I have to say, World of Tanks is better on the One than I thought it was going to be. Kind of makes me want to get back into playing it.
That "xbox one taking over the living room" thread got me thinking. Do you think MS will develop a DVR app? If they could subvert the DVR functionality from the provider's settop box then you'd only need it for tuning the stations. They'd also have much more recording space than a typical DVR box I think. And they'd be one more crucial step closer to taking over the entire experience.
Unless you don't have a DVR already, I don't see the benefit. My DTV box can record 4-5 channels at the same time and store 1TB of shows. Unless I want to tether additional hard drives to the Xbox, the paltry 500GB won't go far if it's shared with game installs.
Microsoft could really hit a home run if they could get a media-centric Xbox One package out there. Like, get folks a discount on their sports streaming. MLB.TV is $130. The NBA charges $200. The NFL makes you sign up for DirecTV THEN pay $200. Imagine if Microsoft could partner with these companies and offer something like $500 for all 4 major sports, or a $50 discount on individual sports vs. other subscription means.
It seems TV providers have little interest in support cable-cutting stuff, with the rare exceptions like Sling and standalone premium channel services like HBO Go. Live sports are probably the biggest anchor for cable services for many people, and if Microsoft cut deals with the major sports for streaming on all Microsoft devices (Xbox One, Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile), they'd have something awesome and special.
If MS could throw money at them, it would be great. But, that isn't going to happen. DirecTV threw billions at the NFL to keep Sunday Ticket and only allowed it in places where you don't have the ability to get DirecTV (which isn't a lot of places, I'm sure).
Even if MS could get team centric packages for sports, it would be a big step.
That is pretty impressive. I wonder how much it will translate into the actual game though. Plus, it doing the destruction calculations on the cloud means always online. Rut Roh! I said it.
That is pretty impressive. I wonder how much it will translate into the actual game though. Plus, it doing the destruction calculations on the cloud means always online. Rut Roh! I said it.
Not necessarily. Forza uses Drivatars through XBLC, but you can still go offline. They just dumb it down to canned AI, so I'm sure there will be basic/lesser physics in an offline mode, if they so choose.
Drivatars are the worst example you could use. They are terrible, both on XBL and offline. The implementation was so poor.
It would be a disservice for them to spend all the time making destructible environments and then to just muck them up by removing them or having a crappy implementation in offline mode. Just make the game require online connection. It is 2015. Unless you live in Somalia, you can be online to play your games.
if (connectedToXbl) {
destructableEnvironmentOn = true;
}
else {
destructableEnvironmentsOn = false;
}
function ObjectHit() {
if (destructableEnvironmentOn == true) {
doExtraPhysics();
}
...
}Code:if (connectedToXbl) { destructableEnvironmentOn = true; } else { destructableEnvironmentsOn = false; } function ObjectHit() { if (destructableEnvironmentOn == true) { doExtraPhysics(); } ... }
damn... i should go work for ms making games.
Drivatars are the worst example you could use. They are terrible, both on XBL and offline. The implementation was so poor.
It would be a disservice for them to spend all the time making destructible environments and then to just muck them up by removing them or having a crappy implementation in offline mode. Just make the game require online connection. It is 2015. Unless you live in Somalia, you can be online to play your games.
It is not that it is trivial to turn it on and off, it is that the destructible environments are really impressive and the immersion shouldn't be cheapened by people who can afford an Xbox One and the game, but not internet.
Drivatars as the example were so laughably bad, it might as well not be AI. They literally had no concept of any other cars. They simply took the "owners" lines and nothing else.
What would you have expected? They intended for the A.I. to mimic people, so they studied those people and produced those driving lines. I agree there are problems--they are WAAAAAAAAAAAY too aggressive in Forza 5, but they're not a total failure. Plus, there are already talks online of how they're improving Drivatars for Forza 6, like giving them separate plans of attack in the rain (if you've driven the track in the rains). It was a first try on dynamic A.I. like that for the team, and it's really not something we've seen approached much (if at all) in other games this generation (Mordor's Nemesis KIND of did neat things on a smaller level). To basically call it a failure for being imperfect on the first try is a rather reckless way to assess a new approach to game A.I.
And it's not just about having Internet. you have to have GOOD Internet. Sadly, not everyone can get that (no, I'm not calling for Obama to give us the free Interwebz). Shoot, I remember a few years ago, I was wanting to look into U-Verse. The FASTEST U-Verse offering here was 756 Kbps. The fastest AT&T DSL was 3 Mbps. Luckily, we're now on 75 Mbps Comcast cable, but not everyone will be able to get something to handle the streaming of physics, especially in a time where households like to throw Netflix and Hulu streams up in every room of the house. Those with decent cable Internet should be fine, but that's not everyone.
I'm torn on the persistent online connection idea, though. Like I said, I'm set for having a good connection, not a concern. However, even in 2015, we get outages at times. It's not frequent, it's usually not for long, but it sucks. Heck, we say the DDoS of last Christmas. It's bad enough not getting to play Halo multiplayer on Christmas, but having your whole copy of Crackdown crippled because XBLC isn't available to run the destruction physics? That would be a crappy Christmas experience. Then there are the examples from when the Bone was supposed to need a frequent connection to work, like folks in the military. You can't buy a game in your favorite series because you're fighting for our country? It'd suck.
I guess I don't mind it on a small scale, having games here and there function in such a manner. Destiny is fine with it, that's the scope of the game (plus, I don't care for the game). The core of some games demands a persistent online connection. I don't think Crackdown necessarily does, even though it could benefit from such a thing. My issue would be that if we started with the acceptance of such a practice, it's not a long stretch to having the majority of games follow suit. That would suck for vacationing families. As an example, my grandma has a van with a 120V outlet, HDMI input, and TV screens. We could theoretically throw a console in the van and play games on the road. If games started leaning on XBLC with frequency, that idea could change (because tethering to LTE's not going to be a good-enough alternative, especially with data caps).