Xbox One

[Boltman]

And there you have it...

Lol I love gloom & doom predictions whether it be Sony or M$.

[p_rushing]

Re: Xbox 720

You sound pretty paranoid.

Its not paranoid when Microsoft potentially has a live camera in your house 24/7. You don't control when they have access, what it sees, what it records, etc. You also don't have control of who then accesses this video.

Now legally I don't see how they get away with this as kids will have this in their room and that creates some situations that could be illegal if it always recorded.

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox 720

It's not called the "Xbox/Kinect entertainment division" Forbes, but the Entertainment & Devices Division. The 360 and XBL makes lots of money, but is dragged down by a division that also includes Zune, Windows Mobile, Surface, and other failed half-brained ideas. If it wasn't for the runaway profits of the 360 and XBL hiding the losses of new ventures, the E&D division wouldn't exist anymore.

[jmood88]

Re: Xbox 720

Its not paranoid when Microsoft potentially has a live camera in your house 24/7. You don't control when they have access, what it sees, what it records, etc. You also don't have control of who then accesses this video.

Now legally I don't see how they get away with this as kids will have this in their room and that creates some situations that could be illegal if it always recorded.

Do you cover the camera on your phone? How about your laptop (if you have one)? Anything you own that is connected to a network could potentially be hijacked and used to spy on you. The thing is, unless you do something important, no one is interested in looking into your home.

[iLLosophy]

Re: Xbox 720

The thing is, unless you do something important, no one is interested in looking into your home.

If that were true, google's stocks would be selling for pennies. As long as you have disposable income (which assuming you have if you can afford an xbox and internet), corporate interests are interested in any and every possible aspect of your life they can get their hands on.

[BenGerman]

Re: Xbox 720

If that were true, google's stocks would be selling for pennies. As long as you have disposable income (which assuming you have if you can afford an xbox and internet), corporate interests are interested in any and every possible aspect of your life they can get their hands on.

Except watching you eat dinner, watch TV, and playing your video games. Which is the only thing hacking into that camera would amount to.

[ubernoob]

Re: Xbox 720

It's not called the "Xbox/Kinect entertainment division" Forbes, but the Entertainment & Devices Division. The 360 and XBL makes lots of money, but is dragged down by a division that also includes Zune, Windows Mobile, Surface, and other failed half-brained ideas. If it wasn't for the runaway profits of the 360 and XBL hiding the losses of new ventures, the E&D division wouldn't exist anymore.

Yeah, I'm not in full agreement with the article but the fact is that not everything is grand over in Microsoft land. If the company and each product were in a vaccuum maybe but it's all intertwined.

That being said, XBox isn't going to move major units of course since we're so far into the console life cycle which is to be expected. Just some food for thought on what is being said.

[jmood88]

Re: Xbox 720

If that were true, google's stocks would be selling for pennies. As long as you have disposable income (which assuming you have if you can afford an xbox and internet), corporate interests are interested in any and every possible aspect of your life they can get their hands on.

They're interested in what you buy, the things you like, and the sites you visit, not what you're doing in your house.

[jmood88]

Re: Xbox 720

Yeah, I'm not in full agreement with the article but the fact is that not everything is grand over in Microsoft land. If the company and each product were in a vaccuum maybe but it's all intertwined.

That being said, XBox isn't going to move major units of course since we're so far into the console life cycle which is to be expected. Just some food for thought on what is being said.

No, everything is not grand (although it's much better than Sony's situation) but selling one of the few things that is bringing in money and keeps Windows relevant in any way is not a smart idea.

[ubernoob]

Sony's having their issues too, but their games division is normally very strong. They're running into the same issues as MS being so late into the system cycle.

They had a much better year than last year so it's not quite as bad as it could be. They need to either figure something out or make cuts in other ways, as does MS.

MS would get rid of the XBox before Sony would the PlayStation though. Both companies definitely need to refocus.

[mestevo]

Sony's having their issues too, but their games division is normally very strong. They're running into the same issues as MS being so late into the system cycle.

They had a much better year than last year so it's not quite as bad as it could be. They need to either figure something out or make cuts in other ways, as does MS.

MS would get rid of the XBox before Sony would the PlayStation though. Both companies definitely need to refocus.

If you pretend anything before the last year or two never happened, perhaps. Pretty sure the PS3 may never turn a profit this console cycle, only in a fiscal year context.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[ubernoob]

Sony's profit comes from the entertainment and finance divisions. Their electronic division (smart phones, tablets, computers, etc.) is the unprofitable one for them.

Also back when the gloom and doom was predicted for them (I'm not going to pretend to know how corporate tax breaks and such work.) They didn't lose the billions they were said to, it was mostly future tax credit or breaks they lost. Since they weren't going to get that money in future breaks, they had to report it as a loss.

[KSUowls]

Re: Xbox 720

I like what is in these rumors. These companies have to evolve and change with trending technologies. TV and cable did the same thing. Some act like they resent an internet connection, like the last thing they would do is "connect my console to the silly internet..." If that's you, I'd say you are definitely the minority. Microsoft took a small risk (at the time) in introducing their broadband only first Xbox and look where we are now. Their perspective is good, and the entire console needs the internet to be at 100%. That's true with the 360 now.

And, my internet is as reliable as my electricity. My electricity has gone out more in the last year than my internet (each on their own). I'm sure there may be an outage, but it will be extremely rare.

This seems kind of silly to me. I never consciously connect my systems to the internet. I have wifi and therefore am usually connected when I turn them on, but I am still relying on a number of factors to keep me playing under this scenario. If my ISP is having problems, and the fact of the matter is it happens even with a strong/reliable connection (I have one of those) there will still be occasions where your ISP is having issues. You also run into the issue of what happens if your modem or router has a problem? This is pretty rare, but it's one more inconvenience. Lastly, I do not know how prevalent this is across the country, but some ISP's cap your data usage each month. It would be hard to justify buying one of these new systems when you start using up your data allotment each time you turn it on even if you want to play SP.

Looking at Microsoft's bottom line, these are things that need to be considered by them. People with concerns of any of the above issues will probably avoid buying into the next generation of consoles if any of this is delivered on. The above is less of a concern for me because my usage is not capped and internet downtime is pretty rare in my area (though it does happen which would more than justify me not buying a system that requires online connection)...ultimately though for me it has to do with the used game industry. I probably buy 80-90% of my games new now days, but I still jump on any good deals I find for used games like 'buy 1 get 1". Plus sometimes I just don't want to spend $60 on a game that I'm not sure I will like.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Xbox 720

Its not paranoid when Microsoft potentially has a live camera in your house 24/7. You don't control when they have access, what it sees, what it records, etc. You also don't have control of who then accesses this video.

Now legally I don't see how they get away with this as kids will have this in their room and that creates some situations that could be illegal if it always recorded.

You can do what McGyver did. That's what I'll do. Simply take a picture of the room you are in from the angle of the kinect's camera. Get a paperclip and dangle that picture right in front of the kinect camera, giving it the impression the room is empty and nothing is going on.

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox 720

Kotaku: We Know All About The Next Xbox, From Someone Who Says They’ve Got One

SuperDaE's information comes from what appears to be white papers—overview documents—crafted to prepare game makers for the next generation. Much of what we learned from them presents the notion of the Durango as being an exceedingly capable console that merges the traits of a powerful game console with the expectations of multi-tasking users of smartphones and tablets. Peripherals such as hard drives and the Kinect sensor that were optional in the last generation are mandatory in Microsoft's next go-'round, according to SuperDaE's information.

Here's what we learned from our source, with the understanding that, while what follows is fresh info relevant up through the state of Durango development in January 2013, specs and plans can change. The likelihood of further changes does diminish as the console's expected late-2013 release gets closer. An important note: many of the specs we were made privy to were said to be set not just for development kits but for the final retail consoles as well.

Kinect

Perhaps most importantly, this isn't an optional accessory. It's mandatory. Not only does a Kinect ship with every console, but it must be plugged in and calibrated for the console to even function.

This requirement is due to the way Kinect has been integrated with the Durango; because every console can be guaranteed of having the camera, developers can now program every game with the peripheral in mind.

It's also because the Kinect will always be watching you. The new version of the camera is able to track up to six individual "skeletons" in the same room at all times. This has clear gameplay implications, such as allowing a game to instantly identify a person, but could also be related to a recently-patented Microsoft system for monitoring and maybe even charging users based on who is watching what. SuperDae's Kinect documentation also makes mention of automatic player identification becoming part of a gameplay experience.

The camera has also been improved upon the models currently available, with the Durango's version capable of independently tracking your thumbs, determining whether your hand is open or closed, and even, it's claimed, reading your facial expression and seeing whether you're angry, sad or excited. The improved viewing angle is so wide that the new Kinect doesn't even need to nod to find the best viewing angle.

Storage & Installs

That divide is gone this time around, with all Durango retail consoles shipping with an HDD. That drive is 500GB in size, which should be enough for your media storage needs, but it'll mostly be used for games, which must now be installed immediately upon first insertion of the game disc.

What's more, this installation can take place automatically, while you're playing the game. Durango titles can be designed in "sections," so that you can pop your disc in, start playing and, in the background, the rest of the game will install. Installing games should bring performance improvements, we think, but doing so in the background should also get rid of pre-game install waits, one of the more annoying hold-ups of the current generation of consoles.

Durango game installations will also be mandatory, as games can't directly access data from the disc.

Game-Juggling

The Durango will be able to run more than one game or app at once, according to the information shared with us. If you're, say, a computer or smartphone user, this is not exactly sending-a-man-to-the-moon level of innovation. But game consoles have long been stuck just running the system-level functions (cross-game voice-chat, Achievement alerts, etc) while a single game runs. On an Xbox 360, even an app as simple as Twitter could only be used if whatever game the user was playing was shut down first. Durango, thankfully, gets past that.

The Durango is said to also allow games to be put into "suspend" and "constrained" states, which seemingly allow users to pause a game, switch to a second game, then return to the first game without losing their place, provided game developers follow some Microsoft protocols. Again, this is no revolution for users of computers, phones, or even Nintendo and Sony handheld gaming machines, but it is one giant leap for consoles.

Controller

The Durango's control pad will be a "natural evolution" of the Xbox 360's pad, according to SuperDaE's info. While this suggests a near-identical layout—not necessarily a problem considering the cross-platform popularity of the layout with the PC—Xbox 360 controllers won't work with the Durango, as they use what Microsoft is calling a "new wireless technology."

Companion App

Perhaps to complement the lack of direct advances to the 360's controller itself, Microsoft is looking to bolster support for its Xbox Companion App.

Some of the possibilities we've learned of are far more dramatic than those originally intended for the current version of the app, taking advantage of both a phone/tablet's motion sensing capabilities and Kinect to execute actions more like those you'd expect from Nintendo's Wii U controller.

Microsoft says, "There is no limit on the imaginative possibilities with this input medium and its screen real estate." The only question is if developers have the manpower (or willpower) to make the most of it.