The Official Xbox One Thread

[Wingznut]

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Review - IGN

The Verdict
Garden Warfare respects its roots by preserving its characters and their humor and skillfully adapting their charm to a third-person shooter. A few clever twists on the standard modes give the action some fresh personality, and the co-op survival mode is a fun homage to the original games. Plus the solid controls, fun modes, and varied map design make it a good shooter to boot.

7.8 Good
Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare does right by its namesake, putting the characters and charm to good use.

+Charming characters
+Fun modes
+Solid shooting
+Good map design

– Limited split screen

 

[Wingznut]

Microsoft Isn't Planning on Removing Kinect - IGN

"[A Kinect-less Xbox One] is not in our plans at all," he said. "As we've said from the very beginning, we believe Kinect is an absolutely integral part of the Xbox One experience."

In other news, GameStop UK is selling the Xbox One Titanfall Bundle for £369.97, which is £30 less than MS's announced price drop yesterday.

 

[Wingznut]

Xbox One Twitch livestreaming coming March 11th - less "limiting" than PS4 app, says MS

As of 11th March, the Xbox One's Twitch app will finally support livestreaming. What's more, it'll allow you to join a broadcaster's Xbox Live party while watching their stream.

Livestreaming was originally planned for launch, but was delayed "to ensure that the Twitch broadcasting experience meets all of your expectations". Microsoft and Twitch now claim that the Xbox One Twitch app is the most "complete" you'll find on a console.

"It's complete integration," Twitch CEO Emmett Shear told the Associated Press this morning, as reported by Gamasutra. "It's exciting because we've never had the ability to broadcast from a console like this with such a deep level of integration. The concept of being able to join a broadcasters' party is really cool, and it's another step in the direction of interacting more closely with broadcasters."

To whisk the hood off the elephant in this (chat)room, the PS4's Twitch app has supported livestreaming since launch. It doesn't allow you to join the broadcaster's party, however. "That's a very certain type of experience," Xbox vice president of marketing and strategy Yusuf Mehdi observed of Sony's offering. "For us, we thought that was too limiting for what our fans would want. Our fans really want the full next-gen service, so that's why we decided to take our time, do it right and have it come out in this fashion."

"This will open up the social aspect of Xbox One in a new way," he added. "The community of Twitch is huge, and this allows us to type into that, and frankly do something that's never been done before on consoles. You'll be able to broadcast to any device and consume anyone's broadcast from any device. It's a console experience unique to the Xbox One."

 

[cmdrdredd]

Streaming cool cause I can show my buddy the games he is missing...joining their party...I am kind of meh on. No surprise it comes on the same day as titanfall release heh.


On kinect being "integral to the system"...well I'll just say that I see no reason you should require the kinect plugged in to log in automatically and to use upload studio. In the case of upload studio nothing forces you to add your face or voice to it, those are options, but the app won't run without kinect. I have yet to find something that kinect allows that cannot be done with the controller. For all the neat stuff it can do, none of it really says to me "you cannot make this work without it". I understand why they dont want to remove it, they want developers to have that option and fragmenting the user base won't help with that. They also dont want to appear to be dropping support etc. I understand that.

 

[Wingznut]

I have yet to find something that kinect allows that cannot be done with the controller.

Well yeah, that's a definite design decision. People would be livid if there were commands that could not be done without Kinect... And rightly so, imho.

But you have to admit, it is very nice to be able to do things without HAVING TO pick up the controller.

The other day, I was cutting raw chicken, prepping for dinner. Something interesting happened on TV, and I was able to pause/rewind/play without having to stop what I was doing. It was very cool to be able to do that.

 

[Wingznut]

Xbox One price cut doesn't mean the system is struggling, Microsoft says

Microsoft's announcement today of a £30/$50 price cut for the Xbox One in the United Kingdom is not an indication that the newly launched system is struggling in the region or abroad, marketing executive Harvey Eagle has said.

"For us, this is about giving UK gamers the best value that we can." Eagle told Metro.

Yeah, because that's the goal of any new product launch... A price cut three months into it's life. And what was the initial price point...? Total disregard for "giving UK gamers the best value?" Why do you not care about giving other regions "the best value that you can?"

I swear, marketing people think we're all idiots.

 

[purbeast0]

i hope they can figure out how to add the apparently nearly impossible programming job of allowing auto sign-in without a kinect with this march 11th update.

 

[sze5003]

Xbox One price cut doesn't mean the system is struggling, Microsoft says


Yeah, because that's the goal of any new product launch... A price cut three months into it's life. And what was the initial price point...? Total disregard for "giving UK gamers the best value?" Why do you not care about giving other regions "the best value that you can?"

I swear, marketing people think we're all idiots.

I agree if we saw a price cut in the US I would probably pick one up just for Xbox only exclusives.

 

[Wingznut]

i hope they can figure out how to add the apparently nearly impossible programming job of allowing auto sign-in without a kinect with this march 11th update.

"This feature worked great on the Xbox 360... Let's change it!"

I've seen the theory thrown around that the developers who designed the One interface weren't gamers. It's hard to argue with that.

 

[EightySix Four]

"This feature worked great on the Xbox 360... Let's change it!"

I've seen the theory thrown around that the developers who designed the One interface weren't gamers. It's hard to argue with that.

You have to remember the original intention of the console was to not even operate if the Kinect wasn't plugged in. Once that change was made you have to rethink a number of basic operations for the console in a very short period of time and it is something that was clearly overlooked or deemed not valuable enough to spend development hours on, hours which were already being blown through removing the always-on components of the console.

Not saying it was right to not have it in the first place, but I empathize with the decision that led to it not being in place.

 

[blackdogdeek]

What does being able to join a broadcaster's party mean? Like, let's say I'm playing Titanfall and livestreaming it over Twitch and my buddy is at his house watching the stream on his PC.

Is he able to join my party and then voice chat with me while I play and he watches (assuming he has a mic/headset on his PC)?

 

[purbeast0]

What does being able to join a broadcaster's party mean? Like, let's say I'm playing Titanfall and livestreaming it over Twitch and my buddy is at his house watching the stream on his PC.

Is he able to join my party and then voice chat with me while I play and he watches (assuming he has a mic/headset on his PC)?

i'd assume if he's watching twitch from his xbox1 he can just join the party and be playing in the game with the guy with the click of a button.

frankly i think that is a pretty awesome feature.

 

[blackdogdeek]

i'd assume if he's watching twitch from his xbox1 he can just join the party and be playing in the game with the guy with the click of a button.

frankly i think that is a pretty awesome feature.

Unfortunately, he only has a PS4 so he'd have to watch the stream on his PC or some other device.

 

[smackababy]

You have to remember the original intention of the console was to not even operate if the Kinect wasn't plugged in. Once that change was made you have to rethink a number of basic operations for the console in a very short period of time and it is something that was clearly overlooked or deemed not valuable enough to spend development hours on, hours which were already being blown through removing the always-on components of the console.

Not saying it was right to not have it in the first place, but I empathize with the decision that led to it not being in place.

There were also a lot of reports that they simply weren't finished with the Xbox One OS by the time it was ready to launch. There is a good chance a lot of stuff was kind of "well, this sort of works, patch it fully later". Launching with 80% of functionality is better than not launching in most cases.

 

[smackababy]

Unfortunately, he only has a PS4 so he'd have to watch the stream on his PC or some other device.

It is highly unlikely you will be able to voice chat with him, unless it is over Skype. MS would be smart to make an Xbox One party chat app for PC though.

 

[sze5003]

There were also a lot of reports that they simply weren't finished with the Xbox One OS by the time it was ready to launch. There is a good chance a lot of stuff was kind of "well, this sort of works, patch it fully later". Launching with 80% of functionality is better than not launching in most cases.

Sony did the same thing here, both consoles in my opinion were rushed when it comes to software and the OS operation.

 

[dguy6789]

Definitely have encountered a fair share of bugs in the Xbox One OS thus far. Trying to play games and when rounds end switching to skype to chat with people is really laggy and prone to crashing.

 

[Arkaign]

Sony did the same thing here, both consoles in my opinion were rushed when it comes to software and the OS operation.

I think that's a fair assessment. In Sony's case, their plans were obviously less ambitious so the things they focused on worked quite well. Boot/install/friends/system management all superior, but the updates on XB1 should vastly improve it. I used an XB1 a few weeks back and got the impression that it was still in beta form.

I don't discount the personnel changes at MS in terms of refocusing and being proactive with the XB project. It really looks like they're making large strides forward now.

 

[smackababy]

I used an XB1 a few weeks back and got the impression that it was still in beta form.

It is really strange, because a lot of the stuff works really well and seems to be well thought out (the Kinect stuff, for example). And then, you get some stuff that is just maddening due to how awful it was designed (party system, 'everything is an app' not being seamless, and the settings being hidden off the tiled menu).

 

[American Gunner]

and the settings being hidden off the tiled menu).

This one has never bothered me. In fact, it is actually a lot quicker to get to your setting on the XB1 compared to the 360, since all you have to do is hit the menu button when you're on the homescreen and it is right there. I listen to IGN's xbox podcast and they went on and on about not being able to find the settings, and I just wanted to go crazy while listening to it because of how easy it is to find now.

 

[Wingznut]

I listen to IGN's xbox podcast and they went on and on about not being able to find the settings, and I just wanted to go crazy while listening to it because of how easy it is to find now.

I listen to that podcast every week... It's a horrible podcast, trying to listen to them talk over each other, trying to be funny, and then make stupid comments about the easiest stuff. But then they actually have some good info, and I end up finding value in it.

I wish there were a better Xbox/Gaming podcast.

 

[American Gunner]

I listen to several different podcasts on my commute to work during the week. Unlocked is alright, but there are times that it is painful to listen to. I have found some good ones, but they aren't Xbox specific.

 

[Arkaign]

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare Review - IGN

Interesting.

I hope they are able to tweak the dev process enough to get more games like to be 1080p native, it boggles my mind to read : 'Plants vs. Zombies' and '900p' in combination with each other.

I know the XB1 isn't very powerful, but I KNOW the XB1 is capable of better than that. I think they were just lazy on this one.

 

[Wingznut]

I have found some good ones, but they aren't Xbox specific.

I also listen to Joystiq, but haven't found any others I like... Got any suggestions?

 

[American Gunner]

I know the XB1 isn't very powerful, but I KNOW the XB1 is capable of better than that. I think they were just lazy on this one.

This really does blow my mind. If it were one or two games, I would think it was the devs. I am not a developer and have no idea how that stuff works, but I just don't get why they are having such a hard time getting more out of this machine. On paper at least, it is way more powerful then the 360, so I would expect a rather large bump in game performance.