News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

[Rangers]

And the delta in performance between multiplat games on 360 and PS3 was marginal, for the most part, after a few years.

I don't see how PC graphics cards are relevant. You seem to be saying that the difference in consoles doesn't matter because PCs crush both!?! If you care THAT much about graphics, consoles are an afterthought. May as well spend that money on an upgrade.

Ahh the never ending argument..."If you really care about graphics, you'll be on PC anyway". I guess it only changes which side uses it

He doesn't have to, he just needs to know which one is "the best at graphics". The word is out on that one, and it's only going to get stronger.

But he heard PS3 was stronger than 360, then he looked at the games that gen and noticed 360 looked just as good. He's probably confused and takes such things with a grain of salt, and or assumes all Sony/MS consoles are essentially the same power despite reports

I'm arguing against this but i actually pretty much agree with you. I think a big part of PS4's early edge has been it's power edge. Even if the average consumer cant see it, they hear about it.

One of the reasons it worked, is because it was (partly) true. On the last legs of it's life MP games are equal and the difference was very very rarely so bad as it is between the XB1 and PS4. We even have a few that just edges ahead of the 360. Sony played it smart, they had 1st party games that looked fantastic and could blame the developers for not using "the powers of the cell". The message was muddy thanks to that.

It wasn't as bad but for example in many cases there was a resolution deficiency against PS3, the very thing One is getting raked over the coals for.

So there may have been a common knowledge last gen that the best machine for MP games was the 360, but it was not as strong as it's going to be during this round (imho). And Sony had several tricks to offset the "weakness".

Basically agreed, at least that was public perception. I dont know that it was fair.

I am in the nothing is impossible camp, and i am certain that we will see some extraordinary 1st party games from Microsoft. But i am just as certain that it will be very very hard to shake off that expensive and slow feeling they are getting into. They will need to play cards like Sony did.. free multiplayer would be a great upset. In my book they are so behind on points that they will have to do something.

Yes it would be bizarre if MS ended up with the better looking exclusives this gen. In some cases I think some indications early actually pointed that way. It could be technically possible if the ESRAM is really great, but multiplatforms wont really use the ESRAM in cutting edge ways...

Price cuts on Xbox One though. That's really all you can say. It may take a few months...maybe sooner or later depending if Titanfall moves the needle. I feel safe saying you can forget free multiplayer. I doubt it really helped PS3 that much. If anything, put that money into lower upfront hardware costs. Better to sell a 299 Xbox One, than give away four years free online but keep the price 499. The former will do much better.

 

[Rangers]

So, Target (second largest USA retailer) is giving away a $50 gift card with purchase of Xbox One (just for this week)

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/327400-target-buy-an-xbox-one-get-a-50-gc/

And Wal Mart.com giving away a free game of your choice from a selection of BF4, COD Ghosts, NBA 2K, or Madden 25 with purchase of Xbox One

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-One-...gMethod=Recommendation:wm:RecentlyViewedItems

I guess the first hints of retailers getting aggressive, likely aided by Microsoft.

I think a great no brainer idea, the least they can do before the real price cut, is pack in Kinect Sports Rivals. It actually looks pretty darn good graphically, it's family friendly, showcases Kinect and all that...

Sure it wont really move the needle but it's a no brainer imo as soon as it releases in April.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Good point, I wasn't thinking about the differences bw OpenGL and DirectX. Both GPUs are GCN tech, hence my original comment. Although I would be willing to bet that it is more likely we'll see Sony development get closer to the metal. Atleast if Corrine Yu's twitter comments are to believed.

What would get really interesting, and which I really doubt will happen, is if both ended up supporting Mantle as API. True like for like!

 

[Scott_Arm]

...

If they read their own Xbox Support stuff they would know game sounds don't play through the wired headsets, out of boredom I took a test on it one night.

The headset adapter will allow any headset with a 3.5mm jack to get stereo game audio as well as the chat audio. That's what Brad is saying. When the details came out, it was reported everyone as being only chat audio unless you had the official Xbox headset, but that is not true.

 

[Jwm]

So, Target (second largest USA retailer) is giving away a $50 gift card with purchase of Xbox One (just for this week)

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/327400-target-buy-an-xbox-one-get-a-50-gc/

And Wal Mart.com giving away a free game of your choice from a selection of BF4, COD Ghosts, NBA 2K, or Madden 25 with purchase of Xbox One

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-One-...gMethod=Recommendation:wm:RecentlyViewedItems

I guess the first hints of retailers getting aggressive, likely aided by Microsoft.

I think a great no brainer idea, the least they can do before the real price cut, is pack in Kinect Sports Rivals. It actually looks pretty darn good graphically, it's family friendly, showcases Kinect and all that...

Sure it wont really move the needle but it's a no brainer imo as soon as it releases in April.

To be fair Target is always giving away gift cards on something, we get them all time on baby items. They also match Amazon - FWIW.

If I were MS I would drop the current price and eat the loss like they did with 360. It seems they did not learn from a few other devices that did not get out of the gate well due to pricing.

The headset adapter will allow any headset with a 3.5mm jack to get stereo game audio as well as the chat audio. That's what Brad is saying. When the details came out, it was reported everyone as being only chat audio unless you had the official Xbox headset, but that is not true.

Ahh ok, here is what the support page has now.

Insert the headset’s audio plug into the bottom of the headset adapter. The following 3.5-mm audio headset types are supported:
A single 3.5-mm audio cable headset.
A dual 3.5-mm audio cable headset with 3.5-mm CTIA audio cables.
A headset with chat audio provided by a 3.5-mm audio cable and game audio provided by a separate cable with RCA or optical connectors. (Only chat audio will be enabled through the Stereo Headset Adapter. For RCA/optical connectors [game audio], follow the manufacturer’s instructions to connect to the console.)
An Xbox 360 Wired Headset with a 2.5-mm audio cable. Connect to the Stereo Headset Adapter by using the 2.5-mm-to-3.5mm adapter that’s included with the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter.

Overall the support page talks about game audio, but never really makes it clear. This would be cool enough if my AV did not already mix in fake surround, so I just ran a 20' cable.

 

[Rangers]

More news thats not gonna help the One's next gen cred, Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is outed as 900P

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/0...arden-warfare-runs-at-900p-60fps-on-xbox-one/

 

[Scott_Arm]

More news thats not gonna help the One's next gen cred, Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is outed as 900P

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/0...arden-warfare-runs-at-900p-60fps-on-xbox-one/

Graphics are good. Frostbite engine. 900p, 60fps isn't terrible relative to what we've seen on the X1 so far. Curious to see how stable that 60Hz is.

 

[shredenvain]

More news thats not gonna help the One's next gen cred, Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is outed as 900P

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2014/0...arden-warfare-runs-at-900p-60fps-on-xbox-one/

Yeah thats not really bad news. In fact this is a sign of improvement being that the other frostbite 3 games run at either 1080/30fps or 720/60fps. I dont think most Xbox one owners would mind gaming at 900p 60fps.

 

[dagamer]

Yeah thats not really bad news. In fact this is a sign of improvement being that the other frostbite 3 games run at either 1080/30fps or 720/60fps. I dont think most Xbox one owners would mind gaming at 900p 60fps.

I really wish I could set up a double-blind scientific study showing that the average person sitting the average distance (10ft) on an average size television in 2014 (~50) could not tell the difference between a 720p and 1080p game while it was in motion. Playing on a PC where the monitor is 18 inches away from you? Super easy to tell. But the scenario I just said earlier? A crapshoot.

Sigh.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I really wish I could set up a double-blind scientific study showing that the average person sitting the average distance (10ft) on an average size television in 2014 (~50) could not tell the difference between a 720p and 1080p game while it was in motion.

Kinda, yeah, maybe. I think it depends on the game and what it's doing. It's noticeable to me between Battlefield 4 (900p) and Killzone Shadow Fall (1080p), particularly when looking down sights at enemies some way away - they are clearly better defined in KIllzone. When I'm running around I can't tell.

This is sitting 6-8ft from a 40" TV.

 

[joker454]

I really wish I could set up a double-blind scientific study showing that the average person sitting the average distance (10ft) on an average size television in 2014 (~50) could not tell the difference between a 720p and 1080p game while it was in motion. Playing on a PC where the monitor is 18 inches away from you? Super easy to tell. But the scenario I just said earlier? A crapshoot.

Been there, done that We did tests sometime ago for various things including a fanboy test, fps test and resolution test. Our game at the time was 60fps and of course the argument would come up about dropping framerate to improve visuals, or dropping framerate for resolution, etc. So we tested it with blind tests. Literally almost no one noticed the resolution difference, so the resolution argument died a quick death as it was deemed useless to most people although it still had marketing value. Fps was noticed by many though which was interesting. They didn't actually know what they noticed, but they noticed that the game felt "faster" as some put it, or "easier to play" was another comment. They didn't know one was 30fps and the other 60fps, and likewise they didn't know there was a 1080/720 resolution difference in the tests, the were all done blind. This was on 42" 1080p tv's at about 8 feet distance. We had a room with two such tv's side by side with a chair in front of each tv, that's where we did the tests.

 

[Otto Dafe]

Maybe devs could implement dynamic resolution scaled by using Kinect to determine how far the player is from the screen. Microsoft could label such titles "Good Enough with Kinect".

 

[Cyan]

A little bird told me that for those of you who live in the UK, Microsoft are offering a Free Weekend movie once again featuring the 2007 movie "Alien vs Predator Requiem".

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Been there, done that We did tests sometime ago for various things including a fanboy test, fps test and resolution test.

What on earth is a "fanboy test" ?

 

[Billy Idol]

Been there, done that We did tests sometime ago for various things including a fanboy test, fps test and resolution test. Our game at the time was 60fps and of course the argument would come up about dropping framerate to improve visuals, or dropping framerate for resolution, etc. So we tested it with blind tests. Literally almost no one noticed the resolution difference, so the resolution argument died a quick death as it was deemed useless to most people although it still had marketing value. Fps was noticed by many though which was interesting. They didn't actually know what they noticed, but they noticed that the game felt "faster" as some put it, or "easier to play" was another comment. They didn't know one was 30fps and the other 60fps, and likewise they didn't know there was a 1080/720 resolution difference in the tests, the were all done blind. This was on 42" 1080p tv's at about 8 feet distance. We had a room with two such tv's side by side with a chair in front of each tv, that's where we did the tests.

That is interesting. Where the assets made/designed with 1080p or 720p in mind?

 

[BRiT]

Can we please stick more to the topic and keep the resolution differences, business comparisons, sales results and perceived value out of this thread? Those topics have their own threads, so please keep this one about news and rumors related to XBoxOne.

Thanks.

 

[Zachriel]

http://www.theguardian.com/technolo...-price-cut-to-399-with-free-copy-of-titanfall

Price cut in the UK from 28th Feb to £399.99 (previously £430), then from 14th March, for a limited time, it will include Titanfall for free.

 

[Strange]

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/...regionlocking-digital-games-on-xbox-one-24321


http://wccftech.com/microsoft-quiet...xbox-games-dlc-error-code0x87de07d1-reported/

Apparently Region locking is also experiencing another 180 into a full 360.

When redeeming your token there are two things that need to match up. The country listed on the account must match the country that you are connecting from and the token needs to be for the same country as well.

That's what we call "region locked"

 

[Cyan]

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/...regionlocking-digital-games-on-xbox-one-24321


http://wccftech.com/microsoft-quiet...xbox-games-dlc-error-code0x87de07d1-reported/

Apparently Region locking is also experiencing another 180 into a full 360.



That's what we call "region locked"

What a bummer. Still digital games where region locked on the Xbox 360, personal experience when switching regions to Ireland.

Game was playable, but I deleted it and trying to re-download the game it always stopped at 80% and the downloading never ever completed.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/24/xbox-one-gets-price-cut-to-399-with-free-copy-of-titanfall

Price cut in the UK from 28th Feb to £399.99 (previously £430), then from 14th March, for a limited time, it will include Titanfall for free.

T'was about time.... but I expect this to be standard price around the world, not just in the UK.

60 Hz judder fix coming:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/...z-judder-fix-coming-in-a-matter-of-weeks.html

Microsoft say Kinect is indispensable for Kinect. In other words, there won't be a Kinect-less bundle, which imho is the right thing to do.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/...egral-to-xbox-one-says-managing-director.html

 

[DrJay24]

But is it indispensable for the XB1?