The Big Bad Console Thread - Sway your Station with an Xboner !

Vaclav_sl said:

They said negative to it before that the only special protections were online passes and the like that the hardware didn't get directly involved with. And have had a recent statement since the X-1 release reaffirming.

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Fadaar_sl said:

Oh and Netflix, I rather like using my 360 for it.

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Soriak_sl said:

Even without that, though, could servers really handle the kind of processing that cannot be done on a system with the power of the PS4 -- for millions of players simultaneously? I doubt it. I don't want to be stuck in a queue for a single player game.

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Remember when Microsoft used to make games for PC? With their Xbox business thriving, the company has long shifted focus away from PC gamers. That attitude will continue in the Xbox One generation, it appears.

At its Xbox One reveal event, the company announced 15 exclusives coming to the console in its first year. When asked if PC gamers could possibly get access to some of that content, Matt Booty, general manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms told us that "the Windows 8 gamer is certainly going to participate in some of that content," but not in the way you might expect or want.


Speaking on Microsoft's strategy on Windows 8 gaming, Booty said that "we have got everything from very, very casual games, like our very much improved and reimagined Solitaire, all the way to graphically complicated games like The Harvest."

But I interrupted him, pointing out that people could argue that The Harvest is not AAA-tier like Gears of War. I asked if he felt that, from a first-party perspective, Microsoft's focus on Windows 8 is on the lower-end.

"We're talking about console games, but there could be some franchises that also end up with a PC game," Booty responded. "When I think about more connected experiences across those platforms, it's things that show up within that family of devices where we've got Xbox Live, like Windows Phone and Windows 8," and "not what you might consider a more traditional desktop PC game."

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"One example of that might be lighting," he continued. "Let's say you're looking at a forest scene and you need to calculate the light coming through the trees, or you're going through a battlefield and have very dense volumetric fog that's hugging the terrain. Those things often involve some complicated up-front calculations when you enter that world, but they don't necessarily have to be updated every frame. Those are perfect candidates for the console to offload that to the cloud-the cloud can do the heavy lifting, because you've got the ability to throw multiple devices at the problem in the cloud."

Booty added that things like physics modeling, fluid dynamics, and cloth motion were all prime examples of effects that require a lot of up-front computation that could be handled in the cloud without adding any lag to the actual gameplay. And the server resources Microsoft is putting toward these calculations will be much greater than a local Xbox One could handle on its own. "A rule of thumb we like to use is that [for] every Xbox One available in your living room we'll have three of those devices in the cloud available," he said.

While cloud computation data doesn't have to be updated and synced with every frame of game data, developers are still going to have to manage the timing and flow of this cloud computing to avoid noticeable changes in graphic quality, Booty said. "Without getting too into the weeds, think about a lighting technique like ambient occlusion that gives you all the cracks and crevices and shadows that happen not just from direct light. There are a number of calculations that have to be done up front, and as the camera moves the effect will change. So when you walk into a room, it might be that for the first second or two the fidelity of the lighting is done by the console, but then, as the cloud catches up with that, the data comes back down to the console and you have incredibly realistic lighting."

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Fuya_sl said:

It's a toss up on if Sony allows used game. I actually expect Sony to allow used games so that feature can be used as a marketing tool when going against the Xbox come years end. Most people that purchase consoles in the first few months tend to be core gamers and that prospect of being able to resell their game is a huge deciding factor. Sony will probably also take that feature away after some time just like they did with the Linux install on the PS3... along with a few other features.

What Sony has to decide is how long to wait before taking that feature away. Do it too soon and the players will feel betrayed. Wait too long and then Xbox could be known as the system with the lower prices and extra content leaving them playing catch up on a shrinking clientele. Sony could make the online deal so good that you would have to be desperate to buy the disc version. Make purchasing online be the normal.

Locking games, movies, tv shows, and songs to an account means you lock your customer to your ecosystem. It is the bread and butter of the Apple fortune. There is far less incentive to move to another ecosystem when you already have invested so much in the one you are in now. Playing catch up is the last thing either of these companies need to do. I can't help but feel like Microsoft knows this all too well and it wont be until E3 when I can reaffirm my suspicions. Pricing is what to keep an eye out for. That is the key to what each company has planned.

The people that are keeping their opinions open until E3 are the smart ones. Nothing I say are anyone else says makes a damn until the final word comes out at E3. Once E3 is over I can give my opinion on which console I feel is going to dominate this generation.

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Foggy_sl said:

Also, with MS killing off arcade

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A gamer walks into a retailer and hands over the game they wish to sell. This will only be possible at retailers who have agreed to Microsoft's T&Cs and more importantly integrated Microsoft's cloud-based Azure pre-owned system into its own.

The game is then registered as having been traded-in on Microsoft's system. The consumer who handed it over will subsequently see the game wiped from their account - hence the until now ambiguous claim from Phil Harrison that the Xbox One would have to 'check in' to Microsoft's servers every 24 hours.

The retailer can then sell the pre-owned game at whatever price they like, although as part of the system the publisher of the title in question will automatically receive a percentage cut of the sale. As will Microsoft. The retailer will pocket the rest.

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Skanda_sl said:

And in 5 years, when they remove your game from the cloud to make room for the new shiny, you and your old ass game can fuck right off.

No thanks.

Edit: in reference to Cor's post and xbox cloud.

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Forbin_sl said:

Found some new info on the Xbone's used game sales system

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/publi...retail/0116137

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Cor_sl said:

So eBay, Amazon, private forums, trading, etc. wouldn't be allowed? Yeah, fuck that.

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