News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

[GrimThorne]

A tent..? Seems a little underwhelming for MS standards tbh. Are they going to have a bbq and prize drawing afterwards?

Forecast next Tuesday in their zone is partly cloudy and 60 degrees, so the weather would certainly permit the bbq. If you're going to do an outdoor event you might as well go all the way.

 

[Brad Grenz]

It's exactly the same kind of tent the put up each year at my alma mater to hold the graduation ceremony in. There's no venue big enough otherwise, and you can't be assured of good weather in the Pacific Northwest, especially during Springtime where you're liable to be lulled into a false sense of confidence only to be blasted by a spring storm. I imagine the same problem is in play at Redmond. They probably don't have any huge theaters handy for this kind of conference on campus. Of course, then it's just a question of why they insisted on holding the event at Microsoft HQ instead of going to LA or NY or London or fucking Seattle where they could have rented one.

 

[Rangers]

A tent..? Seems a little underwhelming for MS standards tbh. Are they going to have a bbq and prize drawing afterwards?

it looks more like a temporary building really.

 

[AzBat]

Maybe the change of the date from April 26 to May 21 messed things up enough that they couldn't get another venue in time? Remember we originally heard around Feb 22 that the reveal was set for April 26. Then around Mar 28 we heard that it was changed to May 21. That would have only given them 2-3 months before the May 21 date to find a venue big enough to do what they wanted. I bet that was too late to re-schedule.

Tommy McClain

 

[Bagel seed]

I think it's mostly because of two reasons.

1. Down to the wire development and polish of SW and OS features they want to demo. Keeping it on campus means they have a bit more time
2. Easier to keep things under wraps

They are definitely rushed. No Cirque du Soleil this time.

it looks more like a temporary building really.

Greenberg tweet implies its event related..

https://mobile.twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/333973229234429952

 

[Prophecy2k]

Perhaps they chose to do it at MS HQ to ensure the maximum amount of security leading upto the reveal; when Don Mattrick will ascend the golden steps and reveal the super secret special sauce that is the Durango by lifting off a hollowed chasis of a black Xbox 360 from its radiant brilliance.... lol.

I wager they just want to ensure nothing leaks to the press before they get the chance to deliver their vision for Durango the way they intend to. They certainly don't want another Adam Orth debacle on their hands this close to reveal day

Edit:
I wonder if they'll give out free consoles to the press present at the event again? That was a real clasy move last time, and i'm sure bought them a few friends ;-)

Spoiler

 

[Bagel seed]

Around 200 invited for the event.

https://mobile.twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/334130764188901376

 

[kots]

The whole event reeks of cheapness to be honest ... A tent ...200 people
Let's hope they 'll show something substantial .

 

[Prophecy2k]

The whole event reeks of cheapness to be honest ... A tent ...200 people
Let's hope they 'll show something substantial .

MS will likely have every mainstream media outlet in america covering the event.

I wouldn't underestimate them ;-)

 

[AlphaWolf]

It's on live tv ffs. They could hold it in a closet if they wanted.

 

[GrimThorne]

Perhaps they chose to do it at MS HQ to ensure the maximum amount of security leading upto the reveal; when Don Mattrick will ascend the golden steps and reveal the super secret special sauce that is the Durango by lifting off a hollowed chasis of a black Xbox 360 from its radiant brilliance.... lol.

I wager they just want to ensure nothing leaks to the press before they get the chance to deliver their vision for Durango the way they intend to. They certainly don't want another Adam Orth debacle on their hands this close to reveal day

Yeah, I tend to think it's more about control as well.

 

[Bagel seed]

Live on Spike is essentially ticking off checkbox and a freebie basically, MS + Viacom and all. It's daytime on a weekday on cable. Most viewers will be from live streams.

 

[Brad Grenz]

Yeah, it's a weird timeslot for TV. 10AM isn't exactly prime viewership for Spike. They're practically still showing paid programming that early.

 

[Bagel seed]

UK time it'll be 6pm, and the rest of Europe slightly later. Asia is ignored. NA it's less ideal during work and school hours. But eh, if Apple does it why cant they i guess. I think EU was just put at a higher priority. Live on cable was just a nice to have and news programs can cut footage from it easily.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yeah, it's a weird timeslot for TV. 10AM isn't exactly prime viewership for Spike. They're practically still showing paid programming that early.

I'm sure they'll have replays of the event and Spike hyping up the event for them to get the word out. I'll probably end up watching replays on xbox live since I'll be at work.

 

[Tap In]

The whole event reeks of cheapness to be honest ... A tent ...200 people
Let's hope they 'll show something substantial .

please is this thread a pile on MS thread or news discussion?


the event is about being broadcast to the web and TV. how many are in the venue matters not at all.


This is digital entertainment, not a fireworks display.

and keeping it on campus ensures maximum security and as Greenberg tweeted, allows them to involve the whole team.

 

[Tap In]

I'm not saying the core gamer market won't be served well, just that PS4 would likely be the better proposition to core gamers - being more powerful and Sony having stronger 1P studios

I agree that Halo is a system seller (really the only thing Sony has in the same sort of league is Gran Turismo), but in the hands of 343, I'm not so sure - if Halo 4 is anything to go by.

Who's to say people won't just get a PS4 and get Bungie's Destiny, especially if it plays more like Halo of old than 343s Halo games?

Plus, 1st party exclusives do have some differences to 3rd party ones - for one, they tend to utilise the hardware better, nor can they go multiplatform if their title is successful, like Bioshock and Mass Effect did.

And anyway, my original point was not that Sony exclusives can sell more consoles than MS exclusives, but that Sony's bevy of technically accomplished, first party devs are more appealing to core gamers, who care about titles like Journey, LittleBigPlanet etc, The Last Guardian etc.

hyperbole and blustery opinion is all this argument is.


here is some MS studio info

 

[Prophecy2k]

hyperbole and blustery opinion is all this argument is.


here is some MS studio info

That thread post is pretty laughable to be honest.

Half of those teams have never shipped a game.

You won't be able to simply just form multiple studios from thin air, overnight and ship AAAA next-gen games with 80-90+ metacritic scores. Existing studios will struggle with the transition from this gen to next, so I can't imagine an brand new team MS have just formed coming out and owning it in terms of quality and quantity of first party titles.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Can the tired 1st-party arguments please go somewhere else? Next we're going to retread what constitutes a "core" gamer, which is another annoying argument. We don't need any further exercises in confirmation bias. They've been done enough already. At least take it to a special tribalism thread, where you're free to justify your meaningless existence.

 

[eastmen]

We have to remember price is the easiest thing to change. Perhaps the $500 and $300 sub prices were before the sony announcement. If so and the xbox is the cheaper of the two to make then MS could lower the price.

If its say $400 and $200 with subscription it could move a lot of units . Esp if early titles show no difference in power.

Of course at th eend of the day the ps3 was all worse in multiplat titles and still managed to catch up in sales. So it may not matter in the end.

Will be interesting to see what happens on the 21st.