h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well spent a couple of hours reading up and watching about the Xbox One furore (also checking out the pretty funny way in which Sony have capitalised).

So in answer to the original post I cannot now for the life of me understand why any sane person would consider buying an Xbox One. You would have to *really* love Halo I guess.

For my money I bet Destiny (the PS exclusive from Bungie) is going to be better than Halo 18.

And how bloody creepy is the kinect "always on, always listening/watching" schtick?

FB

Gruesome #2 plays GTA apparently and has used PS3 (do those things go together?) and I quite like the idea of plants vs Zombies. Not sure I want to try Skyrim, that sounds like a great way to lose years of your life...

The last game thing I played was one of those on an old machine with green type and a blinky cursor. The Hobbit as far as I remember.

I'm *still* playing (and enjoying) Skyrim and it came out - what - November 2011, I think?

I don't think any single game has ever enjoyed such longevity.
It's why I am so looking forward to the ESO MMOrpg.

Been looking up motherboards and chipsets in my spare time and thinking - could I build this myself? Daunting but possible.

Well, as u-turns go this one was a handbrake turn, squealing in a cloud of smoke:

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

"We imagined a new set of benefits such as easier roaming, family sharing, and new ways to try and buy games. We believe in the benefits of a connected, digital future."

"...but you cavemen clearly don't", you can almost hear them say.

Jolly good. It always cheers me up when someone dumps a blatantly idiotic idea.

They just need to get rid of the always on Kinect and I may consider getting one.

I suspect the damage has been done though.

The damage absolutely has been done. This U-turn comes too late to rescue the XBoner, in my opinion.

For one thing - it's still more expensive. For another, it still has the creepy always-on Kinect thing.

But most fatally of all - if they can handbrake turn that nimbly when they see how much everyone hates the idea... what is there, technically, standing in the way of them letting ten million dolts buy a temporarily modified XBoner, then simply putting out an "update" that renders it exactly as it's been described up to now.

Answer - nothing.

So you have to ask yourself - do you trust Microsoft to NOT do that? I sure as hell don't.

Sorry guys... you successfully tempted me away from Team Sony after I'd been a loyal-ish customer for two console generations, but I am *already* planning on heading straight back there as soon as 360 looks like it's dying.

(It will be interesting to see if Microsoft FORCE End Of Life on 360 like they did the original XBox. Very soon after 360 came out, it became impossible to buy new OR SECOND HAND game for original XBox on the high street. This was because the shops had been threatened by Microsoft that if they continued to support the old console in any way, they'd be frozen out of supplies of the new stuff. No shop would take that risk, the XBox died unnaturally quickly. Compare and contrast with Sony, who not only didn't stop shops selling the original Playstation after the PS2 had come out, they actually specifically redesigned the casing to look more kid-friendly and re-released it as PSOne at a much reduced price, and supported the continued market in games for it. I know it's a naive thing to say about the activities of a big company, but Sony at least *look like* they care about gamers - certainly at least in comparison to Microsoft.)

Agreed - I think they shot themselves in the foot.

On the other hand, I think there might be enough Halo players out there that will keep the console alive.

I'll be sticking to my (admittedly Microsoft) PC. Like Clive, I'm waiting for ESO.

Might have to upgrade my rig so I can crossfire two graphics cards. I really want a front facing USB 3.0 ports so looks like a new motherboard!

FB

I think the problem for Microsoft is that the initial phases for expenses tech require eager and keen early adopters to create some buzz.

I wonder if Microsoft have already dealt themselves a fatal blow to that prospect.

FB

"there might be enough Halo players out there that will keep the console alive"

Two observations on that: if there'd been just the numbered iterations of Halo, and Bungie, the original developers, were still working on it, I'd agree. I might even entertain getting a XBoner just to play Halo 5. But...

They went to the well too often, I think. Halo Wars? ODST? Reach? Too much, sorry. I'm actually bored of the universe to the point that I - someone who specifically bought an XBox to play Halo when I already had a PS2, and got a 360 solely for Halo 3 - I haven't even *played* Halo 4. Games have moved on.

Plus, so have Bungie. Pinning their hopes for a new iteration of hardware on a franchise that old that doesn't even have its originators on board? All I can say is, it won't work on me. PS4 all the way.