Xbox Reveal

[cidbahamut]

Re: Xbox Reveal

Is it really too much to ask to be able to play the games I buy today 20 years from now? Is that really so terrible of a request?

[Firewind]

Re: Xbox Reveal

This is basically how I see it:

• There's lots of great old games on the 3DS, Vita and the PC.
• I will still have access to this content even if the servers go down because even Steam gives you an offline mode (which means I get to play PC games on my laptop during my lunch break).
• My TV does everything the XBox One does with the TV function anyway and I don't have to spend $500 to get those features I already have.
• I can't access any of my XBox, 360 or Arcade games on the XBox One.
• The Wii U has full BC and a lot of good old games I haven't played yet.
• I do genuinely have faith that Sony will deliver on the promise of getting BC on the PS4.
• If my connection goes down I can continue using other consoles.
• If my power cuts out I can still game on my PC (UPS>Blackouts) laptop or handhelds.
• The XBox One offers me nothing that a Gaming PC does not already offer me.
• My fucking Television offers everything else that the Xbox One offers.

So exactly what is my incentive to buy your shit Microsoft? Right now it would take the games being the best games that will ever be made and the controller growing an arm to pleasure me while playing for me to consider even buying the thing.

[Icemage]

Re: Xbox Reveal

This is basically how I see it:

• There's lots of great old games on the 3DS, Vita and the PC.
• I will still have access to this content even if the servers go down because even Steam gives you an offline mode (which means I get to play PC games on my laptop during my lunch break).
• My TV does everything the XBox One does with the TV function anyway and I don't have to spend $500 to get those features I already have.
• I can't access any of my XBox, 360 or Arcade games on the XBox One.
• The Wii U has full BC and a lot of good old games I haven't played yet.
• I do genuinely have faith that Sony will deliver on the promise of getting BC on the PS4.
• If my connection goes down I can continue using other consoles.
• If my power cuts out I can still game on my PC (UPS>Blackouts) laptop or handhelds.
• The XBox One offers me nothing that a Gaming PC does not already offer me.
• My fucking Television offers everything else that the Xbox One offers.

So exactly what is my incentive to buy your shit Microsoft? Right now it would take the games being the best games that will ever be made and the controller growing an arm to pleasure me while playing for me to consider even buying the thing.

But... teh Haloz?

---

On a more serious note, I think what Microsoft is trying to do is go for a broader audience right away rather than focus after early adopters (gamers). It's obvious that they think they will be able to attract developer support by bringing in a huge install base, which in theory will bring the gamers in kicking and screaming even if they don't want to.

Personally I think they're wrong. Gamers are the taste-makers when it comes to consoles. The kids who want to play Call of Duty get that because their friends are playing it, and those friends are playing it because their older brother is playing it. If it's being played on a particular console, that's what they're going to want, so they can play with one another. Gamers can be trumped by really powerful viral marketing bringing in a massive install base elsewhere (Wii), but Microsoft has never shown any ability to create a powerful brand image that resonates with "cool" on the level that this would require.

Unless something drastic happens, I don't see the core gamers favoring the Xbox One over the PS4. Take a look at the results of GameSpot's informal Twitter battle:

GameSpot Twitter Battle



That's a lot of headwinds to be fighting, and there's nothing to suggest that the Xbox One has any technical advantage over the PS4.


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: Xbox Reveal

If Microsoft has lost the US/Canada then it might as well concede right now. The vast majority of the 360's sales were in North America. In Europe the 360 was destroyed by the PS3 everywhere except for the UK where it gained some ground but the PS3 and Wii overtook it in the end.

Basically NA is the region where MS makes its money on the 360 and if it can't hold on to NA then the PS4 and Wii U will just stomp it into the dirt.

Given that this has also revitalised interest in the Wii U it would be silly to dismiss it right now but Nintendo really needs to grab the third party support it needs to finish off the XBox One. The same can be said for Sony too.

[Malacite]

Re: Xbox Reveal

Publishers don't currently deserve a cut of used game sales because they have nothing to do with them. Maybe giving them a whiff of profit will incentivise them to earn their keep by doing things like supporting their products beyond the first week of sales. They might even, and this is certainly being fanciful, increase support for smaller, more focused game experiences, Portal-like games, that may have a greater potential for quick turnovers rather than milking each installation for every cent via DLCs.

- - - Updated - - -

On the Kinect thing, we've had this concept of the future since like the 60s that involved calling out to your house and just having it do things for you. I don't think people had put it together that that would mean something watching and listening to you 24/7.

Hacking and corporate intrusion are things, but I think most people are just creeped out by the idea. I mean, if it were Jarvis I'd be 10000% cool with that, but some awkward product from a company I don't entirely trust kinda makes me feel gross. So I think there's an uncanny valley element. People don't trust machines in a personal way yet, and it's going to be some other company's job to fix that. Probably Apple.

Big Brother in a Box.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Xbox Reveal

Dreamcast or GTFO

[Taskmage]

Re: Xbox Reveal

Big Brother in a Box.

When ceiling Siri watches you masturbate, she makes helpful suggestions.

[Firewind]

Re: Xbox Reveal

Dreamcast or GTFO

Funnily enough the Wii U was in its way to becoming the new Dreamcast until the XBox One announcement.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Xbox Reveal

When ceiling Siri watches you masturbate, she makes helpful suggestions.

More torque.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xbox Reveal

Given that this has also revitalised interest in the Wii U it would be silly to dismiss it right now but Nintendo really needs to grab the third party support it needs to finish off the XBox One. The same can be said for Sony too.

I think they both will. We've still yet to see what partnerships Nintendo is forming, but they've been aggressively hinted at for months now. The prospect of Namco working on Smash Bros. may be the kick in the ass that franchise needed and Sakurai is back on board for this installment. People are expecting great things of it. We already know about the SMT X Fire Emblem crossover with Atlus which is just exciting for the fans of both IPs. And Nintendo letting Xseed pick up their slack helped Xseed out tremendously in the last year

We know about the partnership with Sega and from the news last week its goes beyond IPs like Sonic, but reviving Game Games, a 3D classic of Altered Beast and there's also Yakuza 1&2 HD coming. Hopefully there's more to come there beyond just Sonic and Mario and Sonic Olympic games.

I actually wouldn't mind Sony getting out there and collaborating with third parties as well. I mean, that's where Demon's Souls got it start. Hopefully Sony will also let their western first and second parties at some fresh IPs, too. I can't be made to care about Uncharted, God of War or Killzone - in fact, i'd let GoW sit this generation out - but I do dig what I've seen of The Last of Us so far. Its very Walking Dead/I Am Legend and that is refreshing in the midst of generic zombie shooters.

What I'd really like to see is more efforts from Japan Studio, some bolstering of the teams there and collaborations to get them out on the PS4 more often and doing a few less niche-y things on Vita. What little I've seen of Freedom Wars does look nice and I'm looking forward to what comes of that.

[Malacite]

Re: Xbox Reveal

I'd love to see Sony encourage SE to revisit some of their older franchises for PS4, like the SaGa or Mana series...

Also, can we seriously have a new Dragoon game? LoD was one of the best PS1 games ever and proved Sony was quite capable of making their own RPGs. I agree that God of War can probably take a hiatus, but I love Uncharted to bits - it doesn't have to be more Nathan Drake necessarily, but Naughty Dog has just been winning ever since they started that franchise (and I can not wait for Last of Us next month).

Nintendo may yet have a decent shot at this, the way MS is bungling things. I still don't think sitting out E3 was a good idea, especially in the wake of MS derping all over the place. If they can come up with a really great new Zelda and give us a peak at the new Xenogame, I might change my mind. I wasn't aware about the SSB news, that is freaking AWESOME - Brawl was such a horrible disappointment. I swear, if they get Mega Man added to the roster I will repent.


Still going to wait for a price drop though. I love me some Zelda, and Xenoblade was IMO the best RPG of this entire generation, but I need Nintendo to really convince me the Wii U is worth it because I really, really want a PS4 and possibly an XB1 at some point for Halo 5, but at the rate MS is going.... eh idk. I'm not keen on giving them any more money for XBL if if they aren't going to start adding in the kind of goodies you get with PSN Plus.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Xbox Reveal

The Mana series has been garbage outside of the SNES version and the remake of its prequel, Sword of Mana. I might go easy on Legend of Mana, but World of Mana and Children of Mana were both trash and the people that made the first two lost whatever insight they had into what made those games good. SaGa in general has been a bit of a dodgy series in terms of quality. I played the old Game Boy games and those were decent, but Unlimited Saga was, again, complete crap. I say let those two IPs die.

The only Zelda stuff Nintendo will have on hand is likely Wind Waker Reborn and LTTP2. Zelda U, at this point, is still in its pre-production phase like Halo 5 likely is.

Also that SSB information is honestly a year old at this point. The Tekken and Project Soul teams were brought on-board to ensure Sakurai's team didn't take several years to complete the game. He already spent a gargantuan amount of time on Kid Icarus Uprising as it is. It paid off, mind you, but that guy really does take forever.

[Malacite]

Re: Xbox Reveal

The Mana series has been garbage outside of the SNES version and the remake of its prequel, Sword of Mana. I might go easy on Legend of Mana, but World of Mana and Children of Mana were both trash and the people that made the first two lost whatever insight they had into what made those games good. SaGa in general has been a bit of a dodgy series in terms of quality. I played the old Game Boy games and those were decent, but Unlimited Saga was, again, complete crap. I say let those two IPs die.

The only Zelda stuff Nintendo will have on hand is likely Wind Waker Reborn and LTTP2. Zelda U, at this point, is still in its pre-production phase like Halo 5 likely is.

Also that SSB information is honestly a year old at this point. The Tekken and Project Soul teams were brought on-board to ensure Sakurai's team didn't take several years to complete the game. He already spent a gargantuan amount of time on Kid Icarus Uprising as it is. It paid off, mind you, but that guy really does take forever.

It's still a good series with potential, just... they don't seem to have really been trying all that hard. Don't even mention World (SD4) to me, I still have nightmares of that pile of shit... Man how I miss SD2 and 3, they were such good games ~ . ~ (FFXI took a lot of things from it too, like the elemental days)


I loved the SaGa games on PS1, thought the artwork was amazing :/ I'd settle for a new Star Ocean, but 4 was... well, I'm a hardcore Otaku and even *I* found it cliche and even outright offensive in some ways (not derogatory just... awful).

[Icemage]

Re: Xbox Reveal

I'm finding it very hard not to wish that the Xbox One crashes and burns at retail, the way things are going. The whole setup just smacks of arrogance on the scale of Sony circla 2005 with their derptastic launch of the PS3, only worse. They're literally trying to redefine console gaming, and in a way that is simultaneously anti-consumer and anti-gamer.

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not Microsoft has any compelling software to show, the concept of having a console that requires a check-in once a day or it will not work is anathema to me. It's a total dealbreaker, because that means if Microsoft decides at some point to turn off the Xbox One servers, every single one of the consoles in the wild, along with every game disc will become paperweights overnight.

Fuck that, and fuck anyone who supports such a horrid "vision" of the future of gaming.


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: Xbox Reveal

The Mana series has been garbage outside of the SNES version and the remake of its prequel, Sword of Mana. I might go easy on Legend of Mana, but World of Mana and Children of Mana were both trash and the people that made the first two lost whatever insight they had into what made those games good. SaGa in general has been a bit of a dodgy series in terms of quality. I played the old Game Boy games and those were decent, but Unlimited Saga was, again, complete crap. I say let those two IPs die.

The only Zelda stuff Nintendo will have on hand is likely Wind Waker Reborn and LTTP2. Zelda U, at this point, is still in its pre-production phase like Halo 5 likely is.

Also that SSB information is honestly a year old at this point. The Tekken and Project Soul teams were brought on-board to ensure Sakurai's team didn't take several years to complete the game. He already spent a gargantuan amount of time on Kid Icarus Uprising as it is. It paid off, mind you, but that guy really does take forever.

I'm actually really looking forwards to LTTP2. LTTP was my favourite Zelda game so seeing a sequel released would be really nice.

And it's a 3DS game too so I get to have it on a portable so that's even better. Actually one of the reasons why I've really started liking portable gaming in any form (3DS/Vita/Laptop/iOS) over the last 5 years or so is because it is really reflecting what a lot of gamers want: the ability to just sit down anywhere in a moment of free time and just have fun playing a game. Too many developers have lost sight of why we play games in the first place: because it's fun

Too many developers forget the most important thing. Gamers don't give a shit if a game is AAA. Gamers don't give a shit if a game was made on a shoestring budget. Gamers don't care if a story is original or derivative. Gamers care about games that they find fun.

it is also why I agree with the people that predict that the AAA model will collapse. It is a bubble that is not sustainable. The Second Law of Thermodynamics applies to more than just physics. You need only look at the housing market bubble burst to see that it is true in real life.

I'm finding it very hard not to wish that the Xbox One crashes and burns at retail, the way things are going. The whole setup just smacks of arrogance on the scale of Sony circla 2005 with their derptastic launch of the PS3, only worse. They're literally trying to redefine console gaming, and in a way that is simultaneously anti-consumer and anti-gamer.

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not Microsoft has any compelling software to show, the concept of having a console that requires a check-in once a day or it will not work is anathema to me. It's a total dealbreaker, because that means if Microsoft decides at some point to turn off the Xbox One servers, every single one of the consoles in the wild, along with every game disc will become paperweights overnight.

Fuck that, and fuck anyone who supports such a horrid "vision" of the future of gaming.


Icemage

If I could thank you a thousand times for this post I would.