Xbox One

E3 2013- the big reveal


Before E3 2013 people weren't sure what to expect with Microsoft's upcoming new console, which was popularly nicknamed the "Xbox 720" by curious fans. Then E3 came, causing both jaws and stock prices to suddenly drop. The fans now had a new nickname for this brand new system full of things they did not want: the XBone.


 * All discs were to be locked to the system via embedded RFID.

No more used games! No more swapping games with friends! No more weekend game rentals! On the bright side, all games were going to be availiable as downloads from Day One. This bomb was just the start of a steeply growing mountain of DRM of multiple kinds that the Xbone was going to have.


 * The system will not run without Kinect attached

The kinect would come with all XBone consoles. If you have ever lost or broken a Wii sensor you know how annoying this can be. Kinect will be always on an listening in the background, unable to power down even if the console is turned off.


 * All downloads were to be locked to both system and users via facial recognition, thanks to the Kinect.

The reason kinect is always listening is, again, more DRM. When a user activates a disc on a console it records the user's face who registered the disc to the system. This is used as still more DRM. Microsoft also has a patent and plans to use the kinect to target ads at users via Kinect feedback.


 * The Kinect could also force you to upgrade movie content licenses.

Let's say you bought and watched a nice blue ray or downloadable movie that you paid for. No piracy here! The movie is awesome so you invite friends over to watch it. Instead of booting the movie, you are told to upgrade your content license for the film because too many people are in the room. In the world of Xbone, even movies will have DRM! Remember: the system will not function with the kinnect disconnected.


 * Xbone will need to connect once every 24 hours to Microfsoft servers and that connection will need to be FAST

All Xbone will need to connect to Micrsoft servers at least once every 24 hours. If Microsoft's servers are down, your internet is not connected or the console otherwise does not connect once a day it will not boot at all! This means that it will not even play movies or single-player games.

To be able to play anything online at least a 1.5 MBPS connection is required, but higher is adviseable. Anyone who has ever had to share an internet connection is aware how speeds drop when more than one person is online, making the Xbone nearly impossible to play Multiplayer if the conenction is slow or shared.

What about people tight on cash who don't have internet, who have spotty internet access or slow internet access? Microsoft has this answer:

"Fortuneately we have a product for those who aren't able to get stable (high speed) internet: It's called Xbox360-- Microsoft Executive, Don Mattrick"


 * Region-Lock is still a thing.

Unlike with the PlayStation 4, the old American, European and Asian regions will still be enforced. Japanese games only run on Japanese xbox, for example. This will also segregate servers making multiplayer more regional and less global.


 * Cloud EVERYTHING!

Your data is saved to an outside server farm referred to as "the cloud". The cloud knows what games you have, what games you have played, what games you didn't like, your Kinect data, and more. The cloud also streams most of each game's data from the server to your console. Rememember how Diablo 3 was unplayable because the servers had problems? Well, now every single Xbone title can enjoy the same sort of weak point. No servers, no singleplayer.


 * There is no backwards compatibility on the Xbone.

Your Xbox360 titles and downloads can not be played. Not even for downloaded XBLA titles, little indie games, or discs. All new acccessories are required, which means buying a brand new charger, new battery packs, new controllers, new headset, a hard drive (the cheap version has no hard drive!) and more money on top of the already steep $499 pricetag for the basic console.


 * Family Packs are gone. All hail Family Share!

All downloads can be shared by up to ten people who are on the same friends list and have been on the same list for at least a month. This means as long as you don't mind dad being on your friends list, you can share his games! Also, instead of paying $5 per month per account on the xbox for Xbox live, all accounts on the same Xbone get live for the same flat fee.

June 18, 2013 Changes Anounced
Despite a couple glimmers of hope, the fans were livid. It was every gamer's worst nightmare in one DRM-infested console:
 * No backwards compatibility yet region-lock stays put
 * No sharing/reselling games
 * Kinect is always watching and required
 * Fast connection required or Xbone won't run
 * DRM, DRM, and more DRM.
 * Super high price tag, cheap internals
 * Microsoft executives clearly don't give a damn what we think. They know the FUTURE!

Microsoft stock plummeted, Sony stock skyrocketed. In fact, Playstation 4 console preorders sold out in some areas, prompting Sony to go into overtime to make more consoles! In used games, the price of classic consoles doubled. And the Xbone? Almost no preorders, despite being heavily promoted via advertised placement on sites like Amazon and Gamestop.

Microsoft got nervous and finally caved a little.


 * Discs can be resold (with an additional fee tacked on). No rentals or loaning!

A direct quote from Microsoft: "Third party publishers may opt in or out of supporting game resale and may set up business terms or transfer fees with retailers. Microsoft does not receive any compensation as part of this. In addition, third party publishers can enable you to give games to friends."

In a nutshell: whether or not your Xbone games can be traded or resold will now be up to publishers. There may be a fee involved if you want to transfer or resell a game, but the fee goes to the publisher and not microsoft. It will be an opt-in system, not default.

The technology to lock discs to the system will still ship with the Xbone and can be used at any time. In fact, even though it has "been disabled" RENTALS AND LOANING WILL NOT WORK AT LAUNCH due to the RFID still shipping with Xbone.

Direct Quote from microsoft: "Loaning or renting games won’t be available at launch, but we are exploring the possibilities with our partners." Exploring Possibilities With Our Partners means they may someday allow it, maybe. But that day is not today. Sorry to all those who enjoy Gamefly, Redbox, and sharing games with their friends, you're still out of luck.


 * Family Share has been removed.

Instead of locking discs to the system they removed the "family share" trick of allowing up to ten people to acces the same download as long as they all were on the downloader's friends list for at least 30 days. It's back to "same console or same name" like on the Xbox360.

Even though facial recognition DRM and targeted ads based on gender and personal reaction to previous ads are still going to be happening, "Xbox One and Kinect will provide tools to put you in control of your data."
 * The kinect "Respects your privacy".

Of course this means absolutely nothing: Microsoft already is known for gathering personal information and using it for marketing purposes behind your back. Kinect will still never power down, it can only be "paused". It will still always be listening, even when paused and "not in use".

Instead of connecting "every 24 hours", now they want you to connect online in order to be able to use it for the first time. Yes, even on consoles that will only be used offline for single player games you need an internet connection to be able to boot your Xbox. No internet = No Xbox.
 * The 24 Hour check-in is gone, yet still requires internet and will do stuff in the background

"Xbox One is designed to run in a low-powered, connected state. This means your system, games and apps are always current and ready to play—no more waiting for updates.", Microsoft says. It never powers down so it can check for updates and send data quietly in the background. In short, it's still doing the 24 hour check-in, but now it will still boot if you're off the internet for a day or two.


 * By the way, the same fast connection speeds will still be required for singleplayer.

Microsoft is encouraging all game companies to rely on "the cloud" for their games. If you don't have a fast connection or are offline, your games will run in a "limited fashion". Some may not even work if you can't conenct to their server for any reason whatsoever, even if it's server issues on their end and not yours! By the way, Diablo 3 has been confirmed for the Xbone with the same online-only singleplayer as before.

The Xbone, like the PlayStation 4, no longer has region lock. However, certain countries just plain won't have accessable servers. On launch, most of Japan (aka "The biggest gaming country in the WORLD") and Poland (Aka "Where the people who made The Witcher live") won't be able to use the Xbone. Also, if a server for a game doesn't want to let you in because you're in the wrong counry, you still won't be able to play.
 * Region Lock is Gone! However, servers may not work in all countries

A quick list of things that remain unchanged

 * There is no backwards compatibility on the Xbone. Not even for your headset.
 * Cloud EVERYTHING
 * Xbone will not run without kinect
 * Kinect is still listening constantly and identifies you personally
 * No rentals and STILL no loaning games at launch.
 * Internet connection still required, but not "enforced".
 * Still has mountains of DRM
 * Super high price tag, cheap internals
 * All the stuff we still hated still ships with the Xbone, even if turned off.
 * All the stuff we hated can be turned back on at any time if anyone wants.
 * Sony stock and preorders still outpace Xbone.

At least getting rid of regions is a good start...

System Specs

 * 8GB DDR3 RAM
 * 8 core "Jaguar" CPU
 * Blu-Ray
 * Wifi with ethernet port in back
 * HDMI in-out
 * USB 3.0

The core and amounts of RAM are the same as the PS4, but the RAM type and usage will be the major difference.

The system is being built on DDR 3 RAM, which is the slowest modern RAM and already starting to be out of date. It will be running Windows 8 with a second program layer over top to make it so you can't customise anything. Windows by itself will use at least 3GB out of the 8 GB, not including windows Ballooning due to crap running in the background as well as the extra RAM that will be always in use by the second system later.

On a system that needs lots of ram to be able to "stream games from the cloud" maybe 5 GB of RAM will be availiable at best. Expect there to be a lot less availiable on a regular basis. This means crap framerate, crap speed, lag out the ass, and games that will not work. The streaming will also require at least a 3 GBPS high speed connection. God help you if anyone else in the house wants to use the internet while you're on Xbox ONE.

Oh, and the infastructure (programing, hardware, ect) for all that crap we hated still exists and won't be removed from the Xbox One just because we didn't like it. Expect it to be slowly implemented on future versions of the Xbox One as "improvements".

Confirmed launch titles

 * Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag (Ubisoft, Ubisoft)
 * Battlefield 4 (DICE, Electronic Arts)
 * Call of Duty: Ghosts (Infinity Ward, Activision)
 * Crimson Dragon (Grounding/Land Ho!, Microsoft Studios)
 * Dead Rising 3 (Capcom Vancouver, Microsoft)
 * FIFA 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
 * Fighter Within (AMA Ltd., Ubisoft)
 * Forza Motorsport 5 (Turn 10 Studios, Microsoft Studios)
 * Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft)
 * Killer Instinct (Double Helix, Microsoft Studios)
 * LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (TT Games, Warner Bros. Interactive)
 * Lococycle (Twisted Pixel, Microsoft Studios)
 * Madden NFL 25 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
 * NBA 2K14 (Visual Concepts, 2K Sports)
 * NBA LIVE 14 (EA Sports, Electronic Arts)
 * Need for Speed: Rivals (Ghost Games, Electronic Arts)
 * Peggle 2 (Popcap, Electronic Arts)
 * Powerstar Golf (Zoe Mode, Microsoft Studios)
 * Ryse: Son of Rome (Crytek, Microsoft Studios)
 * Skylanders: Swap Force (Vicarious Visions, Activision)
 * Watch Dogs (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft)
 * Zoo Tycoon (Frontier Developments Ltd., Microsoft Studios)
 * Zumba Fitness: World Party (Zoë Mode, Majesco)