Xbox One Console Reviews

They made the mistake of launching in 49 territories.(Microsoft 13) They are still selling more then MS though.

Most websites laughed at Microsoft's launch strategy.

Why all the hate on the Xbox One

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Whether you love Battlefield 4 or despise its constant crashes and tendency to lose save files, EA wants to hear from you.

The publisher has issued a survey to members of the Battlefield 4 community which first asks players to rate the likelihood that they would recommend Battlefield 4 to a friend, then asks for a short, personalized review of the open-world, first-person shooter. There's no tangible reward for participation, though given the number of vocal Battlefield 4 detractors we've seen since the game's October debut, the chance to release all of that anger directly at the people responsible for the game should prove tempting by itself.

Despite this attempt by EA to take the pulse of its community, Battlefield 4 remains less than functional. The game's ongoing stability issues have improved since launch, but crashes and failures to connect to servers remain common. As a result of these problems, EA now finds itself the target of two class-action lawsuits alleging the publisher convinced players to purchase the unfinished game by filling its marketing materials with false and misleading information. Game Informer
 

The next chapter in the Halo franchise will come to Xbox One this year, despite being MIA from a list of the console's big 2014 games, according to Halo senior PR manager Rob Semsey.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Xbox Wire today mentioned a few 2014 titles; Halo on Xbox One not listed due to official name of the next title not announced yet.</p>&mdash; Rob Semsey (@RobSemsey) <a href="https://twitter.com/RobSemsey/statuses/420252354764480512">January 6, 2014</a></blockquote>
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https://twitter.com/RobSemsey/statuses/420252354764480512
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Rest assured your next Halo journey WILL begin in 2014. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23staycalm&amp;src=hash">#staycalm</a></p>&mdash; Rob Semsey (@RobSemsey) <a href="https://twitter.com/RobSemsey/statuses/420252431105003521">January 6, 2014</a></blockquote>
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https://twitter.com/RobSemsey/statuses/420252431105003521
The nameless Halo game was announced during E3 2013; it's expected to pick up where Halo 4 left off and incorporate cloud features.

During an interview with Polygon just before the Xbox One's launch last year, Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer said that more game announcements were yet to come. However, Spencer couldn't provide any updates on when the next-gen Halo would arrive.

Following the Xbox One's arrival, Spencer said there was no new Halo title at launch because of the team's commitment to finishing Halo 4.

The latest Halo title, top-down third-person shooter Spartan Assault, launched for Xbox One Dec. 23, 2013. For more on the game, read our review.
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They made the mistake of launching in 49 territories.(Microsoft 13) They are still selling more then MS though.

Most websites laughed at Microsoft's launch strategy.

They did, but MS knew what they were doing.. They knew where they could win..


And right now, even with the $100 disparity, and the head start, Xbox One is about to overtake PS4 in the US..
 


A Steam Machine is a PC that can do fewer things, and run fewer games, than the system you have in your home right now.

That’s the marketing challenge that’s in front of Valve and its partners, and the fact that Valve had a rare CES press conference was interesting, but there were precious few details about what the platform adds to the world of gaming.

The idea of an affordable PC that’s inside a console form factor, complete with an interesting controller, has merit. But everyone involved is doing a dismal job of explaining those merits to the press or consumers.


Valve didn’t give us a reason to care

Let’s take a look at the Steam Machines that are being shown at CES, and we’ll try to find some vision to the product line. Some are shaped like consoles, other look like standard computers, and pricing is all over the board.

Some of these systems are competitive with the pricing of the Xbox One, but the PlayStation 4’s $400 sticker is going to be much harder to hit, especially since so many options means that no one will be able to take advantage of true economy of scale. The idea that any of those can match the three million units of the Xbox One sold to date is… quaint.

This is mostly due to the fact that the SteamOS has only just launched, and it can hardly compete with the game library you’ll find on Windows. SteamOS itself, and this fact was somewhat glossed over during the press conference, is based on Linux, and only a percentage of the current Steam library is currently compatible. Why would you buy an able gaming PC only to take away a good chunk of your game selection and functionality by installing a gaming-specific OS?

It's not a rhetorical question. If you have used SteamOS and have a good answer, I'll be watching the comments. Newell may brag about the 65 million users Steam enjoys, but many of the games that brought those players to the platform won't run on SteamOS unless Linux compatibility is added by the developer. Which won't happen until the market is bigger. Which won't happen until more games are added. You see the issue.


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Most serious gamers had the same concerns about Steam itself, and now the platform controls a large, if not majority, share of PC gaming, but we’re looking at what SteamOS can do now, not what it may do in ten years. Dual booting may be interesting for curious players who want to see what the fuss is about, but a PC that is only running SteamOS makes almost no sense.

SteamOS is a good deal for Valve, of course. They get to control the platform, and they have an escape hatch if Microsoft ever tries to further lock down its own OS. As a business decision for the PC gaming company it’s a no-brainer. What they’ve failed to do is explain why it’s a good thing for us.

An exclusive would certainly help adoption, and it's an obvious solution, but Valve so far seems unwilling to lock out the massive numbers of paying PC gamers from any of its games in order to push a free OS. Keep in mind exclusives only move units if they’re both exciting and unavailable to a platform’s competitors; this is why Titanfall was such an important get for the Xbox One, and why the PC version doesn’t matter. Microsoft simply doesn’t see the PC as a competitor to the Xbox One.

Can you imagine the backlash if Valve were to release something truly interesting from its catalog of games … only to make it exclusive to SteamOS? This is an easy way to get gamers both excited and enraged about a possible Half-Life 3.

Valve can’t expect any of its partners to make that move if it’s not willing to do so itself. SteamOS will be defined by the games it can’t play until it offers any sort of advantage that Windows can’t match.

What do we want?

It’s easy to describe the platonic ideal of what a Steam Machine should be. It should be shaped like a console and offer the same ease of setup and use. It should be able to offer roughly the same amount of power as a PlayStation 4, while costing around $500.

I don’t just want to play Battlefield 4 at the fidelity the PlayStation 4 offers, I also want to be able to try early access PC hits like Starbound, as well as something as niche as the latest Twine game on a fully-functional browser. These systems should play every game available on Steam, with no exceptions, and do everything a standard computer can do in a form factor and price that puts pressure on consoles.

So far the examples of Steam Machines we’ve seen fall far short of this ideal, as does the OS itself.

Valve also missed a trick by not creating a wall-to-wall media suite for SteamOS that shames Microsoft and Sony into opening up their own offerings. Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have limited the media options from the last generation in order to lock players into limited, proprietary options for movies and music.

A PC connected to your television should ideally give you access to everything from Spotify to your own local files and everything in between. SteamOS isn’t there yet, and it may never be a priority for Valve. This is a problem for people who have working, high-quality gaming PCs: Who buys new hardware or installs software that does less than the systems you already own?

To be fair, I keep a PlayStation 3 hooked up next to my Xbox One and Playstation 4 so I can watch 3D Blu-rays with my family, so maybe it’s best you don’t answer that.

A side note: The controller is interesting, but it’s hard to have an opinion without one in my hand to try, and Valve failed to offer any details on pricing or release dates.

So the bottom line is that the Steam Machines, loaded with SteamOS, make perfect business sense for Valve, but at the present they offer a rather inoptimal deal for PC enthusiasts.

Valve’s moves seem to have lit a match under the collective butt of a few hardware manufacturers when it comes to experimenting with form factors and pricing, and that’s a good thing, but right now the best thing you can with a Steam Machine is install Windows.
 
The Division May be Delayed to 2015
An anonymous source has claimed work on the game world has barely begun.

<iframe src="http://widgets.ign.com/video/embed/content.html?url=http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/01/07/news-rumour-suggests-the-division-has-been-delayed" width="468" height="263" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Division may be delayed until 2015 according to an anonymous source from Ubisoft Massive.

Speaking to GameReactor, the source claimed that while the recently-demonstrated Snowdrop Engine that powers the game is close to completion, only a sliver of the actual world has been built.

"The game engine works well, it's not done, but works well. The actual game development has barely started, however," said the anonymous insider.


"The fact that Ubisoft has gone public with a 2014 release date feels laughable to be perfectly honest, we will never be able to release The Division this year. It's a large project, and we have very far to go."

While unconfirmed, it's certainly possible that the title may have slipped to 2015 considering the fate that's befallen other Ubisoft titles. Last year, the publisher said that upcoming racer The Crew would release in the first quarter of 2014, with The Division following towards the end of the year. Since then though, a number of setbacks have occurred

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01...+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
 
^
thats Ubisoft for you :rolleyes:

meanwhile they may as well should just change the subtitle of this to Detox..

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been reading that they have to start development again from scratch due to ppl being shook about the "domestic terrorism" storyline :smh:
 
Alien: Isolation -- Origins Dev Diary




ALIEN: Isolation...Please Don't Suck (Max Hopes & Dreams)



Alien: Isolation - Here's some lovely gameplay

 
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Might wanna reconsider that statement until more information about this is revealed. To me it sounds like they are going to charge YOU for backwards compatibility. We will see.

"We want to offer you choice when it comes to how you want to access content on PS Now, so you will be able to rent by title for specific games you are interested in. We’ll also offer a subscription that will enable you to explore a range of titles."
 
^^

Microsoft demonstrates 'Halo 4' streaming from the cloud to Windows and Windows Phones

September 26, 2013

Microsoft is building its own cloud gaming service. Company officials demonstrated a prototype of the service during an internal company meeting today. Sources familiar with the meeting revealed to The Verge that Microsoft demonstrated Halo 4 running on a Windows Phone and PC, both streaming the game from the cloud. We're told that the concept service runs smoothly on both devices, and that Microsoft has managed to reduce the latency on a Lumia 520 to just 45ms.

We understand that Microsoft is building the service as a way to stream games to its Windows devices. Microsoft's demonstration included a Windows Phone with a Xbox controller attached through an accessory, and a low-end hybrid PC. Microsoft has not yet branded the cloud games service, and officials stressed it was simply prototype at this stage. It appears to be an answer to Sony's acquisition of Gaikai's streaming technology that the company plans to use for PS3 and PS4 game streaming sometime in 2014.

Microsoft has been gradually building a cloud service for Xbox One games, but the company also hinted that it may be able to stream older games to provide backwards compatibility. Microsoft's senior director of Xbox, Albert Penello, said "it could be more complicated things like rendering full games like a Gaikai and delivering it to the box," in a recent interview with Gamespot. "We just have to figure out how, over time, how much does that cost to deliver, how good is the experience."


http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/26/4...alo-4-streaming-from-the-cloud-to-windows-and


BlackArsenic :smh:
 
^^

Microsoft demonstrates 'Halo 4' streaming from the cloud to Windows and Windows Phones

September 26, 2013

Microsoft is building its own cloud gaming service. Company officials demonstrated a prototype of the service during an internal company meeting today. Sources familiar with the meeting revealed to The Verge that Microsoft demonstrated Halo 4 running on a Windows Phone and PC, both streaming the game from the cloud. We're told that the concept service runs smoothly on both devices, and that Microsoft has managed to reduce the latency on a Lumia 520 to just 45ms.

We understand that Microsoft is building the service as a way to stream games to its Windows devices. Microsoft's demonstration included a Windows Phone with a Xbox controller attached through an accessory, and a low-end hybrid PC. Microsoft has not yet branded the cloud games service, and officials stressed it was simply prototype at this stage. It appears to be an answer to Sony's acquisition of Gaikai's streaming technology that the company plans to use for PS3 and PS4 game streaming sometime in 2014.

Microsoft has been gradually building a cloud service for Xbox One games, but the company also hinted that it may be able to stream older games to provide backwards compatibility. Microsoft's senior director of Xbox, Albert Penello, said "it could be more complicated things like rendering full games like a Gaikai and delivering it to the box," in a recent interview with Gamespot. "We just have to figure out how, over time, how much does that cost to deliver, how good is the experience."


http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/26/4...alo-4-streaming-from-the-cloud-to-windows-and


BlackArsenic :smh:


Sounds like 2nd place to me


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Xbox -- and Microsoft in general -- doesn't really show up for CES. It's not hard to understand why: for a big company like Microsoft, there's no point in competing with the cacophony of voices shouting for attention. "Whenever we want, we can talk about Xbox stuff and get coverage. Why try to talk with 100,000 other things going on?" Xbox chief product officer Marc Whitten told us in an interview this week. Though Xbox isn't here to show anything off, Whitten's in town to meet with partners and, as he put it, "It's just a good time to pop up and see an environmental scan you can get in an immediate dose." After a long 2013 head-down on the Xbox One launch, he's finally got a second to take the temperature and see the world outside of Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus.

But we're not here to ask Whitten about the past. Yes, he's "really thrilled" with the console's launch (more than 3 million sold by the end of 2013). And yes, he's very happy with the reaction from consumers. That doesn't mean work's over, of course. "There are seams in the product [XB1]. There are still seams in the 360; nothing's ever done," Whitten said. As such, first up on the fix docket is what Whitten called, "the Live experience." Essentially, that's much of the social features on the latest Xbox console. Whitten takes that stuff personally, having worked on Xbox Live as a service for the last 10 years:

"The feedback we've gotten is pretty valid; some of the social stuff is hidden or harder to use than it was on the Xbox 360. So you're gonna see us come out with an update where, well, we're going to fix those things. As a person who's been pretty involved in building Xbox Live for the last decade, I take it pretty seriously when people say it's harder to get into a party, and the defaults aren't right, and I don't like the model. So what I'm trying to do with the team is kind of theme some stuff up. Let's take an update and really go through a big list of what we're hearing from customers, what we know is broken with the architecture, areas that we want to improve or complete. I think that's a theme you'll really see us push on -- that Live experience."


Based on our conversation with Whitten, it sounds like those Live fixes are coming sooner than later. Promised game-streaming functionality, however, may not be coming as quickly. "This is not 100 percent," Whitten prefaced his statement with. "But my general strategy at E3 is to talk about things that are gonna happen from that E3 to the next E3. So, we are not yet to the next E3," he added with a smile. So, uh, before June then!

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Updates in general, though, will come much faster. While Whitten said we'll still see the traditional large Dashboard updates, the Xbox One was designed around lessons learned from the 360 before it. One major facet of that design facilitates more regular updates. "The Xbox 360, which I'm still very, very proud of, the software architecture was built in 2003. Rethinking [updates] based on everything we learned from 360 was a lot of what went into the Xbox One," he told us. "You're still gonna see the big, 'Hey, here's the cool stuff we're doing.' But you're also gonna see the box just get better faster than you did in the past."

First up on that front? "Everything from getting more apps out faster, some of the TV stuff -- improving some of that, getting the scale of that internationally where we don't have some of that. So I think you're gonna see that come pretty quickly," Whitten said.

The next big push for Microsoft's Xbox One starts by March's Game Developers Conference. As it turns out, the Xbox One gets its first major exclusive game that month in Titanfall as well. And hey, if you ask us, there's serious incentive for Microsoft to have partying up perfected in time for Respawn Entertainment's big game.
 
it's retarded that you have to turn party chat on to start chatting... why the fuck do u think I joined to party in the first place for???
 
it's retarded that you have to turn party chat on to start chatting... why the fuck do u think I joined to party in the first place for???

I think they did that for people using Kinect as a Mic, so they have a way to mute the chat if need be..


Some people don't even know Kinect is recording game chat when its connected tho.. You wouldn't believe the shit I've in game chat from people unaware Kinect is broadcasting what going on in their house...
 

It’s important to remember that most of the people complaining about the "small" size of Titanfall's 6-on-6 player count have never played the game, and many are suffering from a lack of understanding of what Titanfall is and what it’s trying to do.

I can't speak to the game's launch or the overall package that will be offered when it's released in March, but I've played Titanfall for a number of rounds at a number of events, and the game is amazing. It plays just as well as it looks, and it looks much better than most of its competition.

There's a reason why other developers and industry folks lined up before and after the PAX show floor was open in order to play. The game is special.

Part of the reason the game is special is that everyone in a match gets to feel like a hero. There are NPCs to harvest and second objectives to worry about, and everyone has access to a Titan.

So it's not just 12 players running around each map trying to win each match; it can be up to 12 mechs doing the same or, more likely, a combination of infantry and Titans mixing it up. The game already feels busy, well-balanced and hectic. You get the sense of being in a much larger conflict. The sense of scope that you're worried about losing is more effective in Titanfall than it is in games with twice the player count.



People are also used to the fact that it takes human players to fill a game, and it takes a bit for another interesting fact to sink in: The Titans themselves are characters. They don't sit idly by if you're not inside of the hulking beasts; you can place them in an important area and have them guard that point on the map.

The Titan will patrol a small area and engage targets as needed. Or you can tell the Titan to simply follow you around, firing at enemies as they appear. Suddenly you have 24 "characters" on each map, blowing the living hell out of everything in sight. Titanfall has a flow and feel that is different from most games of its ilk, so judging the player count based on how you play games like Battlefield or Call of Duty is pure folly.

We complain that gaming is filled with releases that all look alike, and then we complain when something comes along that changes that formula. Six-versus-six combat in Titanfall isn't nerfed, it isn't small and it sure as heck isn't limited. It's the game that Respawn set out to make, and it's important to either wait to play it before judging, or take the word of someone who has already played it: It's amazing.

This is going to be a big release, and if it works as advertised at launch, EA and Respawn will have a massive hit on their hands. The player count is right where it needs to be.
 
polygon


NBA 2K14 review update two 5.0


During the time I spent playing NBA 2K14 on PS4 for review, it was playable online with a bit of lag, although The Park was broken until a post-release patch. I had no other issues with connectivity in the main modes: MyCareer, MyGM and MyTeam. But since December 26, the game has been plagued with connectivity issues, visual bugs and crashes that have persisted on both PS4 and Xbox One, despite assurances from 2K Sports on multiple occasions that developer Visual Concepts had resolved certain problems.

Chief among the issues is downtime for the 2K Sports servers. MyTeam is an always-online mode because players' collections of digital cards are stored in the cloud, so server downtime leaves MyTeam completely inaccessible. I've been unable to enter the MyTeam mode on a number of occasions over the past few weeks; after another attempted fix this week, I successfully loaded the mode but was stymied by server issues when I tried to do anything.

MyCareer and MyGM are not technically always-online modes. But they are always-online by default because they use VC, the in-game currency; NBA 2K14 verifies save games with 2K's servers to make sure players aren't using exploits to get additional VC. The modes are still playable when the servers are down, but players can't continue with their existing save files; they must start from scratch with a new offline save game. I haven't had issues with MyCareer or MyGM myself, but I've seen dozens of reports of problems from other players.

Other issues are being reported in the 2K Forums and in tweets to the 2K Support account. Users on PS4 and Xbox One are suffering crashes to the console dashboard, as well as an inability to play private TeamUp multiplayer games with more than two people. (2K said a fix for the latter problem, at least, is coming in a future patch.) Odd visual glitches are also present in the MyCareer loading screen.

NBA 2K14's reliance on VC means that online connectivity is deeply integrated into the game, which makes it a problem that the servers are unreliable. The game isn't completely unplayable, but MyCareer, MyGM and MyTeam are its main single-player modes — that's where players spend the bulk of their time. And considering all the problems players are experiencing, it's tough to recommend playing the game at the risk of losing all progress.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/10/1/4791876/nba-2k14-review-throw-it-down#review_update_5057299
 
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