The Official Xbox One Thread

[fbrdphreak]

Whine whine whine, bitch bitch bitch. It's a damn micro USB cable.

Here's how feature & option decisions work in the real world. They have to hit a target price point, in this case $499.99. Every thing they add to the product increases the build cost of the product. If you sell a million units, that $0.25 cable just cost MS another $250K.

Did they get $250K in value out of adding that cable? Does it help them sell more units or improve customer experience enough to spend $250K?

For a cable that is near ubiquitous in a household that will spend $500 on a game console, it damn sure does not meet either of those criteria.

It's also fair to say that when the build list for a single XB1 unit was first finalized however many months or years ago, they didn't have a high expectation for issuing a controller firmware update so soon. Do you think it's reasonable to completely disrupt the manufacturing pipeline in late 2013 over something like this, to address something like 0.1% of your customers?

It is also fair to say that if an important, required update to the controller became an issue, they would setup a program for customers to register with proof of ownership and receive a cable at no cost. Or a non-published program would be initiated internally where customers contacting support would be sent a cable.

Can you all shut up about a damn $1 cable now? kthxbye

P.S. You get the cable if you buy the XB1 headset or headset adapter, which are the only products that truly require the update: https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/accessories/update-controller-for-stereo-headset-adapter

 

[Aikouka]

Again, do you understand what firmware is? They didn't "give us the means to upgrade", as pretty much 100% of things that has firmware and any kind of input mechanism has that ability. It is highly likely they did not plan for the firmware to ever be updated.

What!? Systems aren't magically designed to be upgradable. Heck, until I bought my Denon AVR-2112ci, all of my previous receivers would have to beshipped back to Denon to perform a firmware upgrade, and it's not like they lacked USB ports. Systems have to be specifically designed all the way down to the firmware storage mechanism (e.g. ROM vs. (EE)PROM) to be upgradable. Not to mention there needs to be software (or other mechanisms) to control the process.

The decision to be upgradable probably came down to the controller's implementation. Can the PS4's be updated? Maybe? I wouldn't be able to tell without far better EE/CE knowledge and actually breaking one open.

 

[EightySix Four]

On a different note, Forza 5 players are getting another free track tomorrow, Long Beach.

 

[SAWYER]

I am really surprised by the free DLC on Forza, I figured they would be charging for everything

 

[Lil Frier]

Are you saying you don't have AA batteries now too?

The only AA batteries I know the location of in this house came with my 360 and Once controllers. I never need them for anything.

I just that Microsoft wants to sell these rechargeable batteries, but forcing people into a cable each time is silly. I'll end up grabbing some rechargeable AAs at some point, probably Eneloops, but it's just another thing that Microsoft's done that confuses me a little.

 

[fbrdphreak]

The only AA batteries I know the location of in this house came with my 360 and Once controllers. I never need them for anything.

I just that Microsoft wants to sell these rechargeable batteries, but forcing people into a cable each time is silly. I'll end up grabbing some rechargeable AAs at some point, probably Eneloops, but it's just another thing that Microsoft's done that confuses me a little.

What cable are you referring to? A cable that plugs into the XB1 controller to charge the play-n-charge battery?

 

[Drako]

The only AA batteries I know the location of in this house came with my 360 and Once controllers. I never need them for anything.

I just that Microsoft wants to sell these rechargeable batteries, but forcing people into a cable each time is silly. I'll end up grabbing some rechargeable AAs at some point, probably Eneloops, but it's just another thing that Microsoft's done that confuses me a little.

How is it confusing to you?

To me, having 2 replaceable AA batteries is far better than what Sony has implemented with the DS4. If my DS4 battery dies, I have to wait for it to recharge. If my XBO controller batteries die, I replace the batteries and continue gaming.

 

[smackababy]

How is it confusing to you?

To me, having 2 replaceable AA batteries is far better than what Sony has implemented with the DS4. If my DS4 battery dies, I have to wait for it to recharge. If my XBO controller batteries die, I replace the batteries and continue gaming.

Removable battery is only a good argument when comparing iPhone n to whatever new Android phone is available. It is only considered bad because Apple does it. Same with MS, anything they do is bad and their competitor is doing it the right way, regardless of circumstances.

You must be new to the internet. Welcome! =)

 

[purbeast0]

i seriously cannot believe you guys have been arguing about a micro-usb cable being included or not with a $500 piece of hardware for nearly 2 days... man you guys love to argue about anything.

 

[Arkaign]

i seriously cannot believe you guys have been arguing about a micro-usb cable being included or not with a $500 piece of hardware for nearly 2 days... man you guys love to argue about anything.

Hahah yeah. I'm very far from a big MS/XB1 fan, but good lord. Mountain, meet molehill.

 

[purbeast0]

Hahah yeah. I'm very far from a big MS/XB1 fan, but good lord. Mountain, meet molehill.

i keep seeing new posts and clicking to see new content, but low and behold, there is none and it's people arguing because they enjoy arguing.

and now i have contributed to no content

 

[Aikouka]

i keep seeing new posts and clicking to see new content, but low and behold, there is none and it's people arguing because they enjoy arguing.

and now i have contributed to no content

We could talk about Peter "Hype Machine" Molyneux claiming that the Kinect 2.0 is becoming more of a joke, and that he thinks Microsoft will eventually sell a SKU without it? Other than that, the only other X1 stuff I've seen is a review for Kinect Sports Rivals, which I didn't even read, and some more stuff about the upcoming patch.

Oh, one good thing about that upcoming patch... they're making it so the X1 will be able to just update itself while in standby and then return to standby. Frankly, that's the best feature of the patch for me!

 

[blurredvision]

Oh, one good thing about that upcoming patch... they're making it so the X1 will be able to just update itself while in standby and then return to standby. Frankly, that's the best feature of the patch for me!

There's also a button to check for and force the update, that's nice too.

 

[Aikouka]

There's also a button to check for and force the update, that's nice too.

Oh, yeah... forgot about that one. That's another good one since that affected me during the first patch. A power outage had turned my X1 off, so it didn't automatically get the patch. I went into settings expecting to find a way to say, "Hey! Update!", but there was nothing. Honestly... I was a bit baffled.

One thing that I think would make a nice, new "quality of life" feature would be a notification if your controller firmware is out of date. If I didn't see talk about it on here, I never would have known that you even could update the controller. Anyway, it may or may not be possible depending on what information is sent from the controller. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the controller provides information like that upon establishing a connection.

 

[smackababy]

Oh, yeah... forgot about that one. That's another good one since that affected me during the first patch. A power outage had turned my X1 off, so it didn't automatically get the patch. I went into settings expecting to find a way to say, "Hey! Update!", but there was nothing. Honestly... I was a bit baffled.

One thing that I think would make a nice, new "quality of life" feature would be a notification if your controller firmware is out of date. If I didn't see talk about it on here, I never would have known that you even could update the controller. Anyway, it may or may not be possible depending on what information is sent from the controller. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the controller provides information like that upon establishing a connection.

I'd imagine it couldn't be that hard to have the controller send the firmware version to the console upon activation. I'm sure it sends other information, such as the MS signature that it is an officially licensed controller.

 

[EightySix Four]

I'd imagine it couldn't be that hard to have the controller send the firmware version to the console upon activation. I'm sure it sends other information, such as the MS signature that it is an officially licensed controller.

In the beta forms they mentioned that they will eventually have a "hey, a new controller firmware update is available" notification, but not yet.

 

[purbeast0]

not sure if this is really much information or not ... but ...

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...ing-about-xbox-360-emulation-on-the-xbox-one/

 

[zerocool84]

not sure if this is really much information or not ... but ...

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...ing-about-xbox-360-emulation-on-the-xbox-one/

It's sure after Sony announced their game streaming service, Microsoft is going to try to work on theirs. Very logical and good move for them.

 

[Lil Frier]

Yeah, I expected them to look into this, given the whole "300,000 servers" thing. They're a company who would certainly have the hardware and software to get it going, I think.

The big question, IMO, is how it'll be treated. Will they be new games, or true emulations? Can we upload saves from our 360 games to this service? Will the Achievements be their own, under the Xbox One umbrella, or will they add on to our 360 versions of the games? It's a question of whether they are looking at actual emulation, or just the streaming stuff.

 

[Arkaign]

Just as the PS4's CPU is too slow to HW emulate PS3, the XB1 CPU is too slow to emulate the 360. It has to be streaming.

The APU design is a smart one for the new consoles, but the hardware is simply too different, and the last consoles too complex and high end for their times to be emulated in a reasonable manner by a low to mid-spec x86 PC (which is fundamentally what the new consoles are).

So yes, expect it to be streaming, and it's probably just a 'check-box' feature honestly, so that they don't have some major PR hole in their wall. "Sony does backwards compatibility". "Well, we do too". Done.

In the big picture neither Sony nor MS are all that interested long term or even mid-tern with streaming last-gen games. It requires a lot of back-end computer leasing, and if someone is busily playing last-gen games then that potentially means they're not buying as many $60 current gen games to fill their gaming time.

Ironically, Nintendo, who has the weakest library in terms of volume and pacing for the past few gens, would benefit much more from having more games on their version of BC, and that has the bonus of being fully operable on the local hardware. More VC games (and bundled ones!) would really help move WiiUs. But no, they're wasting so many potentially awesome ideas.

I don't expect MS or Sony to really push either of these things very hard though. Once we have a flood of next-gen titles streaming out, it will be simply a novelty. It's not like everyone's 360s and PS3s are dead or anything.

 

[Lil Frier]

You're right, what I'm wondering is more on the game save/Achievement/Trophy stuff, though. Like I said, I wonder if we'll be able to use local saves from the 360, upload them to this streaming service, then play the saves on the One. I also wonder how it'll handle Achievements, if they'll continue to count as our 460 games' Achievements, or if they'll be sold to us as new games, which would kinda suck. Most-importantly, the pricing's going to be key.

Given that Xbox LIVE is $10 more than PS+, maybe Microsoft would determine this to be something they could give away for free to Gold members. Maybe you have to have Gold AND pay $$5/month. Maybe they actually sell you the games, not run on a streaming rental platform.

 

[Todd33]

It's sure after Sony announced their game streaming service, Microsoft is going to try to work on theirs. Very logical and good move for them.

While Sony intends to support backwards compatibility using its Gaikai-powered PlayStation Now service, a Microsoft spokesperson said in November that a similar service is unlikely to come to the Xbox One, citing the difficulty of managing the quality of the service.

Sony bought Gaikai, what does MS have?

 

[smackababy]

Just as the PS4's CPU is too slow to HW emulate PS3, the XB1 CPU is too slow to emulate the 360. It has to be streaming.

The APU design is a smart one for the new consoles, but the hardware is simply too different, and the last consoles too complex and high end for their times to be emulated in a reasonable manner by a low to mid-spec x86 PC (which is fundamentally what the new consoles are).

So yes, expect it to be streaming, and it's probably just a 'check-box' feature honestly, so that they don't have some major PR hole in their wall. "Sony does backwards compatibility". "Well, we do too". Done.

In the big picture neither Sony nor MS are all that interested long term or even mid-tern with streaming last-gen games. It requires a lot of back-end computer leasing, and if someone is busily playing last-gen games then that potentially means they're not buying as many $60 current gen games to fill their gaming time.

Ironically, Nintendo, who has the weakest library in terms of volume and pacing for the past few gens, would benefit much more from having more games on their version of BC, and that has the bonus of being fully operable on the local hardware. More VC games (and bundled ones!) would really help move WiiUs. But no, they're wasting so many potentially awesome ideas.

I don't expect MS or Sony to really push either of these things very hard though. Once we have a flood of next-gen titles streaming out, it will be simply a novelty. It's not like everyone's 360s and PS3s are dead or anything.

I've read reports that MS was working on 360 emulation on the Xbox One, but they made it sound as if the architecture is what was holding it back, not the power.

I imagine they will probably end up with digital versions that run in x86 available as "platinum hits" or whatever eventually.

Sony bought Gaikai, what does MS have?

Enterprise server infrastructure, network knowledge, tons of money, and some very talented programmers. I can't imagine it would entirely out of their reach to have games streamed over the network.

 

[purbeast0]

BC is such a waste of time/resources. if you wanna play 360 games, play em on 360.

 

[railven]

My PS4/Xbone would definitely get more play time if they had some B/C support. For now, they both sit there gathering dust.

Oh well, X360/PS3 going strong!