Xbox One

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox 720

Is this system even going to come out in Japan? It seems like every single feature is focused on the US. I know the 360 wasnt popular over there anyways, but it seems like they are giving them nothing.

Leaving out the country that has the best games and such kinda would make me anxious as a fan...

I'm sure it will, but I'm not sure what Microsoft can do to make Xbox more popular in Japan.

They tried to moneyhat JRPGs early on the 360' life and it did nothing. The console market in Japan is shrinking though; it's becoming more and more handheld/mobile oriented. It's much more important for Microsoft to double down on mainland Europe over Japan, and beef up the features and media content in other territories outside of the U.S., which are paltry in comparison. Major Japanese publishers and developers are making their games more appealing towards western audiences these days, because the markets in the US and EU are bigger. As long as Microsoft continues to be successful in the west, they will get support from Japanese publishers regardless of how much a failure their box is in Japan.

If somebody wants to play JRPGs, it's time to get a 3DS (Vita may get it's fair share too, if it can turn things around in Japan), because you're not going to see much of note outside of Final Fantasy and Tales going forward on home consoles. What sucks for fans (like myself) is you still have to worry if these games will even get localized.

[Hooe]

Re: Xbox 720

Is this system even going to come out in Japan? It seems like every single feature is focused on the US. I know the 360 wasnt popular over there anyways, but it seems like they are giving them nothing.

Leaving out the country that has the best games and such kinda would make me anxious as a fan...

Does Japan have the best games anymore, though?

Of the top twenty-five games on the XBOX 360 (sorted by Metascore), only two (Street Fighter 4, Pacman Championship Edition DX) were developed by Japan-based development studios (Capcom / Dimps and Namco-Bandai, respectively).

Of the fourteen XBOX 360 games with a Metascore of 94 or above, the developers were Rockstar San Diego, Rockstar North, Irrational Games, Valve, EA Bioware, Bethesda Game Studios, Rocksteady, Epic, Bungie, and Infinity Ward; all North American studios (except Rocksteady). Further, the only 94+ Metascore PS3 game developed in Japan was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

I realize that Metascore isn't indicative of everything, but I do think it's fair to question the assertion that Japanese studios produce the best games and further the relevance of the territory to the success of a console at this point.

[ubernoob]

Well, that's for the 360 which wasn't popular over there anyways. MS has no need to focus on the Japanese market, realistically. Just makes me that much less likely to purchase.

Also, best games is subjective to the person. My view of best games won't be the same as yours (or anyone else's.). To me, my favourite games still have come from Japan on consoles. I haven't plugged in my 360 for years now, and the last time it was plugged in it was strictly for Netflix. There haven't been any 360 exclusives that have even piqued my interests in the least sadly.

I'm not saying it will fail. MS console will undoubtedly be a retail success in North America.

[jmood88]

Re: Xbox 720

Well, that's for the 360 which wasn't popular over there anyways. MS has no need to focus on the Japanese market, realistically. Just makes me that much less likely to purchase.

Also, best games is subjective to the person. My view of best games won't be the same as yours (or anyone else's.). To me, my favourite games still have come from Japan on consoles. I haven't plugged in my 360 for years now, and the last time it was plugged in it was strictly for Netflix. There haven't been any 360 exclusives that have even piqued my interests in the least sadly.

I'm not saying it will fail. MS console will undoubtedly be a retail success in North America.

The Canadians have indoctrinated you. We don't use that spelling in these parts.

[ubernoob]

The Canadians have indoctrinated you. We don't use that spelling in these parts.

Haha. Blame this stupid swipe typing method on my phone. As of late it seems worse than ever.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Xbox 720

Sort of ironic that XBL has been down for the good part of today. #alwayson

[pietasterp]

Re: Xbox 720

Sort of ironic that XBL has been down for the good part of today. #alwayson

Yeah, imagine if you couldn't play anything today because of it...

[redsrule]

Re: Xbox 720

Yeah, imagine if you couldn't play anything today because of it...

[23]

Re: Xbox 720

Check this out dudes


The last week we dug a deep hole inside the Microsoft strategy. The brand would want to sell two new systems. One would be next-gen, Durango, Xbox 360 successor. The other one, we are going to call it Xbox Mini for now, would be a redesigned Xbox 360. This Mini console would provide BC to Durango. That’s the idea.

An anonymous insider has analyzed our documents, our leaks and other ones about Durango. It’s like an open letter for everybody. Don’t lose your time reading me; please give 5 minutes to this interesting article:

So yes, I originally made a post on pastebin that I then posted on IGN that has now mysteriously vanished from the internet. I’m guessing good ‘ol Don wasn’t too happy.

In that pastebin post I said I wouldn’t be saying anything else, but that was before a few things changed. So yeah…. #dealwithit.

That IGN post (that referenced the pastebin post) was also posted on NeoGAF. Though it didn’t get much attention.

In that pastebin post I specifically mentioned that I was a GAF member, but that I would not be outing myself on GAF for fear of losing my job. And I still will not be doing that. I’m not an idiot.
However since the reveal is pretty close now, I thought I’d just come out and tell you everything I know. No more cryptic bull****, just facts.

First of all, for any of the GAF members reading this (or anyone else for that matter) that actually believed the online-required rumor, well…. you’re either stupid, very gullible, or a fanboy. Reading the posts some of you made over the past few weeks leads me to believe that mostly fanboyism was involved. So, I’ll make this very clear:

You are not required to be connected to the internet in order to play Durango games and MS were NEVER considering doing such a thing. Now please, just read that last sentence over and over again until it sinks in. Done? Good.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way I can talk about the real details.
First, I’ll admit some things that I originally hinted at in the first pastebin are now not going to happen. Mainly the April 18th date (obviously) and the HMD glasses. The date, as you may know by now was pushed back to May, and the glasses, well, although they’re kind of working are going to spend a bit longer in the oven.

Ok, moving on. Have you read the VGLeaks article about the Durango specs? Yes? Good because everything you read in that article was 100% correct. Except, for one tiny little detail that MS kept guarded from most devs until very recently. That detail being that every Durango ships with a Xbox 360 SOC.

There was a reason why MS hired so many former IBM and AMD employees. I’ll admit I’m not an electrical engineer (I’m in software) so I won’t pretend to know the ins and outs of how the 360 SOC integrates into the Durango motherboard. All I know, and all I need to know about this new change is that I (or a game dev) can use the 360 SOC in parallel with the original Durango hardware.

What does this mean in basic terms? Well, apart from Durango having 100% BC with the 360, it also increases Durango’s processing power a fair amount.

Ok, so what else?

Kinect 2.0: – Again the specs from VGLeaks are correct, there’s been no change and there won’t be. However, the fact is, is that software can do ANYTHING, and with the quite substantial increase in the hardware over Kinect 1.0, any humanly noticeable lag should be gone

Controller: – The controller is pretty much the same. The D-Pad has been improved, but the change will only be noticeable when actually using it, i.e. it looks exactly the same, I haven’t actually touched it, this is just what I’ve been told. AA batteries will make a return, but the new wireless tech MS has created for the controller, improves battery life by 16%. Again, this is just what the doc says.

Xbox Mini/Xbox TV: Yes, this is happening, although as far as I know, it’s a whole different team over at MS that are handling this. As has been reported its main purpose is to compete with Apple TV, so expect this thing to be small and around $100.
It contains the 360 SOC (similar to the one in the Durango), however no disc drive is included (to decrease size). But of course you can still play any XBLA/Games on Demand game. That’s all I really know about the xTV so I’ll leave it at that. Thurrott seems to know more than anyone else about this, so go ask him.

OS/Services: I wish I knew more about this, but I honestly don’t. I have no clue what sort of new ideas MS are going to bring to the table this gen, but I’m certainly expecting them to amaze.
The only thing that I do know for definite is that Durango will be running Windows 8. It will essentially be the full version of the OS, minus the desktop side of things. This means it’ll be running the new WinRT framework, which as a side effect also means that contrary to popular belief MS will be the most indie friendly of all the big 3 next gen.
This is because any app/game that is created for the Windows app store will (after adding controller support of course) be playable on Durango.
In other words, any random person worldwide can pay Microsoft a $60 license fee (for the Windows Store) and submit their app/game to the store where millions of people can then download/buy it. No expensive development kits needed.
Expect to hear much more on WinRT – Durango at Build2013.

Ok, so that’s pretty much it. I wish I had more info on specific games and services that MS have lined up, but it seems that even I’ll have to wait until May to find out.
I’ll look forward to this post appearing on GAF, where rest assured I’ll be lurking. Hell, who knows I may even make a few posts.

I wonder how many people will refuse to believe this? Hmmmm….



http://www.vgleaks.com/rumor-durango...-pastebin-doc/

[iLLosophy]

Re: Xbox 720

Damn. That's a lot to process. Great find

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Xbox 720

Tech geeks, what does SOC mean?

[bghost]

Re: Xbox 720

Tech geeks, what does SOC mean?

system on a chip.

[Phobia]

Re: Xbox 720

I hope there is more to the system than what that article says though. Because if not it is basically just a more powerful 360. The PS4 bringing out the touch pad controller and share button seems pretty damn cool.

I guess wait for the May announcement is the only thing we can do to see if the system offers more perks than just a improved kinect and more powerful system.

[TracerBullet]

Re: Xbox 720

You know, that post that jmood made from VG Leaks that said that it wouldn't require online was never picked up by media outlets. But the first time they said that it would be required, all of them used it as a source. Yet they kept posting Always-Online stories after that. Something tells me they just wanted the traffic at that point and controversy builds that much more than positive news.

Now, if all of that post is true, then this thing will be pretty damn amazing.

[mestevo]

Re: Xbox 720

I hope there is more to the system than what that article says though. Because if not it is basically just a more powerful 360. The PS4 bringing out the touch pad controller and share button seems pretty damn cool.

I guess wait for the May announcement is the only thing we can do to see if the system offers more perks than just a improved kinect and more powerful system.

If it's as flexible as he says, you just need a Windows 8 app for whatever functionality you're missing (re: share button). I've been using Windows 8 on a tablet and a PC since before it was released though and I'm still not used to using charms to share, I just don't have a need for it. It would make more sense in a console though. All these interesting things people are doing with Kinect on Windows? They can just make an app and millions can download it.

There isn't much new there that hasn't already been rumored really outside of that. Hard to really believe it could be as wide open as he says, really opens the door to a lot of junk and the W8 Store is full of that already as it is. Would have to come with some significant curation/moderation mechanisms.