Verge : inside Microsoft's audacious plan to take over the living room
- Thread starter Variance
- Start date
This console is NOT designed with games in mind as the priority. This is the fruition of why Microsoft got into games to start, to get a box under your TV to deliver all paid digital content & services to the whole family. Thus the specs reflect that and why the system is designed for multi-tasking forms of digital entertainment.
That being said, this is still going to sell to a ton of gamers & there will be good games on it across the years. It's just a shame it was designed around entertainment & not gaming to begin with. (2 cores shut off/only 5 gigs of RAM available for games) I would much rather prefer a games' console that does entertainment instead of an entertainment system which does games, which Microsoft has built.
That being said, this is still going to sell to a ton of gamers & there will be good games on it across the years. It's just a shame it was designed around entertainment & not gaming to begin with. (2 cores shut off/only 5 gigs of RAM available for games) I would much rather prefer a games' console that does entertainment instead of an entertainment system which does games, which Microsoft has built.
Yes because im sure they were imagining things like netflix and itunes back in 2000 when the xbox was designed. Thats why they were the ones who created netflix and itunes..... oh wait
I'm really excited for the new features for the X1. Gives instant extra value right out of the box and will affect several areas of my entertainment. Now I can enjoy the x1 much more than just playing games.
The living room was already taken over by Microsoft with the Xbox 360. Now they're taking over the entire house with the Xbox One. The X1 is the all in one set top box. You won't need another device under your TV for the next 7 years.
I just want a console that plays games. I don't care if it streams movies or lets me watch YouTube or lets me look at IE on my TV or tracks my achievements or connects online for multiplayer or has a friends list or sends instant messages to friends or....
wait....that was last generation...sorry. I do give a s*** about all those things now.
I just want a console that does all that ^ and plays games. but I don't care if I can Skype from it or I can record replays or I can open apps or I can multitask seamlessly between games, apps and tv viewing with my voice.
Yeah...that is what I meant. Perceptions change. Most people didn't need a 'smart' phone ... until they had one. Now very few people are like - F' that, I am all about talking just give me that flip phone.
wait....that was last generation...sorry. I do give a s*** about all those things now.
I just want a console that does all that ^ and plays games. but I don't care if I can Skype from it or I can record replays or I can open apps or I can multitask seamlessly between games, apps and tv viewing with my voice.
Yeah...that is what I meant. Perceptions change. Most people didn't need a 'smart' phone ... until they had one. Now very few people are like - F' that, I am all about talking just give me that flip phone.
Last edited:
Nokia fixed that for you
I think the living room space applies still. I know many try to move the target to benefit their argument depending on the conversation. But it's still there. Plenty of reasons why the all in one benefits could sore and plenty of reasons it could fail. Being how I see automation being a very highly lucrative and growing market, and many of those companies hopping on board with Microsoft. I see it being a bit more successful than not.
Sony reserved 2.5-3GB of RAM for its OS, likely to add multitasking and media features in the future. It also has recording features. They'll improve the PS camera software and OS integration. They are behind but it's not like they have nothing or no plans to improve.
And I've never 'dismissed' XB1's non-gaming features. I said they are going to be a hard sell at the $500 price point. But hey, throw that to the wind and call me names, I'm used to it.
Last edited:
My worry with the PS Eye is not that it won't be updated or supported by Sony, it's that it won't be widely supported by developers. I've always been in the camp that the included X1 is a good thing as the dev's will at least know with reasonable accuracy the install base, whereas with the original Kinect it was kind of a crap shoot and even at 24 million units that isn't a whole lot when choosing whether to make a game to hit everyone, or just a subset of the userbase. With the PS Eye I feel it will fall into the same pitfall, that there won't be an ensured install base, but who knows only time will tell. If Sony can get devs to be creative in it's implementation maybe it will help it's adoption rate.
Just because a feature is mandatory doesn't mean consumers will be interested or devs will want to use it.
Look at how neglected the 3DS 3D, Vita rear touchpad, and Wii U tablet features are. They just ended up being expensive burdens getting in the way of a price cut.
Look at how neglected the 3DS 3D, Vita rear touchpad, and Wii U tablet features are. They just ended up being expensive burdens getting in the way of a price cut.
While true, if the once labeled "add-on" is now packaged in every single box sold, developers can take chances. They won't have to worry about who can play it, because everyone has the device.
No it doesn't, you are right; but it does give a better chance of dev's/consumers adopting it than if it was a optional add-on. Kinect 1 suffered from being an add-on, no one took it seriously, especially devs who didn't want to take the chance on kinect games or integration. At least with something that is packed-in the devs have more of a reason to take a chance because they know everyone has one. I think if the PS Eye was packed in as well that dev's would have more of a reason to take a chance on it, but as it stands I think it might suffer the same fate as the Kinect 1 and Move.
I agree with your points, but I also value consumer choice and I think price is going to be a heavy factor.
Assuming the kinect really is "half the console's cost", if they sold an XB1 w/o it for $299.99 I'd buy one day one.
Assuming the kinect really is "half the console's cost", if they sold an XB1 w/o it for $299.99 I'd buy one day one.
Possibly, but I think a price decrease will come in the first year for the X1, like Sony did with the PS4 after what, 6 0r 7 months?
Not sure I buy the half the console cost rumour for Kinect, only because the PS4 is supposedly losing a small amount per unit at launch @$399, I don't see how the X1 would be able to break even @$250. Yes the PS4 is more powerful spec wise, but for the most part's they share a lot of similarities in parts, I don't think there is a greater than $150 gap between the two, even with GDDR5 in the PS4. Also don't see how the tech in the Kinect v2 would be equal in cost to the tech in the entire X1.
Hopefully though that sometime in the first year the BoM's for both consoles are released and we can see how much each component costs.
Right there with you bruh, having all available on my big screen is a plus. Different strokes for different folks.
Well, they are selling the PS4 for a hundred dollars less, but it is not at all a hundred dollars cheaper.......it's being sold at a loss.
Exactly. I think the same will happen this generation with consoles. It's actually already happening even last generation. No longer is a console only about gaming.