Xbox One News..

[adder]

here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33142538

[pbj]

Lots of interesting announcements out of Microsoft today... I'm fully invested in PS4 but maybe I'll crack the wallet open sooner than anticipated....

[Howard_Casto]

eh their news wasn't really ground breaking. 

Then having a vr headset in the works was already known.  And yeah let's showcase the cutting edge hololens technology with the crappy faux 8-bit game.   Also the backwards compatibility thing...... if you'll remember they pulled that exact same stunt with the 360.... said 100 titles would work out of the gate and more would be added later.....and after about a year they stopped adding games. 

That being said, I got a xbox one at Christmas because they were selling so poorly at the time m$ couldn't give them away (so It was a good deal) and aside from the obvious lack of games, I really enjoy it.  The interface is quite nice when it comes to media and what-not... I use it for that more than anything else, which I'm pretty sure is the intent.  Like I've said before, M$ could give two craps about games.... they just want to sell you a settop box to buy crap on.... which is the exact same reason why windows 10 is going to be released for free, to get as many windows marketplaces in the home as possible. 

[ark_ader]

I thought that the Xbone HDMI in port was developed exclusively for the Xbox 360 HDMI out port. 

[deadmoney5]

At this point, is backwards compatibility a big deal?

[Slippyblade]

At this point, is backwards compatibility a big deal?

Yes.  Yes it is.  There is a massive library of 360 games out there.  Why *wouldn't* you want access to it?

[Howard_Casto]

Honestly it shouldn't be.... one and a half years in you are supposed to be looking at your current gen games...but that's the problem... this generation seems to be having a REALLY slow start.  In terms of Xbone/ps4 only games that are worth mentioning, there are only a handful.  So being able to play 360 games might give some people the incentive to go ahead and upgrade "early". 

Spotty compatibility via an emulated mode that works on a per-game basis is NOT backwards compatibility though.  Like I said, they tried this exact same thing with the xbox games on the 360 and the service was soon forgotten due to poor compatibility and m$ just dropping the program when they decided it wasn't making them money anymore. 

[Slippyblade]

Gonna disagree with you Howard. 

I was a game store manager for about 7 years and sold tons of 360s due to the fact that compatibility existed, even though it was spotty.  The first run 60gb PS3's were treated like gold.  People like to be able to buy a newer console for several reasons, new tech, new games, or maybe their old system is dying.  If it's a first console for the house, they may buy one new $60 game and then a half dozen of the old gen games.  If it's a console going into a house with a last gen, maybe they just want access to the new games and don't feel like they should have to just junk all their old games.

There's a reason that the old cartridge systems almost always had a plug in to run the last gen games.

[Howard_Casto]

Well first off, cartridge based systems almost never had backwards compatibility, unless you count the genesis and its backwards compatibility with a console that most  American consumers didn't even know existed. 

Secondly, with respect, the second hand market is completely irrelevant.  Used console sales (and subsequently used game sales) don't count because Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo don't see any of that money.  It's great for gamestop and mom and pop game stores, but if someone buys a product used, it doesn't up those sales figures.

You didn't sell those consoles for the reasons that you thought.  360's sold better because the ps3 had a terrible launch and no sane person is going to buy a 600 dollar console... ps3 sales picked up after they dropped the price.  The 60gb ps3's were treated like gold for the same reason that the first run of ANY console is treated like gold... typically revisions of consoles remove features and cheapen the hardware... nobody wants a genesis 3, just as an example.  But that aside, the ps3 had true backwards compatibility. Please go back and read my reply... the reason it doesn't make a difference in this case is because the xbone doesn't really have it.   

Long story short, liking a feature and making it a determining factor for buying a console aren't the same thing.

I would challenge you to find a single solitary person who will admit that the reason they bought a 360 was because they could play xbox games on it.  Now for the ps3 that is another story, but again, it had true backwards compatibility as opposed to spotty support on a game-by-game basis. 

[Slippyblade]

Never said it was the sole reason.  I said it was a contributing reason. 

Howard, I respect your intelligence and the contributions you've made and continue to make, but I think you are ignoring the logistics of retail.  I'm pretty certain I know why people bought the crap I sold them, I've done it for years. 

When the PS3 launched, I sold a ton of em.  Not because it was a game system, but because it was a high quality Blu-Ray player that was $400 cheaper than the available stand alone units.  As far as the backwards compat went, the 60gb had hardware compatibility, thus the reason they were coveted, the other versions were software right up to the moment Sony removed it from the system.

As far as the secondary market being irrelevant, I once again have to disagree.  With the advent of DLC, I'd say the secondary market is very relevant.  Even though the console makers don't see the first sale dollars, each owner of the same disk ends up purchasing DLC since there is no way to transfer it.  That means that a high margin, low overhead item gets resold each time the single disk changes hands.  Even when a console changes hands, the new owner most likely will end up buying digital distribution games.  Hardware is becoming a diminishing channel of income versus digital.

[pbj]

When I first got the Ps4, I declared I'd only buy next gen exclusives.  Which really shortened the list at first.  But, honestly, those multigeneration games are a mess on the older systems.  If all you care about is playing Shadow of Mordor or Far Cry 4 for free on your hacked system, then fine.  But if you want to actually enjoy it?  PS4 version all day long.

[ark_ader]

Never said it was the sole reason.  I said it was a contributing reason. 

Howard, I respect your intelligence and the contributions you've made and continue to make, but I think you are ignoring the logistics of retail.  I'm pretty certain I know why people bought the crap I sold them, I've done it for years. 

When the PS3 launched, I sold a ton of em.  Not because it was a game system, but because it was a high quality Blu-Ray player that was $400 cheaper than the available stand alone units.  As far as the backwards compat went, the 60gb had hardware compatibility, thus the reason they were coveted, the other versions were software right up to the moment Sony removed it from the system.

As far as the secondary market being irrelevant, I once again have to disagree.  With the advent of DLC, I'd say the secondary market is very relevant.  Even though the console makers don't see the first sale dollars, each owner of the same disk ends up purchasing DLC since there is no way to transfer it.  That means that a high margin, low overhead item gets resold each time the single disk changes hands.  Even when a console changes hands, the new owner most likely will end up buying digital distribution games.  Hardware is becoming a diminishing channel of income versus digital.

Again Howard you are missing the point of the vast amount of 360 titles that will be available via Xbox Live.  Microsoft will be able to reissue these old games to a new (err..) unsuspecting public.  There are over three hundred titles (I have bought about 230) that will be on sale for $10 each.  That is a bunch of revenue that will be non traded.  Gamestop will take a big hit in their after market sales, if Microsoft decides to get aggressive with pricing.

Then we start to look at another interesting facet.  PC Xbox 360 emulation.  The Xbox is slower than my A10 in my laptop, so there will be some interesting developments in the creation of a PC capable Xbox 360 platform.  We are not talking Wii here Howard, nice to have N64 and GameCube backwards compatibility, but this DLC action is different ball of wax, and we might be seeing the beginning of the end for retail games.