The XBOX One

zx81-Amd64 · 2013-08-13T01:14:08.000Z

Jake Plane:

And another change… Xbox One will officially not require Kinect to function. Does not even have to be connected. So says the gals and guys at IGN.

Believe this is new news. Had never heard that before.

Some more on that, and a few decent remarks:

gamasutra.com

No Kinect connection required: Xbox One's latest reversal

Microsoft has made sure to keep Xbox One�s policies...malleable. Now, the company has nixed the Kinect connection requirement, but insists it is still committed voice and motion control.

Jake_Plane · 2013-08-13T05:37:14.000Z

Microsoft's Albert Penello:

The thing we all understood, and hence this change, is that there are some scenarios where people just may not be comfortable. We wanted people to be 100 percent comfortable, so we allow the sensor to be unplugged.

The moment before: “So just before we wrap up this Team Xbox Meeting, just one minor point of clarification. So, let’s say my wife is out of town, and I’m completely alone in the house and want to download a movie - could be a comedy, action, horror, or… anything, really - there’s no way of turning the camera off?”

Instantly, a room full of engineers start working on a solution.

Moore · 2013-08-13T06:19:53.000Z

Teiman:

I remembered that there use to exist a plethora of different controllers on the PC. But Microsoft killed them using all the tricks in his monopolistic hat so only the Microsoft one would work well. Now if you buy a controler pad for the PC, and you want it to work well out of the box, you must buy a Xbox 360 controller. Other controllers may work doing some hacking and remaping the controls to simulate a XBox 360.

Now that the XBox 360 control pad is going to be retired (slowly). The situation in the PC is “fun”. Microsoft have artificially created a ‘standard’ that can’t continue. Will Microsoft want PC devs to stop writing games for the XBox 360 control pad, and start writing games for the XBox One control pad? most likely. Artificial obsolescence will be push in our way.

This is crazy, and not how things should work.

Sometimes I want to stab microsoft in the eye with a pen.

This sounds like a “F**k you PC gamers” from Microsoft. They do that this often.

I have an awesome nyko pc controller, it is xbox360-a-like but has a nicer dpad and works great. So not really, they just standardized the basic design for everyone, which is great.

DrDel · 2013-08-13T06:33:43.000Z

Hmm… looks like it is coming sooner than we thought:

The Escapist

Microsoft Points Die With Next Xbox 360 Update

CFO Marc Whitten has confirmed that Microsoft Points will be converted to real world currency with the next Xbox 360 update.

Microsoft Points Die With Next Xbox 360 Update
Read more at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126730-Microsoft-Points-Die-With-Next-Xbox-360-Update

Jason_Becker · 2013-08-13T10:12:05.000Z

Phil Spencer and Major Nelson, the One changes…everything!

“I have my Xbox One at home now, so I’m getting to use it,” Spencer said. “It’s hard to talk about all of the ways that this console impacts my entertainment experiences.”

Major Nelson interjected, saying, “It changes everything.”

“It does change everything,” Spencer added.

Razgon · 2013-08-13T10:20:30.000Z

Its a good thing they dont engage much in Hyperbole.

I remember while installing windows XP, one of the tips that showed during installation was that “EVERYTHING will become easier from now on”… Not just using your computer, but EVERYTHING!

Jake_Plane · 2013-08-13T11:14:12.000Z

I already have a shirt that does that:

amazon.com

Robot Check

Razgon · 2013-08-13T11:30:51.000Z

Jake Plane:

I already have a shirt that does that:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mountain-Three-Short-Sleeve/product-reviews/B002HJ377A

Haha, indeed! Those are awesome! I just wish they had three moons as well ;-)

Editer · 2013-08-13T13:48:30.000Z

So I just noticed Albert Penello has posted a bunch of messages recently on NeoGAF outlining the thinking behind some of the changes (like the collective response of “Really?” by the Xbox team itself to the headset not being included by default ;) and offering a few more details about how things like app switching are going to work. Just click hereand choose “Find all posts by Albert Penello.” I don’t think it would be kosher for me to repost a bunch of NeoGAF quotes over here, so I won’t quote the meaty stuff.

He says a lot of what I’ve been wishing I could say, but don’t, since he’s in spokesman-ey kinda role and I’m in a “stay focused and make sure the gears keep turning” kind of role. :) And while I love you guys, each one of you, even Razgon, you never know who’s gonna reprint and attribute something to make it sound way more official than it is.

JD · 2013-08-13T13:55:06.000Z

You could write a brief article containing two paragraphs on how the Xbox One does what normal PCs have been doing for centuries. Or you could be Gamespot and write about it as if it was mindboggingly new unicorn technology.

jpinard · 2013-08-13T17:08:59.000Z

Though I know kinect is integral to the XBox One experience, I think it is a very smart move for MS to spend the time to make the console work without it for one big reason:

NO network is 100% secure.

There would be no greater way to paint a bullseye on yourself to the hacker world than showing millions of people are vulnerable if you can just somehow get a hack in (or like the Xbox360 hijack scams of the past few years - a contractor starts selling account information en masse for easy subjugation.) If MS has a hiccup or a security issue - now - at least people can play their console, unplug the eye and be safe. I also believe Microsoft did not think about it’s accountability in a reasonable way. Say some young kid accidentally ends up being recorded by some sicko and it ends up on a 4chan site, MS is morally on the hook for a child’s loss of innocence. At least parents have the power to completely remove the “always on eye” if they can’t watch over them around the xbox all the time.

I don’t care what anyone says - I am really impressed with Microsoft. In my mind I hope the reason things started out the way they did was because Dan Mattrick made it so - and now that he’s gone there’s better leadership and more team-thinking that goes beyond a few executives.

Denny - I can’t read those links. Do you have to be a member?

Dan_Theman · 2013-08-13T20:39:42.000Z

JD:

You could write a brief article containing two paragraphs on how the Xbox One does what normal PCs have been doing for centuries. Or you could be Gamespot and write about it as if it was mindboggingly new unicorn technology.

Alright, that’s pretty darn funny.

Jason_Becker · 2013-08-13T20:49:09.000Z

JD:

You could write a brief article containing two paragraphs on how the Xbox One does what normal PCs have been doing for centuries. Or you could be Gamespot and write about it as if it was mindboggingly new unicorn technology.

Wow so Microsoft’s engineers noticed that the AMD CPU and GPU tech can like change their clock speeds dynamically so they don’t overheat? These guys are geniuses.

Teiman · 2013-08-14T04:13:24.000Z

Changes everything?

voice command: XBox, change diapers

Jake_Plane · 2013-08-14T05:30:23.000Z

[QUOTE=jpinard;3434351
Denny - I can’t read those links. Do you have to be a member?[/QUOTE]

Same question. Alternatively, can you share a snippet or two of what he shared on Neogaf?

Razgon · 2013-08-14T05:32:11.000Z

Editer:

So I just noticed Albert Penello has posted a bunch of messages recently on NeoGAF outlining the thinking behind some of the changes (like the collective response of “Really?” by the Xbox team itself to the headset not being included by default ;) and offering a few more details about how things like app switching are going to work. Just click hereand choose “Find all posts by Albert Penello.” I don’t think it would be kosher for me to repost a bunch of NeoGAF quotes over here, so I won’t quote the meaty stuff.

He says a lot of what I’ve been wishing I could say, but don’t, since he’s in spokesman-ey kinda role and I’m in a “stay focused and make sure the gears keep turning” kind of role. :) And while I love you guys, each one of you, even Razgon, you never know who’s gonna reprint and attribute something to make it sound way more official than it is.

EVEN me? What am I, a cactus or something?! :-D

But yeah, I cant see the posts either.

Jake_Plane · 2013-08-14T09:20:59.000Z

Microsoft is saying they will have an announcement about the best selling game franchise in Europe for GamesCon that will be unique to Xbox One.

So… this has to be FIFA, right?

Jason_Becker · 2013-08-14T11:54:05.000Z

Jake Plane:

Microsoft is saying they will have an announcement about the best selling game franchise in Europe for GamesCon that will be unique to Xbox One.

So… this has to be FIFA, right?

Would be surprising since FIFA has been a regular PlayStation game too. Could be something like the next Witcher game.

Rock8man · 2013-08-14T12:07:04.000Z

Jason Becker:

Would be surprising since FIFA has been a regular PlayStation game too. Could be something like the next Witcher game.

I think you’re confusing two separate announcements they’ll be making.

An exclusive.
An announcement about best selling game franchise in Europe (FIFA).

I’m guessing that the FIFA announcement is some kind of game mode exclusive to the Xbox, not the whole game itself, the wording seems to indicate that.

As for the exclusive, I don’t know, it’s probably some new IP I’m guessing. I hope.

Cyrano · 2013-08-14T12:09:39.000Z

Jake, where did you find that? From a quick Google search, Game Informer says: "In Major Nelson’s podcast, Spencer said, ‘We’re going to have a really short stage presentation with some news talking about some unique exclusive coming to [Xbox One].’ He also said that the company would be talking about ‘Europe’s biggest franchise and maybe some interesting things there.’

A site called VG24/7 has this: “Phil Spencer said on Major Nelson’s podcast that they will have a ‘unique exclusive’ for Xbox One at Gamescom, and also said they’ll have something to say about ‘Europe’s biggest franchise.’”

Other sites have similar wording. I didn’t listen to the podcast itself, but from the news sites it sounds like a new IP and, separately, an in-game Xbone hat or something for FIFA.