anyone excited about the upcoming (fall) Xbox 720?

[Atariboy]

Historically, Xbox 360 had BC. The One does not, as it utilizes a blue ray player...that is not speculation.

 

I really doubt that the Xbox One's Blu-Ray drive will lack DVD reading capabilities. So that isn't a reason.

 

As it stands right now, I cannot have 1 account on two systems at the same time...my only option is to go through the arduous process of logging out of one system and then logging my account back into the other system...it's a royal pain in the ass. I have 2 Xbox 360's in my house and need 2 live accounts in order to avoid this annoying process...just to watch Netflix in my living room after leaving the game room. I can't see how, basing things on "history" this is going to change for the better. It hasn't in all of the years that Xbox Live has been in existence.

 

I thought they lifted the limitation of how many systems your profile could be residing on a while ago? Perhaps it has something to do with the cloud but I'm all but certain you don't have to do the recover gamertag nonsense to move from 360 to 360 in your household now.

 

And there were ways around it before like sticking your profile on an external memory device and moving it from system to system.

 

And it was only a Xbox 360 limitation. You didn't have to recover your profile each time to move between the Xbox and Xbox 360 continually. Myself and many others continued playing with the same Xbox Live profile without the slightest bit of hassle on both for years.

 

I see no reason why it will be different keeping an account going on both a 360 and a Xbox One.

 

I hope so. Although in all honesty I think I'm going to use the method someone on AA mentioned (I think it was you Atariboy) and that is, when the announcement is made to shut down the servers, I will tie all my content to a 360 and then take it off line. Transfer the licence, and redownload all the DLC to another console, take it off line and repeat till all my consoles think they have the licence tied to them. After that I'll probably hack one and just play to my hearts content if I'm ever feeling nostalgia. Prediction is, I'll rarely if ever look back anyways, so it'll probably all for nothing.

 

It's still nice to know that you can if you want.

 

In reality, I rarely revisit games unless they're arcade style games with unlimited replayability. I think I just like knowing that my expensive purchase of the latest game that I'm able to hold in my hands willl still work until natural deterioration renders it inoperable likely sometime after it stops even mattering where I'm personally concerned.

 

I think a lot of people will check the box expressing interest in BC. I also think for the first 6 months many of them will use it. Then I think pretty much nobody will use it. Most gamers do not care about older games.

 

I think this time may of been an exception to backwards compatibility quickly decreasing to near irrelevance.

 

The technology gap here is the lowest it has ever been and even a pretty Xbox 360 game from 2005 is still attractive to this day so they're not going to age like they once did or have technological reasons to leave behind like the inability for many HDTV's to nicely upscale the SD/ED consoles of the previous generation.

 

And then there are your digital purchases that are convenient that you're more likely to fire up than removing your latest Xbox One game from the drive just to play an older Xbox 360 release. And I suspect that the 360 and PS3 will have the healthiest post replacement support we've yet seen in the console world which is even more reason why Xbox One and PS4 owners would want to pay attention.

 

And online multiplayer is so prevalent that people would do what they did with Halo 2 the last time around and bring it to their new system and play where they left off if it's a popular game that they're addicted to. The first year or so I owned the Xbox 360 after buying it in late 2006 a year after release still had most of the player's in my friends list that I knew were gaming on their 360 still playing Halo 2 with regularity and probably more often than actual 360 software. It really didn't end until two years after launch when Halo 3 finally released and Call of Duty really established itself as a Halop alternative and took many others away before Halo 2 stopped being one of the most common games played on 360's.

 

I think that very well may of been commonplace this time around if it had happened. But we'll never know now.

 

The Xbox 360 had BC, but you had to download individual files for each Xbox game you wanted to play.

There was never a need for a poll. MS could see exactly how many people were using this feature.

Wanna bet it wasn't very many people?

 

It was enough for several waves of updates over a several year span that saw half the library become compatible. So I'd say it was a fair amount until the numbers diminished enough and the difficulty to emulate the remaining software made it not worth continuing.

 

Not to mention that the 360 really was no replacement for an Xbox. I'm sure many of those most interested in backwards compatibility just kept an Xbox hooked up due to the issues.

Edited May 23, 2013 by Atariboy

[Pixelboy]

If you needed proof that Microsoft owns Sympatico.ca, this is it:

 

http://www.theloop.ca/news/all/technology/article/-/a/2418068/10-reasons-you-and-your-kids-will-want-the-Xbox-One

 

Wow, talk about a one-sided hype engine... Let the propaganda begin...

[+Gemintronic]

I haven't heard much crowing over its less beefy specs compared to the PS4. The Xbox Wunn is clocked at 1.6ghz compared to 2ghz for Sony. Uses DDR3 instead of GDDR5. Doesn't make a damn bit of difference to the end user. Just figured there'd be more mudslinging on this.

[Master Phruby]

Wow. There are some non-technical people here. The reason there is no backwards compatibility is because it uses x86 processor instead of a Power PC chip like 360 and original xbox does. They would have to emulate it in software much like the iMac did a long time ago. Case in point, the PS4 will not have backwards compatibility either for the same reason.

[+Gemintronic]

Wow. There are some non-technical people here. The reason there is no backwards compatibility is because it uses x86 processor instead of a Power PC chip like 360 and original xbox does. They would have to emulate it in software much like the iMac did a long time ago. Case in point, the PS4 will not have backwards compatibility either for the same reason.

 

All true. They could still bring back Playstation 2 compatibility as an 8 core system with a modern graphics card and do it pretty well nowadays. Will Sony? Nope. I'd appreciate bringing back full backwards compatibility with the original Xbox since they're both x86. Will they? Nope.

[Mendon]

Backwards compatibility doesn't bother me at all.

 

Back when vinyl was the medium, I had a good collection with Sgt. Peppers & the White Album being at the top of my favorite list. Then one day 8-track appeared and I had to have this new & improved medium so I bought a system along with Sgt. Peppers & the White Album. Then cassettes came along and voila... no more having a song broken in two while the system changes tracks, so I bought a nice cassette system along with Sgt. Peppers & the White Album. Then along comes CD's and... you guessed it. Then MP players and smart phones and.... yep, bought those two albums again.

 

So I guess I'm used to replacing my media when a new system comes along and for that reason I just can't get upset because one video game system doesn't play the medium from the previous system.

 

When I buy a new video game system its because of the games for THAT system.

[Hyper_Eye]

Wow. There are some non-technical people here. The reason there is no backwards compatibility is because it uses x86 processor instead of a Power PC chip like 360 and original xbox does. They would have to emulate it in software much like the iMac did a long time ago. Case in point, the PS4 will not have backwards compatibility either for the same reason.

 

Actually I think a number of the people here are technically knowledgeable. Most of the time backwards compatibility is dealt with through hardware. The first iteration of the PS3 contained hardware necessary to bridge the gap between that system and the PS2 so that PS2 games would boot and play without emulation. The Wii uses hardware very similar to what the GC contained and the same is true with the Wii U so it was relatively inexpensive to add the ability to put the hardware into "GC mode" or "Wii mode". The issue that MS had, when they built the Xbox 360, was the licensing of the hardware in the original Xbox. They did not "own" that hardware. They had a contract with Intel and Nvidia. Those companies were not interested in reducing the cost of their hardware and that was a primary reason why MS stopped Xbox production so quickly when they moved to the 360. It is also why supporting BC in hardware was not an option with the 360. They had to use emulation or not do it at all. With the 360 hardware they did not make the same mistake. If they can't get the deal they need with the manufacturer they are currently using they can shop the work around. That has allowed them to negotiate with their manufacturers and bring costs down. They could have designed the One with an integrated Xenon processor that could fulfill the BC role. They chose not to. BTW... original Xbox did not use a ppc processor or even a big-endian processor. It used a little-endian x86 processor. Essentially something in between a Celeron and a Pentium 3.

[Tickled_Pink]

 

 

I thought console gaming was dead.

It is now. :-/

[Tickled_Pink]

Wow. There are some non-technical people here. The reason there is no backwards compatibility is because it uses x86 processor instead of a Power PC chip like 360 and original xbox does. They would have to emulate it in software much like the iMac did a long time ago. Case in point, the PS4 will not have backwards compatibility either for the same reason.

Didn't the original Xbox use a 733mhz Intel x86 processor? I suppose that might make emulation easier.

[Atariboy]

Someone raised an excellent point that I hadn't thought of at another forum. What about retail games that can no longer be published? Outrun releases with the Ferrari license for instance. Sega just can't go and reprint Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast for the Playstation 2 and sell it without their now expired Ferrari license.

 

I would assume that with such an example, a new user wouldn't be allowed to pay the activation fee for the used disc they just acquired. So delisted retail game releases will now become a possibility if that's indeed the case.

[HammR25]

It's not terribly surprising anymore but another Microsoft employee sticks his foot in his mouth.

 

Microsoft’s Mattrick says he doesn’t think compatibility is really a problem. He said only 5% of customers play older games on a new videogame system anyway, so spending time and money to develop technology to allow them to play older games isn’t worth it.

“If you’re backwards compatible, you’re really backwards,” he said.

 

 

http://blogs.wsj.com...n-gaming-cloud/

[Atariboy]

My experience with my friends list from late 2006 to late 2007 with most of them being Xbox 360 users says otherwise. And that was with a single Xbox game. Also, I really doubt that they continually updated their emulator over the span of several years if only 5% of their users were taking advantage of it. Rather, I bet it's 5% of Xbox 360 users that have played an Xbox game in their system recently in 2013 or just a number pulled out of thin air.

 

And if it is their most recent statistic for Xbox usage on connected Xbox 360's, that's hardly the evidence he seems to think it is when you realize that the Xbox 360 is nearing its 8th birthday later this year, that less than 1/3 as many Xbox consoles were ever sold as the number of 360's to date, that the BC feature doesn't have XBL support any longer, that Xbox publishing all but disappeared a year after the 360 released and releases during that final good year were still rather few and far between, and that the 360's BC only covered half the library and didn't function well for most of what it did support.

 

If 5% of Xbox 360 users are still occasionally inserting an original Xbox game after all of this time and are utilizing that feature, I think it's a testament that backwards compatibility does matter. It just can't break the bank accomplishing it.

Edited May 23, 2013 by Atariboy

[+Random Terrain]

Every Xbox game I've tried in my Xbox 360 freezes up more than Skyrim, so I quit trying.

[JamesD]

It has a built in TV tuner. How good a tuner is it? Cable is easy, will it work well with off air HDTV?

The graphics are great but we expected that.

I like the integrated skype and other interface changes but I don't think all of them required the ONE.

Exactly what does "nearly silent operation" mean?

I don't care if it's the greatest piece of electronics ever created if it's $1500. So how much will it cost?

Actually no TV tuner, just an HDMI input. That means you need an HDTV tuner box to use the TV feature with off air TV.

I have my doubts it will integrate with just any off air HDTV tuner. I'm guessing they will focus on cable and satellite.

Edited May 24, 2013 by JamesD

[Atariboy]

Every Xbox game I've tried in my Xbox 360 freezes up more than Skyrim, so I quit trying.

 

It's very hit or miss.

 

I'd say that about 10% of the original Xbox library is supported and actually runs well enough to be truly considered compatible from the sampling of several dozen games I've had over the years. It's nice in limited circumstances.

[Atariboy]

I suppose this is one of the lesser issues here, but it sounds as if there will be no standard definition support. Kind of sad to see it going away as an option but I guess if they're willing to throw away a small minority of users that would otherwise purchase this but lack a broadband connection due to their unavailability, this isn't too much of a surprise.

 

And of course if anyone complains about it, the inevitable if you can afford an Xbox One & games you can surely afford a new television will crop up in response. But it's still sort of sad to know that you won't be able to hook this up to a 4:3 SD CRT even if you wanted to.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Atariboy

[Hyper_Eye]

The Microsoft Store had an issue with the 1200 point codes I bought the other night so they turned my $5 1200 point codes into $5 1600 point codes. All told I got $155 worth of points for $45. I could snag some more because the coupon is still working but the 1200 point codes are being generated properly now so no surprise bump. I wonder how long they are going to allow these codes to work this way. The e-mail clearly says "good for your next purchase." Someone really messed that up.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Hyper_Eye

[+frankodragon]

Does anyone else the Xbox One looks just as ugly as those telescreens in the remake of 1984?

with

[Atariboy]

That's actually one of the better looking shots of it I've seen.

 

I don't consider it an important element, but it is a pretty ugly game console. I like what I've seen and read about the controller though. One of the few highlights of the reveal so far even though it was hardly unexpected that they would just evolve and improve their existing controller.

[Andromeda Stardust]

That's actually one of the better looking shots of it I've seen.

 

I don't consider it an important element, but it is a pretty ugly game console. I like what I've seen and read about the controller though. One of the few highlights of the reveal so far even though it was hardly unexpected that they would just evolve and improve their existing controller.

It's really not an ugly console. The angular bottom is very reminiscent to the NES but with a sleek modern look. Kind of like about every other decade since the dawn of automotive technology, car exteriors have evolved from boxy to curvy to boxy to curvy and so on. What I have issue with is not the design of the console, nor the hardware under the hood, but the sheer idiocy of policies that Microsoft is trying to force down gamers' throats. I've never been an Xbox fan as I've always seen Mircrosoft as a necessary evil, at least in the computing sector. With game consoles, I have a choice, but I suppose I do with computers too: Linux and Apple. Needless to say, I run Windows because the software I want/need to use is primarily Windows based, and I buy Nintendo because I love their games. Windows 8 is a POS in my opinion, but I can customize it to look, act and function as a desktop machine like Windows 7.

 

With the Xbox One, there is literally no option to make it function like a traditional game console. While I never had a desire to purchase Microsoft's first two console offers, I didn't take offense to what they were doing either. I figured they want to make people pay for online, well fine, I'll vote with my money and game online with a Wii and PS3 for free. However, I do take offense to what Microsoft is planning to do with this next generation, and many other gamers share my sentiment. If enough gamers revolt against the machine, the Xbox One will either change their policies prior to launch, or they will fail, setting an example for future entrants to the console market. But if fanboys bitch about the console and buy it anyway, it will show other companies that this type of consumer abuse is acceptable, and pave the way for a future devoid of resales and retro gaming.

 

Apple is also looking pretty ripe to join the race if Microsoft should fail. They could easily go the Ouya route with a downloads-only console, but sell it for $599 and people will buy it based on brand recognition alone.

Edited May 26, 2013 by stardust4ever

[Atariboy]

I don't care for the appearance of it having two different halves spliced together in the middle. That's its main visual flaw in my eyes. I don't mind the boxy appearance of it otherwise. If anything, I appreciate it looking less like a toy.

 

But there's not enough symmetry there and it just looks odd at many angles like this one.

 

Edited May 26, 2013 by Atariboy

[moycon]

Still pissed there are no faceplates!

 

(Oh boy did those go over about as well as a fart in church or what?)

[Master Phruby]

So when does Apple's iPlay come out? I hear it will play a mean game of Angry Birds.

[Jinks]

Nope.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Nope.

x infinity! Edited June 1, 2013 by stardust4ever