Microsoft (Sorta) Addresses Big Xbox One Questions [UPDATED]

It's Offical... I give up on consoles.

An all in one media hub. What, you didn't learn anything when Kutaragi tried this with the PS3?

The fact it won't act as a DVR for television broadcasts is a huge bummer. Anyways...

I think the biggest GOOD thing about the XboxOne, that is not being discussed enough, really is the cloud stuff that they barely mentioned. After all the ongoing bullshit we've heard over the last few years about how The Cloud is going to make our lives fucking awesome, while nothing has come of it and we try to wipe away the layer of marketing spit from our faces, it appears MS might actually deliver.

This is not the same as OnLive (which I've used and works shockingly well). This is a different beast where server side can be leveraged. Yes, we've seen it done poorly very recently (SimCity, Diablo III), but that does not mean it is a total fail all around. Using it for online shooters to do server site hit detection and calculations has a lot of promise to it. Not only for how it can make games run better, but how it can kick in the teeth on cheaters. I really believe this probably came about because of how much cheating MS has to deal with on XBL. Also, they can more easily justify a fee for XBL this way, and I can more easily justify paying said fee as long as that shit works. The fact MS is propping up a platform where ALL developers can take advantage of it, not just the cash loaded ones, is crazy exciting.

I'm trying to imagine what this means for a next-gen Dark Souls games and perhaps I should be peeing myself in fear already.

After thinking about it I am now 99% sure that it will be HDCP protected, possibly at all times:
It takes protected signal input from tuners like PPVs and premium channels, it is not going to strip that protection away to let any random Joe record the XBone screen straight to VHS. Since you can picture in picture - no way is it not going to be a constant.

No big deal if your TV is older than ten years, as long as you've got a DVI or HDMI port this Monoprice converter strips those signals away and retails for $40 for a single, then there are HDMI to Component adapters after that if you have HD but not HDMI or DVI (adds latency due to conversion).

@woggerman1974: True enough. I'm just afraid that Microsoft and other developers see prohibiting the exchange of used games as the solution to declining revenue. It works, granted, but it's scary for the consumer.

@waffles13: Modern emulators come with a myriad of settings and tweaks at your disposal, so chances are, if things don't work for you right off the bat you are able to fix it yourself. This is to allow you to do your own optimization in a sense, you can bet that the system on which the programmer created the emulator runs everything fine. This problem wouldn't really be present on the next-gen consoles as the programmers would be building an emulator to run on one specific system configuration. Emulation has come along way in even the last few years, I've never encountered an emulated game that I haven't been to get running perfectly, if it wasn't already (excluding those on the red list).

Maybe im being paranoid, but if the kinect is always required to be on i just wont feel comfortable playing games on an xbox. So that is a deal breaker for me.

Also any of the TV stuff is completely useless in Europe, as we dont get any of that stuff licensed here. ( our xboxes and playstations barely have any movies on them, and the ones that we do have are only on-demand/rental style. Nothing like netflix or hulu.

So im leaning heavily to PS4, you know, the one with the actual games.

*Slow clap*

Lets recap what we do know:

Used game restrictions.
3 OSs running simultaneously, 3TB of footprint. Primary use is interrupting what you're doing to do something else.
Slowest and lowest amount of RAM to it's compeditor.
Requires a phone home every 24 hours, undoubtedly with your purchase/browsing/gaming habits.
Requires you install a mic-ed security camera with voice and facial recognition in your living room: will be constantly powered and cannot be disconnected from the system.
In unrelated news Microsoft VERY MUCH RESPECTS YOUR PRIVACY HONEST.
Indies are not permitted to self-publish.
Xbox Live will still cost: There will be tons of servers, so you'll never miss an ad.

On the plus side...

You can watch TV through it as long as you have a cable box.
You can switch inputs with your voice instead of a remote control.
Kinect can now detect your heartbeat, can log you in through facial recognition.

In the age of giant AAA risk and paranoia, very very few games will be permanently exclusive. I'll wait them out or skip them entirely. This is the age of Infinite Entertainment, there's no reason for me to buy a system that requires me to get permission to be entertained every day. Even if they make the best games of the generation, I'd rather keep my dignity and get something else thanks.

I'm not going to buy a system whose unique selling points are mostly equated by a remote control. So Microsoft is out of the running, now it's PC or PS4. We'll see at E3 whether Sony can remove themselves from the running as well.

@waffles13: You... are wrong, sorry. The N64 games running even on the Wii are software emulated and pixel-perfect. Same with PsOne games on anything post-PS2. A whole bunch of PS2 games can be emulated to a very close match on a middle of the pack modern laptop (if you don't try crazy upressing stuff).

Now does that mean that software emulation of PS3 or Xbox 360 is a trivial matter? Nope. PS2 and upwards you start running into a lot of issues, with games running on PC-like 3D libraries but on weird architectures. I can't even begin to imagine how a Cell chip would work on emulation, and the PS3 as a whole is probably a Saturn-like mess in terms of direct software emulation. And, for the reputation the 360 has of being "easy to program for", that doesn't mean it's a PC, either.

PS2 era stuff... I don't know. Again, without upressing the Gamecube and PS2 are almost there. Some funding and a team of engineers can probably make that work at current PC specs to the point where you can market that stuff, and although the specifics are fuzzy, the PS3 touted PS2 "software emulated" backwards compatibility for a few models (and in the PS2 games that are available on PSN). Likewise for the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility, which also had the advantage of not having to play on a crappy Xbox controller.

Completable is not the same as perfectly emulated. Yes, with a good PC you can likely run most games well, but the fact is that it is software emulation, and no matter how powerful your computer is there will still be issues, be it graphical glitches or framerate problems.

For example, even a game like the original Mario Party for the N64, a largely beloved game, hs totally fucked up backgrounds and sometimes runs too fast at points when using Project64 for emulation. It's completely playable and you can beat it (as much as MP can be beat), but it's not a perfect emulation. And that's using software that is created by a huge community of devoted fans with infinite time and money to make it as good as it possibly can be.

My point was that yes, software emulation can be pretty good, but it's never perfect and will never be as good as playing it on the original system (and don't discount my point that more than 500 games are literally unplayable on PCSX2; that's nearly 1/4 of the catalog that are not emulated despite having 10+ years to work on it).

When applying that to the 360/XONE, you are talking about a business with limited time and resources trying to emulate a MUCH more modern console on one slightly LESS powerful than a high end PC. So they can either devote a team to make a small selection of games run on the XONE worse than they ran on the 360 (when that team would be better off for both players and MS if they just worked on XONE games), or MS can shrink down and include the 360 inside the XONE, which would jack up the price by a minimum of $80-100, increase the physical size of the console and add another point of failure in the hardware (something that they desperately need to avoid after the 360 launch).

@bgdiner: I understand your point. Believe me. This is more a legacy issue. This has been the way it's been since the cartridge days. I am trying to see it from a business standpoint at the moment. How many developers and publishers have gone under recently? Games have gotten more expensive to design and even more expensive to market. You want to make money, you need to market the hell out of it. Just ask Sony last generation. MS out-marketed them and is running all the way to the bank.

How many more sales would they have had if you couldn't lend or swap games out? That is the question Microsoft and most likely all of the other publishers have been asking themselves for years. It's a horrible realization, but we are at a crossroads right now and it is a different market. What will happen when we go all digital? It will end at some point. Why not now?

A lot of this is me playing devil's advocate, but I am tired of the constant barrage of negativity toward this. I will also reiterate that we have not gotten the whole picture from either MS or Sony. So let's not jump to any conclusions until we have learned everything.

All of this sounds to confusing, I'm sticking to PS4 for now.

It's shitty, but that's every device ever. My 32gb iPhone has about 27gb of actual usable storage. My guess is Microsoft is including that fine print from the beginning because they caught some shit because their Surface tablets apparently used up to 50% of the advertised storage for OS, recovery partitions, ect. They're covering their asses and I seriously doubt the OS and whatnot is going to take up more than 10% of that 500gb, if that, but it's still kind of a bummer. Either way, whatever the PS4 storage is, X amount will be used by the OS and apps that will not be user accessible.

@chrismafuchris: My take is that it will require a connection to authenticate but once you're authenticated, you do not need to maintain that connection. Whether the authentication happens once a day or week or if it's every time you put in a new disc is anyone's guess though.

Q: Does Xbox One require an “always on” Internet connection?

A: No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet. We’re designing Xbox One to be your all-in-one entertainment system that is connected to the cloud and always ready. We are also designing it so you can play games and watch Blu-ray movies and live TV if you lose your connection.

...what?

The impression I am getting, both from this FAQ and press conference yesterday, is that Microsoft is targeting some other audience than me. Almost all all of their choices with this system detract from my enthusiasm in their product. I have a 360. And an xbox 1 original xbox. I like both of those consoles, more or less. But this new thing, I don't want it. I don't want to pay for it and I won't. That's all.

I had no particular bias going into this generation of consoles. I was open to buying at least one of the offerings from Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft. Nintendo clearly does not cater to me. Microsoft, where we're at now, does not either. Sony. Sony went out on stage and said, this is a video game system and it is designed to play video games and to be easy to develop video games for. That is our focus. So Sony gets the gold star.

This is also true for the 360. Or it was at one time, i'm not sure about the new sku's. I have an old 20 gig model. I do not have access to all 20 of those gigs.

@woggerman1974: In regards to your point about sharing games, I do feel that such a change will be received much more harshly than you predict.

PC games have, for the most part, been pretty much un-lendable (not a great term, but indulge me). However, console games have, for many generations, been something that you could take to a friend's house or swap amongst your friends. Though Microsoft and developers may see it as a simple emulation of Steam's DRM, in reality they're removing a fundamental advantage console fans have had since the NES. As a university student, I play most of my games swapping around, and while I understand that this equates to a loss of revenue for developers, there's no reason for me to purchase a new console otherwise.

I'm terrible with analogies, but think of this like all libraries closing. It's not the same, but it is relatively similar.

An IGN article points out that Microsoft is misleading consumers about the Xbox One being 500 gig:"Microsoft's official Xbox One information site contains a significant caveat in the small print: "Xbox One system software uses a significant amount of storage; less internal storage will be available to users." http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/xbox-one-what-we-do-and-dont-know

@klinkcow: Honestly this just goes back to the PC over consoles. Windows 8 brought into instant app switching, just move the mouse to the left side of the screen.

And Steam combined with Humble Bundle is probably the biggest Indie supporting platform.

Not hating on console gaming, but I feel like next next generation consoles Microsoft and Sony are just going to say "FUCK IT, Here's the Sony Vaiostation and the Microsoft WinBox (I'm totally copyrighting that one right now, WinBox fuck yeah).

That's a BINGO!

The internet contains more than enough TV Shows / Movies for me to stare at blankly.

Sports are about as entertaining to watch as watching someone do their desk job. If anything I loath sports evernts for the fact that someone is paid Millions every year just to move a ball around.

Give us XBMC and Plex available on the new consoles, make it for games like it's supposed to be in the first place and leave it at that.

.I will buy this on Day 1. I will also buy a PS4 as I am a gamer and want to play ALL exclusives. I am not bothered by the DRM issues. I just need to go on a rant here about everyone saying the DRM issues are not fair or they suck. I hear a lot of "I'll just upgrade my PC or buy a PS4".
Ok. I'm going to make this as easy as possible to follow.

1. We do NOT know that Sony is not going to follow a similar type of policy to used games.
2. MS has gone on record saying you WILL be able to trade in your used games.
3. Everyone is complaining that you might not be able to lend a friend a game. Well, truthfully, why as a developer and publisher, would I want you to do that? I understand it from a consumer level, but as a dev/publisher I would want everyone who plays the game to purchase it.
4. Stop saying you'll just go PC only. The DRM MS is proposing is very similar to what the PC games currently have and Steam are using. "Well, at least we can buy the games from many different outlets and the prices are competitive" True, but you still have to BUY it.
5 Let's be realistic about the PC market. If the games aren't cheap than most people don't buy it. They pirate it. The only exceptions are WOW, Diablo 3, SimCity(yes I know about the problems,but it sold VERY well). Guess what? All are some of the most profitable PC games and are ONLY ONLINE!

The one thing that I wish would happen, but probably won't is that if this works out to be the case going forward, sales would rise and the publishers could, in effect, charge less and gain more volume which would offset. That would be the way it works in an ideal world, but I can't see that happening.

The fact is we have not been told everything yet and rather than go crazy about things that have not been cleared up yet, let's wait until they have and we can make an INFORMED opinion. This goes for SONY too. E3 will be very important for both companies and it will be the deciding factor for most.

Microsoft could have handled this whole used game and always-on thing a little more suavely, but from reading what Phil Harrison actually said and all this other stuff, it basically seems like if you buy a game on a disc, you install it and "authorize" your system and/or gamertag to play it, and as long as you're logged into your gamertag or a gamertag on the authorized system, you can play the game no problem (kind of the way you can authorize devices to play your iTunes library, ect. except limited to one account and/or system). If you want to sell your game to a friend or trade it in, you can "deauthorize" your gamertag and/or system and then go trade/sell it.

If that makes it easier to essentially sign in on a secondary console and have instant access to your library (kind of like Steam) and potentially install your five most played games and put the discs away, I'm very much in favor of this, although I could see Microsoft's need to authenticate every X hours through an online connection to potentially cause problems like what the gang discussed on the podcast. Thus far, I'm cautiously optimistic that Microsoft is smart enough to avoid doing anything too stupid, but one never knows.

[...] the infinite power of the cloud.

Oh, Christ.

Is it just me, or has the really American focus of the 'The One's' one hour launch has just handed the rest of the world back to Sony...... I live in the UK, don't care about NFL, NBA, Direct TV, Fantasy Football Leagues etc....... Give me games of all types and genres and a system from a company that seems to care about them.

Regarding the hard drive, from the wired.com article:

A new 500-GB hard drive was designed in-house

If they even allow drive upgrades, they are once again proprietary, so you can be sure they'll still be extremely overpriced. I can get a 1TB drive for $100 or less, but I guarantee we'll still be paying at least double for half that amount of storage.

@waffles13: You are flat out wrong about PS2 emulation on PC.

1868 PS2 games are complete-able on PCSX2 and if you have a higher end PC the games run great - you can even up-res it to HD.

Q: Does Xbox One require an “always on” Internet connection?

A: No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet. We’re designing Xbox One to be your all-in-one entertainment system that is connected to the cloud and always ready.

Wut? Can a contradiction get any more contradickting?

Reality: It doesn't have to always be connected, but it requires one......all the time.

Also no one gives a fuck about an all-in-one entertainment system. More games brah.

the machine will come with a 500GB hard drive

Oh hey! Sounds like an upgrade!

Reality: Every game will be several times larger than before and M$ will have a new fantastic slimmer console with 4000000gb just after you buy yours.

I don't understand all the people freaking out about the used games thing.

This is how software sales work for every other medium.

When you buy a copy of Windows, you are buying a license to use it.

When you buy a copy of Photoshop, you are buying a license to use it.

When you buy any sort of productivity software, you are buying a license to use it.

Why are people now shocked that video games are heading this direction? I am actually surprised it took this long to get here.

I don't have a cable subscription, and I don't watch sports. I have zero interest in the Xbox One, thus far.

Nailed it. This press conference reeked of 'oh shit'. I get the feeling from it that they were even coming in hot for an E3 announcement, then they move it up 19 days and suddenly all they have is mocap dog. Why did they shoot themselves in the foot like this?

Microsoft's answer to these questions are all pretty funny.

• "We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games." (We already had that ability ... what you mean is that you will permit it in a limited sense.)
• "It does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet". (So presumably it would have been a lie to put this story to bed permanently by saying that "it does not require an always on Internet connection"?)
• "Xbox One hardware is not compatible with Xbox 360 games. We designed Xbox One to play an entirely new generation of games—games that are architected to take full advantage of state-of-the-art processors and the infinite power of the cloud. We care very much about the investment you have made in Xbox 360 and will continue to support it with a pipeline of new games and new apps well into the future." (That's one hell of a lot of words to say "no"; shame that the "infinite power of the cloud" didn't stretch a bit further eh?)

And is architected even a word?

@zevvion:

I dont know if we are miscommunicating. I also said in my previous post that right now none of this works outside the US.

Also the stuff they offer in Europe is always worse than the stuff the US gets. Why ? I do not know, but it has always been like this. It is probably not MS fault. But if stuff like Xbox Music, Netflix, HBO etc. is your main selling point then dont expect people who will not have access to any of this, to buy your console.

And no, I will not wait till E3 to judge, because MS has been on this route since 2010, you should expect more of the same at E3.

After the press events for both Sony and Microsoft here is my takeaway in the simplest of terms:

Sony: Hey guys its a video game console.

Microsoft: Hey guys this is the "one" box you need under your TV. Oh yea I guess it plays games too.

As a gamer I know who I am going to follow.

Honestly, this all seems kind of irrelevant. What it does or doesn't do in six months doesn't really matter now. I'm sure that they'll clear it up eventually.

Reading all of this mouth-breathing gave me strange, stressed out dreams last night. Sometimes it's a real shame that the internet is so distributed; I often get this urge to shake or punch it.

I'm wondering the same thing. I hope the archived video shows up soon.

From your own source:

Microsoft is committed to bringing live TV through various solutions to all the markets where Xbox One will be available.

I'm not sure if we are miscommunicating, but what I'm saying is that stuff will work outside of the US. Maybe not on launch day, but that's expected.

Hit the nail on the head! Who knows if its a good system or not.

Here's an English language source for you, referencing a Microsoft press release.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-live-tv-available-in-us-only-at-launch-requires-separate-device/

It also mentions that it requires an external device sold separately.

Microsoft's boring, near game-less press conference, plus their muddled and confusing responses to concerns about used games, always on internet, Xbox Live paywall, makes this 360 owner a PS4 convert. I've read several stories the last few months detailing how frustrating developers find working with Microsoft to get games bug fixed, updated, etc., is. They seem to nickel and dime developers and consumers any chance they get, I just don't trust Microsoft.

Err, yeah, I have always had a full list with not much room for other people Most of my friends list was filled up with people who I had been 'game blogging' with for years, i.e. it was filled with people I was communicating with outside of the games themselves.

Where the stream gone? Didn't get the chance to watch you guys live, it was 3am here in Australia.

You only have it in German because Microsoft did not say that it will not work and what you have is speculation. You can plug in HDMI and you can switch to TV that way. There is no reason that shouldn't work outside of the US. That works the same everywhere.

so, what. you expecting to just be able to borrow game off a friend and install it to your hard drive for free. here have a free game. why not lend it to all your mates so they can have a free game too!

@zevvion:

Because they already said that it wont work. As of right now, you cant even watch regular TV with that thing if you live outside the US. I would give you a source but I only have it in German...

How so? They spend time talking about how you can switch instantly to TV, Skype or the internet. I imagaine that works anywhere. Why would that only work in the US?

If you are referring to the Fantasy League stuff: that was just one example they gave what it meant that you had an internet connection on your Xbox One while watching TV. Similar things could work in other countries for different kinds of programming.

Obviously this event wasn't that interesting for the core gamers but writing the thing off based on this event alone just because you didn't get to see allot of games months before the thing even is released seems really, really dumb.

The first things we knew about the PS3 was that it had no rumble and a banana controller. Why do people think they have enough information to already call what console will be shit?

Great event for gamers? No, obviously not. So, let's write it off already. That's just dumb.

Not gonna jump on the Xbox One train for a while to come...

I do not understand how everyone is surprised. The reveal yesterday was the Microsoft E3 Press Conference since 2010 minus a new HALO / GEARS. I assume they will announce one of those at E3 and everyone will go crazy again like they do every year. (" OMG MASTER CHIEF MS WON E3 AND THIS GENERATION).

Also if americans think the reveal was bad imagine how bad it is for everyone else. The TV stuff they spent 90% of the time talking about, will not work for anyone outside of the US.

The games you list are not Xbox 360 games, you can play them basically anywhere.

Also, if backwards compatibility means I have to pay more for the console, which it will, then I'd rather not have it.

I have a 360 already. If I feel the need to go back and play 360 games, I'll just get my 360 out into the room. It's not that big of a deal. How many of you went back and played original Xbox games this generation?

I did, but it wasn't that often... with the new games coming out, you probably only really want to go back often in the first two years as games are steadily being released.

I don't see how that's a problem.

@tjuk said:

It does say right in their answer "No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet." I have no idea what that specifically means, but I gather that you will be unable to utilize it properly if you never ever connect it to the Net. Bummer.

EDIT: I have heard a rumour that each and every game will require a one-time online verification check as an anti-piracy measure, maybe that's what they're up to.

So if I buy an Xbox One and never connect it to the Internet (for whatever reason) will I be able to go to the store, buy a single player game on disk, take it home and play it?

This must represent how a reasonable percentage of the current Xbox 360 install base currently use their console.