http://www.ign.com/a...ox-one-websites

 

Someone in the U.K. has owned the domain names XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net for nearly a year and a half now. This is hilarious.

http://www.gizgad.co...imate-xbox-gif/

 

language warning

I won't make my decision until I know basically everything about it. As of right now, I am leaning towards NOT buying it, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=46yBdG6cicA

Part of the anger being directed at Xbox One is frustration and anxiety about the lack of information, particularly in regards to DRM, rather than anything they've specifically announced, a situation not helped when the company itself 1) appears irritable to answer quite simple, if protracted or convoluted, questions about a system it created itself; and 2) seems not to have thought those answers out in any case:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RtSGFryKwo

 

I didn't think the interviewer was that good (constantly interrupted, went back on questions) but Major Nelson was bordering on rude and obnoxious with some of his responses. It's far easier, as a gamer, to put yourself in AJ's shoes, wanting to attack Microsoft, than it is to put yourself in Nelson's shoes, wanting to dismiss this as a novice YouTube journalist attempting to take gratuitous pot shots to boost his subscription count, and that's the major PR problem Microsoft have right now. Outside of a few exclusive titles announced for the Xbox One, they've allowed themselves to be portrayed, in interviews such as this for example, as "anti-gamer" by attacking what many gamers see as a fundamental right.

Now if only they could do away with the Kinect...

I'm loving the "Xbox 180" and the nuclear submarine jokes coming out after that news. :)

 

Seriously though, what happened to all that "This is the future... it's a cloud... let us take you there" bollocks?

So has this influenced anyone's decision to buy? From what I can see most everybody still has the same thoughts from the end of E3.

yes

 

now i'm buying an n-gage

I've already started ordering parts for the PC i'm building. Just because they changed the DRM bit doesn't mean they can't just change it back later. Plus the whole "focused on social media" views and whatnot is annoying. "You can share your games now like a normal person! But we still have all of this other useless crap on our over-priced console! (which is priced so because you need to buy something you don't want and probably won't ever use!)"

So apparantly they are going back on their DRM policy

 

It sounds a little too good to be true, but I guess time will tell.

It hasn't changed my plans for the next gen, and I wasn't going to buy an Xbox One in the first place. There's other issues running against it; it's also £90 more expensive that its closest rival, and the games look like they'll be astronomically priced. Given you're forced to take the Kinect along with it, I'm not sure if I'm getting a decent value for money there. The fact DRM (or lack thereof) is even an issue to be discussed remains an embarrassment for MS while neither Sony or Nintendo were interested in even entertaining the idea.

 

Yea either he was full of crap, or this announcement is reeeeeally fishy.

No, that's a good and valid point. Their whole attitude and vision at E3 was based around DRM. We had the digital games library, we had being able to share games over social networking etc.. This is clearly a pragmatic decision because they knew gamer attitude against DRM was so high, and that would have impacted on XbOne sales. Do any of us believe their vision has actually changed?

 

Not a chance.

Interesting situation. Microsoft naturally gets a cut of new games sold for their system, so I can see why they wanted to stick with it. This doesn't really deal any blow to the march of DRM though, it just puts the consoles on pretty much the same footing, so that DRM on one will be mirrored on the other since it can still be required on both. Works nicely for Microsoft and Sony who can now stand back and let the games take the heat instead of the consoles.

http://www.vg247.com...complete-story/

 

"Finally, Whitten could not give any reassurance that Microsoft will not change its policies in the future."

 

I'm calling bullhonkey on this.

Advertising purposes actually. Microsoft has a patent on something to scan your emails, texts, and browsing history while watching you with a webcam or kinect device to gauge your reaction, and feed you ads based on what it is seeing and hearing. Verizon has a patent on a cable box that does pretty much the same thing.

 

It's not likely that it is uploading anything it sees, but it's going to get pretty creepy when the TV starts feeding ads based on what you're talking about your text messages.

 

As it applies to paying attention to commercials, another patent comes to mind. Apple has one where they could lock up your iphone while it feeds you an ad, and you can't use it again until you complete some task that demonstrates you are paying attention. I am thinking something in the same vein, even simply making sure you don't leave the room for a pee break during the commercials.

And they're expecting people to pay money for that? :?

They do in Minority Report. :P

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who doesn't mind commercials to start hitting my interests. Google already takes our searches and provides ads based on them, and it's much better to see a website that I was looking at have 20% off than seeing an ad that I would have absolutely no use for.

Commercials that are tailored to your interests are fine. That's an improvement. Commercials tailored to the conversation you are having right that second are creepy, and if they advance it to making sure you pay attention, that's evil.

Don Mattrick has left Microsoft and is going to be the CEO of Zynga.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/report-xbox-president-don-mattrick-will-leave-microsoft-for-zynga/

 

Do you guys think he's predicting bad things about Xbox's future and jumped ship early?

Unlikely to having anything to do with the XBone. Moves that high up don't happen overnight, and two months ago, no one could really have predicted it would be so poorly received.

I get the feeling that he was "encouraged" to leave MS after what a disaster he started for the XBone. Oh well...