News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

[AzBat]

The Activity Feed on Xbox One & the Win10 Xbox app is coming to the 360 dashboard preview...

• On your Xbox 360 you will see Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows 10 activity (achievements, text posts, GameDVR clips, screenshots, broadcasts and more).
• You will also be able to Like, Comment on, or Share any of those activities as well as post a new message to your feed.
• To access the Activity Feed on your Xbox 360:
  1. From Social, select your own avatar, then Activity Feed
  2. You can also view a specific friend’s activity by selecting their avatar in Friends or their gamer card in the Guide. From their select View Activity Feed.

http://majornelson.com/2015/08/04/activity-feed-is-coming-to-xbox-360-preview-program/

That's cool. Anybody know anymore about the 360 Preview program? Last I heard was this.

Tommy McClain

 

[Rangers]

Well, this is just.... bizarre.

It seems like too good of a deal to be true, I'll guess we'll see when the official ad comes out but a 40 inch 1080p smart tv plus an XB1 for $500 at Best Buy for the next week as part of their 'back to school' sale. And it's not even one of Best Buy's own crappy brand TV's, Dynex I think is their brand. This is actually a Samsung TV.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/get-a-40-inch-1080p-tv-with-new-xbox-one-for-500/1100-6429561/

If there's no hidden downside, the only thing I can think of is that this must be a very supply limited offer or something. Like when car dealerships advertise great prices on vehicles and in the small unreadable print it gives you a VIN # and says it only applies to one specific vehicle on their lot.

If not, $500 for a $400 TV and a $350 XB1 is a crazy good deal for anybody wanting to "Jump In" or "Leap Ahead" (I keep forgetting what their new slogan is.)

My bedroom TV is a 32 inch, my office computer is running a 26 inch TV as its monitor. If there's really no downside to this, I might go ahead get a second XB1 and put it and the 40 inch in my bedroom, move that TV to the office and put the 26 inch up on Craigslist or even just freecycle it since there's no place else to put it. Well, I guess I could always use a TV in the kitchen!

Heh, yeah. Unfortunately I have no use for this. Or do I...

I bet these will sell out REALLY fast. Because I could probably buy it for $500, get most of the $ back by selling the Xbox and get a free (or $150) TV.

I actually included a tirade about how ridiculous a "back to school" sale that included a gaming console was and then decided to delete it because it would derail the thread.

But yes, I think we can all agree on how ridiculously absurd that notion is.

They're marketing it as "for your kid's dorm room at college". But yeah I guess it is kind of funny, given the addictive nature of gaming.

 

[AzBat]

Deal is legit...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/xbox-on...?id=pcmprd250200050003&skuId=9999251700050003

You even get the Halo Master Chief Collection.

Tommy McClain

 

[DrJay24]

I wonder who is eating the loss on this promotion?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Nice interview from Eurogamer with Phil Spencer. No big news unless you're after details about his wardrobe. Nice to see he's not obsessing over sales numbers of their competitors

I honestly don't goal the team on how many units Sony sells. I think about what we're going to do, and how many Xbox customers we have across 360, Xbox One and Windows - thinking about the combined community of people on Xbox and playing those games, and that number's never been bigger.

The moment you begin to spend time obsessing over the competition you're basically doomed because you're not focussing on your own thing.

And something I didn't know, he has a Wii U and likes Splatoon! Unfortunately Eurogamer didn't ask what he thought of Nintendo's online services!

 

[Rikimaru]

The moment you begin to spend time obsessing over the competition you're basically doomed because you're not focussing on your own thing.

Last year he said 'I Want To Win This Generation'

I think he finally got a world map.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Last year he said 'I Want To Win This Generation'

And that's a good goal to have. Microsoft won't win by obsessing over competitors. They need to focus on their plan and leverage the things they do well. Xbox One is in a much better place than the clusterfuckery that was early PS3.

Sony let all the shit slide off and ploughed on. Microsoft are doing the same thing and arguably have done it quicker. They have a stellar end of year line up as well.

 

[MrFox]

In 2014 at GDC, Phil Spencer's exact quote was...

"We are in this to win and to compete, compete on all levels; functionality, games, value. All of those things are incredibly important to us"

They added more functionality
They announce many new games
Price drop increased the value

... and none of that seem to have increased the market share. Black Friday will be interesting however, with many new games for the holidays.

 

[Rikimaru]

In 2014 at GDC, Phil Spencer's exact quote was...

They added more functionality
They announce many new games
Price drop increased the value

... and none of that seem to have increased the market share. Black Friday will be interesting however, with many new games for the holidays.

"I'm not going to duck that. I want to win. I want to win this generation, but I want to win more than I want the other guy to lose. I own a PS4, and it's not like I want it to get dusty or not have games. But I do want to sell a lot of Xbox Ones, and for many people that's a direct competition with the PS4. As the Xbox team, we are the underdog. "
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...s-generation-says-xbox-boss-phil-spencer.aspx

 

[MrFox]

Thanks, I missed that interview.

"They beat us in June. They beat us in May," Spencer says. "These months are small if you look at the sales. I think the whole month of June is about one week in November. They're winning, and they'll do their PR around it, and that makes sense. The battle is really September, October, November, and December."

Not sure he honestly believed they would have a magical turn around at the end of 2014. There was no way XB1 would ever claim those months worldwide, so most of this "we want to win" was just marketing.

 

[iroboto]

It's as DSoup says looking at his words any other way is non-sense. Wanting to win and not setting goals for your own team as "best Sony" are not mutually exclusive. Both statements are completely valid and both need to work in tandem to actually generate a product differentiation from the leader.

 

[chris1515]

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=176032401

Xbox Mini rumor, I think stink les work 343 industries

 

[Rangers]

Hmm, that's weird, yeah stinkles is Frank O Conner of 343. But, I cant see why he would confirm anything and he's usually a jokester.

Truckloads of salt as they say.

Anyways October is not far away to find out.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Zero credible sources but I really hope they do release a smaller Xbox One. Insta-buy with Halo 5 and Tomb Raider just around the corner.

 

[Rangers]

On GAF the idea has been floated it would be just for China, being that country is pretty much all digital and price conscious, I guess.

I dont think if they release it there they wont release it everywhere, though.

$275 is a weird price point and probably wouldn't even be compelling, as It locks you into high digital price points. Even brand new games if you look hard enough you can maybe find $10 off at retail. Older games could be 59.99 digital and available for $30 or less as retail discs. Also the XBO was like 329 with a 50 GC last holiday at one point I believe, not much more anyway.

Maybe the digital pricing isn't as bad as I think though, I tried looking up Infamous SS (just a slightly older AAA title that popped into mind) and it's 29 on Amazon but only 39 on PSN. Less difference than I expected. Maybe this is normal now.

Edit: Hmm, just $19 on Wal Mart.com though. That's half the price.

Digital might work best for someone like me, I almost only buy triple A at release for full price or close. Still means you cant sell back, cant loan, and are missing possibly a lot of deals on physical. Digital sales need to get better on the consoles.

Anyways, I sure hope MS tries this, I just want to see what happens. I think if real, 249 might be an interesting price point, where maybe it starts to become viable to my eyes.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I'm sticking this here, because EA Access is only available on the XB1.

Madden 2016 is a HUGE improvement over 2015. I haven't bought or played a Madden game since Madden 2012, and then only got Madden 2015 because it was free with EA Access. (Subscription to EA Access was cheaper than just buying Madden 2015.) Madden 2015 was okay, but the menus were frustrating, even trying to set up a franchise was annoying. When you could finally figure out the menus and such it was a decent enough game in terms of graphics and game play, but still... ugh, a fight each time you wanted to manage rosters, change playbooks, etc..

Madden 16, is easy peasy! The menus actually make sense! It's actually easy to start a franchise, you don't have to fight through a bunch of configuration options. There's actually (FINALLY!!!) a way to just start a franchise season without having to simulate the preseason. You can play the preseason if you want, but when you start a franchise you get the option of starting at the preseason or starting at week 1. It will still simulate the preseason, and you can still get players injured, but it's one easy selection. Almost as if after twenty thousand years of making NFL games, EA finally realized that nobody wants to friggin play the damn preseason games!

As far as the gameplay goes, they've added a bunch of stuff to catching the ball. So after you throw the ball and select the receiver, you can select aggressive catch, run after catch, or possession catch by holding down different buttons after you've thrown the ball and switched to control the receiver. Aggressive makes your WR leap and fight for the ball but leaves them open to big hits, run after the catch essentially turbo's your receiver into the play which is great if there's a wide open area in front of them but makes it a bit harder to connect, and possession catch makes sure to catch the ball but the receiver is pretty much down after making the grab.

This game is so much better than 15, it's not even really funny. 15 was fun to play, but it was a struggle to fight with the crazy menus and configurations. 16 is much more streamlined. My only issue is that they release the games on EA Access a week before the launch date. They should really give us 10 hours of game play plus the option to buy and play early. I'd have bought the game last night, if I had the option. (Of course, I have the option to buy it, but after my 10 hours are up I still have to wait until the release date to play.)

Great game, fantastic. I know the common meme "Madden 16 is the same as Madden 15 is the same as Madden 2000, etc". In this case, not true at all. It's like saying that Windows 10 is the same as Windows 7.

While true to some extent, uhhhh.. no, not really.

 

[Jwm]

Last year he said 'I Want To Win This Generation'

I think he finally got a world map.

I think he always had the world map, just other execs had forgot to unfold theirs.

 

[Newguy]

Xbox One Elite Bundle:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.319986300?tduid=(fe22595b48d7c43af23615695a25d6fa)(256380)(2459594)(te1Fq2FCseg-wZjxxkC0POoLOlKUzkf8sg)()

http://majornelson.com/2015/08/31/new-xbox-one-elite-bundle-and-lunar-white-wireless-controller/

• 1TB solid state hybrid drive Xbox One console1
• Xbox One Elite wireless controller

$499

"The Xbox One Elite Bundle will be available worldwide starting November for $499 USD ERP. In the U.S., for the month of November starting Tuesday, Nov. 3, the bundle will be exclusively available at GameStop and Microsoft Stores"

Image:

https://xboxmajornelson.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/elite-bundle_groupshot_rgb.png?w=650&h=309

"We’re also pleased to announce the Xbox One Special Edition Lunar White Wireless Controller. This new controller includes all the updated features of the standard Xbox One Wireless Controller and adds a white and gold color scheme and improved grip texture for more control and comfort. In the U.S., the Xbox One Special Edition Lunar White Wireless Controller will be exclusively available at GameStop starting late September for $64.99 USD ERP."

https://xboxmajornelson.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/lunar-white-controller.png?w=550&h=365

 

[BadTB25]

They must be on some good drugs to be asking that price at this stage in the console's life cycle. I thought I saw on GAF that it was $350 which I still was a little pricey.

For $299, it would be very attractive where I would consider getting a second X1.

 

[Scott_Arm]

They must be on some good drugs to be asking that price at this stage in the console's life cycle. I thought I saw on GAF that it was $350 which I still was a little pricey.

For $299, it would be very attractive where I would consider getting a second X1.

The Elite controller is $150 and it has a hybrid SSD. If you want an Elite controller and a bigger drive, it's a better deal than the base bundle.