GameCentral readers give their reaction to the unveiling of the Xbox One and the weeklong series of rumours and revelations.
There’s no news bigger in the gaming world than a new console but Microsoft really made the headlines with Tuesday’s reveal of the Xbox One, although not necessarily for the right reasons. We wanted to know what people thought of the announcements, and how they stack up against the PlayStation 4.
In return we had more responses than for almost any other Hot Topic we’ve run, and almost every single one was negative. With the damaging news stories still coming in Microsoft is going to have to have the mother of all E3 events to make up for this public relations disaster…
Soon to be forgotten
Is it just me or is the level of negativity being spouted towards the Xbox One at this stage a bit OTT? I understand the criticism towards the unveiling, and yes Microsoft haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory in terms of the features and benefits they’ve shown do far. But this is the first time the console has seen light of day and to be writing obituaries at this point seems ludicrous. All console unveilings ever do anyway, is throw up unanswered questions the spin doctors are not prepared to answer this early on.
With that in mind I personally am prepared to remain open-minded and give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt. At the end of the day whether Microsoft admit it or not, the thing is going to live and die by its games. Once they start being announced and dropping in numbers, people will get on board and nobody will remember any of this.
Nizzer
From zero to hero
I was initially quite impressed with the Xbox One reveal, graphics looked like what I expected and with all this TV stuff I guess it’s going to be connected all the time so that’s really not a massive point with me. Now what they tried to sneak out the back with this second-hand game, pay twice nonsense is an absolute deal breaker for me.
As people have started to point out, if Microsoft are doing this then no doubt Sony will follow suit, no doubt encouraged by EA, what with their recent disposal of the online pass. I feel that the actual winner this next gen could in fact be Nintendo, who just by allowing used games could canter to a huge victory.
WINdiana Jones (gamertag – soon to be dumped too I foresee)
Corporate before indie
My initial thoughts about the Xbox One were that the complaints about online and second hand games weren’t an issue for me and probably wouldn’t affect as many of the naysayers as they would have us believe. However, the news about indie developers being sidelined is a huge concern.
I do wonder though if the potential blocking of second-hand games has helped Microsoft secure a higher proportion of exclusive deals, in the knowledge that these are what often drives consumers to choose one console over another? Publishers might be more inclined to give an exclusivity deal if they know they will be getting more revenue from that console. I guess we will have to wait and see what they reveal in the time up to the launch.
JRE
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
Canned whooping
It’s funny, prior to Microsoft’s press event on Tuesday I was reading an article on CVG about the making of the original Xbox. Apparently one of the reasons Bill Gates was a big supporter of the concept was born out of his desire to get a Windows device in every living room, and the original ‘Direct X Box’ was supposed to be a Windows device until about a year into the process they realised they really needed a dedicated operating system for the project to work.
Fast forward thirteen years and watching some clips from the presentation that talk about its multitasking capabilities and its ability to instantly switch between application (which was genuinely impressive), I was sat there thinking ‘Bill may have finally got his wish’.
However, I agree with GC’s assessment that Microsoft completely and utterly misunderstood their audience for the presentation. They had the thing streaming on Xbox Live and online, with many dedicated games news sites picking up on the stream also – of course the majority of the viewers were going to be gamers.
I understand they have E3 to talk about the games, but really what was the point of streaming the presentation at all if that was the case? They should have saved this event for a trade show. Oh and the incessant hollering and whooping (which blatantly came from Microsoft employees) at every little detail to try and make it seem exciting was just pathetic and utterly irritating.
DaJ
GC: The majority of the whooping was coming from people standing out of sight of the cameras, behind the seated audience. We don’t know who they were but they didn’t seem to be journalists.
One thing
I have only one thing to say about the Xbox One. Microsoft you have messed up.
RyokoSparda
What games?
Someone has to be the voice of reason here, even if I don’t know any more than anyone else. All the PR people being interviewed have had questions thrown at them that they haven’t been given a prepared answer for and they know if they go off script they will probably get fired.
They have said you can play games offline and if you can install and play a game offline then there is no way to check if the game has been used. The two must go hand-in-hand and that is the question they are dodging. I can only assume this is all being done on purpose to keep us talking about the console and not the games.
simon ellse
About those pre-owned games…
People moaned when at the PlayStation 4 reveal there was no console on show. Now Microsoft show their system people still moaned about it. And I wonder if Microsoft had just made a dedicated games system, how many people would have complained it lacked features essential for today’s world.
In looking at the design I think they have tried to combine something that looks old school whilst trying to look very modern. I will say though I think the controller looks superb and as for games I will reserve judgement until after E3. So long as it plays the pre-owned as well I will buy one.
steve c
You don’t need to see their identification
This is not the Xbox your looking for… move along!
Clumpy Rhino
Hardware matters
I’ve got attention deficit disorder so I always find myself switching to TV stations while playing games, unfortunately I am morbidly obese so really hate having to reach for my remote control. I hate suspense, so when watching films like The Usual Suspects I do like so be able to search the web to find out what’s going to happen, I can’t use my smart phone for that because with my ADD I am busy playing Angry Birds at the same time so a machine that lets me watch movies and search the Internet, perfection!
Sometimes (most times) while on the phone I forget who I am talking to and tend to carry a photo album around with me so I can stare at the person I’m talking to at all times. Finally some genius has solved this problem for me also. With all these features that where announced (before any actual games!) I’m reminded of a Simpsons line: ‘Lisa Simpson, Springfield’s answer to a question nobody asked’.
As for the second-hand games issue, if it was a continuation of the online pass I wouldn’t mind too much if it was just to keep servers open but it’s not. For people trying to argue that they have no problem with it because the developers deserve to make money from game sales, they already have when the game was sold the first time, the game belongs to me now. When installing the game if it allowed me to nominate some friends who would also be able to play my copy of the game on their system. i.e. still be able to lend/borrow games I could live with that but I am not optimistic they plan to go that way.
The saying on here for a long time has been ‘The hardware doesn’t matter, it’s the games that make a system a success’. From what we have seen so far, this could be the exception to the rule!
Rankmed
Control issue
While I am a long term Xbox owner I have reservations about jumping in and buying an Xbox One upon initial release due to the fact that we don’t really know much about it at this stage. However, I am still loathed to potentially buy a PlayStation 4 as the main problem I have with all previous PlayStations is how awful the controller is. I hated it when the original PlayStation came out and I still hate it now. For me the controller is everything and since the PlayStation 4 has no changes to its controller…
DjKj (gamertag)
GC: The DualShock 4 does have several changes, although no one’s been able to try one yet in public.
xbOX One – it’s not all gravy!
Wow, what a mess! Plenty to talk about though! Console reveals rarely do anything for me – you’re as likely to see a tech demo as an actual game – and I tend to look forward to Nintendo’s the most, just to see what random control method they’re going to introduce. Microsoft’s however, was interesting for all the wrong reasons!
Let’s start with the name: Xbox One. I suppose it’s in keeping with America’s random numbering system. After all, don’t they refer to the current generation as ‘Gen 4′? And with a name like Xbox One/Won they’d better hope that it finishes on top. In terms of aesthetics, it’s not the prettiest ‘console’ I’ve ever seen. It should however, fill that eighties VCR-shaped crater under my television.
Xboxes are infamous for their reliability (or lack of) and the power demands for this beast must be huge. An entertainment system in every living room has the potential to receive much more attention than a console, so unless Microsoft have improved their design and manufacturing process the negative press and cost of replacing all that hardware could be disastrous.
I’m always fascinated by the juxtaposition between how people on the inside view things compared to the rest of us. It’s all well and good wanting to create a device to go in every living room around the world, but is this the way to go about it? Microsoft can’t have forgotten that consoles have become big business due to gamers, so to marginalise them while at the same time expecting a non-gamer to fork out around £400 for a device that… let’s you watch television? I still don’t understand.
I’ve never used Kinect, but I guarantee that I can change the channel to ITV2+1 faster with a remote control than I can say it out loud (with Kinect able to understand and respond). We need a proper explanation of how this system works, otherwise it will lead to randomly changing channels during conversation. It will certainly revolutionise the battle for the remote!
The Internet requirements still need to be explained. If the console needs to connect once a day, what do you do when you’re on holiday: ‘While I’m away, would you mind babysitting the Xbox for me? And stay away from my bins!’ Playing games on another console is also an issue. It appears that you’re able to play your games at a friend’s – logging into your personal account – but what about borrowing games? Presumably it won’t be possible for more than one person to log into the same account at once?
Backwards compatibility and second-hand sales are less of a concern for me, personally. I only purchased an Xbox 360 earlier this year, prefer to buy my games brand new and rarely sell them upon completion. Perhaps we should petition the government to subpoena Microsoft? Maybe then we’ll get some answers.
As ever, it’s the games that matter most – but these were in short supply. Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts received the most airtime. There was a heavy emphasis on emotion and feeling a connection to the characters. They’ve even enlisted an Oscar-winning screenwriter to help them! All that effort though, on portraying emotion and building a new graphics engine and yet they still fail to recreate one of the most important human features – the eyes.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul, but if that’s true then Call Of Duty’s characters must be dead inside. My grandpappy’s glass eye looks more convincing. Even after that time it fell out during Sunday dinner. Developers will recreate a flange in painstaking detail, but they still can’t do the eyes. Got to love that dog, though! Just be careful with those sticks of dynamite.
It’s strange. The thing I find myself most excited about – and excited I am – is how this story is going to pan out. From the underprepared, ill-informed representatives contradicting one another, to the controversy of not addressing any of the main concerns gamers had beforehand, all the while focusing on new consumers that probably couldn’t care less about Xbox – I’m fascinated! This one’s got legs, that’s for certain.
The one ray of light was the promise of 15 first party games in the first year, eight of which will be new franchises. I suspect a fair few of those will be Kinect-based and that we’ll also be treated to whatever dross Rare are churning out these days, but hopefully there will be two or three AAA titles somewhere amongst them to get us excited.
So overall then, not a great showing from Microsoft, throwing up more questions than answers. E3 was always going to be the main platform for showcasing the Xbox One’s line-up, but Sony’s game-heavy reveal is looking more shrewd by the second. Microsoft will need to have an absolutely stonking E3 at this rate, but they’ve left themselves an awful lot of ground to make up already!
Renaissance Man
A few issues
I’m really trying to get my head around all this negativity surrounding the Xbox One. I mean apart from not having Xbox Live Arcade, lack of backwards compatibility, worse graphics than the PlayStation 4, and looking like my old DVD combie I had ten years ago its… err. It’s rubbish isn’t it!!
Avant Aklu
Five positives
First of all I would just like to say I’m no fanboy. I have owned Nintendo, Sega, both Xboxes, two Playstations, and currently don’t have the Internet.
I watched the livestream on a relative’s computer and my first thoughts are this is not a games console. Call me old fashioned but I buy games consoles (the clue’s in the name) for games. What Microsoft showed was a Windows media centre. It reminded me of the PC media centres electronics shops were trying to sell donkeys years ago. Scarily there are various similarities because they were huge, looked ridiculous for a living room,and went down with the public like a lead balloon.
Then we get the news that you need an Internet connection, not 24/7 but still a connection otherwise it’s as much use as a brick. They are assuming everybody has the Internet. Now indie developers are walking away and I will tell you that when I did have the Internet I bought more indie games recently than anything else. In my opinion indies are making some of the best games and all on a shoestring putting some multi-million budget games to shame. It shows how tired Call Of Duty 20 has become when the most innovative gameplay idea is it’s got a (wait for it) dog. Oh, I nearly forgot the fish can now swim out of the way when you get close.
There are quite a few positives though:
1. The names very fitting because there is not One thing that interests me about it.
2. The horizons looking much rosier for Nintendo and Sony. At least until Sony also announce they
have the same second-hand unlock fee.
3. There is plenty of scope for slim, super slim and super duper slim versions. Looking at the size
of the beast it will take three hardware revisions for that to even get close to acceptable for a set-top box.
4. Microsoft are going to eat their own words, let’s see how they ‘deal with it’. As in let’s see how
they deal with all the customers they are about to lose.
5. The music was quite good as the timer was ticking down for the start of the presentation and
the livestream quality was quite good.
Kris
A pox on both your houses
I just can’t get too bothered about the Xbox one or PlayStation 4. If they don’t make what I want to buy I won’t give them my cash. Console makers come and go. Atari, Sega, etc., etc.
I don’t want an always-on HD night vision camera in my living room. I don’t need an expensive TV remote and I don’t like paying full price for games with DRM restrictions on the free use of a product that I own.
Assuming that I am not unique, if Microsoft or Sony can’t give the public what they really want to buy and fail, someone else will come along. There is too much money to be made in the games industry for a vacuum to exist for too long. After all it is all about the games, isn’t it?
Paulvw (PSN ID)
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Perfect storm
I’ve kept an open mind as to which platforms I’d go with at each console generation, but have gone for Sony and Nintendo for the last few generations. This time around I was quite ready to consider the Xbox if they could show off some games or technology that interested me.
Well, after enduring their reveal conference for an hour I can happily confirm that they couldn’t have done a better job of putting me off completely. I’m not a big watcher of television and, thanks to owning a PVR, I haven’t watched live TV for months, so all their talk about TV and the unification of TV with consoles is of no interest to me whatsoever.
The games they demonstrated didn’t fair much better either. I’ve not played any of EA’s sports titles for years, and even if I did they’re not exclusive to the Microsoft platform. Forza Motorsport 5 and Quantum Break might interest me, but as both were shown without the use of in-game footage then I can’t really say.The final 20 minutes of the conference was just a big advert for Call Of Duty: Ghosts and it was notable that the developers didn’t once refer to the Xbox One and instead only spoke about ‘next gen’. Therefore everything that they had to say applies equally to the PlayStation 4. I’m also not a big player of online multiplayer games, so even the introduction of a comedy dog couldn’t get me that excited about Call Of Duty anyway.
If that was the end of the story then I could maybe just put it down to a bad reveal and see what they had in store for E3, but Microsoft’s actions since the reveal beggar belief. In the run-up to the reveal it was clear that gamers had serious concerns about the rumours relating to second-hand sales and mandatory connections to the Internet. I fully expected Microsoft to use the opportunity to allay those concerns, but they seem to have actually gone out of their way to exacerbate the problem by not speaking about the issues directly and leaving their execs to comment with little coordination while the rumourmill churns away.
Everything that they’ve said so far points to an attitude that brings no benefit to the consumer whatsoever. Despite living in the suburbs of the country’s second city I have a truly appalling Internet connection that I can do nothing about, so any console that relies upon it will be a non-starter for me. I don’t copy games or even sell them second-hand, but I strongly object to things like online passes and DRM that restrict the ways I can choose to play the games I’ve bought, so any console that builds such things into its core functionality is never going to get my money.
My big concern now is that Sony will do something similar, but just haven’t come clean about it yet. If that’s the case then I’ll be sticking with my Wii U for the next generation.
Stever (PSN ID)/b0bb1ns (Nintendo ID/Steam ID)
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
If you need quick access to the GameCentral channel page please use: www.metro.co.uk/games
