Jar Time w/ Jeff: Pre-Xbox Reveal QA Extravaganza - 05/20/2013

Video is playing fine via HTML5>HD, can't say more other then using chrome beta 27 to help anyone else with playback issues. Thanks Jeff for taking the time to chat with us before the show!

The lack of jars is highly disturbing. If the next Xbox doesn't have jars then that would be worse then always on DRM.

Jarlie's dead? NOOOOO

video not working for me, firefox v20.0

cant play video :(

Yep, not working for me neither.

Am I the only one who can't get Giant Bomb videos to play today? Guess it's the massive server load with the reveal in two hours. :-(

@dextress: It's not working for me either. Tried in Chrome and Firefox.

Thanks for paywalling YouTube guys.

It wouldn't work last night when it was just uploaded either.

FIX IT! The video will be obsolete within the hour!

Yep, I got it to work using the same way!

"Discodick420.... great..."

Made me laugh :)

Adding @rorie in this quote so they'll be aware of the issue.

Easy enough to watch it on YouTube for those of us without Premium Memberships who can't use HTML5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ1itOnZC1g&feature=share&list=UUmeds0MLhjfkjD_5acPnFlQ

glad I'm not the only one the video isn't loading for. hadn't had that problem before, though

html5 worked though, thanks dudes

I don't even care about the new xbox though, why am I watching this...

Is anyone else having trouble with the video on progressive or streaming?

Ok, so the next xbox is infinity then the one after that will be the Ybox and in like 25 years the Zbox and done. Where's my check? I'm interested to see this press conference but I'm sure it's not going to be as good as the Sony conference, that thing was pretty good.

If Microsoft would get call of duty boxed in with the new console they could sell a couple of consoles, even better would be to get call of duty exclusive for the xbox. I wonder if that would cost more than getting a hit in console sales, I don't know there are some weird numbers there.

Jeff's weird hum was probably a vacuum. Was there someone in the room with him cause he looked to his left a couple of times and made me wonder.

They could put league of legends on console just sell the game with 16 characters bundled with a mouse and keyboard, like guitar hero stuff.

Fix the video please? kthx

My question about the controllers got the longest "hmmm" so I guess I'll always have that.

I don't understand how Jeff can say the 360 won even if the PS3 had more sales thanks to it being strong in Japan and EU. Sure it had sold more than the PS3 for many years and it a clear winner in the US, but isn't all time worldwide sales that matters in who won?

Doesn't work.

"Because what do you call the next one?" You call it The Xbox 4-ever. Obviously.

Jarless in Seattle! By the way, where is the best place to watch the Xbox conference live? Are GB doing anything?

it hasn't though.

That's right. You don't understand.

Nothing matters when you have your competitor, Sony, scared and completely scrapping their Cell processor to get developers interested in making the PlayStation 4 a primary development platform and not a port house of PC and Xbox.

How many Western developers pretty much said the PS3 was a complete mess and their releases showed it at least earlier in the console's life cycle? (2K Games, Bethesda, Valve)

I'm watching this after the Xbox one reveal and Jeff nails so much!

busted -guess its over to youtube to watch it

There's some confusion about whether the 360 is a little bit ahead, they're both neck and neck or the PS3 has overtaken it by a hair. Either way, this gen was a two way tie and the Wii is still the one that pushed the most boxes.

Definitely here in Europe the perception isn't that the Xbox "won" the generation, and in continental Europe the PS3 is the clear dominator. Game stores even have twice as much shelf space for PS3 than 360.

EDIT: And just as I posted this, Twitter (including Patrick) shares this chart, pretty much proving that exact point:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/daily-chart-13

@noelveiga: I don't think you can use sales as the only metric to see who "won". The vast majority of the people I know have both consoles. PS3 and a 360, but on a day to basis the 360 is by far their primary console.

Using me as an example, I own both and 360 is where I play all of my non PS3 exclusive games. And I play A LOT of games.

The only games I have ever played on my PS3 are Uncharted 1,2 and 3, Resistance 1 and 2, Killzone 3, Heavy Rain and MGS 4. Where as I have played well over 250 games on my 360.

So while the PS3 may have "won" in global sales.

@brocksampson: Ah... yes, the anecdotal experience of "you and your friends" totally trumps the "sales numbers proving that both platforms sold an equivalent seventy million units each". That's... yeah.

For the record, I own both consoles, play a lot and the PS3 is my primary console, especially on multiplayer games. With my friends. It seems we are at an impasse here. Which of those two opposing bodies of research will prevail?

Look, at the end of the day this is all entirely irrelevant. the 360 totally took the US market. In Europe subscriptions for online stuff are not as popular (Netflix is struggling to take off, for instance). That hurt the 360 in the early going and allowed the PS3 to catch up. Final tally? Both significantly underperformed compared to the PS2 and the Wii, this generation looked all weird.

This is not a fanboyish thing. This is what happened. Since it's all very regional, your personal perspective on the thing will be conditioned by where you are from (UK and US tend to perceive the Xbox as "winning", Europe does the same for the PS3).

@noelveiga: I agree that the 360 lost worldwide sales. And yes what I said is anecdotal. But I am hardly the only way that feels like this is the case. But, thank you for your comment.

..... 5 more years of darkness.

No jar?! That's why the first video broke!

"Dog in the fight"

"That dog don't hunt."

Giant Bomb: clarifying dog related metaphors since 2006. 2007? Whatever.

@noelveiga said:

Most of this sentiment comes from two things:

1) The 360 is where development has been. Just straight up. Multiplatform games, with very few exceptions, are built more geared toward the 360 and ported over to the Ps3, and due to it's similarity to PC architecture compared to the Ps3, it's easier to just hit the PC and the 360 and leave the Ps3 out of the loop, which happened a lot more early in the generation, but still occasionally happens. Dev hearts and minds went to the 360 and never really left.

2) The 360 sold more than the Ps3 in America, and most of the games media and mainstream press comes from, naturally, America. The press, for whatever reason, has tended more toward the Xbox 360 and thus, you get the self reinforcing narrative that the 360 is the dominant console, because they use it, and their friends in the media use it, thus creating this never ending loop of Xbox influence.

Which console "won" this generation in terms of sales? The Wii. Which console "won" in terms of influence on the industry? Well.. arguably.. the Wii, but in the Ps3 vs. Xbox 360 battle over which console has been more influential, sales aside, the 360 is the clear winner there. But it's kind of an incredibly specific argument to have.

Here's one thing that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, though, and I'll put money on it: The mainstream games press is going to have a bias toward Xbox One use, regardless of whether or not it is the best console in whatever respect you want to define. I loved the original Xbox, and have had the most loyalty to 360 games this generation, but as an average consumer I'm more swayed by what is best for my interests, and so far, that's the Ps4. The mainstream press, however, seems to have picked Microsoft, for whatever subconscious reason, and I don't think there is any limit they will reach when it comes to making excuses for Microsoft's decisions.

Where's the archive of the Bombsquad watching the reveal??? I'll go ahead and watch this for the time being, but I can't listen to the Bombcast until I see that footage!

@dryker: I was looking for the same thing before listening. I ended up just finding it here: http://www.twitch.tv/giantbomb/b/406436781

Also skip to 14:00.

Yeah, you're pretty much right there... at least from the perspective of the US press, which is a bit overrepresented online. It doesn't mean much for the non-English speaking market, but if you follow your gaming news in English, the 360 is often used as a reference. On the development side I would argue that your perspective worked for maybe a year or a year and a half after the PS3 came out, but once the sales numbers levelled out I don't think there was much diminished attention towards the PS3, reluctant as that may have been.

But before the Xbox 360 was the press de facto standard, it was the PS2. I'm a bit surprised at how much the Xbox one... The Xbox... the first Xbox... whatever, how much that thing is remembered, considering that it barely outsold the Gamecube and was a total bust outside of the US, but still, the PS2 was the standard there, and that shifted across the generations. At the end of the day, journalists are just like anybody else and they'll go where their personal friendlists are and wherever it makes the most sense for them as customers (and then buy everything else out of obligation or curiosity).

Every time when i see that picture of Jeff yawning it makes me yawn. :|

Nice job Jeff!

Looks like Kotaku got photobombed by the Gerstmann...

The Jar is a lie.....

1) Twitch do not want exclusivity for those console based programs, straight from the top mens mouths. They're going to get something for the PS4 eventually unless MS convinces them otherwise or Sony objects.

2) UStream is popular in Japan, Twitch is gaining popularity a tiny bit but NicoVideo is number one despite being pay (cheaper than a month of Gold, in exchange for a service-exclusive Xsplit version) and really weak server hardware and bandwidth.

3) HDCP will be in the PS4 because "Blu-Ray and Sony", god knows why it became a constant on HDMI output. HDCP is likely to be in the XbOne in, because if it takes HDCP signals in and removes that signal going out, MS will be in trouble.

And you can cut HDCP out of HDMI without adding latency frames for $40, poke Vinny, he should have a link to the item in question.

Sure you can have an offline pizza... after you have confirmed your identity by ordering the pizza online. But please be aware that eating your pizza offline deprives you of the wide ranging benefits of the integrated online pizza experience. Eating your pizza online means you can tell your friends that you are eating pizza, you can tell them what kind of pizza it is and recommend that they order a pizza for themselves as well. You can watch tv while eating the pizza and also receive recommendations for pay per view movies that go well with the pizza flavour you selected.

I waited to watch this til after the reveal event... Duders, Jeff's version of the event was waaaaaay better.

Missed the live stream so I'm watching this now then watching the archived live stream, even thought I know everything because of of the internet.

My first Jar video and there is no Jar.

The missing Jar was a bad Omen.