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[Pristine_Condition]

Whoever thought to arrange a marketing deal between PlayStation and Watch Dogs / Destiny is a genius. That guarantees NPD dominance until the holidays.

But the holiday season should be interesting...

I don't think The Order or Halo 5 will make it. So will it come down to DriveClub + The Last of Us Remastered vs. Sunset Overdrive + Halo 2 Remastered?

I'm assuming the XBO will be $399.99 by June, so maybe that'll heat things up in favor of XBO as well? Or will it take a lot more than the price drop at this point?

I can understand the Halo 5 comment, but why are you so sure The Order won't make the holidays? Does Ready at Dawn have a history of missing targeted release dates? The last time (only time) I can remember them having a delay on a title was when Okami Wii missed it's date (IIRC by less than three weeks) because they had to finish GOW PSP.

 

[Quadraphonic]

Put briefly, it's a simple logic puzzle to prove that MS was planning on launching before Sony and Sony wasn't going to make 2013.

The XB1 had DRM. If the Xbox One was going to launch AFTER or WITH the PS4, the DRM would have been impossible to sell.

The only way the Xbox One DRM worked was if they launched early and made use of the hungry Xbox 360 users that would accept no other competition.

 

[Tigress]

I believe famous mortimer (RIP) was the one who first suggested Sony caught MS by surprise if I remember right

And honestly, looking back at how MS acted and all, them being caught totally by surprise makes a lot of sense. It also would make sense as to why they thought they could get away with what they tried and gamers would just deal with it (cause they wouldn't have Sony competing and by the time Sony competed Sony would probably follow suit seeing as how it worked... least that is what I bet they and the publishers were betting on <- cause I also would not be surprised if at least EA didn't have some sway on those policies).

 

[jaypah]

I'm not sure MS thought they were going to dominate anything. No used games, mandatory Kinect, forced online check-in and a $500 price? There's no way they could have thought of being sales leader. I think they wanted fewer users who would be forced onto their store spending more money than usual. Plus they would have had a death-grip on the resale market with their "verified resellers". Nothing leading up to the reveal signifies a company with the goal of selling the most hardware, just a company forcing you online to make a shit ton of money from everything from subscriptions to games/movies/music and even selling their mandatory camera data to advertisers. They just stupidly didn't count on everyone collectively saying "fuck that!". Now it's biting them in the ass in spectacular fashion. No controlling the used market, no mandatory Kinect plug-in, no mandatory online but still the inferior hardware and the higher price-tag.

Man that is going to be one hell of a book if it ever gets written.

 

[ZehDon]

They didn't plan on launching so early. Sony really forced their hand. At least that's all I can think of to explain it.

I see this mentioned a lot, however given Microsoft's track record over the last few years, I'm not entirely sure. The Xbone feels like a device created using the same mindset that forged the Surface RT. While the Surface Pro is great, if overpriced, the RT is a device built for no one. Microsoft just expected it would sell because... they made it. The Xbone is nearly identical in that regard: Microsoft expected it would sell more than any other gaming console in history, despite it being an entirely unattractive consumer value proposition. I think Microsoft believes we're all idiots, who buy what their marketing machine tells us to buy.

 

[Quadraphonic]

Man that is going to be one hell of a book if it ever gets written.

And ultimately, that's what I want more than anything else. A ton of people do. The insane decisions and the story behind them will be endlessly fascinating.

 

[jaypah]

And ultimately, that's what I want more than anything else. A ton of people do. The insane decisions and the story behind them will be endlessly fascinating.

Indeed. Has Dean said anything about putting one together for the Xbox One?

 

[geordiemp]

I see this mentioned a lot, however given Microsoft's track record over the last few years, I'm not entirely sure. The Xbone feels like a device created using the same mindset that forged the Surface RT. While the Surface Pro is great, if overpriced, the RT is a device built for no one. Microsoft just expected it would sell because... they made it. The Xbone is nearly identical in that regard: Microsoft expected it would sell more than any other gaming console in history, despite it being an entirely unattractive consumer value proposition. I think Microsoft believes we're all idiots, who buy what their marketing machine tells us to buy.

agree, and would go further.....Remember they would of rehearsed many times their E3 showing, and they knew their audience was world wide..

How they would go on about USA TV and water-cooler rubbish is just beyond belief, it was so bad that I don't believe there was any higher tactics and planning than suits that had no idea what market they were preaching to.

 

[RealityPales]

I can understand the Halo 5 comment, but why are you so sure The Order won't make the holidays? Does Ready at Dawn have a history of missing targeted release dates? The last time (only time) I can remember them having a delay on a title was when Okami Wii missed it's date (IIRC by less than three weeks) because they had to finish GOW PSP.

It's not based on their history. It's based on video game marketing history for AAA games. We've seen little, and they have about 6-7 months to launch.

Color me doubtful.

 

[blackdevil]

They just stupidly didn't count on everyone collectively saying "fuck that!".

Man that is going to be one hell of a book if it ever gets written.

i`m still to this day and right now surprised it worked! I remember the first informations leaking about DRM, check back in online within 24 hours, only used games with resellers and crazy stuff like that. To see week after week microsoft backpedaling one crazy idea after the other was awesome. People didn´t just say ,, well that`s the way it is then...we are just normal people they won`t listen anyway"... but they did or had to for that matter. Especially after Sonys E3 and that moment was great.

and yes i would buy that book in a heartbeat. I`m sure there is much more crazy stuff from microsoft that didn`t went public and i would love to hear all of that. I`m pretty sure somebody is working on that book right now

 

[CLEEK]

Microsoft expected it would sell more than any other gaming console in history, despite it being an entirely unattractive consumer value proposition. I think Microsoft believes we're all idiots, who buy what their marketing machine tells us to buy.

Mehdi's magical data points told him that was the case.

The parallels to Windows 8 are immense. With their OS, the reason it has tanked was they ditched the one factor that Windows always had over its competition: familiarity. They though they could dictate to the market hiw a product would work, and then everyone would buy it. But Windows 8 was never designed with the needs of the end user in mind, only the needs of MS. Hence the abject adoption rate for it, and the slow back peddling to reintroduce desktop and the Start menu.

The Xbone was the same. It wasn't designed with the needs of their core gaming users in mind. The obvious point they missed is the people who buy console are gamers.

To hit a wider audience, they needed to focus on and expand gaming. Not reduce it to a bullet point in a Kinect powered, Windows App Store integrated, cable TV extending media hub that also plays (cut down) next gen games.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Who's brainchild was the XBO though? Was it Ballmer's?

Certainly, it's original vision was just godawful. Even now, the hardware leaves a lot to be desired, from a power perspective to the actual design (granted, MS don't have a great track record here). I even think the name, 'Xbox One', is fucking terrible. I laughed when that was revealed as the name, seriously.

Terrible mainly because it's just fucking confusing to the consumer.

 

[Dinjooh]

You think Sony had hardware problems?

They CREATED the Playstation. They have very smart engineers. No way they would of given up any sort of hardware advantage to the competition.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

It's not based on their history. It's based on video game marketing history for AAA games. We've seen little, and they have about 6-7 months to launch.

Color me doubtful.

Huh? What have they not done that would be normal for a holiday-slated Sony exclusive in April? They've already had the big cover story on Game Informer and the like, (a week of stories on the website,) they had the expected huge media/preview events in Feb...

What have they not done? The only thing I can think of was not participating in VGX, but that was the norm for Sony at that event. They simply couldn't care less to be part of that debacle.

 

[CoG]

And ultimately, that's what I want more than anything else. A ton of people do. The insane decisions and the story behind them will be endlessly fascinating.

I work with a couple of ex-Xbone dudes. I've heard a lot of stories but they all basically boil down to a lack of single-vision and every department at MS trying to get their spoon in the soup.

 

[Jomjom]

This is not what the world looks like.

And that is a really narrow-minded view to have.

Yeah that's definitely not what the world looks like. What's that giant mass of land floating north of the big beautiful continental United States? I'm fairly certain that place doesn't actually exist.

 

[son of a Sven]

You think Sony had hardware problems?

They CREATED the Playstation. They have very smart engineers. No way they would of given up any sort of hardware advantage to the competition.

What the hell does 1994 have to do with anything?!?

 

[RibMan]

I'm not sure MS thought they were going to dominate anything. No used games, mandatory Kinect, forced online check-in and a $500 price? There's no way they could have thought of being sales leader. I think they wanted fewer users who would be forced onto their store spending more money than usual. Plus they would have had a death-grip on the resale market with their "verified resellers". Nothing leading up to the reveal signifies a company with the goal of selling the most hardware, just a company forcing you online to make a shit ton of money from everything from subscriptions to games/movies/music and even selling their mandatory camera data to advertisers. They just stupidly didn't count on everyone collectively saying "fuck that!". Now it's biting them in the ass in spectacular fashion. No controlling the used market, no mandatory Kinect plug-in, no mandatory online but still the inferior hardware and the higher price-tag.

Man that is going to be one hell of a book if it ever gets written.

Microsoft absolutely believed they were going to dominate North America. In fact, once you look at all of their XB1 decisions, it's clear they wanted to be the market leader in NA.

To get a better perspective, let's list 5 key XB1 decisions:

1) $400,000,000 NFL exclusivity deal.

2) Designed the entire system around integration with cable boxes a.k.a. the "All-In-One" design philosophy.

3) Invested millions into exclusive TV deals (e.g. Steven Spielberg Halo show).

4) Millions upon millions poured into an exclusive first-person shooter (Titanfall).

5) Millions upon millions spent to secure the Gears of War IP.

What Microsoft didn't count on was Sony being on their A-game. They made the most common mistake in business - they underestimated the competition. They looked at what Sony was doing with the PS4 and simply said "We've got this".

It turns out, they didn't. Looking at the shipped numbers, it's obvious that the XB1 hasn't performed as well as Microsoft had hoped. Microsoft baked a cake, and they expected everyone in America to pull out a fork and plate. The reality is people have looked at the cake and decided they would rather have pie for now.

If the estimated numbers are close to reality (i.e. PS4 is leading by over 3 million units and is expanding that lead), then things just got even harder for Microsoft in North America. It's going to take a serious amount of cash and other incentives to convince a major publisher to provide an XB1 exclusive. All major publishers want to sell their products in all major markets, and unfortunately for Microsoft, the PS4 is the number one console in all major markets.

Basically, Microsoft just found themselves in the position the PS3 was in after it launched - expensive hardware, low market share, aggressive competitor, poor software performance. Funny how it turned out.

 

[malboroking]

What the hell does 1994 have to do with anything?!?

It's a parody post of the the Panello "Microsoft created DirectX" post.

 

[TomShoe]

Yeah that's definitely not what the world looks like. What's that giant mass of land floating north of the big beautiful continental United States? I'm fairly certain that place doesn't actually exist.

It's Alaska, btw.

 

[CLEEK]

What the hell does 1994 have to do with anything?!?

It's a parody of that infamous post by Albert Penello where he said MS CREATED DIRECTX.

 

[fred]

I'm not sure MS thought they were going to dominate anything. No used games, mandatory Kinect, forced online check-in and a $500 price? There's no way they could have thought of being sales leader. I think they wanted fewer users who would be forced onto their store spending more money than usual. Plus they would have had a death-grip on the resale market with their "verified resellers". Nothing leading up to the reveal signifies a company with the goal of selling the most hardware, just a company forcing you online to make a shit ton of money from everything from subscriptions to games/movies/music and even selling their mandatory camera data to advertisers. They just stupidly didn't count on everyone collectively saying "fuck that!". Now it's biting them in the ass in spectacular fashion. No controlling the used market, no mandatory Kinect plug-in, no mandatory online but still the inferior hardware and the higher price-tag.

Man that is going to be one hell of a book if it ever gets written.

Very much this ^^^

 

[Uno Venova]

I think it's more likely they were extremely out of touch, instead of creating something to loose marketshare.

 

[krypt0nian]

I see the Sony Jihadist Fundamentalist Mafioso has shown its face again.

Who the fuck are you talking about?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

It's going to take a serious amount of cash and other incentives to convince a major publisher to provide an XB1 exclusive. All major publishers want to sell their products in all major markets, and unfortunately for Microsoft, the PS4 is the number one console in all major markets.

Basically, Microsoft just found themselves in the position the PS3 was in after it launched - expensive hardware, low market share, aggressive competitor, poor software performance. Funny how it turned out.

I agree with you.

Would be interesting seeing MS having to rely on their first-parties for this gen.

I don't think, in the current climate where AAA devs are not making enough money, that a big studio would countenance making an exclusive for a console with a 30-50% smaller install base than its rival on the market.

And MS can't just get out the chequebook this time. The gaming division for them can't be a loss making enterprise like before, I am pretty sure.

 

[A_Gorilla]

Who the fuck are you talking about?

Stupid juniors that got banned for being stupid. Ya know, the usual stuff.

 

[ethomaz]

You think Sony had hardware problems?

They CREATED the Playstation. They have very smart engineers. No way they would of given up any sort of hardware advantage to the competition.

Well played

 

[stonesak]

Who the fuck are you talking about?

All will be explained if you read the rest of thread.

 

[Biker19]

TBF, I have to say that Sony hasn't exactly opened the floodgates for new IP yet. I'm cautious to say that a big reason the PS3 got so many diverse games (not just indie, but mid-tier and AAA as well, w/ stuff like Heavy Rain and Beyond and Echochrome and Puppeteer) is b/c of it's lackluster position in the market relative the 360, and Sony really trying to make it something different.

Sony isn't the underdog this time; Microsoft is. There's still the effect of the closures at the various studios we need to see the effect of, and I'm obviously not saying Sony won't continue that innovative push. I'm just saying people expecting THOSE sort of games this year or early half next year may be disappointed, and I'm already disappointed that the Stig game got cancelled (I love sci-fi).

I don't know...even when Sony was dominant, they still brought along a lot of different 1st/2nd party IP's each gen.

PS1: Tomba, WarHawk, Wipeout, Gran Turismo, Twisted Metal, MediEvil, Crash Bandicoot, Blasto, Spyro the Dragon, Cool Boarders, Jet Moto, Jumping Flash!, Wild Arms, Ape Escape, PaRappa the Rapper, etc.

PS2: Fantavision, Okage: Shadow King, Dark Cloud, Primal, Rise to Honor, Rogue Galaxy, Jak & Daxter, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, The Mark of Kri, Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank, God of War, SOCOM, etc.

PS3: Resistance, MotorStorm, Heavy Rain, MAG, Lair, Super Stardust HD, Flower, Super Rub a Dub, Heavenly Sword, Folklore, The Eye of Judgment, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, inFamous, Fat Princess, White Knight Chronicles, Sound Shapes, Puppeteer, The Last of Us, etc.

I'm not sure MS thought they were going to dominate anything. No used games, mandatory Kinect, forced online check-in and a $500 price? There's no way they could have thought of being sales leader. I think they wanted fewer users who would be forced onto their store spending more money than usual. Plus they would have had a death-grip on the resale market with their "verified resellers". Nothing leading up to the reveal signifies a company with the goal of selling the most hardware, just a company forcing you online to make a shit ton of money from everything from subscriptions to games/movies/music and even selling their mandatory camera data to advertisers. They just stupidly didn't count on everyone collectively saying "fuck that!". Now it's biting them in the ass in spectacular fashion. No controlling the used market, no mandatory Kinect plug-in, no mandatory online but still the inferior hardware and the higher price-tag.

Man that is going to be one hell of a book if it ever gets written.

Definitely agree. I would buy that book if it was made.

 

[Liha]

Microsoft absolutely believed they were going to dominate North America. In fact, once you look at all of their XB1 decisions, it's clear they wanted to be the market leader in NA.

To get a better perspective, let's list 5 key XB1 decisions:

1) $400,000,000 NFL exclusivity deal.

2) Designed the entire system around integration with cable boxes a.k.a. the "All-In-One" design philosophy.

6) A console only for America and UK
7) The first two decisions don't work in Europe.

 

[Tigress]

They just stupidly didn't count on everyone collectively saying "fuck that!". Now it's biting them in the ass in spectacular fashion. No controlling the used market, no mandatory Kinect plug-in, no mandatory online but still the inferior hardware and the higher price-tag.

Man that is going to be one hell of a book if it ever gets written.

And honestly, I'm glad it is. Sure, they 180'd, but I still think they should still hurt for even trying. The message should be strong that not only will we not buy it, you will hurt if you even try it. Hopefully it is coming loud and clear (and to not just MS).

And yes, I would totally buy and read the book on the behind the scenes on the release of the xbox one.

 

[Fredrik]

Explain this to me.
Are you saying your upset that Sweden isn't acknowledged as a player in the console space even though you are aware it isn't?

I'm confused.

I'm annoyed at lots of stuff that has happened this gen but mostly that MS pretends that Sweden and lots of other smaller countries doesn't even exist, and that they have not only gotten away with it but also managed to get both press and people on big international boards to simply ignore it too or pretend the same thing.
Devs over here will probably have released their second wave titles before they can go out and buy a box to run it on.

 

[Hawk269]

That was the rumor.



I believe famous mortimer (RIP) was the one who first suggested Sony caught MS by surprise if I remember right

I don't need to read into others thought to know based on the Xbox One reveal that they were caught off guard. Sony plain and simple out moved MS and basically Sony knew they had to be out at the same time or before the Xbox One. Just looking at the games, you can see that the Xbox One was rushed. Forza while looking fantastic and has fantastic gameplay was severely lacking in content, which they have been rectifying with new tracks and car packs.

The other thing to consider is that the Xbox 360 has been selling very good and I fully believe that MS wanted to launch the Xbox One in 2015, focusing 2014 on the 360 since it was still outselling the competition. No way MS was going to give Sony a year head-start.

I also fully believe that the software/API's on the Xbox One have been lacking and has caused some major issues for them. Games like Ryse & Forza show that they can have compelling looking games running well, but this has been more the rarity, especially for 3rd party titles. In no way do I believe that the whatever magic sauce that improved API's/DX12 make it match with the PS4, just for the fact that the PS4 technically is better. But with improved API's and better use of the ESRAM, that the gap will close a little bit. Again, just a little bit.

 

[MisterXDTV]

Comparison between PS3 and Xone makes me laugh. PS3 had a Blu-ray drive that was worth half of the price alone.

The Xbox One not only is more expensive, but it's a lot weaker compared to PS4

So this comes down to this:

- How can you launch a console at the same time of your competitor weaker and also more expensive?

- For those comparing with PS3, can you tell me one relevant thing that the Xbone can do that PS4 can't?

Because with Xbox 360 you were stuck with a DVD drive in 2013. An HD Console with a DVD Drive for me makes no sense... I own 250 Blu-ray movies that a X360 couldn't play...

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Microsoft had so much going wrong for them pre and post launch. Really betting on Kinect 2 hurt them. Kinect 1 did so good for Microsoft though, it's a shame they focused on it so early for xbox one. It makes sense that they did it but it just don't seem to be helping them. They have had a simple mic in the box to do the voice commands, but they want to pretend you need the cam for that, like pretending you need xbox live gold for netflix. Is there any special voice command hardware in the kinect2 btw?

Additional peripherals are said to never work, they need to be launched in the console box, but they may now be proven to hurt the console if it's adds a hefty price and not enough to the gaming experience (blu ray PS3, though it did add a bit of value). WiiU maybe shouldn't have been about a big expensive pad, however I was on the edge of my seat watching WiiU launch streams using that pad + 3 other Wiimotes. It is hurting Wii2 for a neat feature, but like kinect2 it's not too valuable for gaming since not many games depend on it, nor make awesome use of it. PS4's camera may be selling on playroom's semi popularity, sony did good not including that in the box.

Games being slightly worse on Xbox One is another thing. For the extra cost if you have PS4 you'd be buying Xbox One for it's exclusives and it'll be the one that need exclusives the most for the PS4 + Xbox One owner.

 

[Fredrik]

I'd like to see something substantiating your claim that "PS4's are everywhere" in Sweden.

Sweden probably has dozens of similar pricematching websites to the one I used for the Netherlands. Care to help us out?

check prisjakt.nu, the green check boxes show that it's in stock at Mediamarkt, Webhallen, CDON, Spelbutiken and other major retailers.
I'm not saying that it isn't selling, it's probably selling a lot, but the "out of stock everywhere" talk seems a bit out of line over here.

 

[Dragonborn]

Comparison between PS3 and Xone makes me laugh. PS3 had a Blu-ray drive that was worth half of the price alone.

The Xbox One not only is more expensive, but it's a lot weaker compared to PS4

So this comes down to this:

- How can you launch a console at the same time of your competitor weaker and also more expensive?

- For those comparing with PS3, can you tell me one relevant thing that the Xbone can do that PS4 can't?

Because with Xbox 360 you were stuck with a DVD drive in 2013. An HD Console with a DVD Drive for me makes no sense... I own 250 Blu-ray movies that a X360 couldn't play...

This is exactly why I'm just baffled when people claim the X1 is a better media device. Outside of the HDMI-in, both consoles will share pretty much every single media streaming app, music, movies, etc. Both have bluray players. And hell, at least on PS4 you can use all of that without having to pay to use for stuff you're already paying for.

I just don't understand how the X1 is a better media box.

And honestly, I'm glad it is. Sure, they 180'd, but I still think they should still hurt for even trying. The message should be strong that not only will we not buy it, you will hurt if you even try it. Hopefully it is coming loud and clear (and to not just MS).

And yes, I would totally buy and read the book on the behind the scenes on the release of the xbox one.

Yup, I hold zero sympathy for them, they are the cause of their own issues and now they get to either claw their way back, or get out, but I doubt they'll ever get close to what the 360 accomplished again.

 

[ymmv]

check prisjakt.nu, the green check boxes show that it's in stock at Mediamarkt, Webhallen, CDON, Spelbutiken and other major retailers.
I'm not saying that it isn't selling, it's probably selling a lot, but the "out of stock everywhere" talk seems a bit out of line over here.

I'm talking about Sweden, PS4s are everywhere where I'm located. Anecdotal evidence, yes, I'm not debating the sales figures I'm just annoyed at the use of "worldwide " and "everywhere". I know I live in a small country that don't matter to MS but it's disheartening to hear forum posters use the same US/UK centric approach on a board that is supposed to be for everyone, even if they're correct that small countries probably won't even bump sales figures all that much. As for X1 it would be better to state over and over that X1 isn't out yet in lots of countries so MS get some bad press about it, especially of it sits on shelves everywhere in tier 1 countries.

Pot, meet kettle.

 

[MisterXDTV]

This is exactly why I'm just baffled when people claim the X1 is a better media device. Outside of the HDMI-in, both consoles will share pretty much every single media streaming app, music, movies, etc. Both have bluray players. And hell, at least on PS4 you can use all of that without having to pay to use for stuff you're already paying for.

I just don't understand how the X1 is a better media box.

Exactly, even HDMI input makes no sense to me: Xbox One is not a cable box so you are forced to keep both devices powered on. The only advantage is that you "save" an HDMI port on your TV. Add this to the fact that deal with the NFL and cable companies works only in one country Worldwide and netflix, hulu etc. are behind a paywall... great media box...

Spoiler

lol

 

[Steroyd]

TBF, I have to say that Sony hasn't exactly opened the floodgates for new IP yet. I'm cautious to say that a big reason the PS3 got so many diverse games (not just indie, but mid-tier and AAA as well, w/ stuff like Heavy Rain and Beyond and Echochrome and Puppeteer) is b/c of it's lackluster position in the market relative the 360, and Sony really trying to make it something different.

Nah, if you look at Sony's first party input it's practically been in their ethos from the start, Wipeout and Gran Turismo are the only 2 franchises I can think of that have consistantly lived (RIP Wipeout T_T) for three generations of PlayStation, and they brought out gems like ICO and SoTC while they were ontop with the PS2 and delved into stuff like Singstar and Eye Toy nearer the end of PS2.

 

[Furyous]

Microsoft absolutely believed they were going to dominate North America. In fact, once you look at all of their XB1 decisions, it's clear they wanted to be the market leader in NA.

To get a better perspective, let's list 5 key XB1 decisions:

1) $400,000,000 NFL exclusivity deal.

2) Designed the entire system around integration with cable boxes a.k.a. the "All-In-One" design philosophy.

3) Invested millions into exclusive TV deals (e.g. Steven Spielberg Halo show).

4) Millions upon millions poured into an exclusive first-person shooter (Titanfall).

5) Millions upon millions spent to secure the Gears of War IP.

What Microsoft didn't count on was Sony being on their A-game. They made the most common mistake in business - they underestimated the competition. They looked at what Sony was doing with the PS4 and simply said "We've got this".

It turns out, they didn't. Looking at the shipped numbers, it's obvious that the XB1 hasn't performed as well as Microsoft had hoped. Microsoft baked a cake, and they expected everyone in America to pull out a fork and plate. The reality is people have looked at the cake and decided they would rather have pie for now.

If the estimated numbers are close to reality (i.e. PS4 is leading by over 3 million units and is expanding that lead), then things just got even harder for Microsoft in North America. It's going to take a serious amount of cash and other incentives to convince a major publisher to provide an XB1 exclusive. All major publishers want to sell their products in all major markets, and unfortunately for Microsoft, the PS4 is the number one console in all major markets.

Basically, Microsoft just found themselves in the position the PS3 was in after it launched - expensive hardware, low market share, aggressive competitor, poor software performance. Funny how it turned out.

I'm co-signing all of this. As a consumer fuck all of that money grabbing BS. I can understand it from the corporate perspective in the sense that launching early with those controls in place puts them in a strong position moving forward. Without Sony there then there's a justifiable reason to get rid of the silver option and raise the price of gold. They could say increased server costs have caused us to raise the cost by $10 a year. Their are so many ways they could milk console owners for money.

Thankfully we have competition and none of this happened.

That football deal was the biggest BS ever. The people in other territories won't see exclusive NFL and sign up. Where's the EPL deal? Tell me there's a world cup tie-in on the way.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

All sources pointed to Sony experiencing problems with the PS4 hardware (specifically the RAM if I remember right), hence why MS probably though they would launch in 2015. Whether Sony simply managed to get their shit together at the last minute (not showing hardware for the Feb reveal might support this) or whether in a case of magnificent bastardry, they falsely leaked hardware problems so MS would believe them and then blind sided them with the Feb. reveal is something we'll probably never know.

Don't you mean 2014? They'd have to be suicidal to have planned out for 2015, IMHO.

I agree tho that MS was caught very off-guard by the 8GB GDDR5, Feb. reveal and fall 2013 launch the exact same year.

I don't know...even when Sony was dominant, they still brought along a lot of different 1st/2nd party IP's each gen.

True enough. I think my fear is in what direction they'll go for their new IP. Some poster said a while back that w/ the restructuring, they could choose to focus on fewer, more AAA-type games. Obviously that poster isn't an insider, but it was a quote that I felt had some ground of believability at the time, and might have some in the future. I guess we'll see at E3.

That Wonderbook is getting some big time is inspiring, tho. All in all I just don't want Sony's new stuff to be a bunch of GTA-style open-world/FPS/UnCharted-like stuff. Want zaniness in there too.

Nah, if you look at Sony's first party input it's practically been in their ethos from the start, Wipeout and Gran Turismo are the only 2 franchises I can think of that have consistantly lived (RIP Wipeout T_T) for three generations of PlayStation, and they brought out gems like ICO and SoTC while they were ontop with the PS2 and delved into stuff like Singstar and Eye Toy nearer the end of PS2.

That's true too. I hope then PS4 is a combination of all three. Very crazy/experimental stuff to pad out the used-to-exist-kinda-still-does-in-a-way mid tier, fewer more technically ambitious AA/AAA stuff, and like PS3 pushing on those fronts towards the end of the system's life (they can still do the Singstar stuff of course, just not in replacement of the main dish I'd hope).

 

[Biker19]

This is exactly why I'm just baffled when people claim the X1 is a better media device. Outside of the HDMI-in, both consoles will share pretty much every single media streaming app, music, movies, etc. Both have bluray players. And hell, at least on PS4 you can use all of that without having to pay to use for stuff you're already paying for.

I just don't understand how the X1 is a better media box.

Because they think that "watching TV on your TV" is a better superior experience (Live TV). Problem is, more & more people are moving away from cable & onto streaming, on devices like Smartphones, Tablets, Roku's, Apple TV's, Smart TV's, etc.

Exactly, even HDMI input makes no sense to me: Xbox One is not a cable box so you are forced to keep both devices powered on. The only advantage is that you "save" an HDMI port on your TV. Add this to the fact that deal with the NFL and cable companies works only in one country Worldwide and netflix, hulu etc. are behind a paywall... great media box...

Spoiler

lol

And not to mention that there's no built-in DVR. How can it be an "All-in-One Entertainment Box" if you still got to have a DVR box to record shows, movies, etc., & have to have a cable box (along with a Xbox Live Gold subscription) just to access a lot of the features?

It's mind-boggling.

 

[Graphics Horse]

That reminds me, when they say the xbone is used average of 5 hours a day, does that include people who keep it on for the tv pass-through?

 

[xxracerxx]

That reminds me, when they say the xbone is used average of 5 hours a day, does that include people who keep it on for the tv pass-through?

Most likely.

 

[Handy Fake]

I too would read that book. I've even thought of a title in the interim.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? LOLFACE
THE XBONE STORY

Just to clarify, I demand "LOLFACE" as type, not an actual smiley face. I'm demanding over this, and it's a dealbreaker. Either it happens or I'm heading to Zynga.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

That reminds me, when they say the xbone is used average of 5 hours a day, does that include people who keep it on for the tv pass-through?

Most likely.

Someone finally went there. Was just a matter of time I guess.

 

[TsuWave]

I believe famous mortimer (RIP) was the one who first suggested Sony caught MS by surprise if I remember right

CBOAT did too

 

[Handy Fake]

So do we think they were actually fed false information then? Or was it all down to too many cooks?

 

[xxracerxx]

Someone finally went there. Was just a matter of time I guess.

5 hours a day on average sounds excessive, no matter what the console (or hell, TV in general).