Trying to check into the web page and see if I can convert my spacebucks to money but every single f-ing page changes the url to a region “spec” instead of staying in English; even after using the change-locale button cleverly hidden in the bottom of the screen - which results in everything staying in English UNTIL I click the button to manage my profile.
Arghhhh.
Edit: At least I discovered that I had 880 Points, Which I suppose is 2 USD or something. Maybe I could start my 360 and see if it works better there. Just close my eyes until the ads are gone.
Teiman
4030
You dont parla esperanto,? Ouy, yes? Just change le texto field and push le submitire. What c’est dificile in le that? /jk
I don’t like Microsoft web strategy. I don’t say is bad, I just don’t like it.
The other day I was checking how is the sale page for titanfall here:
If you actually try to use it, add to cart and checkout the product, you are send to login.live.com. Why a different server? No idea (I can imagine a few), but create a fragmented experience where you start on one server, are moved to a different one, then moved to a third one. Sony have a similar fragmented experience wen buying games from the web. For whatever reason, can stay in a single web from start to finish. It make it hard to teach people to have safe practices on the web. Worse, the same people that make you visit 3 different servers to buy one game, sends you verify emails from a 4th different server.
I am not saying this is wrong… theres probably a good reason why they send the browser to login.live.com and not make the login process serverside and painfree, but is ugly as hell and make it look like you are walking in a raft, and any moment you will walk on the wrong wood and fall to the sea.
Yes, it works fine on the 360, and without the weird web handling of your location. As for the ads, really? This thread is hyperbole central. Either that or I don’t realise how much more intrusive the ads are in the States?
Wendelius
I’ve wondered about this, because my 360 first screen has just one square advert in the bottom righthand corner. I can only assume people don’t like the large middle area that promotes things that are on the 360 (new games, trailers, DLC, maybe new movies up for rent sometimes or new things on apps on the 360). Except I also remember people complaining that 360 does a much worse job of promoting new content than it used to in the blades days (which I would probably agree with), so I don’t know what they want…
And now that the XBox One is going into full production mode, the CPU speed has been increased to 1.75GHz. Also, MS gave more details on the final architecture: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-xbox-one-cpu-speed-increased-in-production-hardware
Now it seems that additional overhead was found once Microsoft got its hand on production silicon, with the CPU component able to run at 1.75GHz, compared to the initial 1.6GHz target. The speed increase to both major elements of the Xbox One processor is a further nail in the coffin of the theory that Microsoft had problems with its yield - the amount of useable chips that come off the production line.
…
1.6GHz - the clock speed for PlayStation 4 - is thought to be the sweet spot in terms of performance per watt for the architecture. The fact that Microsoft has managed to extract that extra performance speaks to the efficiency of the console’s cooling assembly and internal airflow. Similar performance increases with PlayStation 4 are unlikely owing to the much smaller casing.
…
Most of the stats revealed in the presentation tie in closely with the white papers describing beta “Durango” hardware, previously revealed in the SuperDaE leaks, though there are some interesting new additions, such as a 30GB/s link from the CPU to the DDR3 RAM. In contrast, PlayStation 4 is believed to have 20GB/s access to the 8GB of GDDR5, while the graphics hardware has the full 176GB/s bandwidth available. We also see that the 32MB of ESRAM (embedded static RAM) used by Xbox One for accelerated GPU processing is actually a cluster of four 8MB modules, each with a 256-bit bus, operating in parallel to facilitate its wide bandwidth.
…
The combination of the CPU performance increase in combination with its cluster of custom “Data Move Engines” strongly suggests that while PlayStation 4 has an undoubted graphics hardware advantage, the Xbox One’s CPU capabilities are a significant step ahead. Audio-wise, Microsoft’s hardware is also impressive, with DSP effects, mixing and other features effectively available for “free” to developers, where PS4’s set-up only decodes compressed audio formats. It’s understood that these hardware features are being incorporated into major middlewares, which potentially sees the audio burden on CPU reduced on Xbox One.
There is also this interesting tidbit:
But perhaps the biggest surprise from the glut of information revealed at Hot Chips is the inclusion of 8GB of eMMC NAND memory, included in addition to the 500GB hard drive. This is the same sort of storage found in smartphones, Wii U and the 12GB PlayStation 3. Further details on how the memory is used were not forthcoming from Microsoft
Of course, it’s worth remembering that:
Traditionally, a stronger graphics chip makes much more of an impact to overall performance in console architecture - a state of affairs borne out by Microsoft’s own Xbox 360, and the approach taken by Sony with PlayStation 4, which also enjoys an overall bandwidth advantage from its unified pool of GDDR5 RAM.
Wendelius
The data move engines have nothing to do with CPU performance. They exist to move data between the two pools of memory in the Xbox One. This something the PS4 never has to do. Eurogamer might be referring to the hardware compression and decompression features, but PS4 has been known to include comparable blocks since February (officially) or December 2011 (going by the first Orbis pastebin).
We also don’t know the final clock speed of the PS4 CPU. All we know is that in February it was clocked at 1.6Ghz. At that time, so was the Xbox One’s CPU. And even if the clockspeed advantage holds true, it is still literally only a difference of 10GFLOPs. That’s less than one tenth of a percent of the advantage PS4 has in combined CPU+GPU FLOPs.
The article points out that, because of the smaller casing, the PS4 is less likely to have much room to increase the CPU speed. That said, Sony might indeed surprise us with a last minute increase. You’d think it would come with more (fan) noise related to the added cooling requirements then though.
Still, thanks for your comments. It’s always good to get an additional perspective on those matters. Are you sure on the “less than one tenth of a percent of the advantage” math? That takes into account the (modest) GPU performance increase reported for the XBox One a while ago? I didn’t realise the gap was that big.
Wendelius
JD
4036
Well, during CES 2013 there were rumors that said that the PS4 (then: Orbis) had a system performance of 1.84 teraflops while the Xbox One (then: Durango) delivered 1.23 teraflops. The 1.84 TF value later actually showed up in Sonys official system specs. I wouldn’t be overly surprised if some Sony presentation–behind closed doors and all that–was the source of all this, so the Xbox One may have come off worse than it actually is.
Xbox One release date supposedly being announced today. So says the rumor vine
Total system performance of CPU+GPU (in GFLOPs)
PS4: 104 + 1834 = 1938
Xbox One before CPU upgrade: 104 + 1310 = 1414
Difference = 37%
Xbox One AFTER CPU upgrade: 114 + 1310 = 1424
Difference = 36%
But my apologies. I was off by a factor of ten. Xbox One has actually clawed back one full percentage point with this change. Assuming the PS4 figures remain unchanged.
The article points out that, because of the smaller casing, the PS4 is less likely to have much room to increase the CPU speed. That said, Sony might indeed surprise us with a last minute increase. You’d think it would come with more (fan) noise related to the added cooling requirements then though.
They’re overstating the difference. For one, even though the PS4’s APU has a larger GPU, it’s actually a smaller chip. It probably needs less cooling to begin with. In addition, the Xbox One’s cooling system is literally just a big, square Heatsink/fan combo on top of the chip. Sony has in the past used much more sophisticated coolers in their consoles with ducted airflow, multiple heat pipes, etc. The inside of a Launch PS3 is almost all heatsink with a massive blower. The Xbox One has a giant dead area in it. We can’t really claim one has more thermal headroom until we see what both solutions.
Now we finally have a release date: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-09-04-xbox-one-release-date-announced
Speaking of launch, we’re now in a position to share that Xbox One will be available on November 22, 2013 in all 13 of our initial launch markets - Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and USA. Many more markets will follow in 2014.
We are humbled and gratified by the tremendous interest in Xbox One from game fans everywhere. We sold out of our pre-order supply faster than at any other time in our history and we are on path to have the biggest launch of an Xbox ever. We look forward to celebrating with millions and millions of gamers this holiday.
As a result of this incredible consumer demand and the development progress on Xbox One, I am thrilled to share that today we are making available a limited number of additional Xbox One Day One consoles for pre-order. We have coordinated with our retail partners to make it easy for you to reserve your Xbox One today.
Looking forward to it.
Wendelius
It’s a good thing that the UK/NA release dates are roughly the same for both consoles this time around (within 2 or 3 weeks of each other is good). Last time there were months between the NA & EU PS3 launches, only the 360 launched at roughly the same time in both regions.
Canuck
4041
Any reason why they wouldn’t release this information at Gamescom?
JD
4042
Mostly marketing, I guess, i.e. not having to share the spotlight with someone else.
So that’s a week after the PS4 launches in NA right? And it’s the same time as the PS4 launches in the UK and a few other European countries?
JD
4044
PS4 NA launch is November 15, Euro launch is November 29.
Xbox One - Nov 22 everywhere
PS4 - Nov 15th in the US, Nov 29th everywhere else
Should be an interesting month.
Bit of an exaggeration that. Nov 22 for their 13 launch territories, as opposed to the 23(?) for PS4. And we still don’t know what Sony is doing for Asia.
stusser
4047
The CPU speed bump is essentially meaningless. Modern CPUs modulate their clockspeed to fit within a thermal envelope. The xbone probably has superior cooling, with its larger case, that’s all. So it might run slightly faster in a hot room. Maybe. And like someone else said earlier CPU speed doesn’t actually matter a great deal in gaming.
Given this timeline, with Sony ahead by a week, I expect we’ll see a number of preview stories comparing the two systems well before launch. Microsoft has a vested interest in being in the mix on people discussing the hands on details of the PS4.
