Microsoft Exec Snaps Back at Fan Over Xbox One Resolution Issue

[Ragsnstitches]

Okay, so now the xbox property owners are imitating the players. When they say "know your audience", this is not what they meant.

I'm of two minds on this (the issue of resolution, not the response). On the one hand, I couldn't give a hoot about maxing out resolution. I'm comfortable with low resolutions as long as it fits my monitor without stretching horizontally (and everything is identifiable and readable). As far as games go, they can remain 720p and I wouldn't care.

On the other hand, the Xbox One marketing campaign did tout 1080p at 60fps as if it was going to be the standard. Currently, on the Xbox One at least, it is still the exception. This wouldn't be so bad if they didn't have direct competitor doing a better job with it, even with cross platform games.

Either way, I'm not bothered. Taking Marketing at face value is always a crapshoot for the customer. But if I was a customer led to believe that I was getting something that I ultimately didn't, I would be a little pissed off, especially at those price points.

 

[JenSeven]

In non-technical Xbox One news, a looking to track, identify and seek legal action [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131817-Rumor-Halo-2-Anniversary-Crackdown-3-Future-Xbox-One-Content-Leaked] against the NeoGAF forum poster who posted the leaks.

Wait, didn't they debunk those rumours?
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131906-Microsoft-Denies-399-Disc-Less-Xbox-One
What is it Microsoft?
Are those rumours true and you are validly pursuing legal actions against someone, or are those rumours false and you're now trying to sue someone for the hell of it?

 

[Baresark]

Hey look, another MS Executive that is gonna be out of a job soon by flapping his jaw in response to a bunch of trolls. He is right though, everyone should quit with the technical BS and just play the games they want to play on the platform they want. As a PC gamer, I have played games that ran at sub 60 FPS up to a ridiculously high FPS, and yet I have had fun across the board.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Sad thing is, Bioshock (the first one) succeeded at this on PS3 in 2008. nearly 6 years ago. And is still one of the best games visually on PS3.

I do not understand why so many early games on ps3 had 1080p but it became more rare as time went on. I would have thought more power and better optimisation etc would come later in the console cycle.

I sorta wanted to bring this up. It's not that these machines can't run 1080p 60fps, there were a bunch of games that could do it last gen (on the PS3, at least). The thing is, being able to run at 1080p at a consistent 60 fps on limited console hardware does mean making some sacrifices. It means you might not be able to have all of the fancy shaders, or cool destruction effects, or as large environments as you want, and no amount of optimization is going to change that. And most developers over the last generation obviously felt that these kinds of things were more important.

And I don't think this is going to be something that changes over the course of this generation. The only way it's going to change is if people stop buying games if they're not 1080p/60fps, which I really don't think is going to happen, because this complaining just seems to come from a very loud minority on the internet. On top of that, I don't know if we really need games to be 1080p/60fps, and this is coming from a pc gamer. Most of the time I barely notice the framerate on the games I'm playing unless it's inconsistent.

Of course, what these companies should do in an ideal world is simply give you two options when you're playing the game. Performance, where it's a consistent 60 fps, or fidelity, where there's a lower framerate, but fancier effects. But I really don't ever see that happening.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, or if it's been clarified, but is it up scaled to 1080p or rendered 1080p? That would make the difference as running games at a rendered 1920x1080 can be quite taxing, depending on the gpu.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I suppose it's hard to admit you made the worst console of the generation. Take pity on Microsoft ;D

 

[Gizmo1990]

I would agree with him if I did not know for a fact that if it was the other way round that Microsoft would be shouting from the highest mountains that their console had the highest resolution in all the land.

 

[dochmbi]

I'd rather have a game at 720p and better graphics settings than 1080p and worse settings.

 

[Something Amyss]

Much of Microsoft's marketing on the Xbone implied (and in some cases, outright stated) that it was technically superior to the PS4.

They also ran on a marketing campaign of TEH GRAFFIX and that's enough to make this a valid criticism.

Xbox: FUTURE, GRAPHICS, FRAME RATE, STUFF!
Troll: Specifics.
Xbox: Whatever, no one cares, it's not about that stuff.

Basically what he said.

Seriously, who the hell is in charge of Microsoft's marketing. They're gonna run out of feet to shoot at.

I think it's one of their CoD gamers. We'll need to see if anyone gets called a "******" for confirmation, though.

I find it funny how Microsoft pushed how their consoles were more powerful for so long and are part of the reason why people are so obsessed with resolution nowadays, and now are getting pissed off because they are being called out for not being as powerful. It's irony to say the least.

And fitting responses, honestly. This has really beena long time coming.

Frankly if you're that bothered about the technical details than get a PS4 or a PC. No need to whine about it. 1080p/60 is great and preferable if you have the choice, but 99% of the time it isn't a big deal. So I'm with the Microsoft guy on this one.

You're with Microsoft in calling people trolls for expectations they created?

 

[Canadish]

Arguing over puny numbers like 720p/1080p and 60fps when 120hz monitors are very mainstream now (I've had one for years now) and 4K is on the horizon seems kind of pathetic. Talk about bitter fighting for second place, Geez...

The 'ultra powerful supercomputer consoles' are looking kind of sad and limp already. In the next 5 years we will be seeing mobile devices that top those numbers with comparable rendering capabilities.

Damn right. It's a pretty sad state of affairs for this new gen.

I understand the need to limit the next graphics step-up due to ballooning costs, but that should mean that the focus ought to be on making the next-gen experience smooth and fluid.? That doesn't take the same time art assets do, surely? The fact these things are already looking dated upon their release is a worrying sign and doesn't really inspire me to go out and buy one. The lack of actual video games doesn't help either.

On the news piece, I'd just like to offer my applause to the Microsoft PR team. Never have I seen such an dedicated group when it comes to being insulting, belittling and foolish towards potential customers. Damn fine job ladies and gents.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I'm certainly no fan of Microsoft or their Xbone, but people should remember that it's very early days in the consoles cycle, so not all games are gonna be pushing that boundary just yet. Give it a couple of years and I think almost every game (from competent developers) will be running at 1080p 60fps on both consoles.

As for the Twitter remark, it's hard to take anything said on Twitter seriously. People just react and write anything without thinking, because there is very little time to think before you send it. The remark itself wasn't exactly gasp inducing either. "Less trolling, more gaming" sounds like a fair response in my eyes. A bit snarky, but so was the comment he responded to (supposedly).

 

[Icehearted]

In most circumstances, yes, I'd say that players should just accept what they have and enjoy the games.

HOWEVER...

Much of Microsoft's marketing on the Xbone implied (and in some cases, outright stated) that it was technically superior to the PS4.

I can't help but feel as if anyone who purchased the Xbone, hoping to have THE cutting edge console, the one that's supposed to be the superior piece of tech, is more than justified in being upset that the Xbox is lagging behind the PS4 in terms of technical capability.

That's been a marketing point of choice every console cycle since the Xbox. Only newcomers to the market should be duped by this, everyone else ought to know better than to take that message for granted by now.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

Lemme translate this article:

BIG NEWS U GUIS! A Microsoft Exec of all people made a slip up on the Tweetosphere! How will this effect the gaming industry? Post comments please!

In all seriousness, I'm sure the guy gets comments about the Xbone's games not being 1080p all day, everyday and when they actually have one that is 1080p he just got fed up. People make tweets like this all the time. Twitter doesn't matter. Give the Xbone a few years and it will probably have most games 1080p.

 

[RandV80]

Personally from what I've seen on youtube I don't see much noticeable difference between the frame rates & resolutions, nor would I be bothered by it. But... to me this is the canary in the coal mine. As we move into the 2-3rd years of these consoles and developers hopefully start pushing their boundaries, I can only wonder in what other area's the Xbox One's deficiencies may hold cross platform games back.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Ok, I think Ybarra handled that better that most M$ execs in the recent past. M$ shouldn't have tried to make a "living room entertainment solution." Unless it had a coax jack and could get cable/satellite cards installed you still need another box which means you could flip channels with the remote making the xbone redundant.(PIP features not withstanding, but it's a gimmick to most people. Many TVs still have that for aux inputs, too.) The xbone has horsepower taken away from games with its emphasis on switching between games, live TV and other applications fast and the kinect, which supposedly had some its dedicated system resources taken away so developers could try to hit that 1080p/60fps. If M$ had made the xbone just the way it was but without those gimmicks they might have been able to have more games running 1080p 60. M$ just doesn't have direction in its upper management; trolls should have been all over that since xbone's announcement and constant flip flops of what M$ reps were saying.

 

[Grabehn]

It's kinda weird to see "highly positioned" people from a company responding in such a way, almost not worrying about that "everything you say will be scrutinized".

But I always find this arguments funny, especially since the first time I played the PS3 on a 42' TV the only thing I thought was "this HD stuff is making me sick". And every single time I see a newer TV movies look more and more like shit, like if they had been recorded with a handycam in a backyard.

I'd actually like to have good games instead of "look at how shiny it is" ones, having games having a better balance between "pretty graphics" and good gameplay would be nice to see, I just couldn't care any less about resolutions.

 

[jackpipsam]

The poor guy must get hundreds of these trollish tweets on a daily basis.

It's only natural at some point he will snap.

I don't blame the Exec, I am not in his position of constant e-abuse.

 

[smithy_2045]

I suppose it's hard to admit you made the worst console of the generation. Take pity on Microsoft ;D

Wii U is part of this generation, and is quite clearly worse than the Xbox One.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I suppose it's hard to admit you made the worst console of the generation. Take pity on Microsoft ;D

Wii U is part of this generation, and is quite clearly worse than the Xbox One.

It's backwards compatible, so much so it can play game cube games, how does that make it worse?

 

[Sarge034]

While I do generally enjoy taking a shit on MS in the recent months I have to (reluctantly) side with MS on this one. The MS guy was a douche, no doubt, but the console technically can run 1080P 60fps software as demonstrated by Forza. The problem at this point is that most devs don't know how to optimize the dev kits and get the most out of the machine yet.

I just defended MS. God, I feel dirty now.