The Xbox One has been announced

Darren Dirt · May 22, 2013, 09:03:27 AM

imo this is gonna be a DEAL BREAKER:

Quote from: http://www.siliconera.com/2013/05/21/report-xbox-one-requires-a-fee-to-use-your-discs-under-a-different-account/
...what if you want to bring a game disc to a friend?s house and play there? You?ll have to pay a fee?and not just some sort of activation fee, but the actual price of that game?in order to use a game?s code on a friend?s account. Think of it like a new game...

i.e. an obvious point made in comment by etrata "Here's a trick question..."
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/05/21/xbox-one-will-not-function-without-kinect-attached#comment-904784380

Mr. Analog · May 22, 2013, 10:37:48 AM

Since the initial comment about that Microsoft has come back to "clarify" things a few times which has made the whole affair even more confusing.

I think what they mean is some games are to be treated as digital downloads with a backup on disc, but who would ever go for that unless the games were cheap as dirt. As well that model is nonsensical for a console (again, fungible appliance) or at least blurs the line between console and a PC (with all the lockdown of a console).

The only reason Steam works with this model is because you can get a whole lot of quality video games for less than $10, not $60. When and if Steam releases a home console it will be very similar in concept to the XBox One (just without all the other razzle dazzle features).

Strange times for sure.

Darren Dirt · May 22, 2013, 12:08:38 PM

And even with all that under consideration, even more worrying is their clear-as-mud explanations about "always on" not really being "always", but kinda actually always but not really "on"...

Mr. Analog · May 22, 2013, 05:47:51 PM

Exactly, so far there is a great deal of confusing talk, which does not bode well. Talk about marketing failure

Tom · May 22, 2013, 10:19:58 PM

Quote from: Mr. Analog on May 22, 2013, 05:47:51 PM
Exactly, so far there is a great deal of confusing talk, which does not bode well. Talk about marketing failure

It's as if you forget who you're talking about here.

I think that last really successful marketing push they've had was for Windows 95. I think that says a lot.

Melbosa · May 22, 2013, 11:14:36 PM

That is a little harsh I think. Windows 7 was a huge success from a Marketing standpoint and XBox 360 has outsold both PS3 and Wii. So I think the Marketing at Microsoft is not terrible by any stretch. While this might not be the best outing for them, I would say there have been much done since the Windows 95 success story.

Tom · May 22, 2013, 11:17:34 PM

I'm talking purely of the marketing, not products. Windows 7 was and is clearly better than its predecessors, and won on merits. I don't think its marketing was anywhere near as impressive as W95's was. The 360 is the better gaming platform, and pretty decent at media consumption, it also won on merits, but it took a long time to get there.

Mr. Analog · May 23, 2013, 12:06:52 AM

I'll say this, both XBoxes were marketed quite well, maybe those guys quit and were replaced by the team behind the Zune LOL

For the record the Wii outsold both the Xbox 360 and the PS3

99 million units vs 77 and 70 million respectively

Melbosa · May 23, 2013, 08:13:46 AM

By golly your right... but since not short after the release of the Kinect, XBox has been out selling all other consoles, including the Wii / Wii U. Guess that is what I was thinking about.

Mr. Analog · May 23, 2013, 08:37:14 AM

Actually the Wii peaked in 2008 and has been on a gradual decline since, the XBox 360 only saw a marginal increase in 2010-11 (the year the Kinect came out), it peaked in 2011 and has been on the decline.

2012 saw the 3DS outsell everything, a trend that continues for now. So I would say the Wii was already making a slow downward trend before the Kinect came out.

source

I find it interesting that so far this year the best selling console game has been Luigi's Mansion

Melbosa · May 23, 2013, 08:49:10 AM

Nice find. I was going of news articles from 2012 so no solid charts there. I personally don't count PSP, or Nintendo DS as a console. I would compare only Wii/Wii U, PS3 and XBox 360. But yeah the chart is a nice find.

Man do I have egg on my face now ....

Mr. Analog · May 23, 2013, 08:56:24 AM

I got curious because I had heard different things, so I looked up the numbers, first on Wikipedia then for trending info on VGCharts.

I don't know why you would consider handhelds in a different category, you put games in them and play them, just like any other console :/

Thorin · May 23, 2013, 09:02:07 AM

Hmm, I forgot about VGChartz. Interesting to note that Wii U has sold 3mil pieces of hardware. While terrible compared to other consoles currently on the market, and clearly selling slowly, imagine making a game that half the Wii U owners buy for $60 each - that'd still be $90mil ($60 x 1.5mil). Now just to figure out what that killer app is.

As for the XO, it'll only get bought and brought into this family if there are games for it that people want to play or if a non-techie salesperson can actually show how all this Smart Glass stuff will work (since the wife and kids have to be able to work it, not just me). I've been unimpressed with the dashboard update that got foisted on us and the resulting large amount of advertising that is getting pushed at us every time we turn our Xbox360 on. Plus I'm pissed that they forced a media update that now limits the max bitrate for video and causes previously-playable movies to get choppy and stutter-y.

Mr. Analog · May 23, 2013, 09:16:56 AM

Yep, that will be the measure for success, you could have great hardware and an awesome OS but if there are no gotta-have-it games it's just going to stall.

Time will tell.

Darren Dirt · May 23, 2013, 05:25:52 PM

plenty of mockery happening all over the web, KYM already has a place collecting the most recent videos...
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/xbox/videos

but srsly, I'm sure it won't be as terrible as the haters/fearmongers are saying.

The new more precise Kinect will likely be fantastic, but since it's truly "always on", you'll just have to really hope that nobody in the show you're watching says "stop paying you" or similar!