Wow... 500 bucks for the bone.

So much hilarity if the faster, stronger PS4 breaks under 400 as analysts are predicting.

Project Spark looked pretty cool. I'll definitely be picking that up for PC.

 

Just an fyi, unless it was said during the conference the game was "Xbox One exclusive" it's a multiplatform game. Microsoft asked all multiplats not to reveal themselves as such during the conference.

Also I lol'd, Dead Rising "gameplay" footage was a pre-recorded video. We heard Windows 8 error sounds while it was playing. I would chalk up all of the footage you see at E3 as alpha/beta gameplay being played on a PC, not an actual Xbox One. Uncharted 3 infamously showed during E3 some stunning visuals that were later not on the PS3 version.

 

Despite the fact that I don't care about the Xbox and will probably never own one, I still watched the stream. I even took notes. If you missed it, these are the highlights, though I did miss the first few minutes:

Xbox 360:

• continuing support with hundreds of new games in the next couple years
• redesigned to look like the Xbone (new design available today)
• New games include World of Tanks (multiplatform), Dark Souls II (multiplatform), and a third game whose name I didn't catch called Max something (not Max Payne) (probably exclusive)

Gold membership now includes 2 free game downloads per month from a limited pool; first group will include AC II and Halo 3

Live/SmartGlass features:

• SmartGlass devices act as companion devices to Live
• You can join games, view game progress and tips, and load multiplayer matches in the background while playing singleplayer from a SmartGlass device
• multiplayer matches are auto-recorded and can be edited
• Twitch is now built-in
• 100 friend limit removed
• MS points are replaced by real money in your local currency
• people in your house can use some of your Live features (including multiplayer) without you being logged in

Xbone Games:

• Metal Gear Solid 5 (multiplatform)
• Ryse: Son of Rome (exclusive)
• Killer Instinct (exclusive)
• Sunset Overdrive (exclusive)
• Forza 5 (exclusive)
• Minecraft (multiplatform)
• Quantum Break (exclusive)
• D4 (exclusive)
• Project Spark (multiplatform?)
• Crimson Dragon (exclusive)
• Dead Rising 3 (probably exclusive)
• Witcher 3 (multiplatform)
• Battlefield 4 (multiplatform)
• Below (exclusive)
• untitled game from Black Tusk (no idea, but given numbers, probably exclusive)
• Halo (exclusive)
• Titanfall (multiplatform)

Release is November 2013 with a price of $499 (499 euro, 429 gbp).

 

I'm not sure a lot of those really qualify as "Xbone games" when they're multiplats.

 

Those were just the games announced in the press conference. They also said that 13 of the announced games would be exclusive. I've got 17 listed, so the obvious 4 multiplats would be MGS V, BF4, Witcher 3, and Minecraft. If they're also counting the 360 games as "announced exclusives," then that might free up one more multiplat (since we know World of Tanks and Dark Souls aren't exclusive).

Of the remaining games, Ryse, Killer Instinct, Sunset Overdrive, Forza 5, Quantum Break, D4, Below, Halo, and Titanfall were specifically announced as exclusives. The sound on the Crimson Dragon demo was bugged, but according to it's wiki, it requires Kinect, so it's exclusive. Dead Rising is an Xbox franchise, so it's probably exclusive. The only two questionables are the untitled Black Tusk game, which was just a 30 second clip of in-engine footage and Project Spark, which appears to have some sort of PC component. They weren't clear on how that would work though.

Edit: scratch that, Titanfall is multiplatform.

 

Pre-orders now available on Amazon.

Comes with a code for a "day one achievement":facepalm

 

And Fable 3 is currently for free on the marketplace right now, or at least it was before I left for work. I had thought it was some kind of error of some sort, but it may very well be the beginnings of this.

Question: If they're going to be handing out free Tier-1 and Tier-2 games monthly on the 360, why the fuck are they expecting anyone to switch over to the Xbone? Ever?

 

Technically, the free games thing isn't supposed to start until July, and they made no mention of the free Fable III, so it could be a glitch. It could also be a teaser offer, to keep people from dropping their subscriptions.

I suspect that they'll either drop down to Tier-3 games after a few months (read: when the Xbone comes out) or start giving away Xbone games at some point. Or both.

 

The Fable 3 seems mostly legit, however it does mention that you need to pay a "tax" in order to download it. Basically, it's free, with the exception of an unlisted tax (as far as I could see, I may just have missed where the tax price was listed).

 

Update on this: apparently, the 2 free games/month thing will only run from July to December - so you'll get a dozen free games in total.

Also, the Fable III giveaway was for E3, so it was intentional.

 

So, apparently Xbox One will only work in 21 countries upon launch. Microsoft really doesn't want to sell this thing do they?

List of countries.

Is it just me or does excluding South Korea & Japan seem a bit strange?

 

I attempted to DL Fable 3 and never got past 0% in the two hours I waited

 

Not really. The X-Box and 360 did not do very well at all in the Japanese and Korean markets, so ignoring them for the Xbone is an understandable (if still retarded) buisiness move.

 

It's ironic that the places with the most universally reliable, cheap, high speed internet are the places where Xbox wouldn't sell no matter what, while their biggest market is a place where plenty of the country still has averages way below the required speed in order reliably to run the thing.

 

Haven't browsed this thread to see if this has been posted yet, but here: Anonymous Microsoft Engineer on XBox1's DRM

 

TLDR:

"We're just innovating, guys, honest. That's all this is. It's the future."

 

I don't in any way believe that Microsoft would drop their game prices. Ever.

 

Games retail on Steam for the same price as everywhere else. Occasionally they drop the price at launch by $10 because you don't have to print a disc, but even then not always.

It's the sales where everything is 50-75% off that makes Steam worthwhile, and I don't believe Microsoft/publishers have any realistic desire to emulate Steam in that nature. They could prove me wrong, but as greedy as they're being - and that's what killing used games is, greed - I don't believe it. Games don't cost $60 because used games exist, they cost $60 because some publisher decided that's how much they should sell their game to maximize revenue.

There are some interesting things in that pastebin rant, but there's plenty of plain-old bullshit in there.

EDIT: And the WiiU isn't a failure because it's too pro-consumer, that's bullshit. It's a failure because it has no software and no lasting power. It has no lasting power because it's a current-gen console launched six years too late, and it has no software because Nintendo are colossal fucking assholes.

 

And they're still doing better than Microsoft!

Actually, they're doing better than pretty much everybody. The numbers are kind of crazy. Nintendo doesn't have to give a fuck, strictly speaking. The Wii was the undisputed winner of the previous generation in terms of Money Made. It's almost understandable why someone in an executive boardroom might decide being first-to-market trumps everything else in that kind of situation.

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Also, I can tell you for a fact that some of the things in that pastebin are false. The reason games cost 59.99 now has nothing to do with resales. That's a bald-faced lie, and the guy who said it either isn't a developer, is one and is lying, or is one but doesn't know what he's talking about.

They cost that much because it costs a lot of money to develop a game. It's a huge investment of time and effort to make a AAA game, or even a high quality piece that isn't meant to be a blockbuster. There is a reason why publishing companies like EA exist. EA doesn't develop games itself. It's a gaming publishing company. It spends money and resources to help publishing companies get their product finished, advertised, and sold. They don't actually make games themselves. Those of you that are familiar with what publishing houses for books do should be aware of this kind of relationship. It's basically the same thing. Publishing companies have been unfavorably compared to being what amounts to a kind of corporate pimp. While not entirely fair, it is also not an inaccurate comparison.

We hate companies like EA, and with good reason. EA is tyrannical. But without publishing companies 'like' EA, you'd be seeing games selling for as much as 90+. Major gaming companies like Nintendo and the Microsoft gaming division have enough money and resources that they can offset the costs of game development by keeping things in-house, or loaning out their resources to second and third parties in exchange for exclusive releases. But smaller, independent companies often don't have that option.

That's just the way the business works. I don't know who this guy is, and I'm not prepared to call him fake or legit.

But I can tell you that he's wrong.

 

EA is both. It has in house studios and distribution contracts with external studios.

IMHO the complete digital distribution will hurt these currently big publisher companies like EA and Activision even more. Without the traditional retailer distribution side what does a publisher do? Investment banker business. You would only need to add some PR which can be contracted external.