The Xbox One Thread

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Damien

The PS3 is much better than the Xbox for Indie games. Some of the more interesting Indie games of the last generation were only on the PS3, Journey and Unfinished Swan to name but two. Fez took ages to patch a game breaking bug because Microsoft charged $50,000 to post updates to the store and the developers backed out. Sony let them do it for free. Sony sent development kits to Indie developers whilst Microsoft ignored them until another of their U-Turns. While Sony put Indie gaming in their E3 presentation Microsoft barely talked about games to boast about their 'exclusive' deal with the NFL.



They've had a funny way of showing it so far. Microsoft are pretty clear that they're positioning this as a home media device that retains a strong interest in gaming. However these features aren't just freebies added on if you want them. They took development time, they took content deals with creators (mostly American for now) and they form part of the way Microsoft markets the console. Time which could well have been spent focusing on the gaming and reaching out to developers.

The Xbox will still have Halo, all the multi platform games and so on. Microsoft will always have Grand Theft Auto, FIFA, Call of Duty and so on on their console. Yet I think Sony's more aggressive courting of developers and their positioning of their console as an gaming machine first will mean it will follow this generations pattern of the Playstation getting the riskier, smaller and more innovative games.

The Xbox still has two very strong cards: Xbox live and that controller. Microsoft know software and that still shows in their LIVE services and their dashboard UI. The rubbish XMB interface and flimsy controller on the PS3 meant I played all multi-platform games on my Xbox and used the PS3 only for the aforementioned Indie games and the exclusives (Heavy Rain, Last of Us).

Still I am in two minds this generation. I honestly probably will get the one with the better reviews as I am so undecided.

Hopefully things will improve now for indie developers, I am not sure if they can patch for free though.

Edit

Yes they can now patch for free on the 360 so I will assume the x1 will be free too.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/20/46...m-for-xbox-one

[Bulky]

Microsoft have also embraced the indie scene (better late than never) , in fact next year every xbox one will be able to be used as a dev kit , they have also changed the way they are going to certify patches/indie games to soled things up and indie devs won't have to have a publisher. after reading many ps4 reviews it seems the xmb is much improved but still get mentioned to be clunky and difficult to navigate , this was one of my main issues with the ps3 , it used to annoy the hell out of me that everything was so damn awkward in navigating and implementing. Xbox live speaks for itself but now with the backup of MS azure data centre infrastructure (the cloud everyone dismisses ) which are arguably (so I've read) the best in the world , if live works better than it does already it's going to leave psn for dust.

[SnoopZ]

I agree, I am just hoping live doesn't have slowdown issues on launch day.

Battlefield 4 is having a lot of server problems at the moment so I hope that will improve for the X1.

[Bulky]

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

I agree, I am just hoping live doesn't have slowdown issues on launch day.

Battlefield 4 is having a lot of server problems at the moment so I hope that will improve for the X1.

Yep agreed , I'm getting bf4 now

Originally Posted by Stephen

Also when enabled all Xbox Ones will be able to act as dev machines.

So? This doesn't really mean anything. You could develop relatively easily for the 360 but the PS3 got the more vibrant indie scene. It's not a question of if you can even physically develop for it, the fact that Microsoft even had to u-turn on that shows how little they cared for indie games in the first place, but how engaged they are with the developers. Microsoft are not engaged with small studios and Independent developers. Their focus is on the blockbusters when it comes to games. At one point they even had the policy that small developers couldn't even publish on it in the first place!

This is a direct consequence of Microsoft's vision for the One. It's because they view it as a blockbuster console and they don't see where the money is in bothering to deal with the small time developers when they can deal with the NFL. The problem is that it's these smaller studios that can take risks with their ideas as the money isn't as great.

So yes. Microsoft choosing to position their console as a media device and to focus on content producers does speak to their intentions of the console as a gaming device. The better ecosystem for small developers is just as much a feature of the PS4 and the media support is for the One. The question is then which one you want and the ecosystem is more important to me than the media functionality.

Then again the controller, LIVE and my LIVE Account are positives for the Xbox but it's just not as simply as the Xbox being everything the PS4 is plus some features you don't have to use. The PS4 currently stands to be a better pure gaming device at the moment.

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Anyway Tuesday is the day for the Xbox one reviews. Looks like they'll be decentish as nothing bad has come out yet.

[Tezcatlipoca]

The reviews seem to be spread through the week... with Ryse at the end

[SnoopZ]

I want to know the digital download costs and whether we can buy them from other places.

---------- Post added at 21:57 ---------- Previous post was at 21:56 ----------

Originally Posted by Bulky

Yep agreed , I'm getting bf4 now

Good choice I think.

I'll probably be going with digital downloads this generation.

[SnoopZ]

I will too if the cost is the same or similar, although I expect shops to offer disk versions of games a lot cheaper at times, like when i Bought tomb raider for £20 from tesco on the 360 but prices on live were £45 still.

[Tezcatlipoca]

I'm expecting digital downloads to have the same suggested retail price as disc-based games... which of course would mean that disc-based games would be cheaper as you can always buy them online at less than the official price.

Maybe we'll be lucky, but that's what happened in the current generation... remember the awful prices for Xbox Games on Demand?

Originally Posted by Matt D

I'm expecting digital downloads to have the same suggested retail price as disc-based games... which of course would mean that disc-based games would be cheaper as you can always buy them online at less than the official price.

Maybe we'll be lucky, but that's what happened in the current generation... remember the awful prices for Xbox Games on Demand?

Yeah they need to at least match the average price of new games. It might be a few quid cheaper online in which case I would pay more for the convenience. That said you risk losing the games forever when the online service shuts down.

[Tezcatlipoca]

I'll be sticking with discs, unless:

- Digital downloads are cheap enough that the inability to trade them in doesn't matter.

Or

- Digital downloads can be "traded in" somehow.


There are some games I do keep, because I want to replay them (e.g. Mass Effect, and anything else with a great single-player) or because of the multiplayer... but most other games I play and then trade.

[SnoopZ]

Anyone considering importing their games?

[cimt]

I know this is the X1 thread but do we know how much games cost in the US on the PS4? It could give us a possible price comparison.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by cimt

I know this is the X1 thread but do we know how much games cost in the US on the PS4? It could give us a possible price comparison.

$59.99 are the prices I saw.

---------- Post added at 22:50 ---------- Previous post was at 22:49 ----------

http://www.dlcentral.com/ps4news/ps4...ore-full-list/