Microsoft accepting applications for Xbox One Kinect development kits

June 26th, 2013, 23:42 Posted By: wraggster

Developers are now able to apply for Xbox One Kinect development kits. If accepted, they will have to pay $399 to received the development kit in November.Participation in the program gets developers access to the Kinect engineering team’s private forums and webcasts, SDK access, access to API and sample information, and both a pre-release version of the camera and the final version after the Xbox One’s release.Applicants will hear back in August.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/micr...elopment-kits/

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Xbox One: Kinect to stand in for omitted headset, says Microsoft

June 26th, 2013, 00:55 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has said that the Kinect bundled with every Xbox One will suitably provide the console with out-of-the-box in-game chat capabilities, in place of a headset which will not be included.
Xbox Live has long been considered a more vocally-engaged multiplayer service than Sony's PlayStation Network, largely due to the inclusion of a traditional mono headset with Xbox 360 - as oppose to PS3's sold separately solutions.
Microsoft staff recently confirmed the surprising omission of a traditional headset with Xbox One, and has today issued a statement to say that the bundled Kinect sensor will stand in as a suitable replacement.
"Xbox One does not include a pack-in headset accessory," said a Microsoft rep in a statement to Ars Technica. "Each Xbox One includes the new Kinect sensor, with a highly sensitive multi-array [of] microphones designed to enable voice inputs and chat as a system-level capability, both in-game and with Skype and other experiences.
"For gamers who prefer a headset, we have a variety of offerings that you can find on the Xbox Wire," they added.
We can only assume that in-game chat via Kinect will be achieved by having the voices of other players coming through your primary speaker system, along with the game's sound effects - which some may see as unfavorable.
It would assumedly also eliminate your ability to adjust voice chat volume or mute your own voice on the fly. The Xbox 360 headsets are, thanks to differing connections on the Xbox One controller, entirely incompatible.
Somewhat ironically, the PS4 will come with a headset included, albeit a rather basic mono earphone like those often included with mobile phones.
Microsoft has recently updated its Xbox Wire site with more pictures and details for the sold-separately Xbox One headset. The device is evidently a fairly conventional mono speaker setup, with volume and mute controls handily within reach of your thumbs while holding the controller - much like the very first-gen Xbox 360 headsets, which were oddly later replaced with a headset that had controls awkwardly relocated away from the controller.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ays-microsoft/

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Wargaming prepared to "tolerate" Xbox Live restrictions

June 26th, 2013, 00:39 Posted By: wraggster

Free-to-play specialist Wargaming is delighted to be moving to Xbox – although it’s having to bite its tongue in the process.
Wargaming's CEO Victor Kislyi has confessed that he’s uneasy about certain elements of Microsoft’s ecosystem but says that he’ll just have to “tolerate” it.
"With Microsoft, unfortunately it's not 100 per cent free-to-play because it requires the Gold subscription to Xbox Live membership," Kislyi told Games Industry. "But that's a Microsoft requirement which is valid for us and for Activision and for EA and all other partners.
“They cannot drop it for us because they would have to drop it for everyone and it would be a total mess for them. This we have to tolerate, which I am not happy about. I would rather add another 30-40 million non-golden members and they will monetise occasionally.”
Kislyi also has reservations about the payment restrictions employed by Xbox 360, although he hopes to play a part in expending the current system.
"Microsoft announced for Xbox One – thank God – they are moving to real currency,” he added. “We will teach – excuse me – we will advise them on how to embrace, sometime in the future, different payment methods like SMS. Right now, it's only credit cards used to buy Microsoft Points which we know is suicide in free-to-play.
"Everybody knows Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are traditional console companies which are huge in their own merit. They have lots of divisions, lots of departments, lots of regulations. We respect that, and whining and complaining about that structure does not help.
"We're now working hard with Microsoft's people as a team to build this and to break a couple of rules inside Microsoft."

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/warga...ctions/0117664

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Call Of Duty: Ghosts – can a new engine help Infinity Ward leave Modern Warfare behin

June 26th, 2013, 00:36 Posted By: wraggster

Compared to next-gen showcases such as Konami’s Fox Engine, the tech driving Call Of Duty’s future is more modest. Infinity Ward admits that Call Of Duty: Ghosts will run on the old engine, but overhauled to such an extent that it’s calling it a new one.“It’s a fine line when you define a new engine and augmentations to an engine,” says animation lead Zach Volker. “As we develop and we add features, at what point does it become a new engine? Because it’s impossible to develop a new engine from the ground up in a two-year cycle. You would need an army of 200 engineers. So we say, ‘OK, what are the things that are significant… Are those being upgraded in a significant way? All right, then, we’ve got a new engine on our hands.’”The results are pretty, even if new COD looks a lot like old COD on a high-end PC. Ghosts might not have the visual impact of games using the new engines shown off by Square Enix and Konami, but it looks like something you could play in your living room today, rather than several years from now.New features include displacement mapping, which banishes flat textures by creating 3D geometry from images. The results are striking: images of rocks become 3D at the press of a button. That it’s rendered in-engine and on the fly will help those yearly iterations. Then there’s ‘sub-D’, a rendering technique that raises poly counts to maintain visual integrity in close-ups.The new lighting engine packs in high-dynamic-range rendering and subsurface scattering, the latter giving your avatar’s skin a subtle translucency; veins appear to show through rather than looking as if they’ve been painted on. Ghost’s assets won’t be the limiting factor for its visual fidelity either, having been made at “cinema quality”. Rather it will be the extent to which they must be scaled down to suit this revamped engine.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...arfare-behind/

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Respawn Entertainment talks Xbox Live Cloud, praises its multiplayer servers

June 25th, 2013, 15:26 Posted By: wraggster

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Notch confirms strong retail performance for Minecraft Xbox 360

June 25th, 2013, 08:38 Posted By: wraggster

The retail version of Minecraft was the best-selling Xbox 360 game in its launch window, according to the game’s creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson.
VG247 reports Notch took to twitter to boast on the indie mega-hit’s hot start at retail for Microsoft’s console.
“They’re telling me it’s currently the fastest selling console game in the US,” Notch said.
The disc version landed at US retail earlier this month, with the XBLA version already banking 6m sales as of March of this year.
Microsoft confirmed during its E3 press conference that Minecraft will be part of its line-up of titles for the Xbox One.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/notch...ox-360/0117592

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Metal Gear Solid 5 might offer Kinect functionality

June 25th, 2013, 08:37 Posted By: wraggster

Hideo Kojima has expressed interested in utilising the Kinect camera in the Xbox One version of Metal Gear Solid 5.
“The Kinect itself brings a lot of different capabilities,” Kojima stated in an official Xbox interview, as noted byGamingBolt. “I would like to see what I can do with the voice command, and the movement with the gestures and see what we can do with that.”
Kojima also expressed enthusiasm for SmartGlass, adding that he is “really looking forward to using different devices to bring the hardcore gameplay to different kind of media”.
There was also a passing comment regarding the machine’s technical oomph, with Kojima insisting that he is “really looking forward to the graphics power it is capable of”.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/metal...nality/0117598

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Microsoft ploughing $700m into Xbox One cloud datacentre in Iowa

June 25th, 2013, 08:36 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft is set to investment $700 million in a new data centre in West Des Moines, Iowa.
As part of the deal with the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board, the state has approved $20 million in tax credits for the computing giant for what has been termed ‘Project Mountain’.
The new data centres will likely be added on to its facilities in the region, bringing total investment in local data centre’s from Microsoft to nearly $1 billion.
The expanded data centre presence in the region will support Xbox Live and Office 365.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/micro...n-iowa/0117601

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State of Decay developer discusses DLC, sequel possibilities

June 25th, 2013, 08:31 Posted By: wraggster

Undead Labs has touched on what the studio is cooking up for the future of its hits zombie survival game, State of Decay.
In an interview with Polygon, studio founder Jeff Strain revealed upcoming DLC for the title in the form of a “pure survival” sandbox mode.
"The game is basically a giant simulation of zombies versus humans," Strain said. "The narrative we tell gives you some context and drives you through the experience, and there is a beginning, middle and end. I think people take between 15 and 25 hours to play the entire game, and we found that after that, players are immediately restarting.”
"Every playthrough is different, but the story is the same every time. After they finish they want to just experience the game in pure sandbox mode and be able to focus on experiencing the world and not worry about completing the story. We're going to make that happen."
Strain added that, while it's not currently the works, any sequel for the game would be developed for next-gen hardware – with a specific mention for the Xbox One.
"If we do a full sequel to the game, it wouldn't be on currently existing hardware," he said. "We don't know what the future of State of Decay is right now, the IP, the franchise... Clearly if there's a full sequel, it would be on Xbox One. But I can't comment beyond that."
State of Decay is available now on Xbox Live Arcade. The title came seemingly out of nowhere, already nabbing half a million sales as of earlier this month.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/state...lities/0117613

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Microsoft’s Xbox One Eighty – a big win for consumers? Not so fast

June 24th, 2013, 23:43 Posted By: wraggster

Adrian Chmielarz is a co-founder of The Astronauts and former People Can Fly creative director. Here, he explains what Microsoft’s Xbox One U-turn means for games players and developers.Humans are amazing optimizers. There is a game shop here in Warsaw, where all you have to do is to buy one game, and then from now on for about fifteen dollars you can exchange it for any other new game. In other words, after the initial purchase any new console title costs you fifteen bucks. Is it right? Is it wrong? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that many people are playing off one box of a game, and while this makes the consumers and the shop happy, it’s not making the developers and publishers happy.And, you know, just like salesmen and gamers are great optimizers, so are the developers and publishers. A good few years ago, a mantra was born: “…so they keep the disc in the tray”.That is how the DLC was born. “Don’t sell your copy yet, there’s more to come!” Not all gamers fell for it. But those who did were paying five, ten, fifteen dollars for added content which took only a tiny fraction of developer’s resources and time needed to make the full game, and yet cost these gamers 25 per cent of it. It was often enough to cover the perceived loss from used game sales. Not unlike when ‘whales’ cover the cost of ‘freeloaders’ in free to play games.That is also how filler content was born. Far Cry 3 is not a better game because you need two boar hides to craft a simple rucksack item, but it certainly is longer. For some game players, length equals value. But then somehow the same people often do not finish such a game (industry standard is about 25 per cent). They put it back on the shelf, promising themselves that they will finish it one day. Most of the time, they never do. But the important thing for the publishers is: the gamers hold on to the game, they’re not selling it, all is good.This is how artificial extenders were born. The hardest difficulty is inaccessible on your first play-through not just because the developer wants to stop you from making a mistake. It’s so you replay the game at least one more time and double your play time. And if you don’t care about that? Hey, there are always achievements to collect, right?That is also how microtransactions were born. There will always be people who are ready to pay for a golden saddle or extra ammo in a game they already paid sixty bucks for. The numbers are insane – some triple-A games made tens of millions this way. Again, ‘whales’ were paying for ‘freeloaders’.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...s-not-so-fast/

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ImgBurn v2.5.8.0

June 24th, 2013, 11:04 Posted By: wraggster

The famous burning software imagburn frequently used to copy xbox 360 update. most important change . BURNERMAX payload integration directly in the program as well as many other improvements See changelog for fixes: Added: Holding the When Clicking ALT key on DLE window's pane column header Disc Will now remove the sort order (so they're then sorted by addition Essentially order). Added:. Ability to incrementally search the Explorer pane in the 'Disc Layout Editor' window Added: The actual connection speed USB (1.1, 2.0, 3.0) for USB devices to the initial device scan log entries. Added: Log entry When burning showing the actual layer break position. Added: Log entry When burning That shows the number of discs a Lite -On drive thinks It has burnt. Added: Pioneer drives now Their list 'Kernel Version' to the next firmware release. Added: The Windows 7 taskbar button + / progress display now turns red if an I / O error box pops up falling on a . read / write (etc.) operation Added: The Ability to set the 'Platform ID' when building a bootable disc - Malthus Enabling the establishment of UEFI bootable discs. Added: Internal release of the 'BURNERMAX Payload' code (well, what I Could figure out) to allow overburning for DVD + R DL on many MediaTek chipset based drives. In practice, this only Seems to work on Lite-On (and clone) That drives have 'Force HyperTuning' enabled. Added: MSF info to the 'Sector Viewer tool. Added: Allow for larger I / O buffer (1GB). Added: Option to pick the transfer size (32KB -> 512 KB) used When reading / writing files. Added:. Option to enable / disable the OS's buffering When writing image files Added: Ability to make the Explorer pane in the DLE window ' Read Only. Added:. Opus Support for audio compression formats Added: Support for TAK lossless audio compression formats (including embedded CUE sheets). Added: Ability to use a '*' wildcard for 'list backup' directory entries in an IBB project file (Applies to Advanced input mode). Added: A few keyboard shortcuts to the DLE window. (Ctrl + Shift + C = New Disc (Clear), Ctrl + Shift + D = Add Folder (Directory), Ctrl + Shift + F = Add Files, Ctrl + Shift + N = New Folder) Changed: No longer bundling / Offering the Ask.com toolbar in the setup program, OpenCandy now handles product offerings during installation. Changed: Buffered I / O is now enabled by default for reading / writing files. Changed: Update the splashscreen logo. Changed: The 'Delete' option / button in the Disc Layout Editor has-been renamed to 'Remove' so it matches the one in video input mode (and so people arent put off by the term 'Delete' - Actually thinking it'll delete the file On Their hard drive ). Changed / Fixed:. Detect oversized UDF File Entry descriptors and do not attempt to parse em Changed / Fixed: Restore 'Disc Layout Editor' window's focus Becomes When the active application. Changed / Fixed: Workaround for the new LG 16x Blu That carry-ray writers the wrong (a truncated) current write speed value in the 'GET PERFORMANCE' response When burning at 16x. / Fixed Changed: Workaround for drives with the newer LG 'Silent Play' feature That Seem To ignore Attempts to set the read speed via the 'SET STREAMING' command. ! They get fixed on 1x and will not read any faster Changed / Fixed: Attempt to block users from Trying to write discs Their 'combo' drive Does not support (ie a DVD + RW / BD-ROM combo drive Trying to burn BD-R). Changed / Fixed: Potential errors Were Being ignored / lost When setting a 'changeable' layer break position to icts current / maximum value. . The program now reports em Changed / Fixed: Tweaked the 'browse for folder / file' dialog code to hopefully stop the OS from throwing up a 'There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive X:. ' When the MRU error location is a drive That no longer HAS disc in it. Changed / Fixed: Reworked some commands OPTIONALLY That Could not use 'Immediate I / O'. Old code Could fall back to 'Non-Immediate I / O and loose the initial error messages from the' Immediate I / O 'version of the command. Changed / Fixed: Made an adjustment (potential bug fix) to my drag + drop component's code. It May cut down on crashes / weird things happening as a result of the user HAVING Performed a d + d operation. Changed / Fixed:. 'Shutdown Computer' checkboxes shoulds have read 'Shut Down Computer' Changed / Fixed: Recently added 'MID info to was missing from the disc info text in Read / Verify modes. Fixed: Cosmetic issue displaying numbers When the user's '. thousands In separator' is set to nothing Fixed: Displaying wrong firmware subversion on newer LG Blu-ray drives (BH14 +) . Fixed: Memory leak When burning Audio CDs That use DirectShow for decoding. Fixed: Memory leak When burning an Audio CD Already Where the files are in the correct format for burning (no decode required). Fixed: Potential access violation When reading a field in a UDF File Set Descriptor '. Fixed: Old (orphaned) AWS related registry / ini file entries Were Being left behind - this was perfectly fine, it's just nice to keep the place tidy! Fixed: DLE window's Toolbar Disc Was not Being resized for higher DPI systems - meaning the buttons Were not fully visible. Fixed: When outputting from Mode2/Form1/2352 Build mode, the program Did not take into account any additional data-type conversion required for the drive - This Could Produce . was corrupt disc ImgBurn v2.5.8.0 Official Site: Digital-digest.com

http://x360.gx-mod.com/modules/news/...p?storyid=4195

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Xbox One will require day one update

June 23rd, 2013, 22:00 Posted By: wraggster

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The most popular arguments in favour of Xbox One DRM

June 23rd, 2013, 21:54 Posted By: wraggster

Yesterday I questioned whether Microsoft's decision to change its Xbox One DRM plansaddressed the underlying issues that got the company into trouble in the first place, but on the whole I was happy to see the proposed policies rolled back, and left hoping that Microsoft will use this as an opportunity to find a better balance between the art and business sides of gaming.Not everyone was pleased with the company's decision, though. Here are a few of the most popular arguments in favour of the original Xbox One policies, along with some of my thoughts on why they are flawed.I remember when all this was fields.

"Xbox One would have solved the problem of buying a game on disc and then not being able to store it digitally or download it from the cloud."The situation that we have now - and will have on Xbox One - is certainly inelegant, but I don't think the answer is to sacrifice what little sense of ownership is left to us. What I would like to see is a solution that shows an appropriate amount of respect to the creator, distributor and customer.Compared to the original Xbox One ideal, the movie industry (somewhat incredibly - they would cut you up for firewood if it meant a better margin) has the less draconian Triple-Play, where you pay a premium to buy a film on Blu-ray, DVD and digital at the same time. This isn't perfect either, but it feels like a step in the right direction, and it is also offered as an option rather than a one-size-fits-all solution."Publishers could charge less for games."This claim seems to hinge on the idea that publishers will suddenly receive a cut of the resale market and therefore won't have to squeeze us. This is extremely optimistic. I think publishers will charge us exactly as much as we will pay, so if we continue to buy games at £40 then publishers will pocket the new money they get from a digital resale market and charge us £40 for new stuff all the same. That's just how business works, really - a few smaller companies with strong morals and ethics may pass on savings, but otherwise surely the notion of trickle-down economics has been thoroughly discredited?Actually, the cost of gaming will probably continue to go up - maybe not in terms of the initial outlay, but over the lifespan of a game we enjoy, the cost of necessary micro-transactions, boosters and subscription elements will mean we pay more per release. Meanwhile, sales of traditional triple-A games could even get worse if the existing resale market is threatened, because a lot of consumers factor resale value into their purchase decision and would find the alternative unappealing."You could make more money from your trade-ins."We don't know exactly how the used game market - or 'used licence' market, if you like - was supposed to work, so it's hard to pre-judge its impact, but it seems extremely optimistic to think you would be able to simply sell your licence back to Microsoft for the equivalent of a partial refund. Any second-hand salesman has to be able to say 'no' to someone proposing a trade-in deal, or else they can end up with loads of stock they will never shift.It's more likely that the digital used game market on Xbox One would have resembled an auction house, in which case the convenience to people using it would also increase competition among individual second-hand sellers, which would actually drive prices down. Meanwhile, publishers would make out well by skimming a percentage of whatever you did get for your licence off the top.As for the bricks-and-mortar resale market, I can't imagine how it would have worked, but GameStop's existing attitude to consumers hadn't exactly filled me with optimism.We're already paying more for our favourite games over their lifespans and this trend will continue.

"Everyone used to hate Steam, but everyone loves it now. Xbox One could have been the same."Steam is a closed system like Xbox Live, but the crucial point is that it has to compete with other systems, like GOG, Amazon, Origin, U-Play and various others. These competitive market forces are one of the key reasons that the price of new PC games is driven lower than its console equivalent.Meanwhile, there is only limited digital competition within the console space. Some digital games are multi-format, but as Microsoft's management of Xbox Live Arcade demonstrates, it will do its best to keep things exclusive so that it is not subject to these competitive market forces.As for super-cheap sales of old games on Steam, they happen because those games stand more chance of making any money that way. Otherwise they are just catalogue items that users barely notice. The same thing also happens to a limited extent with Xbox Live summer sales, and Xbox One's attitude to pricing would probably just resemble that."Sharing games with your 10-person family plan would have been so much better than the total lack of digital sharing we have now."Obviously this ignores the fact that we still have the option to buy many of our games on disc, where no such restrictions apply.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...f-xbox-one-drm

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Microsoft details its Games With Gold initiative

June 23rd, 2013, 21:53 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has detailed its two-free-games-a-month initiative for Xbox Live Gold members by clarifying that a new title will be added on the 1st and 16th of every month.Only one game will be available at a time, but once you download a title it will stay connected to your account as a past purchase, meaning it will be retrievable at a later date should you decide to delete it."Each specially selected, fan-favorite game will be available to download only for a limited time, so grab them before they're gone and keep them no matter what," noted Microsoft on its official site.The current selection is Fable 3, which will be removed at the end of the month when either Halo 3 or Assassin's Creed 2 will take its place.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...old-initiative

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Halo Reclaimer Trilogy expanded to a 'saga', says MS exec

June 23rd, 2013, 21:46 Posted By: wraggster

343i's Halo Reclaimer Trilogy, which began with the release of the fourth numbered entry in the series, has been expanded to be "more of a saga".
Speaking to GameSpot, Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer said the recent teaser featuring Master Chief is for a "legitimate" version of Halo for Xbox One, and the appearance of producer Bonnie Ross on stage at E3 was evidence of this.
"It is the next Halo game that we are working on," he said. "We will talk more about actually the story arc in the game and how it plays out; we've got more time to talk about that."
"But having [producer Bonnie Ross] come out and announce the game, making sure people know it's a legitimate version of Halo coming out, and when it's coming out, and features that they're focused on we thought was...important."
The Reclaimer Trilogy was originally announced as the moniker for Halo 4, Halo 5 and Halo 6 together. However, according to Spencer the scope of the project has widened.
"While we originally said trilogy, we've actually expanded this to more of a saga, so we don't want to limit the Reclaimer story within a trilogy."
Microsoft also recently showed off Halo: Spartan Assault, a top-down shooter for mobile devices and PC.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-says-ms-exec/

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Kinect full body scanner

June 23rd, 2013, 17:06 Posted By: wraggster


Why let the TSA have all the fun when it comes to full body scanning? Not only can you get a digital model of yourself, but you can print it out to scale.
[Moheeb Zara] is still in development with a Kinect based full body scanner. But he took a bit of time to show off the first working prototype. The parts that went into the build were either cut on a bandsaw, laser cut, or 3D printed. The scanning part of the rig uses a free-standing vertical rail which allows the Kinect to move along the Z axis. The sled is held in place by gravity and moved up the rail using a winch with some steel cable looped over a pulley at the top.
The subject stands on a rotating platform which [Moheeb] designed and assembled. Beneath the platform you’ll find a laser cut hoop with teeth on the inside. A motor mounted in a 3D printed bracket uses these teeth to rotate the platform. He’s still got some work to do in order to automate the platform. For this demo he move each step in the scanning process using manual switches. Captured data is assembled into a virtual module using ReconstructMe.
The Kinect has been used as a 3D scanner like this before. But that time it was scanning salable goods rather than people.
http://hackaday.com/2013/06/23/kinec...-body-scanner/

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Microsoft and Xbox One face fundamental problems, with or without DRM

June 22nd, 2013, 14:38 Posted By: wraggster

It is and always was about trust. Microsoft and its supporters scrambled to say what Xbox One could and perhaps should be doing for a sustainable digital future, but to no avail. Sharing restrictions and online check-ins might yet be part of that landscape, but the verdict from games players is clear: they don’t want to go there via Redmond.Even the guns-blazing conference at E3 was haunted by Microsoft woes. Why isn’t Rare remaking Killer Instinct? Probably too busy making anodyne Kinect games. Behind Capybara’s Below we see the ghosts of Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Indie Games, and the hapless titles buried within them. If the six-year-old rumours are true then Halo 5 would have been a Bungie game (along with Halos 6 and 600) had the studio not escaped to make Destiny. Reflected in SmartGlass are Zune and Surface, two of the worst tech flops of recent years.Now the trust is gone, just when it was needed most. With no immediate advantage to Xbox One’s abandoned DRM beyond an ill-defined Family Sharing scheme (possibly just a glorified demo system), gamers were supposed to imagine Steam, the place where prices are cheap and yet everyone wins. But why would they when 360’s Games on Demand service is so notoriously expensive?After its incredible DRM U-turn, Microsoft has until November to formulate a marketable new strategy. With no outright winner in the launch game line-ups and ostensibly stronger hardware in PS4, it has to somehow achieve parity with its rival despite a deeply integrated, possibly essential Kinect camera. The good news is that it’s done this kind of thing before. The original Xbox had its price slashed from £300 to £199 barely a month after its UK launch, matching that of PS2. “This is a marathon, not a sprint,” remarked Xbox VP Sandy Duncan at the time.Let’s assume a price cut, then, if the preorders don’t pick up. What else can Microsoft do? It could remove Kinect, of course, or at least let you turn it off. But wouldn’t that create a problem akin to the maligned Xbox 360 Core package, the disc-only unit blamed for shackling developers to optical streaming for the whole of current-gen? Take out the assurance of Kinect in every box and you might impede the progress of Kinect in general, squashing the market for Kinect games. Just as PS4 feels like PS3 2.0, furthermore, Microsoft would be selling us a souped-up Xbox 360.That would not be good.Unless the unthinkable happens again and Microsoft embraces self-publishing, Xbox is not fertile ground for the future of games on console – more a dry brush that throttles and starves. With all the fuss over its sprawling digital distribution agenda swept away, we’re reminded that Microsoft is anything but a digital publisher.Telling developers to go find a publisher established in traditional retail, or demanding timed exclusivity on a single platform, or taking a slice of profits above the usual fee, is not the behaviour of a company that cares about games or even pretends to. Indeed, Microsoft’s loudest next-gen overtures have been to the various media giants Xbox One seems tailored to bring together. To a large extent, it’s a machine designed by the content providers and advertising partners that now pepper 360’s UI.To truly appease games players and developers, Microsoft must backpedal further still. As if this wasn’t already embarrassing enough. It might have been forced to slash prices, but Microsoft has never had to completely revise its principles before. What happens if it does? How long before Xbox One is the spitting image of PS4?Now that preowned games are definitely here to stay, there are two possible outcomes for next generation games; either we see the same old stuff from the old guard with endless DLC and microtransactions, or a more meaningful change. The industry’s largest studios have to start making smaller, more daring, more original games, games that people actually want – the kind of games powering the PC and mobile markets right now. Preowned isn’t there because gamers are cheapskates, but because it’s the one insurance they have against the old industry’s creative bankruptcy. That’s a problem that DRM can’t solve.A suspicious public, a hefty pricetag, a compromised vision, skepticism over Kinect, a restrictive publishing model and big studio creative malaise; Microsoft has removed DRM, but Xbox One still faces a multitude of difficulties ahead of its launch.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...r-without-drm/

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Phil Fish lashes out at 'anti-indie' Xbox One policies

June 22nd, 2013, 01:04 Posted By: wraggster

Fez creator says he won't bring sequel to Microsoft consoles

The creator of Fez says the game's sequel will not return to Microsoft consoles.
Fez was one of the most highly anticipated indie releases on the Xbox 360 for several years, but after launch the game fell victim to a game-breaking bug that couldn't be patched withoutpaying a hefty fee.

After this experience, Polytron founder Phil Fish told Polygon that he's not interested in the Xbox One as a potential development platform.
"I hope it's a joke," said Fish in an interview hours before Microsoft did a u-turn on some of its most controversial policies.
"I hope Microsoft is pulling a New Coke on us, announcing a shit console nobody wants, only to eventually announce the Xbox Classic and winning back everybody's hearts. Microsoft is making a console for itself. Not for gamers. Not for developers. Just for its own, greedy little Orwellian self. I'm not interested."

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...x-One-policies

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Microsoft "prepared to lower price" on Xbox One next year - Pachter

June 21st, 2013, 01:21 Posted By: wraggster

The Wedbush analyst does think Microsoft "can fully level the playing field with Sony" leading into this holiday, however
[h=3]Microsoft[/h]microsoft.com


While we all weigh in on Microsoft's huge policy reversal on Xbox One, analysts have started sending out their investor notes. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter is now much more optimistic for the Xbox One's chances this holiday season against Sony's PS4, but he also doesn't rule out a price cut on Xbox One next year if Sony gets out to a sizable lead with its $399 price tag.
"...the focus will shift from Microsoft's onerous policies to the price differential between the Xbox One (at $499) and the PS4 (at $399). The differential is due to the inclusion of Kinect (a high definition camera with a microphone array) with every Xbox One; Microsoft intends to offer a more robust hardware bundle than Sony will offer, and Microsoft is convinced that consumers will ultimately appreciate the value proposition presented by Kinect... Microsoft has not done a particularly good job of communicating the value proposition to consumers, but today's announcement will remove an impediment to the company's ability to get its message across," he noted.
"We are confident that with six months of focused messaging, Microsoft can fully level the playing field with Sony, and we expect the Xbox One to sell as many units as the PS4. If we are wrong, we think that Microsoft is prepared to lower price next year."
As long as the current-gen console cycle has lasted, Pachter said he thinks the next one should last about 10 years, and one of the biggest winners in the Microsoft reversal will be retailer GameStop. "While Microsoft still intends to offer digital downloads of new games on the same day they are released on DVD, the removal of restrictions on transfer makes it far more likely that the large number of consumers who value used games as currency will continue to buy them in physical form," he said. "Ultimately, we think that no more than 50 percent of game sales will be in digital format, suggesting that GameStop's used game business could be healthy for many years."
In an email to GamesIndustry International, Pachter clarified his 50 percent estimate. He's approximating that no more than 50 percent of AAA title sales, just on Xbox One, will be generated from digital. This does not count DLC or indie games. "Measuring what is currently sold in packaged form, I think that there will be a migration of 50 percent to digital in the next 5 - 10 years for Xbox One. It's a harder call on PS4, it's not as online friendly (yet)," he told us.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...t-year-pachter

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Xbox One strategy revamp was logical

June 21st, 2013, 01:12 Posted By: wraggster

One of the best bits of games industry scuttlebutt I have been told is about Xbox boss Don Mattrick.
It's actually about his shrewd hiring and management skills, so it's effectively a HR anecdote. But bear with me.
A few years ago I was told that when running teams at EA, one of Mattrick's favoured practices was a process known as 'upgrading'.
It effectively means comparable staff members end up vying for the same job and are pitted against one other - with often only one employee remaining.
It's used when two comparable people go for the same promotion, when certain roles get restructured, when building new parts of a business - or, most commonly, when trying to make someone be better at their job, or eliminate them from it.
With each person operating under more pressure from their shadow colleague the outcome is only ever in the employers favour. Employees will either give in and leave, or rise to the challenge and fend off competition. At worst the status quo/hierarchy remains, and an average staff member is replaced by a better one. At best the company is gifted with two talented employees.
I should be clear I only ever really heard the phrase and anecdote one time from a person that worked close to an EA studio.
And I have no idea if Mattrick has ever actually favoured this approach.
But I know this: Xbox One just got 'upgraded'.
Microsoft has spent the last month effectively pitching Xbox One, revealed in mid-May, against PS4, which was unveiled in February.
Its strategy has been very different to Sony's. It has planned on being bold and uncompromising, the very definition of innovation by answering huge physical-to-digital shifts in the market with a new approach to game ownership and content.
The market was never going to move towards this model gradually because disruption comes from radical ideas. And the thinking at Microsoft has been that this new approach would effectively improve (or, yes, 'upgrade') the console ecosystem.
When Xbox execs said the new strategy was 'flexible' I think they really believed it in some way, and thought the idea of having a digital library of games you could get on any device was a perfect a gift for consumers (albeit terribly explained from the off) in exchange for changing the way you own a game.
Mattrick thought this would eventually win. The May 21st launch for Xbox One described it as "the one system for the new generation". To him, it was going to dispel the PS4 shadow, and Xbox would be the only console worth caring about.
But PlayStation put up a good fight last week, and after publicly mocking these strategies on stage at E3 and leading a charge of gamers to vote PS4 over Xbox One, Mattrick backed down.
A lot of people are seeing this as a U-turn, but really it's just reverting to the status quo - everything is now "just like on Xbox 360".
Has Xbox changed strategy? Or has it decided not to change strategy? I'd argue there's a subtle difference. And most importantly it's one that Microsoft has swiftly learned from, and been 'upgraded' via in the process.
In a short space of time Xbox has learned just how much gamers cherish physical media, that you just can't decide to change their rights on a whim, how easy it is to miscommunicate and be misunderstood, and that media pressure and consumer campaigns actually can carry weight.
But I don't for one minute think there is any long-term change in Microsoft's thinking here. It's building a console that in principle has a five year plus life on the market. It's building a console connected in some tangential way to a wider strategy around cloud content and what that means for Microsoft's other interests, like Windows and enterprise. It's also a device still advocating other important changes such as always wanting a camera sensor above your TV.
Who really asked for pre-owned limitations? From what I was told at E3 last week, these bold ideas were never demanded by publishers. Third-parties have issues with second hand games, sure. But they have issues with the sale of grey stock, too. And issues with illegal downloads and piracy. All of them tricky issues that on the one hand fuel brand awareness but on the other mean 'lost sales', and none of which publishers expect a platform-holder to solve.
No, every strategic choice here was Microsoft's, because Mattrick has a reasoned vision about the future of the games console in a fast-moving digital world layered on top of a vanishing physical one.
In fact, Mattrick says it himself: "While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds."
"Both worlds". This isn't a U-turn but a new hybrid strategy: keep the current model going, and keep that long-term digital one waiting in the wings.
Mattrick will know that often Xbox makes decisions which at times ultimately set the agenda, such as charging for online multiplayer (as with the first Xbox) or having a digital marketplace on a console (XBLA on Xbox 360).
If Microsoft doesn't give up on the original plan in totality, the Xbox One successor won't be the next-next-gen console, but the much-suspected first discless games console, an interim platform between the Xbox One and the one generation after.
The company can easily release a day one patch to remove the original intention behind Xbox One, so it can easily build an Xbox One with where everything is digital, complete with the previous concept for a game licence library, and all the other stuff Microsoft has put on hold for now.
Under that principle, Xbox could migrate to Mattrick's original plan even quicker. We know that through the variety of digital marketplaces out there that the majority of consumers don't know enough about their digital rights for the changes to impact their buying habits - a cheaper, 'convenient' box will probably serve them. The disc-based machine sticks around for the section of the audience still using discs, which to Mattrick seems like a dying format but which part of his audience wants to keep alive.
Meanwhile, things like cloud computing for consoles won't go away, and persistent online games like Titanfall or Halo 5 or The Division or The Crew will still bank on an always-connected model, they just won't be as up front about it from the off.
And under that principle the status quo, which currently has Microsoft as generation leader, remains while an upgraded strategy for the future of the platform works alongside it.
Everyone's saying that Microsoft has stepped back here. But I can't help but wonder if this whole move will end up being in its favour.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/opini...vision/0117422

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