News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

[Cyan]

Couple more random things:
- Someone asked about controller navigation: It's pretty good, honestly. The two features that aren't great without voice are snap and "record that". Also managing friends is tedious, but voice doesn't help there.
- The calibration is -great-. Run it. I had no idea how bad the calibration on my TV was. It's night and day having run through it. Only one of the post-processing options actually made things better instead of worse (really helped the blacks at high contrast). Never noticed that my TV's IQ has sucked for the last 5 years.
- Voice chat is really clear on the XB1, but the mix it comes with is worse than the 360 one. Alas.
- Killer Instinct is crazy. The Dojo mode is one of the best ideas I've ever seen in a fighter. I still suck, but massive kudos to the team for building such a great learning tool.
- The impulse trigger help Forza, but I'm still not sold on wheel-less racing
- Dead rising starts rough, but I like where it's going. The number of zombies onscreen is just incredible. Much like DR1 was a post child for last Gen in terms of character count, DR3 does it for this gen. A really solid technical accomplishment.

I mostly agree with you. There are still rough edges, of course -see Nesh' post in a different thread-, but they took steps in the right direction.

I am sure they won't remove the Kinect and its functionalities, now it can make games potentially better and if they ditch the Kinect I am done with Xbox. It was my first console ever but the games gain +1 -or more- score point with it enabled. No need to flail around to enjoy it either.

It's not that I would leave the Xbox forever but the disappointment would be enormous.

 

[Tap In]

After all the talk about how voice would never supersede a controller...... no, it does...not hunting pecking searching backing out and around.... just say what you want and there it is.

Love being in middle of game and telling the game commands for that game, love having hands on controller and telling xbox to turn up/mute/down on volume etc...

Said xbox turn off in the middle of a game last night and woke up said xbox on, it started my entertainment system and when i said go to game, it went instantly to where I was in the game last night.... wow wow

 

[AzBat]

Loving all the feedback on everybody's experiences. The reason I call this place home. Thanks guys!

Tommy McClain

 

[Silent_Buddha]

After all the talk about how voice would never supersede a controller...... no, it does...not hunting pecking searching backing out and around.... just say what you want and there it is.

Love being in middle of game and telling the game commands for that game, love having hands on controller and telling xbox to turn up/mute/down on volume etc...

Said xbox turn off in the middle of a game last night and woke up said xbox on, it started my entertainment system and when i said go to game, it went instantly to where I was in the game last night.... wow wow

Yup, friend of mine was telling everyone he knows about how cool it was to control his Xbox One in the entertainment room from his Den/office using voice commands. He was using it primarily while playing music, but said he could turn it on and off from another room. Change volume, change tracks, change artist, etc.

He's almost 50 years old but is acting like a little kid with a new toy. It's quite amusing to watch.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

I can't get it to work with my htpc. It will work when I'm in the desktop but once I put media center o. It glitches up and stops working.

 

[RobertR1]

Got my AV setup cable > XB1 > AVR > TV. turn on turns it all on. turn off turns it all off. It actually works every time.

I'm still finding it hard to believe that it does work everytime.

The voice command database is massive so it'll take some getting used to but I've been trying to "break" or slow down system by going full blown ADD and it hasn't had a hiccup once.

My biggest advice to people. Hit the old "start" button in different areas. It'll bring up a sub menu specific to that app/feature/service.

The UI is very deep, if you need it to be. WHen I first saw demos and with it's likeness to metro, I figured they'd try to hide everything but there's a lot of details present.

edit: http://xbox.tumblr.com/image/67814676204 cheat sheet for voice commands.

 

[Jwm]

My oldest is loving Zoo Tycoon, and "Record that" (he is 8).

I have run Media Center from the 360 into the X1, and this actually works well enough for me to be happy with. It does let me pause, rewind, skip, etc with voice on recorded content. The only thing I have to do is use an old controller or smartglass to navigate the media center menus. I have not tried running directly to the PC yet.

Volume Up and Down voice commands are EPIC! As is mute.

 

[function]

You have to design for your audience. I'm working on an app (snakes game for kids), and I've been tweaking the input for two weeks now finding something that works with the people who use it, having to factor in multiple transparent input methods to produce something they all like. If it doesn't 'work' from their POV, they'll give up. If you have to explain something to people, you have a weak design. It's a tragic state of affairs when humanity has become so lazy it cannot adapt to anything with any degree of brain power, but that's the commercial world XB1 is launching into. Relying on a training period for a feature will no doubt alienate a lot of customers who just can't be arsed.

In the same way games no longer have manuals for people to read, but in-game training, XB1 would need a training programme and to build up experience and understanding in a subtle way. If it just presents words on screen for people to say, people will assume just saying the words in their natural voice will be enough, and without prompts saying, "too fast, too slow, not clear enough - pronounce your consonants," people won't understand why it doesn't work and just think it's no good.

All of these are excellent points, and you are of course right.

My big worry (annoyance?) is that before anything like touch or voice became mainstream on phones/tablets there were products that had to push into the market. iPod touch and Siri were several generations in, and rode on the back of other innovators. I hate missing out on cool new stuff because of mouth-breathing techno-plebeians ... especially when said cool new stuff is actually quite workable and fun with a little effort.

On top of that, and a problem with at least some of the Kinect 2 coverage, is that you have "tech-bloggers" who should know better just barking random shit, quickly, at poorly or un-calibrated devices without going through the trainer.

Kinect isn't there yet, but it's too good to just dismiss or ditch. And there will always be a learning curve even if the devices flexibility and intelligence can be improved (and I'm sure it can). After all, you have to wait for transitions and tap semi-accurately even on an ipad.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

On top of that, and a problem with at least some of the Kinect 2 coverage, is that you have "tech-bloggers" who should know better just barking random shit, quickly, at poorly or un-calibrated devices without going through the trainer.

I saw a Machinima piece on the Xbox One that commented on the voice recognition. They said that as long as they spoke calmly at a normal speaking volume accuracy was fantastic. But that as soon as you start yelling at it or speaking too fast then it starts to have problems.

And in their experience since it works so flawlessly most of the time you just don't think about it and start to take it for granted. Then when it misses a command they couldn't believe it and got slightly annoyed and that's when they'd start trying to say the commands louder with a different inflection at which point accuracy fell off, which made the more annoyed and so they'd start to yell at it which just means it wasn't going to recognize it.

But as soon as they just calmed down and issued the commands in a regular voice, it happily recognized all their voice commands again.

I'm guessing that's part of why it worked so well for us yesterday and for my friend today (haven't been over there yet today). We never yelled at it or spoke too fast or did anything to try to mess it up.

Point being the Xbox One is a delicate flower that will ignore you if you yell at it.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

still can't get it to work with my htpc but I think the Kinect is adapting to me... or I it. Commands are much better than when I started using it

 

[Cyan]

Got my AV setup cable > XB1 > AVR > TV. turn on turns it all on. turn off turns it all off. It actually works every time.

I'm still finding it hard to believe that it does work everytime.

The voice command database is massive so it'll take some getting used to but I've been trying to "break" or slow down system by going full blown ADD and it hasn't had a hiccup once.

My biggest advice to people. Hit the old "start" button in different areas. It'll bring up a sub menu specific to that app/feature/service.

The UI is very deep, if you need it to be. WHen I first saw demos and with it's likeness to metro, I figured they'd try to hide everything but there's a lot of details present.

edit: http://xbox.tumblr.com/image/67814676204 cheat sheet for voice commands.

Same here, it turns off and on my TV, which is the only device I connected it to.

Thanks for the picture, I saved it to my hard drive for quick reference.

My oldest is loving Zoo Tycoon, and "Record that" (he is 8).

I have run Media Center from the 360 into the X1, and this actually works well enough for me to be happy with. It does let me pause, rewind, skip, etc with voice on recorded content. The only thing I have to do is use an old controller or smartglass to navigate the media center menus. I have not tried running directly to the PC yet.

Volume Up and Down voice commands are EPIC! As is mute.

That's the voice command I was trying to figure out. I said Xbox Volume several times, nothing happened. Then I said Xbox Increase Volume, several times too, and then I said Xbox Decrease Volume, but it didn't work.

Now I know why. I will test it tomorrow, this has been a very long night of gaming for me and I turned off the console -and the TV switched off at the same time- already.

 

[Cyan]

Some more quick impressions about the console.

I'd wholeheartedly recommend people to give Killer Instinct a go.

It is an incredible game. There are crazy amounts of particles flying around...

The music and the sound are gorgeous. It is a very musical game, in fact. If you are moving the cursor in the pause menus different notes start to sound. The full game is 20€.

You can't miss with this game and Forza 5. Forza 5 looks absolutely beautiful on a well calibrated TV -I shall give brief impressions on the game in the pertinent thread-.

As for the console and after having it for more than 24 hours, if Microsoft do fine I actually think they might be on to a winner here. :smile2:

 

[bkilian]

:smile: Seriously though, this comment completely maimed and dismantled one of my favourite Kinect 1 myths.

I used to show off about the Kinect and brag about it with my family and friends telling them that the console recognised your voice with it, in an individual manner. And using voice commands to show people how amazing it was.

Additionally, I also remember when my brother during one of my demonstrations tried to say things to Kinect to see if it worked for him too, and I told him "No, no, you can't talk to it, it only recognises my voice. In order to talk to it and for it to recognise only YOU, you need to pass a test for perfect voice recognition". Sigh...

I even completed the test every time that I moved the Kinect around -sometimes when moving it even less than 10 centimetres-, thinking it was essential.

I haven't tried to test it with a guitar but now that you mention it, certainly blowing my own trumpet because of it worked.

Still... now that I know the truth I feel odd, but it's my consolation to think that for me it worked and people thought the same during the demonstrations.

Oh, the technology absolutely has the ability to do voiceprinting and only listen to the authorized user. It just never went past the proof-of-concept stage. The technical hurdles would have required a major engineering undertaking, and the success rate wasn't stellar. As you guys have noticed, even with a success rate above 90% which the Kinect 1 had for english, and the Kinect 2 is certainly better, you _really_ notice the misses.

We could reliably detect the difference between sets of identical twins (and for some reason, the XBox org has a ton of these), but people change their voices too much when they get in the heat of the moment, so it would fail when you most needed it.

 

[dumbo11]

Since it's in the wild, I assume people will/won't have noticed this?
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/xbox-50hz-201311233468.htm

Basically the XB1 always outputs at 60hz, so if you are watching a 50hz PAL broadcast - it has a minor judder effect. The article claims it's noticeable.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That's how they solved it, which was predictable IMO (I even said as much ).

 

[RenegadeRocks]

After all the talk about how voice would never supersede a controller...... no, it does...not hunting pecking searching backing out and around.... just say what you want and there it is.

Love being in middle of game and telling the game commands for that game, love having hands on controller and telling xbox to turn up/mute/down on volume etc...

Said xbox turn off in the middle of a game last night and woke up said xbox on, it started my entertainment system and when i said go to game, it went instantly to where I was in the game last night.... wow wow

It keeps the game state even after full power down?

 

[bkilian]

It keeps the game state even after full power down?

Turn off goes to standby, which maintains the RAM, it is like sleep on a PC.

 

[Jogi]

Since it's in the wild, I assume people will/won't have noticed this?
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/xbox-50hz-201311233468.htm

Basically the XB1 always outputs at 60hz, so if you are watching a 50hz PAL broadcast - it has a minor judder effect. The article claims it's noticeable.

Oh that's bad and sad.. that voids any tv use through x1 for me I'm quite sensitive for that kind of judder...like watching bluray videos before my TV had real 24hz support.

 

[Jogi]

And how about 24hz support for bluray and 50hz support for euro dvd playback? If 60hz is all we get then x1 is useless for bluray & dvd..

 

[Cyan]

And how about 24hz support for bluray and 50hz support for euro dvd playback? If 60hz is all we get then x1 is useless for bluray & dvd..

24Hz support can be enabled. There is a box you can tick to use it within the Disc & Blu-Ray section of the system settings.

From Eurogamer's article:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-xbox-one-hardware-test

60Hz isn't offered as an option, I think. On the Xbox 360 it was there, although it was weirdly implemented.

If you had a X360 and you chose a display resolution or selected a new one, the console showed a message telling you that 50Hz was enabled, and asked the user if the image was displayed correctly.

If you replied Yes, then 50 Hz was enabled -making some games judder, btw-, and if you chose No as a reply -as if telling the console the image wasn't displayed correctly- the console was set to 60Hz.

I always thought it would be easier then to let people select their preferred refresh rate by explicitly offering a 50Hz and a 60Hz option separately, but that was how you enabled 60Hz on the Xbox 360.

As for the Xbox One, the interface is very promising, but it is certainly maturing, and it shows.