I loved the blades, but that design really hampered in game discovery. I remember there being a few calls on sites like Gamasutra to revamp the store at least, to make the growing library of older titles easier to search through. As much as I loved the blades, I have to admit that the cascading tiles interface that followed was better for lots of functionality. And then came Metro, which made it worse, I thought.
Let’s look at a list of install sizes for Xbox One launch games. Keep in mind you actually only have about 400GB free on the drive for app storage.
Assassin’s Creed 4: 20.25GB
Battlefield 4: 33.66GB - At launch, but this has already increased with updates. Add more for map packs.
Forza 5: 31.76 GB - Add more for DLC.
Dead Rising 3: 19.9GB
Call of Duty: Ghosts: 39.5GB - Add more for map packs.
That’s about 145GB right there. Now, I think you’re right that most consumers won’t hit 400GB by March, but I do think this will become an issue for many Xbox One owners within the next year especially if they’re avid Season Pass owners and they download a few videos.
Is it a gigantic issue? No. I don’t think so, but just like the issue with Kinect and more than 4 people being in the same room, it’s something that will be a big pain in the ass when it does become a problem. It’s also something that should’ve been foreseen. My family does a lot of game switching. We go from a just-released title to an oldie all the time. If I have to wait for the system to install something because it was automatically erased a few days before to make room, that’s going to put a damper on our habits.
I loved the blades, but that design really hampered in game discovery.
Sure, but it’s not like the changes made that part better.
RickH
4732
The scenario that immediately pops to mind is the Xbone pushing digital-only content off the HD to make way for disc-based installs (especially for frequent game renters) and the user finding out at an inconvenient time (no/slow/metered/already taken net access) that their digital library isn’t fully there.
From what I’m hearing, there’s no storage management or ability to set deletion priorities. I’m guessing this is a hangover from MS’s abandoning their always-connected vision.
Cyrano
4733
On one of the Giant Bomb podcasts, they mentioned talking to a Microsoft engineer who explained the decision to make storage automatic. According to Microsoft’s data, the vast majority of people play only one game at a time, and most of the rest play two or three at a time. Letting the system make the decisions what to delete is supposed to make it seamless and easy for most people. We’ll see how that works out. To me, 500GB seems way too small. I imagine that many launch consoles buyers will add external drives and that future versions of Xbone will come with much bigger drives.
KevinC
4734
An automated system of disk management is fine, but why exclude tools for more savvy users that want to manage things on their own?
EDIT: That question is directed at Microsoft at large, not yourself, Cyrano.
stusser
4735
The Xbox720p is in stock at amazon now.
Dejin
4736
I ordered an XBox One (thanks for the heads up Stusser).
Question, are all XBox One games available for digital purchase and download, assuming I’m willing to put up with the download time? Or do I need to be ordering game disks to go along with the console.
Editer
4737
The only Xbox One game that’s not available for digital purchase is Skylanders. Virtually every game (sans ones that require hardware/collectible figures) will be available digitally.
I suppose this is good news, but it still seems like the bare minimum they could do. Is it me or does 50 developers sound like a really small number? I kind of assumed hundreds of developers would have dev kits.
That’s 50 development studios, not necessarily just 50 developers.
WARNING: DO NOT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS
These instructions are making the rounds of the internet:
DO NOT FOLLOW THEM!
These instructions will make your Xbox One reboot endlessly and you’ll have to send it in for service.
Moore
4742
Wow, that is a pretty amazing hardcore troll image then
RickH
4744
It should not be that easy to brick a commercial product. Bad planning or bad implementation, MS?
Moore
4745
I agree, I’m stunned if it is true, and totally evil and christmas ruining for the people who fall for it. But whoo-boy, as far as evil internet pranks go, that is a really really amazing one.
Spock
4746
I just got the XBox One today, and I’m enjoying it – my kid and I played NBA2K14 all evening, and we were really impressed with the graphics and presentation. But as others have mentioned here, switching controllers seems to bamboozle the game. Every time we do it, the game seems to reboot, kicking us out of the game and back to its opening video. Should we just cover up the Kinect when we play 2K14, or just never switch controllers, or what? Even switching seats seems to confuse things.
Also, I find the “always on” default mode a bit disconcerting. Even after I’ve shut off the console, my power brick is sitting there with a white light on. I think I’ll switch to power-saving; I just don’t like having power supplies doing stuff 24/7. (Even power-saving mode engages the power brick, I gather?) What do you guys do?
During the day you can switch off using “Xbox Turn Off” and have it go to Standby mode, but I’d recommend switching it off completely at least once every couple of days. Most of the problems and bugs we encountered with Kinect not responding to voice commands, and the TV HDMI input not working seem to stem from going into Standby mode. Standby mode works some of the time, but other times you come back from it and things don’t work. So doing a hard reboot, or just switching the console off completely every night might be a better way to go.
On a different topic, Xbox Music and Forza were behaving differently last night. I snapped Xbox Music to the right side of the screen so I could listen to my music from PC as usual while I play Forza, but last night every time it went from one (song) track to the next, the Xbox Music side of the screen would take focus away from the game. This was VERY annoying because there’s times in a driving game where involuntarily pausing the game is a really bad idea. Like during complex turns where you’re only partially on the gas while trying to only turn just enough not to lose traction and fly off the track. Coming back from a paused game in that situation never ended well. So I had to use the rewind ability a lot last night.
I wonder why Xbox Music changed behaviors like that all of a sudden? It never used to grab focus like that before.
Oh, so it’s just like standby mode on a Windows desktop!
