Thread: XBOX 1 Oh yeah!

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Everyone just needs to chill out and get a Wii U like I did. Freaking awesome!!

You know you want to...



James.

True. But like the Wii before it, I probably won't get one. I'm still playing my 2600.

The N64 was one of my favouite consoles of all time - games such as Golden Eye, Perect Dark, Donkey Kong and Battlefield were really fun games to play. As for me its the PS4 with no shadow of a doubt - The Kinect issue (always being on) is a bit too weird for my liking.

I've got a SNES emulator on my Android phone which is awesome: Zombies Killed My Neighbours; Zelda; Street Fighter II....

Anyway, I quite like my Wii U but I do understand the others will be more powerful and probably have much better games. The issue with the Wii U is there's a bit of a dearth of "gamer" games, though Bayonetta is apparently going to be a Wii U exclusive.

James.

The problem with the WII is that it is really designed for children/families. Many of their games on the old system were specifically built to attract children and were pretty harmless, as in no adult titles or ones with mature content. The graphics were also deplorable, and the system simply couldn’t handle many of the tier one games being pushed that could be played on the XBOX 360 or the Playstation.
The WII U, while billing itself as the first “next gen console” does not surpass the box or the station. It simply MATCHES the current gen consoles in graphical power. When the next gen products from Sony and Microsoft are released it will go back to the status quo antebellum so to speak.
The problems I have with the new XBOX One are so numerous I don’t know where to begin. Some of these they have fixed since release, but I am not sure how long that will last. Let’s see:

1. Online all of the time. Your XBOX must be hooked up and online constantly or it will not work. If it loses connectivity, you have one hour of usage before it bricks itself. That’s fun! So if you travel a lot or deploy a lot and lots of Hotels won’t let your gaming system access the web because of that “enter the pass code” screen, you are screwed. You have a very expensive paperweight. Yes I know there are ways around that, but it usually involves changing all sorts of settings and contacting the hotels administrator (who may or may not be in India) and it is such a hassle.
2. No sharing! If your friend buys Halo and lets you borrow it, it won’t work. Unless you have been on his friends list for 30 days or more. Then he can lend it to one person. If he tries to let another friend borrow it, it won’t work. FUN! You just have to go out and buy the game at full price.
3. No backwards compatibility. So if you have been a loyal Microsoft supporter and you still have all of those old original XBOX games like Halo, The Suffering, Star Wars Battlefront and all of those great 360 games like Bioshock, Mass Effect and Skyrim, guess what? They won’t work on the XBOX ONE. No backwards compatibility. Which means you will have to litter your living room with 3 separate game systems and cables and switch boxes. Microsoft will be selling digital versions of some of their “classic hits” that will work for a “modest fee” and you can play them that way. Which means you have to re-purchase games you already bought. And I wonder how much that “modest fee” will be. I imagine at least $20 if not more.
4. Integrated digital rights management. One of my favorites. What does that mean? It means whenever you buy a game, it comes with a code inside the case, like345ryfh-6785-rydncfikytg56-werrytmnvikfi-3510940-fhge. You have to enter that code and the game will register. Then you can play it. So say you go to GameStop and buy Assassins Creed 6 used for $40. You go home and put it in. It will tell you that game has already been registered and will prompt you to buy an online code in order to unlock the game. These codes are currently planned at $20. Which makes the game cost $60 altogether. So you might as well just buy a new one for full price. The reason for this is that for some reason game producers think they are special, and that since they don’t see any profit from used game sales, it should be illegal. Imagine if someone bought a Corvette. Then they had twins 11 months later, and traded the vette in on a Ford Explorer. Ford then sells the used vette to a kid. Chevrolet sees no money from that sale. Imagine if after you bought it, it wouldn’t start or go out of neutral because the car wasn’t initially bought by you. You have to pay Chevrolet a $10,000 activation fee in order to start the car and use it. You would be furious and the car company would be sued. It’s the same with the games.
5. Kinect is always on. First off, Kinect sucks... Maybe in the future they will improve it to where it is a viable game function, but its detection is hit and miss at best. Almost every single Kinect game gets abysmal ratings riddled with phrases like “unplayable…disastrous…non-responsive” and most people don’t want it. The XBOX ONE comes with it. Now, my XBOX came with Kinect, and for voice control it is pretty cool. I like being in the kitchen and saying “XBOX…Netflix. XBOX…play Arrested Development. XBOX…Pause.” That is pretty cool. Also, some games support audio kinect functionality. For example, Mass Effect 3. Without it, if you want one of your 2 computer controlled teammates to use a power, you have to pause the game, bring up the powers menu, select the power you want them to use, aim it at its target and then restart the game. Tedious. With kinect, you can just say “James…Carnage” and he will fire his shotgun at an enemy. That quickly. Pretty awesome. A downside is that your kinect also houses a video camera for chatting or gaming. With XBOX ONE, that camera is ALWAYS on. That means if your daughter is playing a game in her room in her bra and panties, it is possible for someone to be watching her. When asked about this, Microsoft said it was possible, but that that was against policy and they wouldn’t do that. That is reassuring! I know I could steal these cupcakes and you would never know but I won’t do that and neither would any of my thousand or so employees. I believe you.

There are other issues I have but these are all for now. As a loyal XBOX and 360 owner I am very disappointed in what I have seen so far. Maybe they will change this stuff before release.

So, you're still getting one right?

Originally Posted by Darth

Online all of the time. Your XBOX must be hooked up and online constantly or it will not work. If it loses connectivity, you have one hour of usage before it bricks itself.

I thought it only had to connect once every 24-hours? It would still be a pain for travel or deployment, but not as much of an issue if your home internet went down occasionally.

No sharing! If your friend buys Halo and lets you borrow it, it won’t work. Unless you have been on his friends list for 30 days or more. Then he can lend it to one person. If he tries to let another friend borrow it, it won’t work. FUN! You just have to go out and buy the game at full price.

This was one of the major killers for the Xbone for me. I had a GameFly account for several years and used it to demo games that I wasn't sure if I wanted. Sometimes I ended up buying the game. Most of the time, I played it and then returned it.

No backwards compatibility. So if you have been a loyal Microsoft supporter and you still have all of those old original XBOX games like Halo, The Suffering, Star Wars Battlefront and all of those great 360 games like Bioshock, Mass Effect and Skyrim, guess what? They won’t work on the XBOX ONE. No backwards compatibility. Which means you will have to litter your living room with 3 separate game systems and cables and switch boxes.

More, if you also have an PlayStation and an a Wii (which I do). I wasn't too peeved about not having backwards compatability with the original XB and the 360 since there weren't that many XB games I wanted to keep. But I want to keep a lot of my 360 games.

Integrated digital rights management. One of my favorites. What does that mean? It means whenever you buy a game, it comes with a code inside the case, like345ryfh-6785-rydncfikytg56-werrytmnvikfi-3510940-fhge. You have to enter that code and the game will register. Then you can play it. So say you go to GameStop and buy Assassins Creed 6 used for $40. You go home and put it in. It will tell you that game has already been registered and will prompt you to buy an online code in order to unlock the game. These codes are currently planned at $20.

This was the other major killer for me. I buy a lot of games used. If there is a game I KNOW I'll like (like Fallout), I will buy it new. But most of my games were bought used. I don't want to pay $60 for a game, only to find out I didn't like it. Even if I take it back to trade in, I won't get too much back.

Kinect is always on. First off, Kinect sucks...

Mandatory Kinect is a crappy idea. When Kinect first came out, my wife and I were living in an apartment we call "The Postage Stamp." There was not enough room to be able to use the Kinect, since we could not get far enough from the TV. Plus, we barely had room to walk in front of the couch - forget complex dance moves!

I've already decided I am skipping the next console generation. PC gaming for me

Some original xbox games are able to work with a 360, such as Halo 2. The reason for there not being backwards compatibility for the Xbox One is primarily due to Microsoft's intent to continue to support and produce the 360. They are still going to release games on it and keep up with console upgrades as they have done so since 360's initial launch (the xbox 360 E was released the day that the xbox one was unveiled, with slightly upgraded hardware and face lift to match the xbox one). Microsoft's stance is basically if you don't like the xbox one, get a 360. Because of this, some people have dubbed the one an "elitist console".

I for one plan on sticking with my 360. Halo is one of my favourite games that I play (I currently have 2, 3, reach, 4, as well as wars), and it's a Microsoft exclusive. There aren't any PS exclusives that I really enjoy enough to warrant my wanting a console, not to mention I personally don't care for how the PS controller feels in my hands.
I also enjoy Zelda games and some other Nintendo exclusives, so I may at one point get a wii or wiiU or whatever.

The only question that I'm primarily still concerned about is how long will Microsoft continue to support 360? Will Halo 5 and 6 be released on 360? What about when a new elder scrolls game comes out? How much upgrading will Microsoft do to 360 in the coming years? Will Microsoft eventually relent on all of the "bad points" on the One? If they take away the game registration code crap, the mandatory daily internet check, then I might consider getting one in a couple years. I'd prefer waiting anyway. It gives them a chance to work out the bugs (as I'm sure there will be with each new system) and for the price to go down as well! I'm reasonably sure that if enough people complain, Microsoft will make changes eventually.

Well looks like the DRM issues are over. But I'm a little disappointed at what they did with the Gold membership for family.

Originally Posted by mannye

Well looks like the DRM issues are over. But I'm a little disappointed at what they did with the Gold membership for family.

What do you mean?

Microsoft seems to have backpedaled on the game sharing and announced that games can be shared now for Xbox 1.

Search google for "Microsoft drops DRM for Xbox 1"