The XBOX One

Starlight · 2013-06-07T08:43:24.000Z

Justin Fletcher:

Though I suppose they could be saving it as a gut punch at E3.

It’s what I’d do, let Microsoft thoroughly salt their ground while telling publishers that you’re not doing the same thing because of the public response.

Savillo - Ah yes, per-publisher. Hmm…wonder how that’ll be shown on the box…

Penny_Dreadful · 2013-06-07T08:54:20.000Z

In the tiniest print legally allowed I’m sure. I think it’s safe to say now that Sony will either have a similar per-publisher (read: no fucking used games ever) policy, or they will be granting Microsoft a huge catalog of exclusives courtesy of EA, Activision, 2K, etc…

Moore · 2013-06-07T08:55:48.000Z

You know what? I would buy this thing if:
Gold is free
MSRP for the system is $150 (and two controllers)
MSRP for AAA games is $50

Do that and this bullshit is acceptable.

Penny_Dreadful · 2013-06-07T08:56:54.000Z

I would buy this if the only alternative were dragging my dick through a box of rattlesnakes.

stusser · 2013-06-07T08:58:32.000Z

Savillo:

Games Industry International reports that analysts don’t think it’s likely that “EA and the rest will require it,” though

Pachter is a notorious tool. He’s wrong more than he’s right.

Telefrog · 2013-06-07T09:07:14.000Z

Savillo:

I agree that that’s not exactly reassuring since it leaves room for publishers to impose anti-used-game DRM in place of the system manufacturer. But “Sony won’t require that” is suggestive that you may not need an Internet connection to use your PS4. Again, I agree it’s not completely straight forward, but at least Sony won’t be requiring that games (or licenses) be registered to a PSN account.

Whether or not Sony requires it won’t matter if everyone’s games require it anyway.

The fact that Sony refuses to be absolutely and unequivocally clear about these policies does nothing to lessen my feeling that the difference between the Xbox One and PS4 will be a matter of degrees.

JeffL · 2013-06-07T09:22:19.000Z

Thierry Nguyen:

Stone moved from Edelman to internal Microsoft PR (focused on third party relations; he basically represented MS at Activision/EA/Ubisoft events) for a few years. Most recently, he left MS for a spot on Ubisoft’s product PR team (specifically Assassin’s Creed franchise).

Thanks Thierry. Stone was always a great guy to deal with, I’m glad to see he’s apparently doing well. I was trying to track down contact info for him just to reconnect, I’ll see if I can find him in the Ubisoft world.

Savillo · 2013-06-07T09:23:29.000Z

stusser:

Pachter is a notorious tool. He’s wrong more than he’s right.

Pachter isn’t the only analyst quoted, though. I honestly have no idea whether they’re right or not; I was just pointing out that there’s countervailing opinion on this.

Telefrog:

Whether or not Sony requires it won’t matter if everyone’s games require it anyway.

Sure, but we don’t know that. And if Sony isn’t requiring online authentication by attaching licenses to PSN accounts, then it’s possible that Sony’s first-party games won’t require it, either.

I don’t blame you for having no confidence in Sony’s silence. But I still think this is all too speculative (as far as the PS4 goes) until something more concrete surfaces.

Balasarius · 2013-06-07T09:27:44.000Z

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Warning · 2013-06-07T09:42:06.000Z

Penny Dreadful:

I would buy this if the only alternative were dragging my dick through a box of rattlesnakes.

Somewhere on the Internet, there is porn for this.

Phred · 2013-06-07T09:43:45.000Z

JeffL:

That’s your competitive advantage? From a gamer’s point of view, the PS4 is more powerful (from a hardware point of view) and, at least for the moment, does not require a monthly fee and an internet connection to play your games and does not require that you keep a video camera and microphone on. Even if Sony announces a yearly fee that is the same as MS and a call-home internet connection requirement, they still have what appears to be superior hardware and no requirement for an always on video camera and microphone. But nowhere do I see anything that says “This is the competitive advantage for the new XBox that will make it better for playing games than the PS4.”

The way I see it all Sony has to do is not enforce any of this crap in the console. Make the game makers take the heat for the DRM issues. Why Microsoft is bending over backwards to do the publisher’s job for them is a bit bizarre, IMO. Maybe it’s a corner they’ve painted themselves into with XBox Live.

Phred · 2013-06-07T09:49:33.000Z

mixuk:

And what are those options for Steam? If you mean publisher-owned digital stores, you are correct: It is an alternative, but what’s the difference it makes? It’s not like they are going to compete against themself by lowering the price there compared to Steam.

Seriously, I’m an avid PC gamer, so I’d love to hear what my alternatives are, because really, Steam is pretty much the only option I’m using. And Origin.

As an avid PC Gamer it’s surprising you are not familiar with GMG or GoG. GMG frequently undersells Steam and half the time they’re doing it on a steam key. They also offer tradeins on select games. Other discounters have been mentioned on this very board several times a week. There’s even a grey market in Eastern European keys.

Midnight_Son · 2013-06-07T10:22:05.000Z

Warning:

Somewhere on the Internet, there is porn for this.

I would totally do a Google search for this but then the NSA would find out!

instant0 · 2013-06-07T10:25:10.000Z

Midnight Son:

I would totally do a Google search for this but then the NSA would find out!

Thanks to predictive analytics they already think you will, so it doesn’t matter if you do it or not - as you’re flagged as if you did.

Midnight_Son · 2013-06-07T10:28:31.000Z

instant0:

Thanks to predictive analytics they already think you will, so it doesn’t matter if you do it or not - as you’re flagged as if you did.

It’s like Pre-PRon instead of Pre-Crime.

stusser · 2013-06-07T10:28:49.000Z

twitter.com

PRISM US Gov (PRISM_NSA)

Between the couch cushions RT @jdandeneau: @PRISM_NSA hey i think i left my phone at home, can you turn on my kinect and check?

1:18 PM - 7 Jun 2013 13 64

Midnight_Son · 2013-06-07T10:35:13.000Z

Dear Prism, my wife said she left a certain, uh, battery operated, uh, massager in the shower and she thinks it will cause a fire. Could you have the Roomba/Kinect unit check on it? Kthanxbye!

instant0 · 2013-06-07T10:36:38.000Z

Thats a fantastic new name for the SetTopBox.

PRISM

Reemul · 2013-06-07T10:44:18.000Z

mixuk:

I’m having a hard time understanding the outrage. On paper this seems superior to Steam: You can re-sell games, you can borrow them and you can share them between accounts in the family. However it remains to be seen how they handle sales for older games (vs Steam sales).

Sure, offline time is limited, but is that really a massive problem? I get that this would be a problem with people who do not have a net connection, and that’s definitely true. But I’d argue you have similar problems with a PC as well, if you want to play the latest and greatest games.

I’m not specifically pro-MS either, I’m just having a hard time understanding why people are so upset and calling this a disaster of epic proportions.

Because and this get said again and again, the price difference. I don’t mind paying 50% less than the shop price and not having to be able to resell. A game costs £3, £5, £10, £15 and so on. At present console games cost £40 new and some stay that way for ever. I don’t buy a new PC game for more than £20 these days and waiting just a few weeks normally brings the price closer to £15, who cares if I can’t resell it when it’s a good price, it also encourages me to try stuff I may not as it’s a good price. People spending top dollar with no resell could become very careful about what they buy.

Now on friday I want to buy The Last of Us it will cost £40-£50. I offset this by selling a couple of other console games bringing the price down to say £20. A reasonable price for a day one release. If I can’t do this I will not buy the game.

There are many places to buy Steam codes and many with offiers on daily/weekly. There is plenty of competition to drive prices down, you rarely here that Steam is too expensive any more because many don’t actually buy from steam itself but from other digital sellers at much more attractive prices. This will again not happen with consoles, it is already difficult to buy a console game in the UK. I have one in town store Game which is a premium price or a food retailer out of town. Online it’s just PSN or MS to buy from. Now if this changes prices may come down but lack of competition normally drive prices up not down.

Also say I buy Last of Us and for some reason I don’t like it, I will get 85% of my money back during the first couple of weeks, so while I may spend £45 I can at least get £35 back which is a £10 loss but no trading equals a £45 loss equals no taking chances on stuff.

Gaming and buying games on the PC and using Steam is nothing like the Xbone and maybe the PS4 is going to be, especially like compared to how it is now for console users.

Quaro · 2013-06-07T10:44:50.000Z

What an avalanche of negative sentiment on the Xbox One. /r/gaming is almost entirely bad Xbox memes. Forum threads everywhere sound like this one. Wow.

Some portion of that is MS catching flack for what will probably be the same with Sony but damn. The sheer quantity and volume just reached some kind of critical mass.

I do think it would turn around almost immediately if they announce some crazy new free (or close to it) subsidized plan.