Frenetic Pony

Nextbox 1080: The Reckoning

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To be fair, 5GB of dedicated game RAM is still quite a bit compared to either previous AITCH DEE consoles.

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http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/21/the-tech-spec-test-xbox-one-vs-playstation-4.aspx

 

I didn't see this on any of the other spec comparisons but according to GI only 5GB of RAM will be available for games. That seems like a lot of memory required for all of the other processes.

 

"Xbox One: 5/8ths games, 3/8ths other shit"

Man that's a lot to dedicate to an OS. It's probably the Kinect 2.0.

 

I wonder what the RAM division is for the PS4, for comparison's sake. Even if they have 2GB for the OS they have a pretty big edge over MS in that regard.

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To be fair, 5GB of dedicated game RAM is still quite a bit compared to either previous AITCH DEE consoles.

 

Probably won't make a difference for awhile but later in the generation I bet this will start to matter assuming Sony is allocating a larger portion to games than MS. RAM is definitely a big limiting factor for 360 and PS3 right now but they both have the same so there isn't a big difference between the two.

 

I'm also curious about the difference in RAM speeds between PS4 and Xdog. If Xdog is something lower than GDDR5 I wonder how much of an impact that would have. I honestly don't know enough about how different tiers of RAM speeds affect gaming performance.

 

Edit: Oops, I'm a tard. Xdog has DDR3. So then I'm curious at the performance differences between DDR3 and GDDR5.

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From the looks of it, the technical details of both systems are very comparable, so what you're going to be buying is a platform.  And so far, my impressions between the two announcements couldn't be anymore polar.

 

One is a social gaming machine, the other is the TV and AAA game machine. It's kind of cool they are approaching their systems a lot differently and maybe the result will be less of this competition none sense. If you want to play some games and have a dvr, buy an xbox. If you want to play all sorts of games and interact with your friends, get a ps3. 

 

I get that both of them will have features of the others, but the approach to how they are selling it couldn't be more clear, so far.

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That side by side has Xbone at DDR5 (5GB for gaming), PS4 at GDDR5 (8GB total).

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That side by side has Xbone at DDR5 (5GB for gaming), PS4 at GDDR5 (8GB total).

 

I edited my post, it is actually DDR3 apparently. The "DDR3 (5GB available to games)" created an optical illusion for me and my brain ignored the 3.

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The article definitely said DDR5 earlier! I'm so confused.

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Ben Kuchera caught the douchebag bug. Aside from writing an article on the PA Report glamorizing / excusing the XBone, he made some really bad choice tweets.

 

Seriously, if things are tight and you can't afford Internet but want to game, you have tons of great choices. Just not the Xbox One.

 

Low income gamers have it better than they ever have, and Internet infrastructure will only improve. This shouldn't be controversial.

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I was really surprised by this stance based on what I read before. While saying things would change he seemed to be wary, while this seems like he's all for it.

Ben Kuchera caught the douchebag bug. Aside from writing an article on the PA Report glamorizing / excusing the XBone, he made some really bad choice tweets.

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Here's my argument against always on:

 

If Black and Decker released a sweet toaster that was able to connect to the internet and gather all kinds of data to make the perfect toast every time, that would be sweet and I would buy one. However, if later on they decided to make all of their toasters online only to "ensure that people are getting the best possible toast experience" I would be all like "What the fuck? People have been making toast for a pretty fucking long time and I'm pretty sure they can get a good toast experience without the internet." I would then go buy a better toaster that a competitor made that allows both online and off because maybe there will be times when that internet connectivity is an inconvenience or an impossibility.

 

Man, I want some fucking toast right now.

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I know I'm 11 pages into this thread, but I'm just going to pontificate a little on my impressions of the reveal announcement. Forgive me, but I've been thinking about this way too much and have only spent Twitter time spouting out stupid 140 character quips to feel clever.

 

I get it. There were only a few games and you feel betrayed. You insist you're not going to buy the Xbox One until Microsoft makes it up to you. I'm so goddamn tired of hearing this sentiment. Microsoft is a business - they're not betraying you, they're only looking after their own interests. I feel like companies like Microsoft have these events for the mass-media and that's why this conference didn't have games. You'll get the games. Just hold on for a little while. You waited years for Grand Theft Auto IV, or Halo 3, or whatever other thing you waited for and really wanted. No need to get upset about it.

 

I think about it like this - Microsoft wants to sell as many Xbox Ones as possible. This first reveal is their first opportunity to sell people on the One, so they have the make their pitch to the widest audience possible - anyone who plays games (a given) and anyone who watches TV as part of their entertainment center experience (a much bigger slice than gamers exclusively). They can fail with gamers at this venue because when it comes down to it, every single game is another chance to sell someone on a console.

 

This is obvious from the mentality I hear every time a new console generation rolls around. "I'm just waiting for X or Y to buy the Nintendo [Whatever]!", whether that's a Halo game, a Zelda game, or a Gran Turismo game. All it takes is that tipping point for that console to sell, because essentially all gamers want to have every box so they'll have every opportunity to play what might be the best game around. It's just a matter of time.

 

For the bigger, TV/media-driven crowd, there are only so many opportunities. What kind of traction does Microsoft get when they slap a sticker on the Xbox 360 that says "yo, we have Netflix now!"? Practically nothing. So if they want to cash in on the media potential of this new Xbox One, they have to bring it hard and fast. Take the hype for a new shiny black box and convert that to juice for potential hype in media. That hunger for games isn't going to go away, but people's willingness to hook up another device that capitalizes another HDMI port on their TV receiver is a different animal entirely.

 

Of course, this doesn't sell you or me on the console, but we're going to get it. All it'll take is one day where I feel like I don't have enough new technology in my life (shit, I just bought a new cell phone the other day because I got bored with my current one) and I'll get it. Or one day where I feel like I failed as a gamer for not playing a particular game (hello, Wii purchase at End of Life). The Xbox One (and PS4 and Wii U, for that matter) are built for games. They just do this other stuff that's also marketable. Deal with it.

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Ben Kuchera caught the douchebag bug. Aside from writing an article on the PA Report glamorizing / excusing the XBone, he made some really bad choice tweets.

 

Yikes, those comments are really unfortunate. I think a convincing argument can be made for how gaming has become worse for low-income players, at least in the AAA-sphere.

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I'm sure that if this internet-check turns out to be faulty, or ruins the experience enough that it impacts sales, they'll course-correct. I can understand both sides of the company and the consumers being annoyed, cos the choice is either keep used games and piracy right where they are, or knee-cap a few million edge-cases.

It's a bit of a catch-22.

 

Yikes, those comments are really unfortunate. I think a convincing argument can be made for how gaming has become worse for low-income players, at least in the AAA-sphere.

Free-to-play, iOS games, XBLA and PSN PlayStation Plus, Steam sales... I could plot out a pretty full year of games on £20 a month. I think skipping Far Cry 3 and playing Walking Dead instead still totally counts.

 

Or is this a mirrors edge reboot with a male lead... Can you fucking imagine :)

That would be perfect!!!

 

Oh also JonCole I don't really get much of a vibe from this thread of people being perplexed that there were no games. Closest thing is me saying "Why don't they split the Kinect off and sell that as a Windows TV?"

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I'm sure that if this internet-check turns out to be faulty, or ruins the experience enough that it impacts sales, they'll course-correct. I can understand both sides of the company and the consumers being annoyed, cos the choice is either keep used games and piracy right where they are, or knee-cap a few million edge-cases.

It's a bit of a catch-22.

 

Free-to-play, iOS games, XBLA and PSN PlayStation Plus, Steam sales... I could plot out a pretty full year of games on £20 a month. I think skipping Far Cry 3 and playing Walking Dead instead still totally counts.

 

That would be perfect!!!

 

Oh also JonCole I don't really get much of a vibe from this thread of people being perplexed that there were no games. Closest thing is me saying "Why don't they split the Kinect off and sell that as a Windows TV?"

 

Yeah, as I'm reading through it all I'm seeing that the sentiment from Twitter and the like isn't crossing over so much here. I'm just getting a little tired of "there's no games". The internet connection stuff and used games arguments against the box seem a lot more relevant, though I feel like a lot of this "controversy" is mostly attributed to the fact that Microsoft hasn't been very specific about things. If anything, I'm dissatisfied with the fact that different Microsoft reps are saying totally different things about these features that aren't insignificant.

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My comments on some of the stuff in the thread, followed by my general opinon about the whole thing.

 

Guess that also partially answers the "always on" question. My initial reaction is goodbye Xbox, hello Sony. But I've really been meaning to transition to PC gaming anyways and now that the slate is clean and I'm not already invested in a console this might be a good time to do so.

 

I just want to play games. Is that too much to ask?

 

While I don't disagree with your initial reaction (I've been an MS type for a long time, but that Sony press conference was pretty awesome) I just wanted to point out that Sony might very well have the same system. They pretty much sides-tepped the question entirely. Microsoft had so many rumors out about this that they had to say something, but Sony has been able to keep their mouth shut. I wouldn't be surprised if both systems are fairly close to parity on these anti-piracy features.

 

I don't agree that XBox One is a product. It sounds more like a service.

 

To be fair, the services (XBL) are what really set Microsoft apart at the start of this cycle. I got the X360 because the online features for the PS3 at the time were pretty crap. If anything, I'm dissapointed they didn't talk more about those sorts of social features than they did. I'd really like to get a good idea of what the next gen XBL will be like. One of the guys on the Rooster Teeth podcast said it best "I view XBL as the service, the Xbox is just the device I use to get that service.

 

Probably won't make a difference for awhile but later in the generation I bet this will start to matter assuming Sony is allocating a larger portion to games than MS. RAM is definitely a big limiting factor for 360 and PS3 right now but they both have the same so there isn't a big difference between the two.

 

I'm also curious about the difference in RAM speeds between PS4 and Xdog. If Xdog is something lower than GDDR5 I wonder how much of an impact that would have. I honestly don't know enough about how different tiers of RAM speeds affect gaming performance.

 

Edit: Oops, I'm a tard. Xdog has DDR3. So then I'm curious at the performance differences between DDR3 and GDDR5.

 

I'm really excited to see how much of a performance boost having the GDDR5 memory with direct addressing for both the CPU and GPU will give. That's the dual addressing thing is the one thing that high level GPUs can't do right now (the new Intel chips are sharing memory like that, but as far as a high power nvidia card, they're still using dedicated memory on the card.)

 

Yikes, those comments are really unfortunate. I think a convincing argument can be made for how gaming has become worse for low-income players, at least in the AAA-sphere.

 

I don't follow PA Report at all, but everytime I hear someone talking about him, it's because he's being a douche. I'm not really sure why anyone pays attention anymore.

 

I'm sure that if this internet-check turns out to be faulty, or ruins the experience enough that it impacts sales, they'll course-correct. I can understand both sides of the company and the consumers being annoyed, cos the choice is either keep used games and piracy right where they are, or knee-cap a few million edge-cases.

It's a bit of a catch-22.

 

Free-to-play, iOS games, XBLA and PSN PlayStation Plus, Steam sales... I could plot out a pretty full year of games on £20 a month. I think skipping Far Cry 3 and playing Walking Dead instead still totally counts.

 

That would be perfect!!!

 

I have no problem with these security features as long as pricing is in parity with PC releases. In other words, PC and Xbox games should release for the same price and if I am unable to buy a used copy of a game 4 years later, it damn well better have price dropped to $10 or less.


 

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I decided to move my general feelings to a new post since that one was getting so long.

 

I'm OK with more security on the games. I don't generally sell that many used games anyway, and I try to buy new because I want to support the developers. What I don't want is to still be paying $40 for ME1 or COD4 years later (example numbers, may not be real.) I would welcome our new DRM overlords if they can keep prices reasonable and provide some way for my Wife and I to both play the same game without having to buy two copies. The current licensing system for XBLA content is perfect.

 

The kinda sorta always online thing doesn't effect me much, but I can see the problems that others will be having. I'd perfer to see it license once a week rather than once a day. That will allow folks to take an Xbox on vacation or whatever without swetting it. As long as the verification packets or small, you could even do it over a cell hotspot if necessary.

 

Liking the service portfolio they're putting out there, but didn't like how they barely touched on the social aspects of the whole thing. I want to see party systems, watching Netflix together, group chats, an actual finalized plan for recording and uploading video. They didn't talk about how any of the strengths of the X360 are following onto the X1, which worries me.

 

Finally, they're banking an awful lot on the new Kinect without showing much. Press folks are getting to stand in front of one, but not really playing any games and not in a real person's living room with real lighting and furniture arangement. If it lives up to promises, this might be a system seller for me though. If it works right every single time, not 90% of time, 100% of the time, then it could be really cool.

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"I'm just waiting for X or Y to buy the Nintendo [Whatever]!"

 

Pokémon X and Y coming soon exclusively to the Nintendo [Whatever]

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Once per day is definitely too strict. I can and have gone for weeks without internet connections on numerous occasions, for example when moving home or when switching provider. During those periods it's even more vital than ever that I have a games console on hand to combat the immense stresses of being without online connectivity.

 

I'm sure for most people it'll very rarely be a concern, but it's when it does become a problem for someone it's likely to become a real problem. I know a few people (including my other half) who don't actually have internet connections at home because the monthly bill is a bit much — they do all their web browsing through their phones' 3G instead. Yet these same people happily enjoy gaming during their free time at home, something they'll not be able to do with the Xbox One by the looks of it.

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Sadly, MS isn't interested in those people because they're not making digital purchases.

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Have big tech companies always been into intentionally restricting their possible user base in the name of theoretically greater profitability, or is this a new development? I'm asking in all seriousness.

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Or is this a mirrors edge reboot with a male lead... Can you fucking imagine :)

Hahah that would be the worst thing.

 

Also the worst thing: Mirror's Edge 2 as an Xbone exclusive. I refuse to believe even the possibility, lest my heart collapse in despair.

 

Oh but ugh even if it does come to PC it'll be on Origin. Oh well, I guess I'm already on there... Damn.

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If they get Mirror's Edge 2 as a platform exclusive, every man, woman and child in the hardcore gamer ward will vote for Xbox One this Christmas.

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