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NEWS: Microsoft Offers Xbox One Without Kinect for US$399


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Chagen46



Joined: 27 Jun 2010
Posts: 4377
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 7:22 pm Reply with quote
(Okay, since my previous post didn't cut the mustard...god being on moderation is the worst goddamn thing ever)

[EDIT: Your first post was okay, but it doesn't seem anyone was around to approve it. This one, however seems more detailed, so let's roll with it. And it's your own fault for being reported enough and/or constantly acting like an angry condescending d-bag all the time that you got put back on moderation in the first place, so deal with it. -TK]

The thing is that the PS4 is going to appeal to a very different range of consumers than the 360. Everyone who likes Japanese games is gonna to the PS4, the people who are either casual gamers or like western games exclusively will go to the XONE. However, the XONE is significantly weaker for the same price now, something which is already evident in multiplatform games*.

Honestly, if you really like games, and are serious about them, there is literally zero reason to get the XONE when you could buy the PS4. I have not bought either of them yet, since I have recently become a PC gamer, but I am planning to buy a PS4 for JRPG's/other Japanese games (because these games never come to the PC augh...). The XONE simply doesn't appeal to me not only because of its sketchy past but because it's targeting a rather different group of people in general. So it remains to be seen if this price drop actually DOES anything.

*: Though honestly both of them are pathetically weak for this day and age. Sony and Microsoft STILL don't know what the meaning of "60FPS 1080P" is.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 15222
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 7:31 pm Reply with quote
Well, about time; now the real competition starts. To most people, the most important thing is the price. Fans have been asking for this option. Just in time for E3 - they had to do this step for redemption after what happened there last year.

The pay-wall apps being gone is an extra. They have to do that as well not only due to PSN but now there are a bunch of popular media players like Roku and Chromecast that do the same thing without an extra pay-wall. Remember, the XB1 sees itself in a contest with them too.


Hoppy800 wrote:

Finally that dangerous spycam is gone,


Y'know that ya could just disconnect Kinect.


dtm42 wrote:

Given how the XBone has done well up to now despite all that negative publicity and being US$100 more expensive than the PS4, I suspect that lowering the price due to removing Kinect will have a significant boost for sales. I wouldn't be surprised if the XBone caught up to the PS4 by the first quarter next year.


Well, maybe in North America since that has a larger installed Xbox 360 base, so it makes more sense for them to stay within their accounts.


誤称 wrote:

So can we file away crappy motion sensor technology in the special bin holding the Sony EyeToy, GunCon, the Nintendo Power Glove and the R.O.B.?


They need good non-traditional uses for it like maybe Miku Miku Dance or officially allow it for PC use as well (another wish that fans have been asking for - ya can already use Xbox controllers for both 360 and PCs). When users see open uses for it, they wouldn't mind owning one for both systems.


Letthemeatraep wrote:

Xbox One Eighty strikes again Laughing


That's good because it shows they listen when fans point out their mistakes. Nintendo needs to do the same thing.


MisterLuck wrote:

I doubt this will make a difference to the sales now. The PS4 will always be ahead, because the people who bought it at launch will be telling their friends and family to buy a PS4, so they can play with them. And I'll be one of them; seeing as, I already gave some to friends and family on thier Birthdays and back in Christmas. They should've done this from the get-go and seeing as the PS4 are flying off the shelves, I bet they'll announce a PS4 Slim by the end of the year at E3.


Oh it will make a difference - to people, price is what matters above all else. And being ahead early is an advantage (particularly to lifetime attachment rates), but it's only been less than a year in what could be a decade-long generation marathon. And lest we forget, early on the PS3 was severely straggling, and it wasn't until Sony finally lowered the PS3 price points from $500-$600 to around $400 to be competitive with the 360 that the PS3 started to catch up.

Still, these price points yet being stuck on the same hardware specs for a decade does open the market up for, as AnandTech puts it: "higher performing alternative (read: Steambox, PCs) to come in and steal users away. In speaking with NVIDIA prior to the Tegra K1 launch their viewpoint is that the clock is ticking for when mobile SoCs can equal the performance of the new consoles. I'm sure the other mobile players are focused on the same thing. We'll likely see Xbox 360-ish performance out of mobile silicon in the next 12 months. Add another few generations (and process nodes) and we'll be a lot closer to Xbox One/PS4 performance. We're already pretty close on the CPU side."


Barbobot wrote:

While it's nice to see a price drop, it's kinda sad from a development point of view. With the kinect being included with every Xbox One, developers could design games with the knowledge that pretty much everyone will have access to the kinect. That will sadly not be the case anymore and could just cement the kinect as the red-headed step child people don't want to deal with once again. Less incentive for developers to do something creative with it when they know not everyone will have access to a kinect. And those that do have creative ideas with it will most likely not see as much of a profit from it with a lesser kinect user base.


Well, there's still already about 5 million XB1s with Kinect v2 (plus how ever many for the 360 v1). That's already a nice base to begin with. They just need more good uses for it.


dtm42 wrote:
Polycell wrote:
That's true, but the PS4 doesn't have an architecture that's such a nightmare to develop for. Instead, it shares the same basic architecture with the XBone, which essentially reduces it to a numbers game.

You make a good point. Sony are using off-the-shelf components for PS4 rather than their own proprietary hardware like in the PS3, which makes developing software simpler and easier and therefore potentially results in better-coded games. (It also kills any chance of reverse compatibility but Sony must have decided that it was worth it.)


Sony and Microsoft are trying to solve the reverse compatibility issue thru the server side, instead of the console side. So instead of the console being reverse compatible, it's the servers that do it. Though that means you have to be online to play it.


dtm42 wrote:
^
Well, game developers certainly blamed the poor PS3 performance of their cross-platform games on the console's badly-designed and difficult-to-use architecture. If it was just one or two instances it could be passed off as lazy developers trying to shift the blame, but there were too many to ignore; I think it can be safely assumed that developers had a valid point. I remember cringing at how bad the graphical rendering was for the PS3 version Batman: Arkham Asylum. It was like the game was suffering from near-constant artifacts, especially for characters (Batman's shoulders were jagged as heck). Ugh. And yet screenshots taken from the XBox 360 version of the game were fine.


IIRC, the graphical issues with games was that while both the PS3 and 360 only had 512MB graphics ram, the PS3 divided it strictly 256MB each for system and game, while the 360 allowed the game to use as much of the 512MB as it could.


dtm42 wrote:
^
I believe the XBone's sales figures have been very reasonable by historical standards. The console only looks like it has done poorly when compared to the PS4 which has done even better.


Fact it is, but sometimes perception is reality.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 8241
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 7:47 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Microsoft added that it will offer "popular entertainment apps" to all Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners, even those without an active XBox Live Gold membership.


Oh, here's an article to confirm this, from Siliconera.
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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 940
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 7:51 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
^
I believe the XBone's sales figures have been very reasonable by historical standards. The console only looks like it has done poorly when compared to the PS4 which has done even better.


Xbox one: outselling any games console offered for sale in seventeenth-century flanders!
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KH91



Joined: 17 May 2013
Posts: 6176
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 7:59 pm Reply with quote
GrilledEelHamatsu wrote:
kanechin wrote:
too late MS, you lost my trust permanently.


You sound like a wise 16 year old kid.


Fixed.
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Violynne



Joined: 09 May 2014
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 8:53 pm Reply with quote
ikillchicken wrote:
It's good that Microsoft dropped the always online crap and now are removing the mandatory camera.

The Kinect was never going to be mandatory nor was the always on connectivity. The misconception is the result of the Public Relations team misunderstanding the technical elements of the console.

The SDK included code to determine if the Kinect was disabled, proving it was never mandatory. This allowed developers a choice to include the unit's capabilities into the game code.

The always-on fiasco was the confusion of multiple facets of the digital distribution platform to be rolled out, which allowed gamers to buy, sell, and trade digital games, the connectivity needed to transfer the digital license via DRM, and the used game fee (which was stipulated by publishers in exchange for same-day digital releases as the physical copy. Microsoft stated they would earn no revenue from these fees and went directly to the publisher).

Things got worse when Adam Orth made disrespectful comments regarding gamers' concerns over the always-on requirement.

Despite contrary belief, DRM is mandatory in order to establish ownership of a digital file. Without it, a file can be reproduced indefinitely, leading to unsolicited file sharing (piracy).

Microsoft's intent was to give digital game owners a key which would embed itself into the installed game. When the gamer wished to sell the game, the key would be transferred back to Microsoft and the game file would be removed from the console.
(side note: despite contrary belief, games purchased physically and installed on the console could not be sold or traded digitally unless purchased at a participating retailer tied to the console's account)

When the game was to be shared, a temporary key was to be transferred, allowing others to play a full copy of the game for a limited time. Once the key expired, the shared game would be disabled unless the person wanted to purchase it.

This DRM scheme is already in use on the 360, and has been since it was launched. Most gamers do not realize this. When a game is installed onto the console, when launched, an update is requested. This is the DRM key being assigned to the digital copy.

The difference between the 360 version and the XO version is the current version ties the game to the console, making it impossible to share or sell the game.

Microsoft updated the DRM configuration so the game was tied to the user account of the console.

Microsoft has always intended the console to go digital, but didn't do a good job explaining this to consumers.

Microsoft also released news that XBox Live is no longer required to play games or apps. The new rollout will occur in June, and this will be the last step to remove DRM from the console (part of the 360's DRM key was the Live account ID, which is why gamers could not play games downloaded to the console without Live).

Microsoft does not intend to step away from a digital only console, and it's quite possible a future announcement of an opt-in digital only account will be made.

Personally, I wish Microsoft had waited before releasing the console. In their rush to compete with Sony, the company released an incomplete console.

I can't recommend an Xbox One to any gamer in its present state, even as an owner.

The console isn't worth $399 given its current state.
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SHODAN93



Joined: 03 Jun 2012
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 9:39 pm Reply with quote
Funny, considering they've said in the past the two were inseparable.
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Jave



Joined: 08 Aug 2013
Posts: 198
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:35 pm Reply with quote
Chagen46 wrote:
The thing is that the PS4 is going to appeal to a very different range of consumers than the 360. Everyone who likes Japanese games is gonna to the PS4, the people who are either casual gamers or like western games exclusively will go to the XONE. However, the XONE is significantly weaker for the same price now, something which is already evident in multiplatform games*.


Seems to be the general consensus. I got a PS4 sitting on my desk here with a few games for it waiting for Japanese devs to make more stuff for it Laughing

Wonder if Xbone will get some exclusive JRPGs like the early 360 did as a way to sell it to Japan again.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4663
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:51 pm Reply with quote
^ I'd love to see XBox One get some exclusive JRPGs but I doubt Microsoft's going to repeat that JRPG-funding experiment as I don't think they got a good return on investment and XBox One's market share in Japan will be limited to a very niche market of Japanese gamers that like western-produced Microsoft-exclusive franchises.

When I have new console money (not anytime soon), it'll be a very tough decision between JRPGs (PS4) or the racing franchises I love (XBox One, not saying I don't like Gran Turismo, but I prefer Forza and PGR). Or I might seriously just get a PS3 and play the 7th generation JRPGs I missed until the next-next (re: 9th) generation consoles come out.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:56 pm Reply with quote
Violynne wrote:
The Kinect was never going to be mandatory nor was the always on connectivity. The misconception is the result of the Public Relations team misunderstanding the technical elements of the console.


And you're basing this on what exactly? I mean, without a doubt, Microsoft's handling of the launch was a mess of contradictory PR. But that said...

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/update

President of Interactive Entertainment Don Mattrick wrote:
Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback. I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One.

[...]

So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console — there will be no regional restrictions.

These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.


This is in no way a denial or an attempt to clarify an incorrect impression. This is him outright saying that they realize people don't want this stuff will change it. If you're telling me that's wrong...um okay. Apparently, you have a better pipeline to what their actual developers were thinking than even their president. But I'm gonna have to ask for more than just your say so that he's wrong.

Quote:
The SDK included code to determine if the Kinect was disabled, proving it was never mandatory. This allowed developers a choice to include the unit's capabilities into the game code.


The fact that they included the option to make it not mandatory just proves, at best, they're wafflers who wanted to have that option. Which is smart actually. But there's no basis to say they wouldn't have just kept it mandatory like they originally said it would be if things went well. Once again, even if you attribute their initial claim that it was mandatory to miscommunication from their PR department, they still stated that they were "changing" this requirement when they announced it wouldn't be required.

http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-wont-actually-need-kinect-plugged-in-microso-1113142909

Quote:
Though we’ve changed this requirement, Kinect is still an essential and integrated part of the Xbox One platform.


Quote:
The thing we all understood, and hence this change, is that there are some scenarios where people just may not be comfortable. We wanted people to be 100% comfortable, so we allow the sensor to be unplugged.


That's two different quotes from two different people one of whom is a senior executive.

So no. I'm gonna interpret this as exactly what it looks like: Microsoft intended to include online check-ins, resale restrictions, etc. But when they said this was what they were gonna do, they got absolutely reamed for it by customers and Sony. At that point, they realized it would be a disaster and changed their minds. Thus, they announced they were gonna change and not do that. Seems pretty straight forward.
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xfri



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:57 pm Reply with quote
Still I won't buy xbone, ps still have the best exclusive and ps4 better hardware.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 15222
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 11:34 pm Reply with quote
Tenchi wrote:

^ I'd love to see XBox One get some exclusive JRPGs but I doubt Microsoft's going to repeat that JRPG-funding experiment as I don't think they got a good return on investment and XBox One's market share in Japan will be limited to a very niche market of Japanese gamers that like western-produced Microsoft-exclusive franchises.


Also, many people forget that games, that later exploded on other platforms, started on the 360 like Idolmaster and Dream C Club but didn't help much. So with Japanese games, it becomes kinda matter of "fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me."

Although there's a new area that Microsoft could explore. Y'know now that Microsoft is going into the content business with Xbox Originals like the Halo series and Deadlands based on tabletop RPG, they could produce Japanese content and even like Possibilia with branching story paths depending on the choices.
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RokugoPeachMoon



Joined: 03 May 2014
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 11:35 pm Reply with quote
Rahxephon91 wrote:
GrilledEelHamatsu wrote:
kanechin wrote:
too late MS, you lost my trust permanently.


You sound like a 16 year old kid.
At least he's not latching on to some "SEGA IS COMING BACK TOTALLY GUYS" nonsense.


Laughing Laughing
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Wandering Samurai



Joined: 30 Mar 2014
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:35 am Reply with quote
MS shot themselves in the foot on day one. Their PR campaign was in shambles, and they've been having to backtrack on their features THEY thought they were going to use since they revealed the system. MS right now is in damage control because they realize how hurt they are when they are not listening to their customers. The Almighty Dollar has seemed to have the last word again. I'm just waiting for RROD 2.0 to show up. Maybe 2-3 years down the road I'll consider getting an XBone.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 6228
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 8:57 pm Reply with quote
Wandering Samurai wrote:
MS shot themselves in the foot on day one. Their PR campaign was in shambles, and they've been having to backtrack on their features THEY thought they were going to use since they revealed the system. MS right now is in damage control because they realize how hurt they are when they are not listening to their customers. The Almighty Dollar has seemed to have the last word again. I'm just waiting for RROD 2.0 to show up. Maybe 2-3 years down the road I'll consider getting an XBone.


Yeah, Microsoft did alienate their player base, and their military players from day one with the Xbox One. Same is true with what the did with their PC and Business customers with Win8.
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