Microsoft Xbox news and discussion thread

[countstex]

Guess that's a generational thing because that is way, way down on my requirements for a gaming console. That said I've shared things from the XBOX to youtube without issue in the past. Could be I did it via OneDrive and uploaded via my PC though, too long ago to recall.

[skidoosh]

I'm 35 so we can't be that far apart judging by your profile pic. And that process you've just described involved quite a bit of friction.

[countstex]

43, and indeed I wasn't suggesting it was a good solution, just it could have been how I did it since I edit video on my PC from time to time. Though it could just have easily been an upload from the One. My memory is not what is once was

[skidoosh]

That's the thing though. For me it's a massive part of the platform. Especially because at its core it's a social platform. I'm guessing there's probably a lot of people so used to doing it they don't even notice it anymore. When I first heard about sharing your content I was more than skeptical, but I love it now. Plus you've got people like Don (@indiana747) on here who'll save the clips up and do a five min edited montage of him rinsing people in Battlefield to YouTube without leaving the PS4.

I'm not discounting having better performance and visuals. It's just having this feature keeps people much more engaged with the platform and each other. I'll be a day one scorpio owner anyway if I'm honest with myself sharing features or not .

[Suits]

Didn't see the new digital refund announcement coming from Microsoft, that's really good.

So, if you've bought a digital game from Microsoft and played it for less than 2 hours, you can get a refund on it within 14 days.

Similar to the Steam system but has double the play time, or half of the refund period, IIRC.

Another huge nail being prepared for the high street stores, as this may well attract more digital purchases and keep people out of the high street stores.

[countstex]

We own one single physical game for either the One or the PS4. Digital is a gift to couples.

[hazeredmist]

Tamoor Hussain of Gamespot (loved his insights since he interned there years ago and appeared on the once-brilliant Gamespot UK podcast) summed up the Scorpio specs reveal brilliantly on this weeks Computer Game Show. Show us more than tech specs to get us excited for the future, Microsoft! Games games games.

[countstex]

I get the feeling that's the reason this revel is happening now, opens up the E3 conf for game reveals.
Expect a lot of 'Running Natively in 4K on Scorpio' stingers before each trailer in the MS conference

[skidoosh]

Here's one for you beautiful lot. Has anyone got an elite controller? If so what do you think? Thinking of picking one up this weekend

[countstex]

I have not, but heard so many good things about them. General idea seems to be it's a lot of cash for it, but if you have it to spare you wont regret it.

[Suits]

Here's one for you beautiful lot. Has anyone got an elite controller? If so what do you think? Thinking of picking one up this weekend

I have two.

I have the original Elite and the Gears of War Edition Elite controller.

I only use the two upper most paddles and can't play FPS's without them now, I feel myself reaching for them when they're not there. Forza is also very good with the paddles.

The additional weight and the rubber backing feels so good in the hand and really gives a sense of heft to the pad.

The analogue stick bases are made of solid aluminum and because of this feel very solid and precise, the snap back to centre on them is also considerably stronger than the standard pads.

There is an application that you use to calibrate and set up different profiles for each game. The pad can hold two profiles at once that is switched between by a face button. You can then load up many number of different profiles by using the app on the Dashboard. It works very well. I have a profile for every game I play and use them all.

I generally first play a game without any adjustments or modifications to the control set up. Then, after my first break I start thinking about how I could maybe use the additional buttons and controller options to make it more ergonomic for myself.

An example would be Skyrim. There's no real need or benefit to using the paddles on this game perhaps, from the outset anyway. However, I realised that if I mapped the right upper paddle to A, I could pick things up like plants or items in the floor while moving about. Much like you map jump on a FPS to one so you never have to take your thumbs off the aim stick. It's just a quality of life thing, not essential but handy and works well.

It's probably the most premium controller I've ever used and for me, personally is worth it if you play a lot of Xbox.

[skidoosh]

Well that's me convinced I picked up the Nacon Revolution for the PS4 about six months back (after my first student loans company refund) for Overwatch. It's great being able to jump and turn at the same time. The profiles and granular adjustments you can make are really superb.

The student loans company phoned me again the other day and told me they wan't to give me more money back so I thought I'd treat myself to the elite if it was any good. One of the guys I play Destiny with got one as a gift from his other half for xmas but he's not really customised it too much so he's a bit fuzzy on how much better it is.

If anyone had the PS4 the Nacon is a great equivalent. Takes a bit of time to get used too but you wonder how you lived without it after a while. You can't adjust the stick height but the rest of the software features are in play like sensitivity, button mappings and the ability to record macros like alt-fire -> melee. So if you're a Roadhog connoisseur you're all set!

Thanks for the info all!

[Joshihatsumitsu]

The appeal of the Xbone is totally lost on me. I say that as someone who still owns my original Xbox, as well as my Xbox 360.

On my shelf there's Forza 1-4, plus Horizon, as well as Halo 1-4, and Gears, so the appeal of Microsoft exclusives are not lost on me. I carried my save file, my Shephard, from the first Mass Effect all the way through to the conclusion in three, so there is some investment of my time.

But nothing about the Xbone does anything at all for me. My 360 is still plugged in because of all those wonderful Cave Co. releases, none of those needing Scorpio levels of power to run. Halo and Gears are not franchises I'm deeply invested in (personal taste), and I've got plenty of Forza (to be fair, I'm a bit over Gran Turismo too).

I can import and buy games from different regions with my PSN account, and I don't have to be constantly connected to the internet to prove that I own the games I bought. Every time I boot up my 360 I have to be connected just to access the XBLA games, most which are single player anyway. It's an unnecessary barrier, and a factor of why I've skipped this Microsoft generation.

To be fair, some of this is coming down to personal tastes with games, and some of this comes down to living where I live, and internet infrastructure being less than reliable. But the DRM barriers, the focus on more and more power... it's all just a turn off to me.

Now, knowing all that, here's a challenge: try and sell me on the benefits of this system. Why should I invest?

[countstex]

The big selling point of the Scorpio will be, as it was for the original XBOX when it appears, you can have the power of a PC for the cost of a console. Now whether or not that is something that is a value point for you is of course something I can not know. Having recently listened to the Rebel FM episode where they went through the spec a little I've doubled down on my commitment to buy one. I freely admit I love technology, so having the latest features available to me is always a draw.

In particular the One/Scorpios ability to play our vast 360 collection is a big selling point for me.

For one the idea of HAVING to rebuy a game I love on a new generation is abhorrent to me. If it's a true remaster then fine I'll pay, but just paying to have access to a game I already own is not a benefit to anyone.

But for me especially the Scorpio not only plays these games but makes them better, with stable frame rates and forcing Anisotropic Filtering to 16x. If that's something you don;t know about then no loss, but for a PC gamers such as myself such things have been standards I always set in games for years now. Added to the fact that even if you only own a 1080P TV (as I do) the Scorpio will still render in 4K and downscale the image to 1080 means that you will be getting the very best for of Anti-Aliasing possible.

Now all that is just graphical stuff which carries a weight depending on your tastes. But on top of that the new system will have not only 8GB of memory dedicated to games (with 4 on top for the hypervisor) but a very wide memory bus. This means an incredible amount of data can be shunted about the system reducing the need for loading, and even decreasing load times when they do happen. Plus extra memory simply gives devs more space to play in so they can add all sorts of additional things to games. Extra memory is the sort of thing that allowed games like Shadow of Mordor to exist. Now to maintain playability on the original One then all these will have to be optional for a while (I'd give it 2 years before Scoprio exclusive titles start appearing) that's still opening things up for the future.

Also, although only speculation, the word is that the Scorpio will support VR. Not with a dedicated MS headset but the open standard that will allow consumers to pick which headset/system they prefer. Not that I'm, super into VR, but being open like that is a big plus I would say.

Basically this is MS laying claim to what the future of gaming will be. It's a bold move and a LOT is going to depend on the price, especially as Sony will probably just drop the price on the Pro the moment Scorpio hits the shelves.

Clearly I'm on board with this and have a very positive outlook here. But this is what I want from a gaming system, it ticks all my boxes.

PS Secretly hoping for a version with no optical drive, but a 512G-1TB SSD. I can dream!

[KSubzero1000]

I can import and buy games from different regions with my PSN account, and I don't have to be constantly connected to the internet to prove that I own the games I bought. Every time I boot up my 360 I have to be connected just to access the XBLA games, most which are single player anyway. It's an unnecessary barrier, and a factor of why I've skipped this Microsoft generation.

Okay, so I just checked this and I'm perfectly able to access my digital games on my 360 even when offline. Even After Burner Climax, which isn't available on the marketplace any more. I believe the issue you're experiencing is due to your licenses not having been transferred recently. Have you switched console units at any point? If so, try the License Transfer option (under Settings > Account Management) and it might fix the issue. Hope this helps!

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Okay, so I just checked this and I'm perfectly able to access my digital games on my 360 even when offline. Even After Burner Climax, which isn't available on the marketplace any more. I believe the issue you're experiencing is due to your licenses not having been transferred recently. Have you switched console units at any point? If so, try the License Transfer option (under Settings > Account Management) and it might fix the issue. Hope this helps!

Have I switched console units... we're talking about the "red ring of 360" here! I think my current Xbox 360 is the third (how dumb am I to continue supporting Microsoft after all that?), so the licensing thing makes sense... I will have to try that after work today. Thank for that info, I do appreciate it.

For one the idea of HAVING to rebuy a game I love on a new generation is abhorrent to me. If it's a true remaster then fine I'll pay, but just paying to have access to a game I already own is not a benefit to anyone.

Totally agree with that statement. I just moved house in the last two weeks, and being the nerdy collector that I am, I have organised my 360 games on the shelf, and it is a pretty sight. And the thought of having to repurchase games I already own, that aren't improved on in anyway, is not a great selling point.

The only game I've re-bought so far would be the HD version of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and even then I got it for the PS3 instead of 360, and that was when it was on sale so it wasn't too unreasonable. Love, love, love that game.

I think franchise fatigue is a factor too. Again, this is a purely subjective thing. I played Gears of War around when it was first released, and was super impressed by how the game looked and felt, and there wasn't anything console-wise that was quite like it. But by the time I was playing through the third game years later, which is still a solid game, I was a bit over it. Personal preferences I guess.

More powerful hardware is nice; I just wish there were games I was actually looking forward to!

[countstex]

More powerful hardware is nice; I just wish there were games I was actually looking forward to!

Indeed. It all comes down to the games in the end. E3 will be important on that front this year I believe. As I've said it's why I think MS is getting the product reveal out of the way now so E3 can be all about what you can actually do with it, rather than detailing what's in the box. At least that's my hope.

[KSubzero1000]

Have I switched console units... we're talking about the "red ring of 360" here! I think my current Xbox 360 is the third (how dumb am I to continue supporting Microsoft after all that?), so the licensing thing makes sense... I will have to try that after work today.

And? Did it work?

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Have I switched console units... we're talking about the "red ring of 360" here! I think my current Xbox 360 is the third (how dumb am I to continue supporting Microsoft after all that?), so the licensing thing makes sense... I will have to try that after work today.

And? Did it work?

[Insert drum roll here]... kinda. I transferred the licences over via Account Management, but I have to re-download my games again in order to update local licences.

So you're advice is correct, and Microsoft's own support site backs that up (https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360 ... da25e91f20).

So after my internet data ticks over to the next billing period, I will have to do some re-downloading. Damn Microsoft... I want to like ya, and I want to support ya, but seriously? A patch would have been more consumer friendly.

[KSubzero1000]

Yeah, it's a bit of an annoying system... But at least you'll be able to play your stuff offline after the whole procedure.

The semi-good news here is that most games only re-download the license as long as the game itself is still on your hard drive. Which should be a lot quicker than you might expect and relatively easy on your connection. But there are annoying outliers, of course. Digital future, everyone!