Xbox Two
Sadly, most of this will be forgotten by the next Xbox release. Just as we no longer hear about Sony's crackdown on installing Linux onto the PS3. These evils will certainly resurface and I fear they will eventually become a standard.
Microsoft has said it won’t be able to meet its initial goal of launching the Xbox One in 21 countries before Christmas, and some European buyers won’t see the console until 2014 at the earliest. At the console's coming-out party at the E3 conference this year, Microsoft said it was planning to get the console out in 21 …
or even a no-show would matter all that much. I'm not a gamer, but the way that most reg readers react to anything Microsoft lately, I don't expect that anybody would actually want to have one.
It appears that they'd all gladly pay for MS stuff to be scrapped before it gets to the market.
In other news. Microsoft now advertising a new Xbox One feature: It will get really noisy when it gets hot.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-14-xbox-one-built-to-automatically-tackle-overheating
Sounds like they are setting user expectations after increasing the GPU speed to try and keep up with the PS4 specs. But hey, at least it might not RROD this time (maybe), or perhaps it will, to ensure users go forth and buy replacements in 14 months time.
I am one of those affected by the OtherOS brouhaha, in so much that I still have my original phat PS3 stuck on 3.15 because of that. I eventually caved in and bought another PS3 for updated games & stuff, because I have always had more distrust at MS than Sony. And I was proven right by MS themselves with the Always Online requirement!
So it isn't quite that everyone has forgotten the OtherOS thing, but that we all are more pissed off at Microsoft and that Sony does seem to have had a change of heart on key issues. They could've easily gone down the same MS route, but they didn't.
With the disclaimer that I don't own a PS3 and wouldn't have used the OtherOS feature if I did own one, I think their scrapping of it was a good idea. Over all.
Why?
Because they have made their platform infinitely more secure than Microsoft's offering and, in doing so, virtually eliminated piracy from the console. No need to make any drastic, unpopular moves to always-online DRM and mandatory game installs, just make the console more resilient to pirated games.
That Sony have effectively stopped piracy on the PS3 shows us that MS's claims of activation to stop piracy are bunk. There is no need to resort to such measures and there is proof through Sony's success.
More than likely it's along the lines of.
"Hey guys we're promising you ALLL THIS at E3"
*Removes online requirements*
*Removes used game requirements*
*Removes some other stuff*
*Plays with drivers*
*Plays with clock speeds*
"So billy, how's the new xbox coming along?"
"Well we made the changes you asked for sir but..."
"Excellent, now people are sure to buy our console"
"Yeah but sir, we still need to run some tests, these changes affect a lot of areas of the system, we'll need to test pretty much everything again, and with teh clock speed change our life testing is pretty much out the window"
"So what are you saying?"
"Well we'll need another month to test it before going into production"
"But we won't meet our deadlines, can't you just skip all that testing stuff?"
"You mean like we did with the RROD? And Windows 8 interface? Adn Vista? And market feedback for XBONE?"
"Okay I get your point, do the hardware tests while you can, you have 2 weeks, after that we start production. We can fix the software bugs in a day 0 patch"
And so on the release of the xbone the manufacture was rushed, leading to shoddy build quality for many, the software was untested, leading to many a bugs being found, and something similar to RROD will likely crop up. This is why you don't make big sweeping changes right before going to market. This is also why you don't buy a first release of a new console and wait for a few months for initial stock to run dry.
And I can only say this with any confidence because the exact same thing happens where I work. Oh what's that you're working on something that could speed up our product? A new hardware option? Great, I just sold 4, they want the machines within the next 3 months... fuck you marketting, fuck you.
"Well, I know a few eBay resellers that are going to have a very merry Christmas with this."
You mean like all the PS3 scalpers attempted to do when it launched, thinking they were going to make lots of money, and ending up with piles of unsold (and very expensive) PS3s?
What a pity ;-)
Switzerland and about half of Belgium speak languages that are already covered by countries it is launching in (french/german/italian & french respectively), so going by their other official reason, they're not launching there because they want to have a few apps on the console first? Guess they're still not focussed on games being the main selling point of a gaming console...
@Tom260 - that was my thought as well, although I'd also add the Dutch to the list too as they usually (at least the several Dutch colleagues I have, and most of the populous I met whilst working over there) speak at least English, French and German fluently and in many cases a few other languages besides.
"The Xbox One has an HDMI input and can control / integrate with STBs. Major advantage in the living room...."
If you live in America and one of the supported STBs. Why can't I see Sky, BT, TalkTalk, Virgin Media or YouView going along with this?
Xbox One: £450 voice controlled TV remote.
PS4: £350 games console.
Wii-U: £200 door stop (sorry couldn't resist ;))
No, Amazon have 2 Xbox SKUs and One PS4 SKU:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-7UV-00019-Xbox-One-Console/dp/B00BE4OUBG/ref=sr_tr_sr_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376648155&sr=8-1&keywords=xbox+one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xbox-One-Console-Day-Edition/dp/B00BM2LLB2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1376648155&sr=8-3&keywords=xbox+one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-PlayStation-4-PS4/dp/B00BE4HOIM/ref=sr_tr_sr_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376648205&sr=8-1&keywords=ps4
...but those who preordered the console will get a free game to make up for the disappointment
So they'll be less disappointed at not having the console by being given a shiny new game that they can't play because they haven't got the console?
Can anyone think of anything Microsoft have actually done right recently?
"While we could launch Xbox One simultaneously in these markets, there are many factors that determine the timing of specific market launches," said the Xbox leadership team in a blog post.
"This includes work to promote an Xbox One dash, by making it look like we are unable to meet demand. We understand that everyone is familiar with the usual approach of faking this by limiting the numbers we supply to resellers, so we are doing everything we can disguise this cunning old hat marketing technique by limiting the countries into which it will be initially supplied."
There. Fixed it for them.
To keep them honest - PS2 and PS3 were both esoteric architectures, PS3 really sorted out the programmers as you had to be able to code multithreaded.
If the 360 had not provided such opposition would we have ended up with such a good PS4?
It is not games I am worried about as the PS2 era had some fantastic ones, but features and prices.
BTW I have my preorder, and it is for the console made by the same company as my current console, my hand held, my video camera and my TV. And Sony had to earn these.
Video Camera - HDV, so Canon or Sony, Found a HC9 at an affordable price.
TV, W series so no contest
Handheld, Uncharted or Mario, I'm a grown up!
"I've got to pay £80 more for a peripheral that now doesn't have to be used by anyone anymore, which means that like the PS Eye2, no-one will develop for it."
Every console will have one and therefore the vast majority of games will develop for it....That's the main reason Microsoft have forced it's inclusion.
imo it could be a very smart long term move. If Kinect 2 actually delivers, Microsoft could have the new fad factor of the kind that was responsible for people buying tens of millions of Wiis (even though they were complete crap).......