PREDICTION: Microsoft will lose hard on this generation.

[dagamer34]

PREDICTION: There will be an Xbox One Dream Team releasing mods to override all the restrictions and limitations of the console.

The mod will probably allow users to dual boot to a hacked and non-hacked OS to play online.

The hacked OS will allow:
Play used games if they have the disc
Always off Kinect
Bypass security checks
The #1 reason why people will buy the Xbox One and mod it is to play "backups"

If that happens, fewer people will end up buying the PS4 because the Xbox One has free games. That's not ideal for any company in that scenario. And why do people think that this would happen? It's not as if the 360 has been hacked to let you play online. Are you only going to play offline games?

 

[cmdrdredd]

One observation I'll make is the PS4 seems, in Canada anyway, to be outselling the Xbox One by a decent margin. Most stores still have the latter up for pre-order while PS4s are already sold out everywhere.

Microsoft bombed hard with the Xbox One's DRM. However, none of that matters as this will be the shape of things to come for the next generation. We're all upset because I suspect most of us grew up during the golden age of console gaming, the era that spans the NES to the PS2. We're used to a certain way that things are done. We also have the disposable income to buy these consoles, which is why the PS4 will win this generation. It's a comfortable system for the old guard (us) to game on. However, I think Microsoft has some kind of long term strategy in play. Get the younger gamers used to these new policies for the eventual digital transition. Ninth generation consoles will most likely not use physical media and this kind of DRM/data mining will be the norm.

Microsoft's problem is they don't know how to market to consumers. I doubt they'd even know how to sell parkas to Eskimos. They let others define their product before they could. It's difficult to recover from that. Perhaps being too honest about the DRM was also at fault because it overshadowed their E3 presentation. Might have been better off to get some buzz around the system first and reveal it closer to launch. Regardless, the system is still a raw deal for consumers. The DRM will fall like a house of cards if it begins confusing the casual gamers. They're the industry's best hope for growth, and they tend not to come back if you anger them.

MS is arrogant. They are forcing Windows 8 into the Xbox and using it as a crutch because Win8 is not being universally adopted. They are also trying too hard to control everything that happens on the xbox and charge a fee for every small thing. In general, people do not like being told how, where, and when they can use something they pay for at retail. The other thing is, Redbox and gamefly are pretty big for many gamers. They might not have all the money to buy every title so they rent them. Trying to DRM everything and cut out this or somehow limit it will also limit how many people actually buy a console. It remains to be seen how rentals are handled...will the cost go up? Will it be dropped? We don't know and the unknown scares people away too. People who have real money to give to gaming.

 

[baydude]

If that happens, fewer people will end up buying the PS4 because the Xbox One has free games. That's not ideal for any company in that scenario. And why do people think that this would happen? It's not as if the 360 has been hacked to let you play online. Are you only going to play offline games?

These limitations aren't on the 360 so the hack isn't needed.

Hacks to allow users to play pirated copies has always been the #1 reason why people hack in the first place. I'm sure it's why many people jailbreak iOS and modded the Wii. The only reason it may not be as popular on the newer generation console is because it uses bluray and games are getting too big to convienently torrent.

I'm sure if a hack did exist, it would allow users to dual boot to non-hacked OS to play online.

 

[badb0y]

 

[Malak]

I hope the Xbox still sells well, I don't want PS4 shortages to last too long.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Ideally, if there's a PS shortage, people don't get ADHD and stick to their guns, but I doubt that will happen, so people will buy the Xbox One anyway. It's sad really, it's an instant gratification world.

 

[Sickamore]

Innovation is what really sells me on any electronics that i buy. I really like the concept of the cloud computing from the xbone however the whole drm issue is pain in the neck. The Xbox one has some good features which i like. i must say at the moment they are loosing a war that they should have researched on before even getting into it. Microsoft will come up with a solution when their system stays on the shelf. At the end of the day gamers will vote with their money. I read a article online with a interview with shigeru miyamoto saying " Game companys should focus on making quality games and proving their worth to gamers. In the end gamers will notice how valuable their games are and will stick with them. Stop focusing on used games and rental games." what he is saying is essentially true. Take for example last year EA released so many games in 2012-2013 not one of these games are even considered to be great games or enjoyable games except for battlefield 3. What game companies should come up with is a system where you can play up to 15% of their game if you like you buy if you don't like you pay a rental fee of 5 or 10 bucks for trying out the games. To many times have i walked into gamestop and their sales rep try to sell you 60 dollar games that aren't worth 60 dollars eg Aliens marines.

 

[KaOTiK]

Innovation is what really sells me on any electronics that i buy. I really like the concept of the cloud computing from the xbone however the whole drm issue is pain in the neck. The Xbox one has some good features which i like. i must say at the moment they are loosing a war that they should have researched on before even getting into it. Microsoft will come up with a solution when their system stays on the shelf. At the end of the day gamers will vote with their money. I read a article online with a interview with shigeru miyamoto saying " Game companys should focus on making quality games and proving their worth to gamers. In the end gamers will notice how valuable their games are and will stick with them. Stop focusing on used games and rental games." what he is saying is essentially true. Take for example last year EA released so many games in 2012-2013 not one of these games are even considered to be great games or enjoyable games except for battlefield 3. What game companies should come up with is a system where you can play up to 15% of their game if you like you buy if you don't like you pay a rental fee of 5 or 10 bucks for trying out the games. To many times have i walked into gamestop and their sales rep try to sell you 60 dollar games that aren't worth 60 dollars eg Aliens marines.

That is another problem, the publishers think that every turd they pump out should automatically get the $60 price tag. If they would price some stuff more appropriately I bet sales would be better. People aren't as hard on a game that is MSRP isn't $50-$60 and are willing to forgive a little bit more if the game itself is enjoyable/good at least. Miyamoto is right to some extent too, look at most of Nintendo's first party titles, they nearly all retain a very high trade in value because people don't trade them in as often and the demand is higher for them. They stay priced at MSRP longer as well.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

The consoles are going to lose hard this generation. With the wealth of people who can build their own PC's and the very low cost of hardware, I see a wave shift towards the PC coming....especially in the over 25 crowd, who are tired of ever growing debts to console makers in the form of paying for online, not being able to sell used, etc etc etc...

 

[purbeast0]

The consoles are going to lose hard this generation. With the wealth of people who can build their own PC's and the very low cost of hardware, I see a wave shift towards the PC coming....especially in the over 25 crowd, who are tired of ever growing debts to console makers in the form of paying for online, not being able to sell used, etc etc etc...

i think the over 25 crowd wants the exact opposite of a pc. most 25+ gamers are busy with work, family, etc. they don't want to have to spend time tinkering with a pc to get things right. they want to come home from work and plop a game on and be playing it immediately.

also most gamers over 25 (that i know) aren't buying used games or lending out games to friends. they all have their own copy so they can game together online. they all make good money and just buy what they want, when they want from the store instead of looking for deals or used games.

i would argue though that the x1 is becoming "more pc like" and definitely removing quite a bit of the convenience feature that made console gaming so great. i also think that it's getting blown out of proportion BIG TIME and that it is not going to be as big a deal for most people as it's being made out to be. but PS4 will be the ultimate "convenience" console this generatoin, and coming in at a price LOWER than ps3, i think it is going to sell like hotcakes.

 

[erwos]

i think the over 25 crowd wants the exact opposite of a pc. most 25+ gamers are busy with work, family, etc. they don't want to have to spend time tinkering with a pc to get things right. they want to come home from work and plop a game on and be playing it immediately.

Spoken well, sir. I'm 31. I've got a wife and kids. I don't want to waste my time like I did in college tweaking the hell out of my PC. It's a PITA enough just trying to keep my network, backup server, and various devices going.

I want to go to my big TV, press the magic button on my Logitech remote, and get gaming. Consoles are good for that. I know that people have been trying to replicate that same experience using a PC, but it just doesn't seem like it's been cracked yet.

 

[Tweak155]

i think the over 25 crowd wants the exact opposite of a pc. most 25+ gamers are busy with work, family, etc. they don't want to have to spend time tinkering with a pc to get things right. they want to come home from work and plop a game on and be playing it immediately.

also most gamers over 25 (that i know) aren't buying used games or lending out games to friends. they all have their own copy so they can game together online. they all make good money and just buy what they want, when they want from the store instead of looking for deals or used games.

i would argue though that the x1 is becoming "more pc like" and definitely removing quite a bit of the convenience feature that made console gaming so great. i also think that it's getting blown out of proportion BIG TIME and that it is not going to be as big a deal for most people as it's being made out to be. but PS4 will be the ultimate "convenience" console this generatoin, and coming in at a price LOWER than ps3, i think it is going to sell like hotcakes.

Similar sentiments but I think we only know a limited market, so I can't speak on the general impact. But I like consoles for convenience, and even though I do sell games it is pretty infrequent. I never pay $60 for console titles and I don't buy all that many so I may not be a good source of opinion. Last game I bought was GoW Judgement and before that was Batman Arkham City... Pretty sure that is a large gap

To be fair though, I bought console games on PC just because they were cheaper. And that can add to my opinion that the consoles are definitely more convenient. I like kicking back on my couch and not being couped up in a room with a computer chair that heats up from the video card working some serious magic. When I play PC games from the TV, it just feels like more work. Driver updates, windows updates, boot-up & launch rather than just pop a disk in, etc. I mean, its not a lot of work in itself, just more work than it needs to be when compared to a console.

 

[Zargon]

This is where conceal carry comes in handy. Fuck your unlawful detainment.

he was also an idiot for taking someone to see it when he was asked not to do that




MS is just weird on this one


local MP is back, but everything is DRM'd out the wazoo

more details are needed on the family sharing deal


though I havent loaned out a 360 game is ages, usually my friends borrow my 360 and a game to do some partying, not just the disc

 

[Anubis]

humm im 31 and according to recent posts am an outlier

sweet

 

[IndyColtsFan]

The consoles are going to lose hard this generation. With the wealth of people who can build their own PC's and the very low cost of hardware, I see a wave shift towards the PC coming....especially in the over 25 crowd, who are tired of ever growing debts to console makers in the form of paying for online, not being able to sell used, etc etc etc...

It'll never happen. If anything, the biggest threat to consoles is mobile gaming. People who build their own PCs have always been a very small, niche market and that will always be the case.

 

[Arkaign]

It'll never happen. If anything, the biggest threat to consoles is mobile gaming. People who build their own PCs have always been a very small, niche market and that will always be the case.

True. The only kind of thing that would seriously boost PC gaming is if a company like Acer/Lenovo/whatever made budget gaming PCs and sold them at Wally World for like $499 baseline. Who knows, maybe if 'steambox' goes somewhere, we'll see something like that.

But yeah, gaming for the masses is still console. It's actually amazing that PC gaming is as huge as it already is. To put it in perspective, PC gaming alone is now larger than the entire gaming industry was during the 1990s era.

 

[Nintendesert]

It'll never happen. If anything, the biggest threat to consoles is mobile gaming. People who build their own PCs have always been a very small, niche market and that will always be the case.

So where are all the PC sales coming from? Factory built computers? There have been periods where PC sales have outsold the individual console platforms, so there must be a pretty big group of PC gamers out there.

 

[Arkaign]

So where are all the PC sales coming from? Factory built computers? There have been periods where PC sales have outsold the individual console platforms, so there must be a pretty big group of PC gamers out there.

There are even some countries where PC gaming dwarfs console. My Korean friends tell me that South Korea is the center of the master PC gaming race, lol. PS3s are somewhat rare, 360s are ludicrously rare (only played by soldiers deployed there), and PCs are EVVVEERRRRRYWHERE hahaha.

 

[shortylickens]

I PREDICT:

right before release they will pull out all the bullshit but by then so many people shall be dead set on a PS4 it wont matter.

Keep in mind not only customers look at this stuff, publishers too.
They are seeing a poor investment in making Xbox games and may jump ship.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

So where are all the PC sales coming from? Factory built computers? There have been periods where PC sales have outsold the individual console platforms, so there must be a pretty big group of PC gamers out there.

Factory-built PCs are the vast majority of PCs out there. Remember, Intel has some ridiculously huge marketshare lead in the graphics chipset market precisely because of their IGPs. Also, the number of PCs outnumber all of the consoles of this gen by a huge margin. So even a small percentage of the PC user base being "gamers" still translates into a pretty large number.

People aren't going to suddenly start building PCs to game with and cause a "wave" of PC gaming. That's a very unrealistic viewpoint IMO. As purbeast and a couple others pointed out, the over 25 crowd would rather just buy a solution that works and spend a minimum amount of time building, tweaking, etc. I really thought that my previous generation PC would be the last gaming PC I built, but I relented and built one more. I find it hard to justify building another one. The available PC games just don't interest me at this stage and the genre where the PC still dominates, MMOs, has stagnated and some might even argue completely died.

Mobile gaming is the true threat to consoles IMO. Phones and tablets have done serious damage to platforms like the Vita and Nintendo's offerings and I can see this damage extending to consoles in the not-so-distant future.

 

[BeaviSKY]

Factory-built PCs are the vast majority of PCs out there. Remember, Intel has some ridiculously huge marketshare lead in the graphics chipset market precisely because of their IGPs. Also, the number of PCs outnumber all of the consoles of this gen by a huge margin. So even a small percentage of the PC user base being "gamers" still translates into a pretty large number.

People aren't going to suddenly start building PCs to game with and cause a "wave" of PC gaming. That's a very unrealistic viewpoint IMO. As purbeast and a couple others pointed out, the over 25 crowd would rather just buy a solution that works and spend a minimum amount of time building, tweaking, etc. I really thought that my previous generation PC would be the last gaming PC I built, but I relented and built one more. I find it hard to justify building another one. The available PC games just don't interest me at this stage and the genre where the PC still dominates, MMOs, has stagnated and some might even argue completely died.

I think things could honestly tilt the other way. The next consoles are basically locked-down PCs with mostly unimpressive technical specs. I think this generation opens a major window for a company like Steam to exploit both the hardware weaknesses of this next generation, along with the architecture similarities to attract more developer ports back to PC.

Their big challenge is to address what you're talking about. Put together a stock box that the mass consumer can plug in and play without all the coddling and tweaking some of us love so much.

 

[dagamer34]

I think things could honestly tilt the other way. The next consoles are basically locked-down PCs with mostly unimpressive technical specs. I think this generation opens a major window for a company like Steam to exploit both the hardware weaknesses of this next generation, along with the architecture similarities to attract more developer ports back to PC.

Their big challenge is to address what you're talking about. Put together a stock box that the mass consumer can plug in and play without all the coddling and tweaking some of us love so much.

At what cost would you end up buying a Steambox that outperforms the PS4/Xbox One? $800? $1000? You seem to forget that requirements for PC games go up. There's no PC built in 2005 that is viable for modern gaming today, not even if you dropped $5000.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I think things could honestly tilt the other way. The next consoles are basically locked-down PCs with mostly unimpressive technical specs. I think this generation opens a major window for a company like Steam to exploit both the hardware weaknesses of this next generation, along with the architecture similarities to attract more developer ports back to PC.

Their big challenge is to address what you're talking about. Put together a stock box that the mass consumer can plug in and play without all the coddling and tweaking some of us love so much.

For it to take off I think it would probably need to have an os that avoids windows because people will see it as just another pc. Then the problem is that almost every PC game over the last 10 years has been tied to directx, which requires windows.

I don't know how they could really market it properly as a result. I think they just need baseline GPU specs that are good enough for 1080p gaming with all the details on with the most basic PC systems sold at places like Costco etc. Right now that isn't the case.

 

[Tweak155]

At what cost would you end up buying a Steambox that outperforms the PS4/Xbox One? $800? $1000? You seem to forget that requirements for PC games go up. There's no PC built in 2005 that is viable for modern gaming today, not even if you dropped $5000.

Why does it have to outperform the PS4 / XB1? If that were the basis to buy games, consoles would have been dead long ago.

 

[dagamer34]

Why does it have to outperform the PS4 / XB1? If that were the basis to buy games, consoles would have been dead long ago.

You are the one who talked about "unimpressive tech specs".