LOL no it isn't. I'm really starting to wonder now if the people responsible for this thing aren't just on some massive DMT trip.

It's not new though. PS3 tried to be a media center too with only limited success. Do you really think this is going to put a dent in the PVR and Roku market (at vastly different price points)?

The reason why everyone is losing their **** is because Microsoft is hyping the hell out of "nice to have" features while glossing over the essentials. It's like a car manufacturer going on about the radio and reclining seats while the engine and brakes may or may not be sound. And oh, btw, nobody knows if it will cost as much as a Ferrari or if you'll be able to use regular gas or only a proprietary Microsoft blend.

I think the problem is that most people see buying a game as buying a product. These days each much more akin to buying a software license and Microsoft seems to be setting it up so that it will work just like Steam. And I really don't see the problem with that as within the next few years the majority of console games will be purchased through digital distribution.

It actually puts Microsoft at a cost-advantage over Sony as they can effectively decrease the price that consumers pay for games because they will no longer lose revenue to the used game market. Offering games at a lower price point means that they can increase their total revenue and market share by stealing customers from Sony.

I actually only came in here to say that thing I'm most impressed by is the new Kinect.

New Kinect + Oculus Rift + Omni treadmill = Amazing.

Time to start saving for when all those things become available.

There is no way Xbox games will
Be cheaper then sony's

If Microsoft planned to use digital distribution to compete with Steam on price point, don't you think they would have just announced that game prices are going way down? Talk about burying the lead!

No, of course they're not. They're seeing eliminating the secondary market as a huge cash windfall. The problem is nobody knows how the market is actually going to react when used games are removed from the equation - What happens to demand for new games when players realize they can't resell? What happens when the downward pressure on prices from used games is removed - Do games stay full price much longer? Does the market for non-bestselling games get destroyed and/or prices for those games crater quickly as players run out of money? And what about all the games Redbox et al buy?

This is a sudden market shift that has never happened before so we have no history by which to judge. While other media, especially music and movies, are now available in non-resalable (digital) format, physical media still exists for those who want to own a solid object and have the ability to resale. That may eventually go away but there has been an extended transition period, not cold turkey. Plus in a lot of cases digital is cheaper than physical.

Microsoft are betting a helluva lot that most players are still going to be happy paying full price for a game on XBOXONE that they can't resell when they could buy the same or similar game on PS4 that they could resell. But in order for that to be the case, the secondary market needs to be trivial. But this whole approach, and indeed all the publisher's moaning about lost sales, indicates that the secondary market is not trivial. So which is it?

(Players may still be able to resell XBOXONE games, but any added activation fee will come out of their bottom line. ie; if a game is $60 new and there's a $20 transfer/reactivation fee on XBOXONE. Then if a player selling the PS4 version can get $40 for it, a player selling the XBOXONE version will only be able to get $20).

The only way I'd put up with the exclusive gameplay for the sole game purchaser is if we drop the DLC nickel-and-diming and make it all free. Otherwise it's a shameless dip on the customer.

I'd sympathize in the move against used-sales if they would make it similar to Steam's system, but I somehow feel that "X number of downloads allowed" (a la Apple) and other restrictions will be attached.

Don't think it was mentioned but Angry Joe went ham on these fools.

You "really don't see the problem" with the loss of your right to resell something you paid for?

That's kind of strange.

Three big things.

1. Advertising price early is not necessarily a smart move. Seems odd to say that but there's a lot of reasons for it. The biggest one is that consumers tend to associate a lower price with lower quality. Before making fun of people who might think such a thing ask yourself something; if I told you there were two cars - one which cost $45,000 and another which cost $37,000 - which car do you think would be nicer, would be more premium? It's not a fair question since you don't know anything about the cars and so would naturally be left to assume surely the $45,000 one is superior. Now keep in mind that most people will end up knowing very little about the specifics of these consoles, and even less about the relative specifics, before deciding which they want to buy.

2. Price won't matter at first. Sony and Microsoft will both sell out of every single unit they have in production without getting anywhere near close to satisfying demand.

3. E3. E3 is imminent and the first place where the consoles will be going more 'head to head'. That's the first place the companies are going to start dropping bombs. Even beyond that this is a marathon, not a sprint. November is a long ways away and both companies are going to be working to maintain interest and build hype during the interim.

The issue here is that the product that you buy requires a proprietary device to work. And as long as the customer is aware of the rules, then the proprietor can do what they want within those rules. So there is no "right" that I am losing as I can either choose to pay them for their console and games or I can take my money elsewhere.

I can't resell any game that requires Steam activation so what is the difference between that and what Microsoft are doing?

I also think this will eventuate into different ways of digital distribution. There may be options for limited time access to games (like renting) so that there is still a market for single player experiences. I'd be pretty happy if I could pay a fraction of the cost and license the game for a weekend or a week.

I'd be happy if I could still borrow my friends' games and play them. Like people have been doing on consoles FOREVER.

It seems like they miscalculation on their part. That it can do all this TV stuff seems more aligned to low information customers, people who don't tune into press conferences and only watch TV ads. People who tune in to press conferences for gaming consoles want to see mostly games.

The focus on TV was bad--the younger the generation you're targeting, the less they even care about TV. You include youtube, hulu, netflix, etc., then the youth don't even need TV except for sports.

It almost seems like the presentation was geared toward middle-aged married men who can't justify buying a gaming console to their wife, but can justify a DVR/internet appliance that happens to play games.

But lol at people assuming PS4 is better than Xbox One when we know next to nothing about either console's gaming capability. E3 is in 3 weeks. I'm sure we'll find out a lot more about both consoles then.

Price.

E3 is less than a month away and people are freaking out that they didn't spend the whole time talking about games? lawl

So this xbox comes out toward the end of the year and kinect 2.0 sounds like a big upgrade? I'm thinking of getting xbox for kinect as part of wife's physical rehab but know very little about it other than "hit or miss".

Any chance you can get the new kinect to work on the old console?

How about Sony or Wii adding kinect-type functionality in the short term?

In general, if you buy a new-release game platform these days do you expect some manufacturing kinks for the first couple of months or it's pretty damn stable from the getgo?

Thanks for any help.

Oh, has anyone seen the ep of 30 rock where Alec Baldwin pitches voice-control of television to the new owner, and then the characters on TV say things like;
"We are seeing a *high volume* of gang activity..."
"That type of behavior is a real *turn off* to young women..."
"I'm going to go home and *delete all the contents on my DVR*..."

That probably would have jazzed up this reveal if they'd bothered to work it in.

I think you're making just as big of a miscalculation about the market for these events, though. They aren't targeted people who leave comments on Kotaku, they are targeted at the media and the markets. All that TV **** was demonstrating that Microsoft has this grand plan to integrate all the various devices and media. That **** sounds good to investors and trade publication writers.

The people who watch those things to plan their future stock purchases matter a lot more than the people watching to plan if they are gonna get Forza.

Sony's stock is skyrocketing!! We should all load up on it now before xbox one completely falls apart at e3!

Remind me again how much steam charges monthly to use their service?

Yeah, you guys should get your stories straight. Either the presentation was all about teh investorz and actual customers are an afterthought. Or stock prices are a big jpke. Please make up your minds.

Overkill, imo. You already won.

Wait what? You really think Xbox Ui gets more hate than Ps3 UI? You gotta be kidding. The Ps3 Ui is ****ing attrocious

Holliday, there is no chance the new kinect works with the current 360 is my guess