It’s bizarre. On my twitter feed, in the Kotaku comments and from what I’ve heard from people involved in the games industry, the reaction the Xbox One reveal has been overwhelmingly negative. But the mainstream media? They seem to have missed the memo. While we’ve been spending the last five hours complaining about the lack of new titles and issues with used games, they’ve been praising the design, the ethos and — yes — the games.
Are gamers living in some weird echo chamber? Execs at the Microsoft event in the US believe the reaction has been mostly positive. Aaron Greenberg mentioned to Kotaku Editor Stephen Totilo that twitter’s reaction to Xbox One was roughly 40 per cent positive, 40 per cent indifferent, 20 per cent negative. When I heard this I almost burst into laughter — that can’t be possible. But then I did a brief check of multiple different mainstream media outlets — how had they reacted to the Xbox One news?
The answer may surprise you.
Are we the 20 per cent?
Fox News
Indeed, the Xbox One demonstration was so impressive it made me wonder, why the heck didn’t they do this with the disastrous Windows 8?
CNN
The console itself is more angular and practical looking than either of its two predecessors. Flat and rectangular like a cable box, you could almost call the design reserved. But it is by no means unattractive, and will probably sit tucked away in a cabinet anyways.
The Register
On the face of it, the new console looks pretty impressive. Response times and gesture control are very good indeed, the visuals are stunning, and Microsoft scored an instant win over rival Sony by actually having a working console to show off. The demonstrations were in a tightly controlled environment, but the upgraded Kinect system looks impressive and the console looks very speedy to operate.
SMH
Xbox has been the exclusive home to such popular gaming franchises as sci-fi first-person shooter Halo, racing simulator Forza and alien shoot-’em-up Gears of War. In recent years, Microsoft expanded the scope of the Xbox 360 beyond just games, adding streaming media apps and the camera-based Kinect system. With the innovations showcased on Tuesday, Microsoft is taking those ideas further.
News.com.au
Key features of the Xbox One revealed in Microsoft headquarters in Seattle are advanced voice controls and the inclusion of a new-generation Kinect controller with every console, allowing you to switch from watching TV to playing games by spreading your arms as if you are grabbing the screen similar to the way you pinch an image on a smartphone or tablet.
The Sun
But the news that really got gamers salivating was the exclusive gaming deals they announced.
CALL of Duty: Ghosts takes the critically-acclaimed franchise into the next generation. Downloadable content for the new Call of Duty game, Ghosts, is available exclusively first on the Xbox, as is FIFA 14’s Ultimate Team feature.
Fans were treated to some spectacular footage from both flagship titles, as well as some glorious footage of Forza Motorsport 5 — one of a number of titles that will be available as soon as the console is out.
MSNBC
Out in the Twitter peanut gallery, we’ve been hearing people calling the case design “boxy.”One guy said, “Looks like a VCR. Hopefully that means it will play VHS,” while anotherechoed, “Does it come with a cassette rewinder tho?”
Cosmetics aside, the response for the whole system seems more upbeat, ranging from “Sexy” to “Can’t wait to have mine!”
But this is a big year for gaming, and things are just heating up.
Are we going crazy? Have consoles passed us by? Are we becoming increasingly irrelevant as a demographic? In a sense mainstream media reports err on side of caution, particularly when it comes to products they don’t quite understand, but I found it difficult to find a single negative comment.
Very strange.
Comments
156 responses to “Xbox One: Mainstream Media Reacts… Are We The 20%?”
Kickbacks? Hired goons? That overwhelming feeling of nostalgia you get when you look at the case and think how cool it would be to slot a VHS tape into it?
It’s gotta be hired goons.
Hired goons?
Im fairly certain that was a Simpson’s reference, right?
Who else would have hired goons?
I prefer the personal touch you only get with hired goons.
Nice. As soon as I read the first one I thought no one would have the other line but bam, ya beat me to it.
Arkayn, I’m sure you’re a very nice person, and I have nothing against you…
…BUT I WILL OWN YOU AT OLD-SCHOOL SIMPSONS QUOTES. 😀
Yes kotaku you are the 20% the cynical dropkicks that represent everything that is wrong with the games industry the kind that thought Zero punctuation was funny, work in the retail industry and realise people like you the haters the cynics are what kills businesses with your idiocracy and unbiased unprofessionalism
talk about zero punctuation…
I think the vocal community complaining about it are the 20%. I think there is a very large proportion of gamers out there totally keen for it where the “bad” issues dont bother/effect them at all.
Personally, i’ve never lent games or borrowed games from friends, I’ve always got an internet connection. wtf do i have to worry about? shit all really, its all good features for me. I think most people are probably in the same boat as myself.
People like to be negative and pick at the bad things. so much discussion about the negatives when the positives FAR outweigh them.
Why aren’t these people commenting then? It would be easy enough to type into the box ‘hey, this looks cool. I like [feature]!’ We don’t seem to be seeing that, though.
You probably are correct, but I’m not sure why it works that way.
They are commenting. Problem is they get downvoted and shouted down by opponents as soon as they do. It’s just not worth coming here to say ‘well actually I like it and will be buying it’ for the crap they end up copping for it.
I’m reminded of a Customer Service saying….
Give someone a bad experience and they will tell 10 people….
Give someone a good experience and you will be lucky if they tell 3 people
Bad news (opinions) spread further and faster than good ones do sadly
Hear hear. I rarely read comments for most articles because of the crazy rabid negativity. There’s no appreciation or courtesy for people being positive about something. It’s a strange reality some people live in when they rely on forum comments, facebook, twitter, etc. and think that it gives them a good picture of what people are thinking, rather than just the noisy subset of people who want to rant.
Because it is easier to criticise (sans constructive) than to compliment and negative criticism and the internet go hand in hand. I think the new Xbox is a very cool package and I’ve posted that opinion in a number of threads now, but it just seems to get drowned out.
The used games stuff is definitely a point of contention but I have ZERO problem paying a nominal fee for a used game and having those proceeds go to the developers, in actual fact, I think it is fair.
Maybe I am in the minority, but my smart phone, PS3, Xbox and PC are always connected to the Internet. I’m never logged out of PSN, and I’m never logged out of Xbox Live. So always on again is not a huge issue for me. If someone is paying for a modcon like a new console, there’s a very realistic possiblity that person also has an Internet connection or a mobile phone with an Internet connection. In fact, most people I know do not play console games offline even when dabbling in single player. Personally, I think this whole always on thing is just sabre rattling at the moment. It will have minimal impact on most people, people just don’t want to feel forced into being told to do something.
The future is the cloud, the future is cloud gaming and you can’t cloud game without a persistent connection. They is the cold hard facts.
I respect your opinion regarding internet connectivity requirements, but respectfully disagree. Still, that’s not the substantial point I’d like to talk about, because I can see the arguments for both sides quite easily here.
Re: Used games: I can understand your arguments here, too, though I absolutely disagree. It’s disappointing that the retail sector hasn’t been consulted, it’s frustrating that private rights are being universally abrogated, and any feel-good justifications about ‘supporting the industry’ just do not excuse this attack on personal sovereignty over one’s own property. Can you imagine in 5-10 years when literally every digital product is like this? Your music library will exist in the cloud, with songs appearing and disappearing as per the terms of contracts which you can only assent to. Your bluray collection will play only on the player, amp and TV you had at the moment you bought them; change anything and you’ll have to pay for the rights all over again (see: Windows 8 today!). We’re moving in that direction, and it’s why people are worried.
With regards to the cloud being the future, again, I’m not seeing it. The cloud has thus far only been used to lock people into ecosystems and justify DRM (SimCity). It’s been said multiple times that Diablo III’s online-centric features (ie: auction house etc) are superfluous and damage the game.
Given how powerful hardware is and how that power is increasing, I don’t see a problem with locally run software. Where you may have a point is with new multiplayer models: Destiny, and maybe Watch Dogs if the rumours are true. However, the same games can just as easily be suggested to be less shooters or sandboxes, and more MMO’s, so I don’t think it’s a convincing argument.
That said, if you’ve been convinced by a game recently, I’d love to hear it.
All valid and good points.
On used games, I still think it is much fairer that the profits from resale do go to the developers and not to third parties like the retail sector. Having said that, I very much doubt Microsoft have forgotten about them. There’s a very good chance they’ll offer resale codes and retailers would be able to bundle them with second hand copies of games. This is all speculation though, but Microsoft points cards are already being sold by retailers so I see no reason why this wouldn’t be the case. Microsoft still haven’t released details on this so we shouldn’t demand blood right away.
The cloud is definitely the future, the IT industry is already moving in this direction – lots of money is being spent on cloud offerings in areas like big data, SaaS and PaaS. This has been embraced by the private sector and the government is beginning to move in this direction. It’s a no brainer that consumer products will also move in this direction. Easy access to all your data, from multiple sources, in one place. Think Microsoft Skydrive. We really do live in exciting times.
As I mentioned in a post further down, Microsoft did touch on the cloud capabilities of the machine and allowing developers to utilise Microsoft’s cloud API and shift some of the processing into the cloud. This is cool stuff. This essentially means they have access to infinite processing power. So, there is no particular game that has convinced me, I’m just excited about the possibilities.
Yes, processing power is increasing but so are the end user costs. It’s much easier and cheaper to bundle commodity machines together into a cluster than to push out hardware to the consumer – think about all the costs associated with doing so – software costs, support costs, manufacturing costs, packaging costs, testing – and those costs get pushed to the end consumer, the very reason why there is a big move torwards cloud infrastructures. It’s much cheaper to dial up a cloud server than to buy a Oracle exalogic stack and reinforce the floor in your building.
Let’s watch this space. It will be interesting.
see I’m reading alot of “Its ok for ME guys..whats your problem” well theres your problem, not everyone is you
“The future is the cloud, the future is cloud gaming and you can’t cloud game without a persistent connection. They is the cold hard facts.”
says who? no really…do you even consider the implications of such things? just because the big players want to implement that crap does not mean it has to be that way
Says the science and technology industries. That’s like jumping back in time to the days of the Nokia 3210 (great phone IMHO, snake FTW) and questioning why someone thinks smartphones are the future. It’s a natural technological progression. There is a greater opportunity to utilise high speed internet connections to gain access to greater amounts of processing power both raw and graphical cheaply. This coupled with the fact it’s getting more and more expensive to release home consoles means that cloud is the future. It’s not just the big players, it’s *every* technology company.
Some people won’t adopt it and will refuse to adopt it based on “always on” moral grounds. That’s fine. That will mean some people are enjoying access to abundant processing power while others are using what will be considered “legacy” hardware stacks at home.
Edit: Addressing “Its ok for ME guys..whats your problem”. I actually pointed out that I am in the vocal minority and I never meant it in that way. I’m OK with always on and am pretty excited about the new Xbox but at the same time I understand people’s issues with it. I just don’t see them as issues.
Is that opposed to the “it’s not okay for ME and I am the be all and end all of gaming fact and opinion?”
As opposed to “It’s not okay for ME guys. You’re all idiots if you don’t have a problem”. You’re absolutely right: not everyone is you. People who want this shouldn’t have to miss out just because you don’t.
I thought the reveal was great, I was really impressed at what they announced, and when I went on twitter and saw all the negativity it genuinely surprised me.
However I knew before hand pretty much all of what they announced – the TV focus, the Kinect and online requirements, and I also didn’t expect them to show many actual games as I knew they’d save that for E3.
I consider myself a gamer in every sense of the word. I didn’t initially make a comment on how I felt like Microsoft did a good job on the reveal because I saw all the negativity and knew I’d be drowned out. Then again, I still constantly stand up for the Wii and even the Wii U, and that’s nothing but negativity as well amongst many vocal gamers.
Basically I’m just happy that the next generation of consoles each focus on a different area – it means that they’re not just 3 slightly different looking mini-PCs each with a small handful of exclusives which could have easily been ported if a deal hadn’t been signed. I already own a gaming PC, I don’t want the next consoles to just do a lesser job of that in my lounge room.
I’m really excited that the Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles will each have unique gaming experiences over the next generation, due to each of their boxes having very different goals.
I agree. I thought it was an awesome reveal.
I actually thought the launch was pretty good and hadn’t commented up until now for the reasons stated by @zombiejesus. Sure the look isn’t exiting but it will be right at home among a receiver or other loungeroom components. As for the people whining about “where are the games”, were they not listening? They demoed a couple of premium titles but most games studios will be holding back until E3. Nothing wrong with that and it was mentioned several times that E3 will show a lot more. They demoed lots of new stuff and it’s good they kept the launch to an hour rather than boring most people by concentrating on one particular aspect. It’s just an opening salvo, and some of the details are being kept quiet for strategic purposes and some would be in a state of flux which is normal for something that is 6 months from being available.
If anything, rather than this being a direct reply to the PS4, I think it’s more a statement to keep Apple out of the game.
The used games thing is not so much of an issue for me expect in the few rare cases where I play a title that my adult children also play. Sometimes we each buy a copy for co-op or multiplayer, but for others where there is more of a borderline interest we get 1 copy and share it between us. So the activation will be somewhat of an inconvenience.
It will still play amazing games, I’m sure just as good as the PS4. It will always have Halo and for that reason alone I will be on board and yet I look forward to so many of the other features as well. Yes, it is no longer a games console, it is now so much more than that and if some people don’t buy it for that reason then it is their loss, but Microsoft has always had it’s eyes on a much bigger picture than just the gaming segment. They wanted to own the lounge room way back when Bill Gates was still in charge.
Generally people are more likely to voice opinion when they dont like something rather than when they do.
Business get far more calls for complaint then they do of people going “hey, thanks for your service”
Here I am. My first comment since the announcement. The so-called negatives on the One don’t affect me. I plan to buy one, the multitasking looks great. The negative point we should be worried about is actually the RAM – apparently GDDR3 whilst Sony’s using GDDR5….this could mean that third party titles look better on the PS4. It could be a significant difference in performance which would be disappointing after the very close competition between PS3 and 360. I barely trade games or buy used, I rarely lend out games, and I’m always online (even though you won’t have to be online anyway). It’s the vocal minority rebelling against the future. The next-NEXT generation will probably be entirely cloud based (ie OnLive/Gaikai style) so these gamers complaining now haven’t seen anything yet – if they can’t handle the change now I don’t know how they’re going to deal with it when 100% of content is in the cloud.
DDR3 vs GDDR5, actually. GDDR5 is an extension of DDR3, and it’s not designed for general purpose use. So don’t worry too much about the RAM, Sony’s choice to use GDDR as system RAM runs a serious risk of coming back to bite them – GDDR5 latency is as much as 8 times worse than DDR3.
I’m in your boat.
Excited about the new hardware, comfortable that it will get great games, accepting of the fact that digital media is the future.
It’s funny because I view the direction the new Xbox is going as being both progressive and inevitable. Seeing a bunch of (supposedly) tech savy gamers having a cry about an always online requirement (while often saying they will stick with their 1337 PCs!) is pretty funny.
Whatever happened to us gamers and our ”pushing the boundaries” mentality?
“I can’t use it properly because I don’t have a digital received for my television!” Are people serious?
What is wrong with you? At the very least you should be ANGRY at the very principle of their DRM and anti used games stance.
Sure I have internet that is always connected and i rarely rent of borrow games so they aren’t such a huge impact.
But what if the Xbox servers go down for weeks at a time? I can’t use a new game i bought because it cant “register it”, What if i move house and don’t get internet for a few weeks same thing again or my own internet cocks up, as it often does because i have copper, what then am i expected to do “Deal with it”?
The way they have worded this presentation IMPLIES (they have since tried to back track), that to play ANY game you must first verify it online, (otherwise you could be playing a rental or god forbid a borrowed copy and they wont get there $$). It doesn’t matter if the game is single player only, you can play it offline as much as you want as long as you have been online in the last 24 hours and verified it upon install. With that much internet required to even function it is most definitely always on DRM, of the very bad kind.
WE should be pissed. The ENTIRE thing is anti consumer in every conceivable way and the only reason these media outlets say other wise is because of two reasons. A) they or who ever owns/runs/controls these outlets has an interest in seeing the console succeed (doubtful). or B) Every single one of them has completely misunderstood how severely this will impact them and how restrictive this always “connected” new frontier will cost them. All they see is oh new sleek look and ooh pretty games with a top box.
I think the 20% are the core gamers, the actually people who know what the hell any of this means for the end user, we understand what exactly they are trying to muscle in on us and we don’t fucking like it. We are the backbone of the whole business, the people who buy 30+ games in a consoles cycle (unlike the casuals who have a handful and no accessories) we are the ones propping up the business, especially when they sell a console at a loss. If they don’t appease us then they have already lost.
I know what i have said is all Doom and gloom end of the world, but seriously pretty much everything we didn’t want to happen from all the rumours is now here and ready to rear end us. Which is a shame because if you got rid of all the bullshit, the stuff they have done with Kinect improvements and the like could be amazing if used properly and not as some voyeuristic peeping tom.
By the looks of the map they showed with server locations, they are highly distributed and like all cloud offerings will have redundancy built in. Highly unlikely all servers will go down unless there is a major catastrophic planet killing event like a giant squid meteor. Cloud stuff is what I do for a living and redundancy/contingency is built in to everything. The very fact that all the major Australian banks have a majority of their infrastructure in the cloud supports this.
Good point, that would be an issue. Do you have a smartphone with a 3G/4G connection? Most ISPs offer a dial up service temporarily while your account is being moved. I’ve used Xbox Live over my 3G connection on my phone before in the country to play Halo: Reach while on a work trip. It was fine. My point is there are workarounds for this.
Bit extreme? We have to maintain a persistent internet connection here to use our development servers since they reside in the cloud. That’s just what you buy into. As Microsoft stated in the presentation, it is a cloud gaming device. This is something everyone seems to have completely missed – they touched on developers using their processing units in the cloud to ship some of the processing to the cloud, this is damn cool. It requires an internet connection. Part of what you are paying for when you buy the machine is both the physical machine and the online components. It’s a package. The power is yours as a consumer and if you don’t want to buy into something like that, you don’t have to. No amount of drum beating will change that.
I actually logged in to leave a reply to @kingpotato, with much of what you have written. I thought better of it as he comes across as one of those ‘elitist’ gamers who just seem to enjoy raging over anything they can.
Two quick points I’d like to add.
– Used games can be sold, you just pass on the key to another account – not the CD as before.
– The Kinect issue is a cause for concern, it’s a huge breach of privacy but it seems like something that will be patched out due to customer demand. That’s the only valid issue brought up.
Good post @tehcodez.
peoples indifference over this blatantly anti consumer tripe is…annoying to say the least
while it is true that gamers (and by extension the internet) are a picky cynical bunch…this is the one time I feel that negativity is apropriate..are I say called for all this bullshit is another sign the AAA insutry is heading over a cliff and doesnt know how to apply the breaks
Yeah, basically what your saying kind of reminds me of the web series, the guild, where most people hate at “the game”, even though they love it
I think that this console is primarily targeted for US. TV-centric options, mostly US-based services. It’s cool, I like the Kinect 2, I like the integration, there’s so much more to like. But I think MS just took for granted people outside the US, people who don’t have stable internet, people who don’t want services, people who just want games.
There’s a glimpse of hope though, since the talk continues on E3, where they reveal the games.
The positive only outweighs the negative when you’re in a favorable area of residence.
You are very, very right. We aaalllll (well, not all, but all who matter, right?) live in a place with a good, reliable an inexpensive Internet collection. Obviously, we are also immensely rich so we’d never dream about renting or borrowing to get an idea of how we like a game before purchasing: we just buy and if we don’t like it, to the bin with it, whatever; we wouldn’t dream about re-selling either, who cares about the wasted money? Also, we don’t have friends or siblings that would annoy us with such requests. Moreover, we /crave/ for yet another iteration of the same FPS, racing and sports games that we’ve been playing for the last decade as long as they have updated graphics. You know what we don’t crave, though? The collection of games we bought for the 360: who cares that they won’t play on the X1? To the bin with them, too!
No, we are all a neat bunch of privileged, happy little sheep and the minority of whiny dissidents should learn to keep their mouth shut and put all their money in the pockets of our lord and saviour MS, and his prophet the Xbox 1.
This reveal was doomed to be a failure in Kotaku’s eyes, long before it came about. I’ve never seen a forum be so cynical about something that looks quite spectacular. Yes, they didn’t focus on games so much today, but so what? Don’t be so inpatient.
its a games console for christ’s sake…. why the hell was the focus on tv????
it was doomed to be a failure because everything we heard today was already leaked. always online, 2nd hand games blocked…. this is why i decided a while ago i wasnt going to jump on board with it… the focus has shifted away from games.
Im not dissing your opinions entirely, there were some great features, like swift multitasking, and the new kinect (which most of us never use) but im totally not sold on the package as a whole…
Sorry if this comes as a shock, but we’re still going to be able to play games on it. E3 is where they showcase them.
Second hand games aren’t blocked, they said there will be a service for trading games. It’s not the old school retail second hand games market but it’s still there.
Yeah sure i can “trade” games, what the hell does that even mean. If my brother watns to play my copy of Cod, he grabs the disc and is online in 60 seconds. What they are going to do now is, what have in individual market place where its an auction house style like wow,? Are we going to have “limited to 5 accounts type installations on discs? Are we going to have to do some lengthy verification swap procces so my brothers console has “Access” to my borrowed game and then pay a $5 fee and do it eveyr single time we swap consoles.
Anyway you look at it its utter money grubbing bullshit and at best even if it doesn’t cost money it will most certainly make the entire process tedious and annoying. You know like center link walfare is the most ridiculous thing to get started all to deter people from applying in the first place.
What if i want to rent a game from a video store, will i have to pay the video store $10 and then pay microsoft another $10 to play, or are they going to rent me self deleting games for a week?
You 100% can not say in good conscience that the 2nd hand market and everything it encompasses is “till there”, because if you even attempt to you delusional and lying to youself or a Microsoft employee who’s been indoctrinated ala Scientology style.
Champ, you’re not doing yourself any favours by hyperventilating about something you don’t know any details about yet. Stop being so melodramatic and listen to the information being given.
They should’ve advocated why games will be better on xbox1, but they didnt…..Instead we got yadda yadda TV, Kinect, Random Sports Star Interview + dramatic Music, Halo TV Series and COD now has a DOG(<–WTF)
There’s no point. Most games will be almost identical on each system, there’s no way to convince anyone which will be better, so instead they do what they are suppose to during a console event… tell us what the console can do, anything else would be stupid. If you still want to know how it compares as a games machine.. you have the hardware stats to judge by.
Microsoft have been attempting to integrate entertainment/media center qualities into the Xbox for a while now. This is backed up with their “3-screens-1-cloud” approach for Desktop, Xbox and WP8. I think you have a wrong grasp of the Xbox if you think it’s simple a “games console”. Hell, the reason I’ll be buying it is to use a media center and to have better integration with my Microsoft account and Microsoft ecosystem, I use my PC for games.
and even then, microsoft refuses to license the majority of popular codecs to allow playback. if i want a media centre, ill do it properly.
and heres another thing to consider. the majority of these tv features are already possible on a modern tv. why tie down the entire console just because someone wants to watch tv???
…or maybe they’re just not burned out cynics like kotaku. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a positive story on this site. I’ve read many positive things on other gaming sites.
There are plenty of positive articles floating around. There are plenty of jaded articles, too. Certain authors are more cynical than others, and you get that everywhere. To suggest that cynicism is ingrained is fine, but without making a counterpoint based off of the same facts; without suggesting a positive reading that could have been inferred from the launch, is somewhat hollow criticism.
I guess the question is – who are likely to be the early adopters? Readers of Kotaku, or readers of Fox News?
I respect your opinion, even though I don’t know what it is.
What the hell
Uh
Well, originally I said “True-che”
And I had title text that was funny, you’ll have to trust me that it was funny. It was right laugh it was.
I’m laughing out loud right now just imagining what it might or might not have been.
I would say the majority of Microsoft’s cash is going to come from the readers of Fox news and not “hardcore gamers”
I doubt it. They’ll condemn it for being the cause of all their gun crime and then they’ll go spend their money on a new assault rifle instead.
I actually realy like teh look of it, i dont like much else even as an xbox fan, but the look is very nice. The changes to the controller are welcome, sick of hitting the “home” button every time i play a fighting game.
The mainstream media aren’t as cynical as we are, at least not until video games are responsible for killing people.
Which is all the time!
Cynical is definitely out of their reach. Realistically, they’re not critical at all in their understanding of events, so expecting cynicism is optimistic of us ^^;
You make a good point. When it’s a product that is essentially a delivery system for “realistic murder-death-kill simulators/trainers”, the same media are offering the technology high praise. What are people going to be using it for? SciFi shooters and Game of Thrones, by the looks.
Very intriguing contradiction that says a lot about the mainstream media. And the fact that they’re speaking about what makes gamers salivate. How can they speak on our behalf? Games. Games make gamers salivate. Where were the games? I’m perplexed, honestly.
I think the problem is, by nature, we’re the people who are going to be critical about this stuff. Your average Fox News guy looks at this and goes “well, that looks much better than Pac-Man”; your average teenage boy goes “wow, new CoD looks hectic” (or whatever teenage boys say these days). The sort of people who are on a gaming news website are going to be the sort of people who have higher expectations, who want to see games and who know what the tech could do so are underwhelmed by what it does do.
I think we’re important as a demographic, but it’s important to remember that there will be hundreds of thousands of people who buy the new Xbox regardless of how much we complain about it being always online or about the Kinect camera constantly watching you.
Yes, lest we forget that the world does not adhere to Kotaku’s guidelines.
I completely agree with @michael
It’s the difference in expectations and the fact that “we” as tech article readers know what things like “always on Kinect camera” can mean in the future.
The average customer these days is not the people on this site… or any other tech site.
It’s the mum and dad buying star wars kinect for their 12 year old. That’s where the money is. That and COD.
Just because Microsoft made a console that appeals to 80% of the population (of the US at least) doesn’t mean that it’s a good console.
If you like it, cool good for you, go buy one. I however have a lot of concerns (from a technical, industrial and economic point of view) and I’ve never even owned an Xbox.
‘Good’ is subjective in the first place, nothing makes a console arbitrarily good or bad. But if it’s satisfying 80% of the market, there are more people that it’s good for than that it’s bad for, and there’s hardly an expectation that the minority should be the main group to cater for.
Bullshit, the console is bad by design. They could have just made you need to disc to play the game instead of install and verifying (even if it wasn’t “needed” ) and poof no more online connection needed and all the offline folk are happy. Make kinect turn off able, anti spy camera people are happy.
Those 2 things would have changed nothing for them and then FAR more people would be happy.
I personally WANT to like the xbox. I like the new kinect and what it can “do”, but bugger off if its perma connection and the DRM is for my benefit. Its just more control to make more money and I wont stand for it and neither should anyone else.
Across your comments on this, you’re worse than a teenage girl panicking that Justin Bieber didn’t sign the pathetic photo mashup she made of the two of them hugging. Get a grip and find some perspective. It’s a game console.
Your irrational defense of the machine is what is wrong here, your the one going on about hyperventilating and your #1 star justin. Though I understand you dont have a single logical acceptable argumentative leg to stand on about why we should just roll over and accept our new overlords. So instead you talk garbage.
Thinking comes hard for you, doesn’t it. Who is ‘Justin’? As for arguments, I’ve said my bit elsewhere, and you’re clearly more interested in giving yourself a well deserved aneurism than engaging in rational conversation, so why would I waste my time? Go ahead and rage your little heart out. You’re the real life Francis, grats.
As someone who went into this event expecting to see the machine, controller and a name, I’m satisfied. It was made pretty clear that games were going to be an E3 focus.
And the whole US centric thing doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I wouldn’t use those features anyway, so whether I can access them is largely irrelevant to me.
I’m pretty much in this boat myself except for the annoyance that we’ll be paying for the us-centric features we won’t get.
Actually that’s probably over-optimistic, we’ll be paying MORE for the us-centric features we won’t get
Doesn’t matter. We’ll get Au-centric TV stuff later, just like we did with the 360.
This is … you’ll still be paying for those features you won’t be able to use.
That’s one of my concerns. Will the Xbox be cheaper here because it won’t have half the functionality? Hell no, it will be more expensive, and you’ll have to pay more for extra hardware if you want that functionality.
Also lets face it, the name is awful. Sack that whole marketing department imo. The design is subjective but personally I don’t like it at all. In a world where every console has been going “slim” for a few years now, it looks massive. I’m yet to figure out why it’s that big.
But the “TV” side of the box was a huge part of the console…. which wont work in Australia without us buying another device for the console we’re probably going to have to pay more than the US for anyway.
Not sure I’ll be jumping on this or the PS4 for that matter, I have plenty of games for both the 360 and PS3 that I don’t currently play in favour of a few PC titles. and the fact if I “upgrade” my collection will become essentially bookshelved by the looks of it is another reason to move into the world of upgrading PCs again (after not owning a “gaming desktop” in over 6 years)
It’s probably a valid point that at least a large amount of the negative people are probably found in the groups that are:
A) sony/nintendo fanboys/have an antiboner for microsoft,
B) had no intention on getting the One in the first place,
C) like to hate everything or
D) PC Masterrace who don’t like consoles
Of which I am probably all 4 in varying amounts.
But someone on facebook reckons, to quote, “During the reveal event you could hear heaps of people cheering, and press in the crowd were tweeting that it wasn’t any of them”.
I’m not sure what I mean to add with that quote, but it makes you wonder: what was there to look forward to? What is a console without (announced) games?
With E3 around the corner, it makes sense that they’d focus on the non-gaming side now then have a dedicated games launch in a few weeks rather than try and fit tech/games/everything in a small one hour slot.
This would be my guess too, get all the “not gaming” things out of the way when you have a mixed audience in attendance then leave the gaming specific stuff for E3 not long away. I don’t think a mass of gaming enthusiasts would be too pleased to pay money to attend a gaming expo, go to a press conference for the release of what they see as a gaming console (even if MS are trying to branch out and cover a few extra bases) and then all they hear is TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV.
At least I hope this is the case, lord forbid this really is all they have to show of their new console.
Im in none of those categories, i got my xbox and 360 before anything else in the last 2 generations and was intending to buy the “one”, yet m still negative about this online once a day and Microsoft regulating used games.
I’m going to say I can’t really neatly be categorised into any of those and I am underwhelmed. I own a PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 (purchased in that order). Traditionally, I am a PC gamer, but I appreciate and enjoy the experience that consoles have to offer. I don’t really like to hate things, and I was actually hoping Microsoft would exceed my expectations in response to the fantastic and unexpectedly exciting announcement of the PS4. I’m no fan boy, it’s just I can’t help but wonder where they’re going with a gaming console that is essentially a very highly spec’d DVR/set top box.
I think this breaks through the traditional lines of console vs console in previous generations. They were niggling issues about what exclusives you liked, what controller you prefered, DVD or BluRay. Now it’s a separation in design philosophy. PS4 has a strong focus on gaming community and game development. XBO is about accessibility and tapping the mainstream market, and has (so far) marginalised games. Maybe this is a good thing. Who knows?
Tapping the mainstream market… that seems about right. Maybe that’s a part of the whole 20% thing. Over on the ABC site, Alex Kidman mentions that Microsoft are going for the “complete living room experience”. Maybe a lot of people (at least, a lot of the 20%) don’t want the complete living room experience, they just want another console.
Watching Media Watch every week gives you a good indication of how much the mainstream media rely on media releases for their “news”.
That’s, kinda the mainstreams medias job. They’re pretty much told what to say, they have no idea what they’re talking about.
Even the SMH sounded completely off when talking about the popular games for the console. Apparently Halo is just set in the future but Gears of War is some alien shoot ’em up.
Most of those articles would have just re-hashed the press-release. That was certainly the case with the SMH article, and the comments there weren’t any better than on gaming blogs.
Don’t know. Don’t care. I let my family and friends borrow certain games when I’m not playing them and now I can’t do that. Meaning Xbox is out of my family, and as part of friends, many of my friends don’t sound too happy. I think its too early to judge, but I am definetly not impressed.
Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist
I prefer realism, myself. If you keep hoping for perfection, you’ll live your whole life in constant disappointment.
The writer of this article obviously missed the memo from Microsoft clearly stating that they would show the full lineup of games at E3.Major Nelson has been clear regarding used games on his blog.Stop trying to create more online drama regarding XboxOne and stick with the facts.
Clear how? Did he tell us what the “fee” for used games will be? Anything about licence transferral?Or just “your friend can play your game – if you’re there to sign in on your account”?
Maybe…just maybe…bear with me on this, folks, the Xbox One – actually, you may want to sit down – is actually unappealing.
Subjective. Unappealing to who? The gaming industry is massive today, the gamers that were here 10 years ago aren’t typical of the market any more. What we think doesn’t matter as much as it used to, and for some people that’s a hard fact to accept.
No shit it’s subjective. That’s the topic of the conversation: “people’s opinion of the Xbox 1 is not good, in general.”
I thought the topic was the one Mark asked: are we the 20%? You made an unqualified statement. I take it you mean it’s unappealing to you personally?
Because as a overarching group, nerds and geeks are vocal, especially in a written “no danger” online format.
The Xbox One (terrible name) as an overall device, sounds interesting and good, however it falls flat solely on the topics that we as early adopters, fans, or frequent users are worried about; internet connection (for DRM), backwards compatibility (I have a generation of other games I would like to play again), forced usage of kinect (it was fine without it/I don’t play any kinect games/what else would me Wii/WiiU be for?), entertainment integration (but then other people might get in the way of my gaming with all that sports watching!). We just want more Xbox gaming, but bigger, better and with all our fond memories not left behind.
For your average person, these are not concerns. Their mindset goes; what does this device do?
” *games, tv, movies, sport, skype, exercies/kinect games, internet* = Wow! That sounds great. ”
They are not concerned that their old device is now obsolete… it’s a format that Apple have been pushing for the longest time, don’t innovate and evolve, just replace. Old games are for the old system – new system = new games.
They don’t care if it has to be connected to the internet; it’s main abilities are focused on internet activities, so why would you buy one if you don’t internet? If it doesn’t work when offline, it’s like your lamp during a blackout; it’s just what happens. I imagine we are concerned about outages in online connectivity, or when you move house and all you have setup is a couch, a tv and your xbox… perfect single player time.
Or if you are one of those people who just doesn’t like being online… well… you are becoming a rarity and a bit of an antique.
Anyway, as always it really is more of a middle ground, the Xbox1 ain’t as bad as all the nerd-ragers think it is, and it ain’t as good as all the detached media tech heads make it out to be.
Is it just me, or does the controller seem like a throwback, or nod, to “the duke”from the original Xbox?
It does, and i for one will be buying one for my PC, to replace my Duke 😀
Yes.
The above is all anyone who has a vested interest in games heard.
The press have shown themselves good at reading press releases. Good job MSM.
I don’t think I’ve seen much commentary at all on Kotaku, Polygon, Escapist, etc, about the design of the thing. Image threads and articles have been shown, but I haven’t seen either bashing or praise. People seem indifferent about it.
Regarding mainstream media, I’d say they have very little reference. They don’t know what consoles can do today, so something shiny tomorrow looks just that: shiny. There’s no comparison to PS3 or even to PC. There’s no wondering about online-requirements. There’s no commentary about used game restrictions. They haven’t bothered to look and see if things are US-centric or not.
Basically, I argue that they’re not looking closely enough to pierce the shiny veil and see the evil lying underneath. I’d bet you $50 easy that the first week after launch will be a customer support nightmare, as people encounter the limits built into the system.
The thing is, these news outlets don’t have a ‘games’ guy, they have a ‘tech’ guy. All these people are viewing the new Xbox as a new tech toy that can do all these new tricks. We as gamers aren’t seeing it like that. We’re interested in the games and our gaming experience, and that’s why we’ve had a negative reaction, because there basically wasn’t any games. (I know they’re probably saving them for E3, I’m just stating fact).
Mainstream media always reports positively on these sorts of things. They don’t care whether it’s good or bad, all they care about is getting views and keeping on the good side of big corporations.
I can’t believe the amount of negative feed back about the Xbox one. Specs look good, the console is minimalistic in it appearance (subjectively) and the controller looks great. I personally have all consoles and a gaming pc so I believe I am rather objective and I think there is potential for both the PS4 and the Xbox one to be great consoles.
I got sick of all the negativity on Twitter during the livestream and just turned it off.
All this negative talk about the TV stuff and ‘no games’. Xbox One reactions: why companies shouldn’t innovate. Why on earth is putting all this stuff in to the one box a bad thing?
And it’s funny because in a year’s time the Xbox One will have more games than the Wii U currently has anyway.
The internet stuff isn’t the best though, although I’d say workable for the majority of people.
And its even funnier that in one year the PS4 will have more games, better exclusives, better running multiplats, and not nearly as many restrictions as the X-One will at launch.
And yet, no one seems to bitch and moan like they do about apple when they hold a event for the new iPhone, and show off that it can still just play angry birds…
Do we as gamers feel irrelevant and sidelined because something that was made for us originally has evolved into something not solely focused on us anymore. It’s become something that embraces a much larger audience and thus marginalizes us, the core audience that gave it life in the first place. Of course we feel upset at what our games machine has become. We feel betrayed.
It’s not that ‘gamers’ got sidelined, it’s that the kind of ‘gamer’ that dominated the market 10 years ago is no longer the typical gamer. Doesn’t mean the console doesn’t still cater to gamers, and it doesn’t mean it’s not catering to a core demographic. It just means the typical gamer has shifted and we’re not it any more. It’s not betrayal, it’s reality.
But Microsoft glossed over the bad parts like a required connection and no used games in their presentation. Those facts had to be beaten out of them by various sites. Did mainstream media look that deep?
I don’t think it’s something that Microsoft will advertise beyond some fine print on the back of the box so you can bet there will be a lot of disappointment when someone who doesn’t read gaming sites buys the latest CoD or Need for Speed then realises they need to have their console online, can’t lend the game to a friend or trade it in.
But what makes their coverage significant? The first quote from Fox News mentions Windows 8, but what was Fox News’ reaction to Windows 8? Did they form that opinion after it was almost universally decided that Windows 8 was awful or before? What did they say about the PS3 in the leadup to it’s incredibly rocky launch? What was their reaction to the original XBOX?
I think the simple fact is that most of those groups are covering it for the sake of covering it. They’ll repeat what was presented with a smile and not really delve any deeper because they know their audience just isn’t that interested in hearing about speculation on the long term ramifications of today’s announcements.
Opinions aren’t without their bias, but reporting at face value isn’t very useful either.
The question is will Microsoft be able to make it look like the shallow, mostly positive but ultimately pointless response is the correct response. I’m guessing they’ll come close to pulling it off. For the past year or two the internet has fallen in love with accusing everyone of being self-entitled because it makes their lack of interest towards a subject seem heroic. All it’s going to take is for the idea to take off that you can call anyone who is against always-on entitled and I think that will be enough to shame one side of the argument into the shadows (even though yes, I’m totally entitled to a proper justification for the always-on requirement).
We’ve seen it a lot with recent disasters like Sim City but I think Microsoft are really going to try and fan the flames for the XBOX One.
Probably the same way that they had to use fake crowd cheers/applauds during the conference. It’s all a sham.
It’s cos us 20% are fighting against the 21st-century. You know, the one where everyone gets told what’s what by those in power and resisting makes you an outcast and crazy.
Remember the mainstream media’s reaction to the PS4? Overwhelmingly negative, while the industry and consumer reaction was mostly positive. What is happening?
This is the same Fox News that is running stories every other week that gaming is the devil, so how far can you trust them?
Part of it is Microsoft’s marketing department ensuring every mainstream outlet has a media release about the launch. They invite a lot of outlets that know little about the industry and either rarely or never review games. The outlets which say GTA and COD are the source of all violence will always be amazed, especially those who will never own one.
“The console itself is more angular and practical looking than either of its two predecessors. Flat and rectangular like a cable box, you could almost call the design reserved. But it is by no means unattractive, and will probably sit tucked away in a cabinet anyways.”
-CNN
What on earth? It’s like they were desparately trying to find something positive to say about the appearance but still failed miserably.
It’s like, “Hey this console looks good, but it really doesn’t, but it actually does, who are we kidding, it doesn’t even matter! Right? Riiiiigggghhhhhtttt?”
I don’t expect main stream media to know what they’re talking about when it comes to consoles or gaming in general, hence why I’m not surprised many main stream news sites are being positive about the Xbox One. They wouldn’t understand about the internet connectivity, or care about the lack of backwards compatibility, or not being able to lend/borrow games or buy secondhand ones, or any other problems that may turn the rest of us off buying it. They’re just seeing the potential, the next big thing, whereas we all know enough about this sort of thing to know how annoying it’s going to be, or how it won’t work as well outside of the US, etc. Are we being cynical? Maybe just a little. But we also know more about gaming and tech than the average person, so we’re able to have a more informed opinion on this.
I still don’t know why the TV thing was such a huge feature… I already have a TV, that’s what I’m playing it on. Oh, but that’s right, I can VOICE COMMAND it to change to TV now. That’s going to excellent for me as I live next to a very busy, very noisy road. So I’ll have to shout the command a few times for it to register what I was saying properly.
Much easier than simply hitting one button on my remote….
BUT HEY! NOW YOU DON’T HAVE TO SPEND A LONG TIME LOOKING FOR YOUR REMOTE!
The remote is always near me… that’s how I change the volume on my telly, and more importantly, turn it on….
I guess as part of the gaming news press specifically, you guys are built to look for what is wrong with the gaming news in question and give critique. The mainstream press is arguably less focused on that and more about the wow factor. You guys will pick at the smaller details, like many of the gaming community will do. Average joe whose gaming experience is just something that happens as a very small side may not care for the nitty gritty. It’s probably why the gaming press and the gaming community are so put off by the reveal. We knew what the problems were and we knew that this reveal did almost nothing to address those concerns and instead focused on things that we mostly weren’t curious about. We were also curious about the library of games, controller, hardware – everything basically. The mainstream media did not take these into account and focused purely on what they saw on the day and maybe the very surface characteristics of the hardware (the kinect for example but not that the thing needed to be on all the time)
I don’t recall any articles written by say, the SMH about the concerns about always online and the like. It’s because frankly, the general public who plays games every now and again probably don’t give that sort of news much of a thought. So the level of detail the mainstream media analyses this sort of gaming news at is purely at the surface. It’s like movie critique – actual critics will pick a movie apart but for the rest of us, that sort of critique isn’t in our mindset. If you don’t read too far into it, you’re much more likely to like whatever the heck you are reviewing unless it is utter rubbish.
So to summarise the MSM…
A square box (CNN) exists (Register), that is better than Windows 8 (Fox), plays Halo and other games (SMH, The Sun), can switch between uses (News.com.au) and is ‘sexy'(MSNBC).
Pretty sure the opinions of those on forums trump the opinion of one journalist from a newspaper.
As a media centre, it is really impressive. There is some seriously cool integration happening there. The voice and gesture commands, the snappy responsiveness, the way it multi-tasks and switches from one big, heavy application to another… just awesome.
Thing is, we are the segment of the market who wants a gaming console. If we get a cool media centre to boot, then bonus. We want games and gaming. We want our games and gaming with more convenience and less restriction and if possible, at a lower price. We did not get that. We got almost no gaming, some very generic gaming when we did get it and a lot of bad new about restrictions on how, when, and where we can play. These media outlets are positive because for the majority of people, it looks like an awesome media centre that does everything you could ask… it even plays cool games.
You mean like mobile phones have been doing for years? Or how TV’s have been doing for years?
Shite like that has no place in a games console, its just a gimmick. It basically means 100% of your gaming must be done in a well lit, quiet room.
Problem is, it doesn’t do those things right out of the box. Word is that you will need to purchase a separate receiver to use the TV features, AND the tv features won’t even be available in Australia at launch, they haven’t even promised it ever will.
I am glad we have Sony and Nintendo around to do things differently, because if MS was setting the trend in this industry, I would have quit it a long time ago.
No idea why it sounds like you are getting angry at me for defending it. I’m not planning on buying one solely due to that presentation.
It does do those things. you just watched the guy use the machine to do it. It does all that cool stuff in an integrated setting the way no phone or other device can do right now. Like it or not, games consoles haven’t been solely game consoles for a long time. Do you remember the last one? It was the Gamecube. Even then, the competition was all about multimedia as far back as the Saturn and PlayStation. So the last time the industry was just for games was pre-CD gaming. Mega Drive and SNES. There is definitely a place for this kind of thing in the console market and I can almost guarantee that you have bought into it.
That said, it isn’t going to work just like that out of the US. It does raise concerns about an always on camera and microphone sitting in your house with direct internet access and near limitless access by a major corporation. It does mean that there are all kinds of new restrictions on gaming. This is a fantastic piece of tech for people who want integrated home media. This is not a fantastic games console.
Well said.
Not great for gamers but probably great for your average American consumer. And that’s where the money’s at now.
As much as I dislike the One so far and wont be buying one, I suspect it will do extremely well: it appeals to the general masses and corners the EA sports market, which is also a very large user base.
The presentation was a bit disappointing but then I wasn’t really expecting much given that they basically said they weren’t showing much in the way of games till e3. If we see some live gameplay there it’ll be a lot better.
The multitasking looks like it is done pretty well, exciting for a console I suppose but then I’m a bit spoiled by being able to alt+tab out to the desktop… The new Kinect looked fairly impressive, with it being a compulsory part of the system, it might even lead developers to make things that don’t suck for it.
One thing I’m really happy about was the lack of mention of multiple SKUs, everyone has the exact same hardware now, that’ll have to please developers.
Generally speaking the whole affair was a bit meh, the new machine looks pretty good specs wise & dull visually, the new controller looks pretty nice and the services look kinda shite (particularly with their lack of availability to anyone not in america). Ultimately its not worth forming an opinion of any substance until there’s actual information rather than pre-rendered footage & buzzwords
Unfortunately, pretty good ‘spec wise’ mustn’t mean very much to you then. Neither the X-One or the PS4 are spec monsters, but the PS4 beats the crap out of the X-One.
Pretty good in this case means that there doesn’t seem to be anything freakishly small like the ram in the 360. Nothing there that screams out “devs are going to have to work around that weird limitation”
After all, if it comes down to a specs battle, the PC is always going to win…
Specs needed for a high end PC and specs needed for equivalent performance on a dedicated console are very different. The PC has to account for so many non-optimal configurations and running environments, while dealing with a lot of CPU and RAM overhed coming from other multitasked programs.
This and the PS4 have very smart specs for now. They have more power than devs will want or need now, there’ll be a year or two before the specs get maxed and then another few years of optimising the use of those specs. By that time it’ll be time for a new generation. Say 6-8 years.
Comparing it to PC specs is apples to sponge cake.
The only people who are happy with this console so far, are the Xbots, or people who have no idea what they are talking about, ie the mainstream media.
This console has been a total load of crap, the specs are below the PS4, the focus on TV is completely irrelevant in a vast majority of countries, it won’t even be available in Australia at launch. Unless they show off some cool features that enhance the gaming aspect of the console, then it is basically a crap upgrade for the 360. The only good thing I got out of this was the improved controller (which was just a slight refinement of the previous one, as opposed to Sony’s complete redesign) and improved Kinect, which not everyone cares about.
I am not really comfortable having a video camera constantly hooked up to a console that requires an internet connection on a daily basis.
The people who DO know what they are talking about, and are capable of speaking of such matters objectively will agree with this assessment.
Sony did a complete redsign? When? Looks to me like the PS1 controller with a bunch of iterative improvements to me.
Sorry for replying thoughtfully to your other comments. After that, the Xbot remark, and the fact that you consider your opinion to be objectively correct, it looks like you are a console warrior. Enjoy your PS4. Stop yelling loudly about how you will not enjoy the Xbox One.
Fight the good fight, buddy.
I would like to add How do we even know that it was a “working Console anyway it could of been just a shell and everything done a Dev kit like sony did??!!!
Gamers expected a focus on gaming.. not a multimedia entertainment center approach. That the bad rumors were mostly true is another kick in the pants: the Orwellian mandatory Kinect surveillance, mandatory online every 24hrs, no used games without a fee, Slower DDR3 Ram… this is not how you compete with PS4.. this is how you set yourself on fire and jump off a cliff.
Tech nerds are a bunch of whinging whining pessimists who claim to want the future but are averse to change.
I reckon the new Xbox looks freaking awesome, and think anyone who’s whining about a lack of games announced in a 1 hour announcement a couple of weeks before E3 is an idiot.
CNN:- “you could almost call the design reserved. But it is by no means unattractive, and will probably sit tucked away in a cabinet anyways.”
Almost say the design is reserved? It is reserved. It is quite boring. Very boring.
Sure, not unattractive, just dull.
Will it probably sit tucked away in a cabinet anyways? My PS3 stands upright along side my 42″ Plasma which takes up the vast majority of the available space on my already oversized bureau. I don’t have space for a horizontally positioned console. I’m not buying a new TV cabinet, or a small TV in order to accommodate one.
The Register:- “Microsoft scored an instant win over rival Sony by actually having a working console to show off.”
Win? Really, a win? Having a working console to show off is certainly a good thing, but not enough to win anything. Certainly that in itself is not enough to win me as a customer.
SMH:- Doesn’t say much of anything
News.com.au:- “allowing you to switch from watching TV to playing games”
I can do this on my PS3 and TV. I press Menu on my TV remote, scroll down to HDMI 1, press select. Takes 3.5 seconds.
If I want voice activation, I just ask my wife to do it.
Personally I’m surprised by the lack-lustreness of the Xbox One. I’m not that surprised, I just think that it’s going to take a heck of a lot to impress the audience given that we now all have highly advanced tech in PS3s/360s, have been well schooled in touch based gestures and motion control, etc.
For me, both the Xbox and PS4 are in the same box of turds in that what exactly are they giving us that screams ‘next gen!’
Slightly shinier graphics that prob still doesn’t beat high end gaming rigs?
We get the next version of every single game already in existence with the same gameplay…???
What makes these next gen rather than current gen.1 ??? Oh apart from some Facebook sharing crap…disenchanted big time.
The world has gone crazy 😀
Think of it this way, as long as the other media stuff that is crammed into doesn’t get in the way of your gaming, then it should be fine.
I think the use of the argument that “Gamers’ opinions regarding a gaming console is not relevant” really says it all about the Xbox One…
True – it has not been designed for us; it has been designed for the other 80% of the consumer market who have jumped on board consoles during the last generation.
Which is sad, but perhaps inevitable and probably smart from a business perspective.
“It’s good for business” is one of the biggest thought-terminating clichés out there.
Who used that argument?
Jo did, above: “…smart from a business perspective.”
I’m confused. Jo said ‘smart from a business perspective’ after you made your post about the argument above. Who made the argument “Gamers’ opinions regarding a gaming console is not relevant”?
merely a case of them not knowing anything about consoles. the same reason there’s little mainstream news about the NBN, they simply don’t understand it. To the average person it probably looks impressive, but they’re not the pre-orderers. If the gamers aren’t happy then initial sales will be disappointing. It all depends on E3 and whether or not Microsoft will realise that people will buy one of these first and foremost as a games console, not as a fancy new way(not really new when you think about it, it just brings together existing tech a bit like an iPhone, nothing innovative just convenience in a box) to watch tv
Personally theres some xbox one deal breakers for me currently, but by no means does it seem like a bad console. My main concern is if retailers can’t sell the used games then won’t they all go out of business? Or at least not stock this console? Correct me if i’m misunderstanding the used games thing.
“But the news that really got gamers salivating was the exclusive gaming deals they announced.”
Premium reporting there for “The Sun”. They clearly understand us gamers.
If Microsoft ignore gamer’s at e3, THEN I feel that ‘gamer’s’ can feel like the 20 per cent.
Until then, it makes sense that this reveal was all about what is possible. The games, rightfully, should be left to a bigger event such as e3.
Money money money moooney! MONEY!
Lolz. Fox News got quoted.
Nothing about the reveal was that great.
We allready have TV’s and sony allready moved onto the TV idea with PlayTV for ps3
Halo is crap. I can understand why xbox fans like it, its the closest thing to a good game on xbox. Xbox are gonna struggle with E3 since Sony has a huge amount of support and praise from alot of developers and they also have some of the most talented Game Developers working for them and a Large amounts of IP’s.
People dont care if they get DLC a month earlier or miss out on it.
People care about the games quality and Sony fans dont have to worry.
PS4 is supposed to have a large amount of Launch Titles, aswell as Exclusive Content deal with Bungie for Destiny and future Bungie Games.
Anyone who thinks the Reveal was good are idiots.
PS4’s reveal was spectacular, yh we didnt see the console, but that means nothing. We got a glimpse of the games and features and realised, we got something better, Massive Support and favouritism from developers over the Xbox One.
What people say about the xbox is irrelevant, Sony fans know we have the better console and know Sony are hiding some massive announcement about the PS4.
And do any of you remember that game Agent that Rockstar are making, well thats Exclusive for a Sony platform. So while Xbox fans get another Halo and DLC a month early, we have Rockstar making a game for Sony, so try and beat that.
Lolz news.com.au calls “Watch Tv” command advanced voice control. just get a phone and give it some voice command you’ll be surprised by the level of advancement in the field. For cry out loud who lets an idiot write their news?!? Please forgive our shameful AU citizen not all of us (Australians) are DUMB like the news reporter on news.com.au
I work for Channel 9 news, and the only reason we ran anything on it, was because my early morning co worker was watching a live stream of it, and a producer wondered what all the hubbub was about. ahaha
Based on what I’ve read I’d say the response has been subdued but positive.
I’ve been involved in an Anime convention for a couple of years now, and one year we hired a guy to help us develop our image and branding. Now there was one critical thing he told us which applies to the Xbox One. Core brand. You never EVER shift the focus away from your core brand. You can add stuff like tv features etc. But the core brand HAS to be the main focus. Microsoft should have had a 3 minute mention of the fantasy league and tv stuff, and the rest of the presentation should have been GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES. They have shown that they are moving away from their core brand of Xbox is for gaming, and diluted it with Xbox is for TV. They need to correct that really quickly before it starts to destroy their brand.
This is exactly what Sony did at the beginning of the PS3 lifecycle. Throwing it around as a set top box and a blu-ray player, but not doing much when it came to games. Sales were lacklustre. About 12-18 months in, they got their shit together and started showing people that it is in fact a gaming console and aggressively trying to get it into people’s living rooms.
Sales went up spectacularly.
Are these the same media outlets that claimed Vista and Windows 8 were great when they were released… you know the ones that may as well just call themselves Microsoft PR?
Why do some people have an obsession with telling anyone who degrees with THEIR opinion that they must be ignorant or a fanboy? Disliking it due to mandatory internet connectivity purely a method of DRM, mandatory Kinect DRM and obsurd restrictions on used games, are all perfectly rational & intelligent reasons.
The potential for all of this DRM to set a dangerous precedent for future devices, is also a perfectly valid reason. Even if we are in the minority, it only further displays what’s wrong with the industry and the mainstream who can’t even be bothered attempting to understand why they should care about why this kind of arbitrary and invasive DRM is a very real problem.
Maybe the 20% are the only ones smart enough to question and avoid the console, like the cancer that it is? It seems those who refuse to see it as an issue are the blind fanboys? I have a 360, PS3 & Wii, so its not like I’m a fanboy. I have also read much info regarding the the XB1, so I’m definitely not ignorant. I just simply despise such invasive DRM, therefore I would never even consider purchasing the console now.
Simple really,
I liked how you wondered why people insist anyone who disagrees is a fanboy, then you go on to call people who disagree with you fanboys. Good job.