[Mentalist]

Jean-Claude Van tiam, on 24 June 2013 - 11:38 AM, said:

Sorry to disrupt the massive amount of sexual tension between Illy and Obdi but... />

Today is my birthday and ive just been given xbox live membership and one of the things people are talking about is these free games you get with it now, similar to the PS+. This seems to be fairly recent and Fable 3 is the first one,which I have already completed, but still its a nice concept. Apparently AC 2 and Halo 3 are next months free releases and you can see that they are releasing there older platinum titles on here which is a good thing. However I just read that these free games they give you will be stopped when the XBONE comes out or atleast theyll stop being free maybe heavily discounted or whatever.

Any ideas if this is true or simply internet lies as I really want to continue with my 360. Free games will extend the life of it for a while and surely with xbox saying it is still part of their plans means the 360 wont be dropped as quick as the old xbox was.

@E3 they said it's only until the XBone comes out. Haven't heard them change that with the 180.

[Illuyankas]

Obdigore, on 24 June 2013 - 10:26 AM, said:

Games. Which is why I buy any console. I haven't decided which one I'm going to get yet. And, just FYI, I have no interest in trying to convince you to buy a specific console, or not buy a different one. I just get frustrated at people spouting incorrect shit, regardless of what it is about. I'm glad that you like PS+ and used games. That makes the PS4 the perfect console for you.

My arguing Xboner's gone Microsoft I would still like you to expound on all the things you say I got wrong, but it's all cool, dude.

[Khellendros]

Khellendros, on 24 June 2013 - 10:19 AM, said:

Illuyankas, on 24 June 2013 - 09:48 AM, said:

In all your whinging and bitching about people you've still barely said a word about why you or anyone would want to buy the console. Why do you want to buy it, Obdigore?

Not addressed to me, I know, but the question is a good one:


If I bought an Xbone, it would be for the same reason that I would buy the PS4 - because it would have some games that I really want to play but can't do so on anything else, and if I know that I'm going to get lengthy use out of the thing. It's really as simple as that. Oh, and the controller is way better />/>

In relation to this, Sony have just announced that there will be 20 exclusives for PS4 in its first year, 12 of which are new franchises.

Microsoft have already stated 15 exclusives for the Xbox One in its first year, 8 of which are new franchises.


Of course, it remains to be seen what shape some of these exclusives take. I'm sure at least five or six of these, for both consoles, will end up being nothing worth writing home about.


Edit: Just to point out, Sony's numbers are games coming from their first-party studios, so there may be more exclusives courtesy of third parties. Not sure if the same is true of Microsoft's numbers.

This post has been edited by Khellendros: 24 June 2013 - 01:02 PM

[tiam]

Mentalist, on 24 June 2013 - 11:42 AM, said:

Jean-Claude Van tiam, on 24 June 2013 - 11:38 AM, said:

Sorry to disrupt the massive amount of sexual tension between Illy and Obdi but... />/>

Today is my birthday and ive just been given xbox live membership and one of the things people are talking about is these free games you get with it now, similar to the PS+. This seems to be fairly recent and Fable 3 is the first one,which I have already completed, but still its a nice concept. Apparently AC 2 and Halo 3 are next months free releases and you can see that they are releasing there older platinum titles on here which is a good thing. However I just read that these free games they give you will be stopped when the XBONE comes out or atleast theyll stop being free maybe heavily discounted or whatever.

Any ideas if this is true or simply internet lies as I really want to continue with my 360. Free games will extend the life of it for a while and surely with xbox saying it is still part of their plans means the 360 wont be dropped as quick as the old xbox was.

@E3 they said it's only until the XBone comes out. Haven't heard them change that with the 180.

Ah well its still a chance to get some free games i suppose. Just would have been nice. Isnt the PS4 having free games though in the same way the Ps3 does atm?

[Jakovasaurus]

At their E3 conference Microsoft did announce that Xbox 360 owners will be able to download two free games per month (starting in July) until Xbox One launches in November - that's how I heard it anyway. You may have to be a gold member to get these free games, not 100% sure. Can anyone verify that?

They said two of the titles that would be free are Assassin's Creed II and Halo 3. Also, I believe I heard/read from another source that when the Xbox One launches the game Killer Instinct will be free for that console - not sure if that means the game will be shipped with Xbox One on a disc or if you will have to down load it. Personally I'm not that excited about Killer Instinct, but free is free.

Anyway, this is exciting news for Xbox 360 owners (with a gold membership?). If I've heard it correctly, that means ten games will be free until Xbox One hits shelves in November.

[Aptorian]

Jean-Claude Van tiam, on 24 June 2013 - 02:31 PM, said:

Ah well its still a chance to get some free games i suppose. Just would have been nice. Isnt the PS4 having free games though in the same way the Ps3 does atm?

The problem at launch for PSN+ is that on the PS3 the games you receive for free are usually games that are year or more older or perhaps not that popular and so Sony probably is able to make a good deal with the publisher or developer to release the game for free.

The first year the PS4 is on the market it is hard to imagine what kind of games Sony will be able to give us for free. Maybe some indie stuff and mini-games but probably not AAA titles.

This will change if and when they get the Gaikai streaming stuff up and running and they can provide PS3/PS2/PS1 stuff as a streaming option but as it stands there is no concrete plans for this and right now the PS4 cannot run PS3 or PS2 games because of its new architecture.

Jakovasaurus, on 24 June 2013 - 05:06 PM, said:

They said two of the titles that would be free are Assassin's Creed II and Halo 3.

Two games that are currently 4 and 6 years old. Games that other stores are selling for next to nothing. They really are pampering their loyal fanbase with these titles.

Jakovasaurus, on 24 June 2013 - 05:06 PM, said:

Also, I believe I heard/read from another source that when the Xbox One launches the game Killer Instinct will be free for that console - not sure if that means the game will be shipped with Xbox One on a disc or if you will have to down load it. Personally I'm not that excited about Killer Instinct, but free is free.

According to what I've heard it's going to be a free to play game and you have to pay to unlock the characters. Yeah that's right. You have to pay to play the characters that you remember from your childhood. If they pull the same bullshit as Marvel Heroes is doing right now, the fanbase is going to flip its shit.

[Mentalist]

Jakovasaurus, on 24 June 2013 - 05:06 PM, said:

At their E3 conference Microsoft did announce that Xbox 360 owners will be able to download two free games per month (starting in July) until Xbox One launches in November - that's how I heard it anyway. You may have to be a gold member to get these free games, not 100% sure. Can anyone verify that?

They said two of the titles that would be free are Assassin's Creed II and Halo 3. Also, I believe I heard/read from another source that when the Xbox One launches the game Killer Instinct will be free for that console - not sure if that means the game will be shipped with Xbox One on a disc or if you will have to down load it. Personally I'm not that excited about Killer Instinct, but free is free.

Anyway, this is exciting news for Xbox 360 owners (with a gold membership?). If I've heard it correctly, that means ten games will be free until Xbox One hits shelves in November.

Killer instinct will be a Free-to-play, XBone exclusive.

which means you can download the game for free, and play...as a single character. If you to play as someone else, you pay for it.

[Illuyankas]

Yeah, Xbone's free game is Killer Instinct with Jago unlocked. And only Jago. Unless you get the special edition which gets you Shadow Jago as well.

PS4's free game is the multiplayer half of Drive Club. First free PS4 game for the first month, anyway, they haven't announced what PS4 games are being free on PS+ every month after that yet.

[Cause]

Illuyankas, on 24 June 2013 - 10:19 PM, said:

Yeah, Xbone's free game is Killer Instinct with Jago unlocked. And only Jago. Unless you get the special edition which gets you Shadow Jago as well.

PS4's free game is the multiplayer half of Drive Club. First free PS4 game for the first month, anyway, they haven't announced what PS4 games are being free on PS+ every month after that yet.

I hate this kind of pricing models! The fact that it works on some people is the really disappointing part. There was a time that they would not have said the words 'free game' but instead said demo!

[Aptorian]

There was also a time where shareware was a viable business method. The thing is I don't really care, I'll just not play Killer Instinct, I don't even like fighting games any more, but the problem is that if Killer Instinct fails because it is basically a bunch of freemium bullshit then Microsoft will blame it one the fanbase not supporting the game they've been clamouring for instead of acknowledging that their business methods are annoying.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

A small note on the Kinect "off" stuff.
You can software turn off the camera, you cannot turn off the microphone.
You can put the microphone into a sort of sleep state where it is only listening for "Xbox On" command. Unfortunately that means it is on and does listen to everything it can hear, because it has to process everything to determine if you have said the words it's listening for. You have no way to tell whether it discards/passes on/records what it hears.
And then there is the camera. Software off is only as good as the system's security. If it only uses software to determine on/off state, then someone else's software can turn it on without you knowing.
Do I think it likely this will happen to any particular person? No. But will it happen to some people, almost definitely.
The one downside to switching to x86 architecture is that both consoles are more vulnerable to viruses now, as it's the standard architecture people have been desiging viruses for for a long time now.

Obdi - The class action lawsuit was dismissed.
People were allowed to not update to the firmware that got rid of the OtherOS feature and still use the online sections of the PS3. However, without updating the firmware you weren't able to run some/all games released designed with that firmware in mind.
So yeah, I don't know if they will or not, but legally it seems MS could chuck in an update down the road that changed the DRM features. I wouldn't be surprised either way, just discussing that there doesn't appear to be any laws in the way of it.

No cross game chat on the PSN is an unfortunate limitation of the PS3 hardware. Something that won't be an issue for the PS4 (an easy conclusion given the hardware, but something they have also specifically stated will be available on the PS4)

As I mentioned before and as Silencer mentioned; only games that are hosted on Sony servers will require PS+ membership. So if a game like DUST 514 gets ported over to the PS4, it would remain hosted on CCP servers so they could -with no downsides- make it playable multiplayer (well, it's multiplayer only anyway) to people without PS+ membership. Same thing goes for MMOs, Diablo 3 or anything else that'll host it's own servers anyway.

[Obdigore]

Lucifer, on 26 June 2013 - 01:45 PM, said:

A small note on the Kinect "off" stuff.
You can software turn off the camera, you cannot turn off the microphone.
You can put the microphone into a sort of sleep state where it is only listening for "Xbox On" command. Unfortunately that means it is on and does listen to everything it can hear, because it has to process everything to determine if you have said the words it's listening for. You have no way to tell whether it discards/passes on/records what it hears.

That is the default setting, but according to MS you can disable it completely if you so desire.

Quote

And then there is the camera. Software off is only as good as the system's security. If it only uses software to determine on/off state, then someone else's software can turn it on without you knowing.
Do I think it likely this will happen to any particular person? No. But will it happen to some people, almost definitely.
The one downside to switching to x86 architecture is that both consoles are more vulnerable to viruses now, as it's the standard architecture people have been desiging viruses for for a long time now.

I agree with that, but honestly it isn't any more likely than someone doing the same to your laptop camera.

Quote

Obdi - The class action lawsuit was dismissed.
People were allowed to not update to the firmware that got rid of the OtherOS feature and still use the online sections of the PS3. However, without updating the firmware you weren't able to run some/all games released designed with that firmware in mind.
So yeah, I don't know if they will or not, but legally it seems MS could chuck in an update down the road that changed the DRM features. I wouldn't be surprised either way, just discussing that there doesn't appear to be any laws in the way of it.

No cross game chat on the PSN is an unfortunate limitation of the PS3 hardware. Something that won't be an issue for the PS4 (an easy conclusion given the hardware, but something they have also specifically stated will be available on the PS4)

As I mentioned before and as Silencer mentioned; only games that are hosted on Sony servers will require PS+ membership. So if a game like DUST 514 gets ported over to the PS4, it would remain hosted on CCP servers so they could -with no downsides- make it playable multiplayer (well, it's multiplayer only anyway) to people without PS+ membership. Same thing goes for MMOs, Diablo 3 or anything else that'll host it's own servers anyway.

I was under the impression that PS+ will be required for all online games on PSN that don't have their own monthly fees. If that is correct I think Diablo 3 would require PS+. Do you have a source for Diablo3 not requiring PS+ to play?

[Lucifer's Heaven]

Obdigore, on 27 June 2013 - 03:28 AM, said:

That is the default setting, but according to MS you can disable it completely if you so desire.

Oh, really? All I had heard was that there was on mode, camera off mode, and Kinect "sleep" mode (where it all responds to is "Xbox On"). I didn't hear anything about a complete off mode that required controller input to turn back on.

Quote

I agree with that, but honestly it isn't any more likely than someone doing the same to your laptop camera.

Plenty of people have their laptops closed when they aren't in use. Plenty of people put a sticker or bluetack over the camera. And plenty of people get their webcams hacked. We have a webcam, but we keep it unplugged when we aren't using it.
The main danger isn't from strangers via the net, it's from someone making a program you can chuck on a thumbdrive and then quickly load onto someone's Xbone as spyware. Because most acts along those lines are committed by people the victims know.
Again, unlikely to happen to you, but it will happen to plenty of people. And having a hardware off switch is an easy solution.

Quote

I was under the impression that PS+ will be required for all online games on PSN that don't have their own monthly fees. If that is correct I think Diablo 3 would require PS+. Do you have a source for Diablo3 not requiring PS+ to play?

I don't have anything specific for D3.
All I know is that they did specifically explain the PS+ for multiplayer a bit later on. Sony will have servers to host multiplayer games. If the game is hosted by them, then you must be PS+ member to play. If it is not hosted by them, then Sony doesn't care if you are PS+ or not. Presumably a company could host their own and for some reason still require you to be PS+, I doubt Sony would mind.

Ah, here we go, something along those lines:
"You will need it to enjoy online multiplayer.
This will also depend on the judgement by the publishers, and there will be some free to play titles that you’ll be able to play without needing a PS Plus subscription, like PlanetSide 2 and DC Universe Online." - Shuhei Yoshida, head of Sony Studios.
I believe they later confirmed that it wasn't just free to play MMOs, it was any game that wanted to run on it's own servers, but I can't find a specific quote for that, so maybe I'm wrong. They have definitely stated that paying for the servers is the reason for the change, so it would make sense (not that that means it's the case).
I assumed D3 would be hosted on Blizzard servers and be cross-platform to the Xbone (won't be to PC as won't have the RMAH), but that's a guess.

[Obdigore]

Ugh I was going to do the quotes inside your quotes inside my quotes thing and I just cant do it right now.

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/privacy

Quote

You are in control of when Kinect sensing is On, Off or Paused: If you don’t want the Kinect sensor on while playing games or enjoying your entertainment, you can pause Kinect. To turn off your Xbox One, just say “Xbox Off.” When the system is off, it’s only listening for the single voice command -- “Xbox On,” and you can even turn that feature off too. Some apps and games may require Kinect functionality to operate, so you’ll need to turn it back on for these experiences.

Secondly, social phising is a thing, and if you can turn unplug your webcam or w/e, you can turn the kinect around, or just leave it off and not purchase games that need it enabled to work.

Third, I dont think its crossplaform for the consoles, although all I can find is that it isn't crossplaform between ps3/4 and PC. Also there is an offline mode on the console version of D3, which makes me think it is going to be p2p, not have hosted servers, since there isn't a RMAH. But again that is just a guess based on included features, not something they have come out and said either way.

[Obdigore]

Briar King, on 28 June 2013 - 04:23 AM, said:

Y'all talking about the Killer Instinct game from the SNES days?

Its a remake by a shitty studio, but yes, that 'universe'.

[Lucifer's Heaven]

Obdigore, on 28 June 2013 - 01:30 AM, said:

Ugh I was going to do the quotes inside your quotes inside my quotes thing and I just cant do it right now.

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/privacy

Quote

You are in control of when Kinect sensing is On, Off or Paused: If you don’t want the Kinect sensor on while playing games or enjoying your entertainment, you can pause Kinect. To turn off your Xbox One, just say “Xbox Off.” When the system is off, it’s only listening for the single voice command -- “Xbox On,” and you can even turn that feature off too. Some apps and games may require Kinect functionality to operate, so you’ll need to turn it back on for these experiences.

Secondly, social phising is a thing, and if you can turn unplug your webcam or w/e, you can turn the kinect around, or just leave it off and not purchase games that need it enabled to work.

Third, I dont think its crossplaform for the consoles, although all I can find is that it isn't crossplaform between ps3/4 and PC. Also there is an offline mode on the console version of D3, which makes me think it is going to be p2p, not have hosted servers, since there isn't a RMAH. But again that is just a guess based on included features, not something they have come out and said either way.

Heh, that's fine.

Ah I see. Yeah the quote I saw didn't have that last bit "and you can even turn that off too". That's good at least, though a hardware off switch would still be nice. Turning it around would be annoying as it will probably mean recalibrating it each time you turned it on.
I have nothing wrong with people having it on when they want to use it, I just feel it should have a simple hardware switch for security for when you don't want it on. I get that some devices having that doesn't work as well, but there's no reason for this not to.
It's one of those little things that I think should be kept around, but whatever.

Good point about the offline mode implying they won't host servers. If it is actual P2P -which would probably work given the game style and system power- then it still wouldn't need Sony servers, so may still be multiplayer for anyone. Guess we'll see.
Not having it crossplatform between consoles seems like such a waste.

[Stalker]

Even as a big xbox guy, I see no reason to upgrade at this point in time. There are no launch titles that interest me and the games that I would play I already own. Sometime next year when games like Titanfall and Destiny are out or nearing release (so March at earliest) is when I'm planning to get one.

All the reviews on the console are interesting to read though. It does seem to be getting better reviews than the PS4 in head to head comparisons, though the launch lineup does seem to be criticized on both.

[Obdigore]

Stalker, on 22 November 2013 - 02:04 AM, said:

Even as a big xbox guy, I see no reason to upgrade at this point in time. There are no launch titles that interest me and the games that I would play I already own. Sometime next year when games like Titanfall and Destiny are out or nearing release (so March at earliest) is when I'm planning to get one.

All the reviews on the console are interesting to read though. It does seem to be getting better reviews than the PS4 in head to head comparisons, though the launch lineup does seem to be criticized on both.

That is because both launch lineups seem to rely on third party games that are also available on the current gen. (Sports and FPSes). Most of the exclusives are either not good or nothing really new. From what I understand Forza is pretty but doesn't bring anything 'new', and Killzone is pretty but has never been a great shooter.

[Stalker]

Yeah, I'm hearing the same things about Ryse too. Pretty, but repetitive and boring. I get that the first party devs want to show off the new tech, but a lineup of mediocre games that look great doesn't seem to be the best way to go.

[Obdigore]

Stalker, on 22 November 2013 - 04:21 AM, said:

Yeah, I'm hearing the same things about Ryse too. Pretty, but repetitive and boring. I get that the first party devs want to show off the new tech, but a lineup of mediocre games that look great doesn't seem to be the best way to go.

Crytek games are almost always 'pretty but unimaginative'. Apparently the game is pretty awesome if you didn't need to do the same button-combo finishers (that are apparently really easy) to restore health.