Nextbox 1080: The Reckoning

[Dewar]

Now just ditch the name and the required Kinect and we may have a deal

 

Provided the resolution on it is really that much better, I like the required Kinect. No one is ever going to spend a whole lot of money on Kinect development unless they know that every single Xbone has a kinect attached.

 

Now, we wait and see what the rules for downloadable games on both consoles will be like.

[toblix]

I bet the rules will be something like this: you can't transfer them to anyone ever.

[Twig]

Annoyingly titanfall looks like the best of all the next gen exclusives...

It's also not exclusive! Don't believe/spread the lies!

[melmer]

Oh sorry, I mean its not on the ps4 (I'm very blinkered)

I hope Xbox continues with the free games with Xbox live gold, then I wouldn't feel so bad if I ended up with a subscription for both consoles

I'd still feel pretty fucking rotten though

[Thrik]

Titanfall might still be on the PS4.

[TheLastBaron]

I started off not planning one buying either console.  Post E3 I had no plans to buy either console and actively didn't want to buy a Xbox.  Now I'm back to being neutral and still don't plan on buying either console.  Everything seems aimed at making people who were going to buy one of the two choose one, but as someone who didn't want either there hasn't really been anything to change my mind on that point.  Maybe a Wii U.

[tabacco]

Toblix, you're probably right about them having this as a backup plan all along. It puts them back in an advantageous position because now they are likely to be viewed as the company that was willing to go to more extreme lengths to please the consumer.

 

I wonder if they are in a stronger position now than if they would have done this from the start. Now this is really becoming like the presidential debates.

 

I'm willing to bet the PS4 has a bit somewhere in the OS that toggles very similar features, and had they announced after Microsoft, that bit would have been on instead of off.

 

Weirdly, the first thing that came to mind today with the Xbox announcement was Netflix's Qwikster announcement, where they announced the split, and also other features like game rentals. Then, when they had to reverse the split, they took back all the other stuff too.

[Nachimir]

Toblix, you're probably right about them having this as a backup plan all along.

I'm pretty much certain that wasn't the case. There was genuinely a wide expectation that Sony were going to announce similar plans.

Interesting to see Whathifi and Giantbomb reporting this in quite a lot of detail today, then Microsoft confirming about an hour later with somewhat less detail.

[Murdoc]

I'm more torn about this because I think Keplek may deserve the title of Hot Scoops over Gaynor now, because that is a pretty hot scoop that broke GB today.

[Zeusthecat]

I'm pretty much certain that wasn't the case. There was genuinely a wide expectation that Sony were going to announce similar plans.

 

Hard to say for sure one way or another. The way I look at it Sony and Microsoft must have realized early on that there would be a lot of potential backlash if they decided to push forward with the DRM and always on measures. It makes sense then that they would have designed their consoles to work with or without these requirements in case the backlash was so great that they would end up losing more money than they would have gained by implementing them.

 

I still think what you're saying is true. Microsoft probably did expect Sony to do the same but unfortunately announced their plans first. Then Sony sat back and watched the shitstorm and flipped their switch the other way for their announcement (as Doug said). 

[JonCole]

The Qwikster analogy is apt, because I feel like Microsoft is tossing out all the good with the bad as a means of "we told you so". I'm sure there is a way to have digital game sharing without 24 hour checks, the PS3 does it with a limited number of licenses (three) and Steam does it with longer periods between checks. Instead of trying to engineer a better system, they simply said "you got what you wanted, happy?"

 

Whether or not Sony had their finger on the same trigger, they chose not to pull it. I think this whole thing is indicative of the general attitudes of the companies as they stand. Maybe that's just my perception, but it feels like Sony's interests align with my own much better. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the thing is $100 cheaper and doesn't have a weird spy camera looking at me forever.

[Frenetic Pony]

Fucking wedge issues man: http://kotaku.com/the-differences-between-the-xbox-one-and-ps4-as-far-as-514440065

 

Of all the analogies, that's the one that nailed this console "generation". The two consoles are so close, same social features, same used game policies, practically the same exact silicon inside, they end up looking like:

 

 

And until one is less $350 and isn't an ugly black retro crap from Mordor both MS and Sony can keep their boxes to themselves. Seriously though, does I can't be the only one that thinks both boxes look hideous can I?

 

Edit - Actually, the funniest fucking thing about this entire debacle, now that I think about it is that Valve took one look at the entire "Share games" thing and immediately decided to do that, and they're going to do it, and Microsoft, for once actually coming up with something, is already cancelling their plans to do it.

[Sno]

Okay, so the always-online restriction is gone, but so are the sharing/lending features? That was actually the bright spot in the XBO's online scheme, that was potentially very interesting. Do retail games still hook into player accounts?

I've been talking with a bunch of people about the XBO over the last several days and we were all kind of warming up to the idea of what Microsoft was doing. Whether it was ultimately going to be a positive thing or not, they were making a go of their all-digital future that they've been working towards for years. It was certainly starting to seem like, at the very least, the more interesting console. Sony's more or less just staying the course.

 

Either way, looking through the exclusives, i think XBO is the way i'm going.

Sony's first-party stuff just never appeals to me, while the Microsoft exclusives are, as a broad matter probably less interesting for most people, but to me personally, incredibly exciting. I mean, holy shit, they had a Swery game on stage at E3, that's insane. I also definitely want to play Crimson Dragon, especially now that they're implementing gamepad support as it should always have had.

Other exciting things like Quantum Break and Titanfall are likely only timed exclusives, fair enough, but it's still going to take like a year to two years for those games to come out elsewhere. (Isn't this a positive thing? That Microsoft doesn't lock up games like Sony does?)

(Remedy has been doing a terrible job pitching Quantum Break, but they're basically making an X-files/Fringe-inspired game, which already sounds amazing, that's exactly the kind of subject matter they should tackle. The actual gameplay is apparently some manner of squad-based time-manipulation hijinx. It's also episodic, but not as a business model, it's apparently setup exactly like Alan Wake, just with live-action cutscenes.)

[juv3nal]

Sony's first-party stuff just never appeals to me, while the Microsoft exclusives are, as a broad matter probably less interesting for most people, but to me personally, incredibly exciting.

 

For the big AAA stuff, sure, but I get the feeling Sony is going to crush Microsoft when it comes to weird indie stuff.

[Dewar]

I bet the rules will be something like this: you can't transfer them to anyone ever.

 

I'm mainly curious if downloadable games will be licensed the same way on the new consoles as the old. XBone could easily stay the course and run things exactly like the 360, which I wouldn't have a problem with, but the PS3's current method just sets it up for purchase sharing between two or three folks. I hope that the PS4 goes more toward the 360 way of doing things.

[tegan]

I kind of hope that this attempt at damage control doesn't stop people from being wary of Microsoft.

[Zeusthecat]

I kind of hope that this attempt at damage control doesn't stop people from being wary of Microsoft.

This is why their move is so smart in my opinion. They are giving people what they want and likely convincing a good number of people that they have truly had the noblest of intentions all along. I am still amazed that they actually reversed course but the more I think about it the more I wonder if this will actually work more to their advantage than if they had done this from the start.

Xbox180

[Sno]

There is a part of this that really sucks, though. Digital games have always secretly been absolutely terrible for consumers, but the lending and resale options Microsoft was building into their system were potentially huge steps in the right direction, and now they're going to be gone, at least at launch. The digital side of the XBO is going to be worse off for these reactionary changes. (It's all back to the status quo now.)

[Roderick]

With this feature's death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created.

[I Saw Dasein]

Digital games have always secretly been absolutely terrible for consumers

 

How do you figure? I love digital media products. I don't have to worry about losing them, breaking them, or having them stolen. If I want to play something (be it an album or a game), that something is literally a click of a button away. I have a huge crate of a couple thousand CDs under my bed that absolutely depresses me, because I have no interest in ever again digging out a disc for any reason if I can avoid it. For this consumer, at least, digital games are a great.

[elmuerte]

Microsoft is like that kid who has a fit, leaves and takes all his toys with hem just because he's losing.

[feelthedarkness]

The third path here is that they're planning to do it anyway, they're just being sneaky about rolling it out. Wait a year until it's installed, revise XBL experience, now key features like multiplayer, and live updates require check ins. 

[Justin Leego]

True. But given the outcry over the last few weeks, they might have to find a way to make it an opt-in or at least an opt-out.

[DanJW]

The XBOX One "always watching you" camera is actually an incredible idea to get people to turn their devices off at the mains rather than standby, and so save electricity.

 

It's all about the global warmings.

[toblix]

Interesting theory.