News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

Me... trolling?

Never!

 

What are the odds on the May event being celeb filled and extravaganza excess type theatrics with Cirque du Soleil? Or will they go spartan Apple conference style with Mattrick in a black turtleneck?

Kinect being pushed is a lock. HDMI-in STB connectivity is a lock. It's going to be a long ass presentation to explain it all I think.

 

Bigger, longer, uncut.

Just the way we like it.

 

How do you that he works for MS? I dont think that he works there. He is/was a MS Fan and nothing more.

 

Turtleneck. Costs less.

 

I agree, it will be turtlenecked. But there'll be some cheap theatrics first.

Bored. Some conference fan fiction starter:

It's completely dark. The event takes place in a circular venue with stadium style seating serving few hundred attendees. A mosh pit out front by the stage is filled with young and old all nearly nude, only covered by rags in a tribal style. Marked on their foreheads is a phosphorescent glowing green 3rd eye. A small child's voice calls out from the darkness, "Xbox, open our eyes". The silence is interrupted by the sound of shakers leading into some traditional sounding Aztek music. The mosh pit starts to move rhythmically. Then a spotlight shines onto the stage where the covered box sits..

 

If the next Xbox is to be announced this year, don't you think they've been unusually quiet?

 

not at all. besides, may 21 is the date all but confirmed.

you never want to start hyping the next console while the current plus software is on shelves. ms only looks a little slow cause of sony's reveal.

in 2 years not one of us will care that sony unveiled the ps4 in february and ms waited until may. it's one of those things that only seems important now.

 

I mean, Microsoft have not started a viral marketing campaign, like the last time (Xbox360 launch).

 

He's an insider in the same sense bgassassin or thuway are 'insiders', not a true insider of course.

I agree, for one they'll definitely have a much bigger marketing push than Nintendo had.

Not all of them will abandon it, of course, but a fair amount might jump ship to PS4 (like me for eg.,after buying the vast majority of games on 360 this gen) - judging from the very negative reaction to the always online and no used game stuff.

Not to mention if every future DF Face Off comes away in the PS4's favour, now they might not be actually able to tell the difference between games running on PS4 vs 720, but no one likes having the 'weaker' console.

Plus, the main XB system seller, Halo, might not be all what it used to be, seeing how many people were disappointed with Halo 4 (mainly the multiplayer, read the B3D thread). Perhaps Bungie's Destiny will offer better gameplay than 343's Halo games so people wanting Halo-esque multiplayer can just play that instead.

So if a fair amount of the Xbox faithful jump ship to PS4 (or get the PS4 on launch and take a wait and see approach to the 720), will that affect the greater sales standings in any meaningful way? Or can MS count on enticing the casuals and the great unwashed masses of CoD, FIFA, Madden players with a marketing blitz and Kinect?

 

There's really nothing from history to compare the next gen launch situation too, PS2 had an 18 month head start and MS was a new entrant with an expensive, ugly console and ungainly controller.

See, this is the thing - the people on the internet, ie. the diehard core gamers who frequent GAF, IGN, Gamespot, Eurogamer, PSN, TeamXbox etc are they merely a small (but vocal) minority with no real influence?

Or are they trendsetters who can play a crucial part in determing how the market at large perceives a console?
Won't they be the people in their social circles who the less knowledgeable will go to for advice when purchasing a new console?

Did we see something like that this gen with the PS3 and 'TEH CELL', which due to word of mouth and Sony's marketing lead to the widespread perception that PS3 was more powerful than 360? and continues even to this day (despite being divorced from reality)

How many sales did positive word of mouth around Cell give them? I remember at the start of this generation, nearly everyone who I spoke to who owned PS3s (even the uninformed who don't read gaming media) would have one of (if not the) primary reasons they got it as being because it's the 'most powerful console'.

Now with next gen, isn't the same situation exaggerated, as any such claims of PS4 power dominance, will be based on reality.

What will that mean for 720 sales? Nothing? I really don't know.

But it's going to be a very interesting race to watch

 

I put it in reverse. PS3 was "perceived" as the most powerful console, but didn't kill in sales. Perception is virtually the same as reality if the consumer believes it. If people believed PS3 was more powerful it's effectively the same as if it was, and I think most did.

Like I say, I think the power factor is the only relevant one that sunk Wii U. The next most important factor didn't play 10% as much into it imo. But it'll likely be a different matter with Durango.

Sony's bigger pluses might be they wont be going a year late and they wont have 599 hanging them. On paper it might be an easy victory for them simply removing those constraints.

MS OTOH probably will have an underrated advantage in that this is the first gen they'll come into from a relative position of market strength in the prior gen. Xbox struggled against PS2 partly because it was trying to gain that toehold. Durango will be coming off 360. Third party support and brand recognition arent problems anymore.

It will definitely be fun to watch.

And it sucks how all the interesting discussions here are off topic, lol.

 

You're right, I get distracted too easily, lol.

On topic, I wonder what Black Tusk studios are working on? They're supposed to be working on the new 'Halo' - it's a pity we haven't had many leaks on upcoming games.

But wow, MS have seriously being investing in first party studios. After Bungie left and them shutting down Aces, Ensemble and FASA they only really had Turn 10, 343 Industries, Rare and Lionhead (plus Bigpark and Good Science for Kinect games)

Now they have some 21 studios working on game projects plus 5 support studios:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Studios

This might also reinforce the 'always online' thing:

 

If you talk about hardware then a lot of people bought and liked the weaker console/hardware:

-Wii is the weaker console and yet it outsold PS3 or 360;
-DS and 3DS are weaker handheld than PSVita and yet they outsold it;
-PS2 was the "weaker" console and yet it outsold Xbox and GameCube, there was not a massive "abandon ship".

PS3 is the weaker console for multi-platform and yet I am still on PS3 because PS3 to me is stronger in therms of exclusives, because I can watch Blu-ray with it, and because I don't have to pay an extra to play online.
I read DF and I simply don't buy the games that are significantly inferior on PS3.

Xbox 720 from what we know is the "weaker" console, hardware wise, but if a player/customer think it has the right games and the right service then it would still be a very valid choice.

 

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1724360&postcount=1340

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/17/4234294/microsoft-smartwatch-prototype-surface-connector

Well, isn't that cool? Boy it looks like I'm going to be broke!

Tommy McClain

 

The Wikipedia info is wrong, there are less studios.

Lift London is focussed on cloud gaming.

 

If you ask yourself why each "weaker" console outsold its competitors you will see that the answer will say: going weaker doesnt necessarily guarantee outselling competitors.
So it really makes someone wonder why people bring up that argument, but its pretty obvious why at the same time they dont explain WHY each one of these consoles REALLY succeeded
So in the case of Durango it will all be a matter of what new and exclusive features it will offer, how it offers them, at what price and when?
With everything else the same, yes "weaker" is not likeable unless there is something else to compensate for it

 

Microsoft's career website lists some of their studios. Though it looks like even MS haven't updated their website since they didn't add studios like Twisted Pixel Games.

http://www.microsoft-careers.com/content/ieb/ms-studios/

 

That would only point to the fact that there are a number of different reasons or circumstances that can lead to a weaker console/handheld outselling a more powerful offering. If there was a common factor/factors those factor/factors would be readily apparent and readily included with each assertion of "performance doesn't matter".

The more reasons or different circumstances you can show that leads to weaker hardware outselling stronger hardware, increases the likelihood that performance as an influential feature isn't as strong as we think across market segments.