Xbox One Brings Microsoft Entertainment Biz Into Question

[carpathic]

Meh, Microsoft won't go consumer friendly. Much like our friends at EA and other gaming companies, they believe they are right. So, they will continue to piss on our leg and tell us it is raining until we agree.

 

[The White Hunter]

The only shot MS has is the "1 billion in games" thing, if it can make a shed load of exclusives that make every gamer want to throw money at the xbone they might convince enough people to buy.

Failing that the xbone is doomed if it stays the course it has laid in.

As a huge lover of anything with british space nazis with impractical glowing eyes (and kitty faces) I think Microsoft would need to pull some legally questionable stuff to get me on side.

Now you can't unsee it's grumpy kitty face.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Seriously, when did the PCGMR become the cranky old people shaking their fists at progress? Next thing we know the PCGMR will be flinging wooden shoes at Microsofts servers...

Since when is treating a customer as a potential criminal considered "progress"?

Sep 12, 2003. It was called Steam. Please tell me you didn't install it

Incidently, how does not being able to steal something infringe upon your rights? You've never had the "right" to steal something that wasn't yours.

And you can build any kind of PC that you want. You can spend as much as you want and more. It's just that peoples arguements against the XB1 are silly and short-sighted. And yes, if your system is connected to the internet, someone can access it. You, and anyone who wants to spy on you, decides when it functions and where the data goes. Just like a cell phone. That's been going on since there was internet.

Personally there's enough content coming out for my 360 that I don't need a new console for a couple of years at least.

PS: You know if Apple came out with something similar, say requiring finger print scans and DNA samples to turn it on, having to subscribe to play your games and it sells for only $2,000... everybody would be going on about how great it is right?

 

[Legion]

I am still unsure on whether or not the XBone is unpopular overall. Yes, on gaming websites it's getting torn to shreds by content providers and forum members alike, but outside of such areas the only criticism I am seeing is that it's $100 more expensive. Beyond that I am not getting much of a sense of dislike.

I am wondering if this is one of those things where as it's so vocally opposed, it seems like a much bigger reaction than it actually is.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

Xbox Live has convenience and sales as well. (There's a free game every week thing going that's been going on for the past little while). Cutting out the retailer and physical disks means they can sell triple-A titles for cheaper.

I find that to be delusional. The prices for new games are announced, it's going to be the same. The Reagan economic theory has been proven wrong. Do you really think that the companies will be willing to give up potential extra profit by keeping the prices the same, or even raise them since no one is dictating how much they can cost?

 

[theultimateend]

So Microsoft wants to move people forward... and the PC Gaming Master Race are complaining? Since when did the PCGMR become Luddites?

Games as a service never was and never will be a step forward. Just because you call it that doesn't make it true. Digital goods are extremely iffy and their treatment by basically every publisher has been horrendous at best.

Having your own personal "Jarvis" should be a cool idea. Yet the PCGMR hates it.

You do realize Jarvis was created by a fictional character that is supposedly one of the smartest humans who ever lived. I highly doubt the Xbox One is going to function anywhere near as well as Jarvis does on even his worst days.

I've had voice commands on my PC before, I turned them off. It's a cute idea but just not for me. Microsoft has already stated on twitter that it is probably possible for people to shut off your game if you are playing with them over voice chat and not using a headset.

The Kinect can spy on you in your own home! You mean like your cell phone and webcam? Apparently that third thing in your home that can be used to spy on you is the straw that breaks the camels back.

After the recent NSA reveal and news that your phone can be used to spy on you as long as it has a battery charge (even if you have if "off") I'd say the less cameras and microphones in my house the better.

I dunno about straws and camels but I have heard stories about snowballs.

Microsoft has DRM! Like Steam, Origin, and PS4? How dare they!

Nobody likes Origin so that's a bad example.
The PS4 has the same DRM as the PS3 and 360 Afaik which barely have anything worse than every console ever.
Steam lets me buy games up to 80% off. This will never happen on the Xbox One, if it becomes common I will happily purchase one and just put paper over the Kinect.

Microsoft may get cause Gamestop to go under! Like Blockbuster? (And, correct me if i'm wrong, isn't Gamestop the company that people hate because they only get $5 for a trading in a new game and Gamestop sells it for $5 off? Just saying, their days should be numbered. They deserve it).

What Xbox does and its relation to Gamestop doesn't matter to anyone who places a PC primarily. Heck I haven't purchased a game from them in a decade and I do play console games. You can get better deals on Amazon new than you can used at Gamestop most times.

You have to be connected to the interenet once every 24 hours! If you can post on an internet forum, that isn't a problem where you live.

It's an unnecessary restriction. That's the point. I'm certain you got that and are just trying to be obnoxious. Nobody with sense to login to a forum wouldn't get that. The account creation process would be too difficult for someone that simple.

Seriously, when did the PCGMR become the cranky old people shaking their fists at progress? Next thing we know the PCGMR will be flinging wooden shoes at Microsofts servers...

Except nothing you said was valid and none of your reasoning was realistic.

People are upset because its unnecessary restrictions that provide no benefit to the consumer and it adds an extra layer of intrusion on the heels of the largest privacy scandal in American history.

Poorly timed, poorly marketed, and poorly planned.

It provides nothing that a PC can't already give you. Even the controller will (likely) work on PC.

You said it yourself, its just steam.

Sep 12, 2003. It was called Steam. Please tell me you didn't install it

It took many years for people to accept Steam and that was only after Steam dramatically changed how they acted, the quality of their service, and the price of their products.

PS. Prices are already confirmed. The games won't be any cheaper, either.

You get literally nothing from the new console except old technology that you inexplicably call innovative.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Anybody who invests in Microsoft at this point is asking to lose money. Microsoft clearly thinks they can strong arm people into going along with whatever they want.

Touch screens are the future! Let's force everyone to adopt touch interfaces!
Cloud connectivity is the future! Let's force everyone to stay connected!

They're a company that doesn't want to create things people want. Their future isn't looking good

Actually, this is around the time when you should be investing in MS stock. Well, to tell you the truth, I'd wait for it to drop a bit further.
You buy when its low.

And once again, I think gamers are the ones who made MS think they could strongarm people into going along with whatever. They sold enough 360s through the whole rrod ordeal then raised the price of online while cramming the service full of ads, everyone seemed okay with all that. It seems to me like the 360 fans stuck kick me signs to their own backs. In fact, I'm not all that convinced that the xbone Wont sell well. Even at this point. I'm sure they're going to lose some customers but probably customers that weren't making them that much money in the first place.

Really? Your now trashing 360 fans? I have the Xbox 360 but I don't plan on ever buying the Xbox One with its current anti-consumer policies. Way to generalize a whole audience like they're a bunch of idiots.

What do you mean now? If that's what you call trashing (never move to NY 1st of all), I've been trashing 360 fans for years.
Why?
Because I saw all this shit coming from years away and now I have a Cassandra Complex...well, not really a complex, because you don't have to be a market analyst to figure it out. If a big corporation has a large group of consumers who will willingly buy a defective product, you can bet the board of directors will want to take full advantage of their brand loyalty.

And to be clear, I don't blame all 360 owners. But if you willingly bought a defective product, then bought another replacement when it broke (rather/in addition to getting it fixed for free), then you're setting a bad precedent. Same if you continued to pay for online while they raised the price and crammed it full of ads. By doing that, you set a bad precedent. Not really trashing anyone, just pointing out that capitalism has devolved into looterism since people seem to not have noticed that this has been slowly happening to every industry since the 80s.

Yes but not all of us bought a new xbox. When mine got the red ring, I had best buy fix it for free because I had kept the warranty(which I will admit with you, not many xbox gamers did). When they raised the price of Xbox Live, I protested by buying the next gears of war used. Sure, not the most effective way to protest, but at least I know they didn't get my money. Had this happened on a bigger level, microsoft really would be rethinking their policies.

I know microsoft is very full of themselves right now and so is issuing their tyranical policies, but not all of us gamers are as stupid as you think. I know most of my friends are checking out pc gaming instead of getting the Xbox One this year, though we still love to get on the 360 every now and then to play some halo 3.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Que the Microsoft sycophants claiming (again) that this is all in our head and that Xbox One hate is just a silly internet meme.

...No, really, please.

The most hilarious part of all this is I had all three consoles last gen, but my 360 was my main. I have more games for it then the PS3 and wii combined. But wtf do I care if the Xbox One goes under? It's not like it was backwards compatible or anything. It was always happy selling itself as a separate console, not an upgrade. The problem with that is while people often need upgrades, they don't always neccisairly need 'new' things, especially if they already have something that does the job just fine and the 'new' thing is a giant turd. Gen 8 I will have three gaming devices again, only I am crossing out Xbox and replacing it with PC. Already got that, and a wiiU AND my PS4 reserve. Let the Microsoft entertainment branch die, it's just cancer now.

 

[Agayek]

It's about $1,000 to $3,000 dollars cheaper for one.

Not quite. You can build a decent mid-range gaming PC for ~$700. If you're willing to go up to $12-1500, you can make a fucking amazing gaming PC.

It is sad that people are used to everything about them being online somewhere, but webcams and mobiles can be turned off.

A half decent hacker/NSA agent can turn those on without you knowing about it. If someone wants to spy on you, they can.

As a professional programmer in the mobile world, I can confidently state that there is no conceivable way for a mobile phone to turn itself on remotely, unless Apple has something really weird in the low-level iOS stuff. For Android, it's definitely completely impossible.

The same can't be said of webcams, true, but all you have to do is unplug the stupid thing from your computer and you can use your computer without worrying about it at all.

That isn't true of the Xbox One, unfortunately.

They've already stated that if the problem is at their end it won't affect the check-in. Also if it's slow or intermitant doesn't affect a check-in that takes only a second or two.

Yea, no. That's not how servers work. If the server goes down, the check-in doesn't happen. If the check-in doesn't happen, your console bricks itself. There's no way to magically pass the server check if the server has been overloaded or brought down for maintenance, or is suffering from a power outage, or any of a billion other things that could interfere with the connection that the customer has absolutely no power over.

You are only 500 dollars away from feeling like Tony Stark in your own living room, why not at least try to see the positives?

There's a difference between "not seeing the positives" and "deciding the negatives vastly outweigh the positives".

There's a few rather nifty features in the Xbox One, especially their approach to game libraries and the family share, but said features tend to be for everything but actually playing games and there's so many restrictions in place that it's just not worth it.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Anybody who invests in Microsoft at this point is asking to lose money. Microsoft clearly thinks they can strong arm people into going along with whatever they want.

Touch screens are the future! Let's force everyone to adopt touch interfaces!
Cloud connectivity is the future! Let's force everyone to stay connected!

They're a company that doesn't want to create things people want. Their future isn't looking good

Actually, this is around the time when you should be investing in MS stock. Well, to tell you the truth, I'd wait for it to drop a bit further.
You buy when its low.

And once again, I think gamers are the ones who made MS think they could strongarm people into going along with whatever. They sold enough 360s through the whole rrod ordeal then raised the price of online while cramming the service full of ads, everyone seemed okay with all that. It seems to me like the 360 fans stuck kick me signs to their own backs. In fact, I'm not all that convinced that the xbone Wont sell well. Even at this point. I'm sure they're going to lose some customers but probably customers that weren't making them that much money in the first place.

Really? Your now trashing 360 fans? I have the Xbox 360 but I don't plan on ever buying the Xbox One with its current anti-consumer policies. Way to generalize a whole audience like they're a bunch of idiots.

What do you mean now? If that's what you call trashing (never move to NY 1st of all), I've been trashing 360 fans for years.
Why?
Because I saw all this shit coming from years away and now I have a Cassandra Complex...well, not really a complex, because you don't have to be a market analyst to figure it out. If a big corporation has a large group of consumers who will willingly buy a defective product, you can bet the board of directors will want to take full advantage of their brand loyalty.

And to be clear, I don't blame all 360 owners. But if you willingly bought a defective product, then bought another replacement when it broke (rather/in addition to getting it fixed for free), then you're setting a bad precedent. Same if you continued to pay for online while they raised the price and crammed it full of ads. By doing that, you set a bad precedent. Not really trashing anyone, just pointing out that capitalism has devolved into looterism since people seem to not have noticed that this has been slowly happening to every industry since the 80s.

Yes but not all of us bought a new xbox. When mine got the red ring, I had best buy fix it for free because I had kept the warranty(which I will admit with you, not many xbox gamers did). When they raised the price of Xbox Live, I protested by buying the next gears of war used. Sure, not the most effective way to protest, but at least I know they didn't get my money. Had this happened on a bigger level, microsoft really would be rethinking their policies.

I know microsoft is very full of themselves right now and so is issuing their tyranical policies, but not all of us gamers are as stupid as you think. I know most of my friends are checking out pc gaming instead of getting the Xbox One this year, though we still love to get on the 360 every now and then to play some halo 3.

Hey. I'd love to believe it. I sincerely hope that with all this elaborate BS MS has set up, that the xbone bombs. And if it does I will apologize but I'm still convinced its going to do allright. Struggle to keep up with ps4, sure, but I don't think its going to be boycotted and I don't think anyone's going to learn a lesson from this. Once again, I hope I'm wrong (I would love to see things turn around) but I'm just going by past experience.

And no offense to any personal pains you may have suffered from it but buying a used copy isn't really a solid protest. It's not as big a problem as they'd like to make you think it is, it's just a good excuse for implementing online pass and the kind of things they're implementing now.

Aside from the 360, gamers are just notoriously poor consumers. Gamers made gamestop a huge success even though it offers you a couple of bucks for your game and only discounts a couple of bucks off the new price to buy a used game. Gamers, not only accept but make excuses for companies like EA & Sony to put online passes in their games.

I know not all gamers do these things (I certainly don't) and many of those gamers gravitate here, which is why these forums are the only game forums I can frequent without longing for a lobotomy.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Games as a service never was and never will be a step forward. Just because you call it that doesn't make it true. Digital goods are extremely iffy and their treatment by basically every publisher has been horrendous at best.

It's worked for movies and music, why do gamers have to be so backwards?

You do realize Jarvis was created by a fictional character that is supposedly one of the smartest humans who ever lived. I highly doubt the Xbox One is going to function anywhere near as well as Jarvis does on even his worst days.

I've had voice commands on my PC before, I turned them off. It's a cute idea but just not for me. Microsoft has already stated on twitter that it is probably possible for people to shut off your game if you are playing with them over voice chat and not using a headset.

That was an example. You can call it GlaDos, Hal, Jarvis, Mother, whatever, the technology is still ahead of anything Sony and Nintendo are doing. If you don't want to use it, you don't have to.

After the recent NSA reveal and news that your phone can be used to spy on you as long as it has a battery charge (even if you have if "off") I'd say the less cameras and microphones in my house the better.

I dunno about straws and camels but I have heard stories about snowballs.

It's your choice to be afraid of the people who are trying to keep you from harm as opposed to the people who want to do you harm. If you want to wear a tinfoil hat, that's your business I guess.

Nobody likes Origin so that's a bad example.

Granted. Steam 2.0 didn't go over so well.

The PS4 has the same DRM as the PS3 and 360 Afaik which barely have anything worse than every console ever.
Steam lets me buy games up to 80% off. This will never happen on the Xbox One, if it becomes common I will happily purchase one and just put paper over the Kinect.

It happens all the time on Xbox Live. I'm not going to stop believing my eyes on your say so.

You have to be connected to the interenet once every 24 hours! If you can post on an internet forum, that isn't a problem where you live.

It's an unnecessary restriction. That's the point. I'm certain you got that and are just trying to be obnoxious. Nobody with sense to login to a forum wouldn't get that. The account creation process would be too difficult for someone that simple.

You do realize the check-in is a background thing that you won't even notice right? There has to be some restriction to prevent over-sharing. PS4 requires you to have the disk, while XB1 allows 10 people on your "family" list to play anything in your games library from their console. There has to be some sort form of checks and balances for that not to be abused.

Except nothing you said was valid and none of your reasoning was realistic.

Everything I said was valid, released to the press, and freely available. You just have to open your eyes.

People are upset because its unnecessary restrictions that provide no benefit to the consumer and it adds an extra layer of intrusion on the heels of the largest privacy scandal in American history.

Poorly timed, poorly marketed, and poorly planned.

The NSA thing has nothing to do with the XB1 and that "scandal" is merely ignorant people being naive about the world they live in. If potential terrorists would just identify themselves as such, things would be simpler, but that isn't the case.

It provides nothing that a PC can't already give you. Even the controller will (likely) work on PC.

True, for twice the money you can get a better gaming experience without all the bonus features. But some people don't want to spend that much and fiddle with things when they can get it in one box for half the cash. Weird huh?

You get literally nothing from the new console except old technology that you inexplicably call innovative.

That can be honestly said about any console. Well unless you notice the fact that the PS4 and WiiU don't have controller-less motion controls and voice control.

 

[meowchef]

Everyone is overreacting to this to a startling degree. The Xbox One is going to sell perfectly fine... just as the PS4 will. It's going to be exactly like this generation, and anyone who disagrees really is kidding themselves.

Also, to the guy that said the PS4 was outselling the Xbox One in preorders 8:1... its not that wide a margin. It's about 3:2.

 

[Wolfe M. Howler]

Snip.

Look at what you are posting. Every point you bring up is laced with an insult, and every point everyone else brings up is repelled by an exaggeration, generalization, or dismissal.

Your fighting tooth and nail for this console for the fantasy of having a robotic butler, when the only precedent being the original Kinect, which, in my opinion, was a useless mess.

I know that I'm not going to change your mind, and you're sure as hell not changing mine, so I guess I call this a standstill.

If you think this is the future, and you are willing to accept it's flaws, then go ahead and buy it.

This is not a future I want, however, and I am quite willing to "live in the past" until a better future comes up.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Snip.

Look at what you are posting. Every point you bring up is laced with an insult, and every point everyone else brings up is repelled by an exaggeration, generalization, or dismissal.

You're fighting tooth and nail for this console for the fantasy of having a robotic butler, when the only precedent being the original Kinect, which, in my opinion, was a useless mess.

I'm not saying it's going to be THAT awesome. I'm just saying that someone clever enough can make the most of it if they dare to see its potential.

I know that I'm not going to change your mind, and you're sure as hell not changing mine, so I guess I call this a standstill.

Fair enough.

If you think this is the future, and you are willing to accept it's flaws, then go ahead and buy it.

This is not a future I want, however, and I am quite willing to "live in the past" until a better future comes up.

I'm sorry about that, for your sake. I just miss the days when the PCGMR was, well... smart. Now it's just die-hards and casuals who are open to progress and the PCGMR is sitting there going "you kids with your jets, we've got propellers and they worked just fine! Don't go faster than sound! You'll EXPLODE!!!!" (people seriously believed that once) I guess i'm just getting old and missing the good old days

 

[Wolfe M. Howler]

I don't get you.

You call the Kinect a real life Jarvis, and now you're saying that it's not going to be THAT awesome?

Why are you buying into a console that has so many negatives if you don't even care about the positives?

Is the pursuit of the future that important that you would fly on the first jetplane, even if the landing gear isn't included in the deal?


The Xbone could of been great if the positive features we're the only ones included, and if that were the case, I would gladly hop on the bandwagon with you. But this is an opportunity to show what CANNOT change in the games industry regarding consumer freedom, which in my opinion is way more necessary to a real future in gaming instead of the Atari Crash of 1983 all over again.

 

[FalloutJack]

*Runs in*

Guys! I found it! The one creation that, if produced, could break a company into pieces in one day! It's called Springtime For Hit-

*Looks at report*

Nuts! Beat me to it...

 

[theultimateend]

Look at what you are posting. Every point you bring up is laced with an insult, and every point everyone else brings up is repelled by an exaggeration, generalization, or dismissal.

Yeah. In some cases he doesn't even reply with something relevant (I mention DRM and he goes off about Xbox Live and believing his eyes).

I should have realized I was being trolled but the points were so bad I figured I might as well reply.

Shame on me in the end.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Microsoft has DRM! Like Steam, Origin, and PS4? How dare they!

Steam has DRM, but it makes up for it with convinence and sales. The PS4 won't play disks that aren't authentic and greedy publishers may block used versions of their games. Those are far better then a daily checkup for all games and constantly seeing how many people are in the room. As for Origin, that's even worse then the Kinect.

don't quote me on this, but i'm pretty sure Steam only require you to be online once every 30 days to verify your account, plenty of room in there for internet downage.

PS4 have already stated their DRM policy, which isn't as strict as Xbone.

Wont find many defenders of Origin.

As for the Stark/Jarvis comment. not all of us want to wave our hands about n shout commands. makes some of us feel like a right tw@. great if its a selling point for you, but don't assume its what the rest of us want.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Everyone is overreacting to this to a startling degree. The Xbox One is going to sell perfectly fine... just as the PS4 will. It's going to be exactly like this generation, and anyone who disagrees really is kidding themselves.

yeah its a shame, but people will lap up this anti consumer product due to lack of knowledge or loyalty. the only real sales lost will be those who follow gaming news and dont feel a loyalty to a certain brand