbox One. I just had 6 9-10 year old girls using Kinect 2.0 dancing in the living room and having a blast. This thing is amazing.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 18, 2014, 11:26 am

Xbox One launching in Japan and 25 other countries in September

Oh oh, here comes the hammer!

Xbox One console sales almost matched PS4 in Feb and should probably beat it out in March with Titanfall and then later this year the floodgates will open. Sales should be good everywhere except Japan.

Lack of games will eventually frustrate PS4 people. Sequel Second Son isn't everyone's cup of tea...or less so than a game like Titanfall that appeals to more people. PS4 needs more games and less delays.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 18, 2014, 12:28 pm

Winnow wrote:
Xbox One launching in Japan and 25 other countries in September
Oh oh, here comes the hammer!

Surely you can't be serious. If anything it's just more markets to lose in.

Xbox One console sales almost matched PS4 in Feb and should probably beat it out in March with Titanfall and then later this year the floodgates will open. Sales should be good everywhere except Japan.

So far that's not looking like that will happen:

The messsiah came and caused a stir among existing Xbox One owners, but wasn't powerful enough to fend off the PS4 juggernaut. A clever marketing ploy by SONY saw around 200,000 PS4 units shipped globally during Titanfall week. Titanfall did manage to boost Xbox One sales in UK and USA, but outside of those regions, the game had almost no impact on hardware sales. Below is the breakdown of the hardware sales across USA and PAL during the week ending March 16,2014.

UK :
Xbox One - 23,000 units
PS4 - 27,000 units

USA :
We do not have the final hardware numbers for last week, but based on the near final numbers, we have PS4 and Xbox One being virtually neck and neck, with each console selling over 100,000 units

Rest of Europe / PAL:
PS4 - 80,000 units ( Hardware sales increased 200% over the week ending March 9th, 2014)
Xbox One - 12,000 units

Even with a pricedrop in the UK and a free Titanfall the PS4 came out on top. Floodgates opened indeed!

BTW - I was going to put this info in the PS4 post but since you brought up the PS4 (mental defect) I figured I'd lay the smackdown on the XBO in it's native thread.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » March 18, 2014, 12:43 pm

Where do you guys get the energy for this? You should make a podcast together.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 18, 2014, 1:20 pm

There's an April update coming and here's what's going to be in it!

This is how I like my updates, fast, furious and substantial. I'm part of the beta program so I should be getting some of these bits in the next few days.

•Game and app saves and updates. A game save progress bar will show you the status of your game saves. You will also be able to easily tell what games and apps are being updated or have been updated recently.
•Friends improvements. Notifications will be added to see when favorites and friends sign in to Xbox Live. This actually was one of the most frequently requested features from the first preview wave and we made it a priority to include it in the April update. Also, friends who are in multiplayer will be identified in the friends list. We’ll also add the ability to view friends’ most popular apps.
•Blu-ray 50 Hz video output support for content recorded at 50 Hz will resolve video playback issues some Xbox Live members in Europe are experiencing.
•Kinect voice and motion improvements will continue to fine tune the quality and reliability of Xbox One commands.
•Improved GameDVR video quality through compression algorithm improvements.
•Updates to Xbox One device management to address issues controlling TVs, set top boxes, and receivers that our customers have reported.
•New audio settings to tune how much volume is lowered when Kinect is used in communications.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 18, 2014, 4:02 pm

The Xbox-citement is building!

I'm actually focused on Sony and PS4 today. Tonight they should reveal the PS4 VR Headset accessory. Hope it's good.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » March 18, 2014, 4:30 pm

Animalor wrote:There's an April update coming and here's what's going to be in it!

This is how I like my updates, fast, furious and substantial. I'm part of the beta program so I should be getting some of these bits in the next few days.

•Game and app saves and updates. A game save progress bar will show you the status of your game saves. You will also be able to easily tell what games and apps are being updated or have been updated recently.
•Friends improvements. Notifications will be added to see when favorites and friends sign in to Xbox Live. This actually was one of the most frequently requested features from the first preview wave and we made it a priority to include it in the April update. Also, friends who are in multiplayer will be identified in the friends list. We’ll also add the ability to view friends’ most popular apps.
•Blu-ray 50 Hz video output support for content recorded at 50 Hz will resolve video playback issues some Xbox Live members in Europe are experiencing.
•Kinect voice and motion improvements will continue to fine tune the quality and reliability of Xbox One commands.
•Improved GameDVR video quality through compression algorithm improvements.
•Updates to Xbox One device management to address issues controlling TVs, set top boxes, and receivers that our customers have reported.
•New audio settings to tune how much volume is lowered when Kinect is used in communications.

Friend notifications is a decent one that should have been in at launch, the rest is crap. They need to change the guide button to bring up a guide like the 360 instead of bringing you to the dash like it does now, like yesterday.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 18, 2014, 4:57 pm

The only thing I miss from the 360 is the System Video Player that allowed me to play content from my PC without having to interact with the PC.

The guide itself was only useful because the 360 couldn't load the OS and the game at the same time. The Xbox One does that so the guide isn't necessary anymore. The thing that would make it better would be for the friends app to be snappable.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 20, 2014, 5:18 pm

Microsoft claims DirectX 12 will improve Xbox One games, won't require new PC components

120 FPS coming up! 40000x600000 res

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2014/3/2 ... nt-require

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 20, 2014, 5:24 pm

"Microsoft claims".. Word to be wary of!

Late 2015. Enjoy the wait.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » March 21, 2014, 12:12 pm

Wal-Mart is selling Titanfall bundle for $450. Great deal!