3869

Games available to buy on launch day:

[ul][li] Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag[/li][li] Battlefield 4[/li][li] Call of Duty: Ghosts[/li][li] Crimson Dragon[/li][li] Dead Rising 3[/li][li] FIFA 14[/li][li] Fighter Within[/li][li] Forza Motorsport 5[/li][li] Just Dance 2014[/li][li] Killer Instinct[/li][li] LEGO Marvel Super Heroes[/li][li] Lococycle[/li][li] Madden NFL 25[/li][li] NBA 2K14[/li][li] NBA LIVE 14[/li][li] Need for Speed: Rivals[/li][li] Peggle 2[/li][li] Powerstar Golf[/li][li] Ryse: Son of Rome[/li][li] Skylanders: Swap Force[/li][li] Watch Dogs[/li][li] Zoo Tycoon[/li][li] Zumba Fitness: World Party[/ul][/li]
Forza, Watch Dogs, AC4 and possibly DR3 are the main ones I’d be interested in. Possibly with added Lego goodness. Some of them, I haven’t heard about. But not a bad selection of games for launch day.

Wendelius

3870

It’s not a terrible line-up overall, but the only really interesting exclusive is Forza. Almost every single one of those games is also going to be on 360, let alone PC or PS4.

3871

I’m curious: if you are one of those who pre-ordered the XBox One or PS4, why? Why do you want to have it day one, as opposed to letting other people purchase and then seeing the reports and reviews before purchasing?

I realize I’m not representative of a lot of folks here; I typically only have time (and the inclination) to play one game at a time, so I still have a backlog of great games on my PS3 and 360. I purchased a PS3 first and chose it over the 360 because I needed a Bluray player. I purchased a 360 about 18 months later when I saw how some games looked and ran better, and for an open-world junkie such as myself, Skyrim being so problematic on the PS3 made the 360 my default gaming console.

So, for me, I have no prejudice to either company, I just want the game box that best plays the games I like. Don’t care about the Kinect, have yet to see a reason to have one, I have no problem at all playing online with my friends and family on the PS3 or the 360, etc. So I just want to see if, for example, a game like Skyrim runs smoother and has less pop-ups and looks better one one machine or the other. I want to see the top games running on both machines and listen to the reviews and then pick the one that is the “best” game machine.

So I’m happy that a lot of you are willing to do the test driving for those of us who feel less compelled to buy on day one! But I’m curious as to what the motivation is to buy before they’ve been on the market a while and people have determined which plays games best.

3872

Totally fair point. My guess, however, here is that the initial investment when compared to the potential loss of revenue (if they are not at least competitive in Europe) means this makes sense. Also, if the alternative is do nothing and roll the dice, I don’t see that as a viable business strategy either. Based solely on pre-release buzz, there’s greater doubt in the EU about the Xbox One than in the US.

That makes sense. The EU looks very different for Xbox than North America. Xbox dominates in the largest video game market in the world (the United States) but is only competitive in the EU. Further, some of the features that are being touted in the US market aren’t available in the EU (TV).

3873

This is a solid launch list. I can see getting at least three of these games depending on the reviews.

The Germany coverage of Ryse makes me more interested (what they showed made me think it was a Kinect + QTE game). Was very surprised to hear it’s more like Batman Arkham Asylum in terms of the fighting mechanics. I hope that’s the case.

I’m replaying Jade Empire now and if Bioware had selectively showed the air fight mechanic in that game in the reveal, people would have thought they had made a 1941 game. Set in ancient China, that is.

3874

I preordered a PS4 since I know I will get one of those down the line either way. But I don’t need to have it Day 1, and I’ve been pondering cancelling the preorder for a while now. But since I don’t expect a price drop for a long while considering the current generation still sells at $300 7-8 years after release. Also I don’t have any kind of backlog on the PS3 since I don’t really buy games cause they’re cheap anymore when I know I won’t play them. So I figure why not move onto the next console early but I’m still debating if I should get it Day 1. Honestly the hype of the newness of it is probably what is keeping me from cancelling the preorder.

3875

Great question. Three points:

  1. Don’t confuse this forum with reality. If you are active on this forum at a minimum you are passionate enough about videogames to sign up and participate. And already, that puts you into an elite consumer subsegment - meaning you are more likely to buy. Also, some people here are in the industry. So for them not to buy a console on day one would be like someone in politics not buying a behind-the-scenes presidential election book on day one. Or someone in Hollywood not being an early adaptor of bluray. Lastly, on a related note, some people here have seen and played these games - so it’s not as much of an unknown for them as it is for the general consumer.

  2. Independent of all that, I would add that time and money are factors. If you are interested in gaming and have disposable income and ample time to use it on gaming, then buying gaming consoles and games with them on launch day is a no brainer. It would be like asking someone who is really into collecting shoes (not sure I get this hobby, but think Turtle from entourage) why he spends money buying the latest Nike sneakers when they come out. That’s just their thing and they have the cash to spend on it.

  3. Techlust.

3876

#3 - Techlust - totally get that. I ordered a Chromecast from Amazon because it was only $35, looked neat, even though I have Dish, PS3s, 360s, an Apple TV (that sucks,) and a Roku 3 (that is great.)

#2 - I have the money to buy either/both, but I’m just not sure which is going to be the better game machine. The PS4 has better specs, for example. But who knows what they will be like on actual games. My brother purchased a PS3, only intended to have one console, then when he saw RDR on my 360, and then when Skyrim was such a disaster on the PS3, he said screw it and bought a 360 and his PS3 sits disconnected in a corner.

3877

That makes sense. The EU looks very different for Xbox than North America. Xbox dominates in the largest video game market in the world (the United States) but is only competitive in the EU

And Xbox is only competitive in the EU because of the UK.

3878

JeffL, there will be no shortage of advice on these boards. My own refrain is think about this in terms of multiple factors not just one.

It’s about price + game selection + features + friends. For some people, some of these factors don’t matter (the uber wealthy don’t factor price into this for example and for those who only play single player games, which system their friends picked doesn’t mean a thing to them). But in general, that’s the deal.

3879

I think techlust pretty much nails it. Kind of what I was saying but just in a roundabout way.

3880

More details on the self-publishing program:

Note that Phil says its been in the works for a long time. Not every “One-eighty” was definitely a turnaround; I get the impression from what Phil said and from what I know about how long it takes to ramp up programs like this this was always in the plans, probably planned to be announced now, but they released early details a little while back due to the rampant negative speculation.

3881

How do they go from “indies won’t be able to self publish” to “this has been in the works for a long time”?
Are they admitting that they lied the first time?

3882

Sorry all you folks that keep wishing for a Xbox One without a Kinect.

A quick word on Kinect - I presume there will never be an Xbox One sold without it. You are doing this for developer-related reasons as much as your own. You want all developers to know that they can always implement Kinect technology because it always comes with every system. Would that be correct?

Correct. Xbox One is Kinect. They are not separate systems. An Xbox One has chips, it has memory, it has Blu-ray, it has Kinect, it has a controller. These are all part of the platform ecosystem.

Like I keep saying, if it ever happens, it ain’t gonna be soon.

3883

They’ve been rock-solid 100% positively certain before and done a complete 180.

We certainly won’t see it sold without Kinect in 2013, anyway. I feel fairly confident in that.

3884

If they offered a version without Kinect what would they do with all of those Kinect boxes that nobody wants?

3885

Titanfall looks awesome. IGN goes hands-on with this Xbox One/PC Exclusive: http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/08/21/titanfall-demo-first-impressions

3886

Looking at Titanfall makes me want to play Quake Wars.

3887

Can’t exactly call something exclusive if its coming out on more than one platform.

3888

Plenty of people in i.e. robotics would buy them.