| Yeah, cause people really needed a next-gen version of this... |
7. They still treat Indies like shit: Microsoft has terrible policies regarding independent game developers. While this may not reflect a whole ton on console sales, indies are where all the new risky fresh gameplay ideas coming from. It's also a good way to fill gaps in-between big AAA releases. Based on their current policies, Minecraft would have never even gotten made. And you saw evidence of this at E3, every other platform is far more enticing and you saw far more indie games on those platforms. It may not matter that much to the mainstream consumer, but for gamers looking for something besides your usual AAA safe bets, it will.
| $60 extra bucks a year to enjoy services I already pay for? Sign me up! |
6. Xbox Live Gold is a terrible "deal": At the start of this gen, Gold was great because while it offered a far superior service. Now it might still be a little better but the service you get on Sony platforms only charges for multi-player going forward and does not charge me to watch Netflix or Hulu+ in addition to offering great free games and discounts. Nintendo's online is entirely free. Gold is essentially a scam at this point.
5. It's still expensive: Especially now at $100 more than the now virtually similar PS4 (which is actually more powerful). At least before they could claim it was a console of the future, now what? It's $100 more at the very least because they are forcing people to buy Kinect, which at the very least core gamers absolutely loathe, which leads me to the next issue.
4. Kinect will still be terrible: This has nothing to do with privacy concerns or targeted advertising, that could be another whole column. Kinect is a terrible hardware device, and this "new and improved" version hasn't proved anything different yet. Gesture-based gaming is still generally terrible save for dance and exercise titles, voice recognition will be terrible because voice recognition is.
3. The games aren't all that different, at least not yet: This is a problem on the PS4 as well, but at least we are seeing variety with games like Infamous: Second Son, Knack and again all those indie titles. Think about it: Virtually all the Xbox One titles were "dudebro" shooters (Battlefield, COD, Destiny, Titanfall). Isn't next-gen where we get some new gameplay types or at least some fresh spins on the standard gameplay types? Again not seeing a ton on Sony's end, but absolutely notthing on Microsoft's. Maybe that'll change in a few years when everything stops being cross-gen, but that's a big maybe when AAA publishers are playing it so safe these days.
2. The change in policy removes all the positive things about the Xbox One: Despite all the bad press, the Xbox One had some pretty awesome features that really could've changed the future of gaming. Lending games out friends far away? Awesome. Playing your entire library on someone else's Xbox? Pretty cool. And it could have led to cheaper games, but based on MS current policies and digital pricing structure that was a long shot. I'm not saying these benefits outweighed the restrictions, that was the big problem to begin with, but it also doesn't mean there weren't some cool ideas in there.
1. DRM could (and probably will) come back: If it can be this easily taken it out, it can be just as easily put back in. It's clear from today's messaging that Microsoft is far from happy about making this decision, and eventually they will bring it back. This is an almost definite future we are facing in terms of gaming, especially when the market goes full digital like PC practically is now. The important thing is that we are offered clear tangible incentives to get to a point where it's natural. I don't know if Microsoft has actually learned this lesson and will just try again when people have forgotten or do it the right way.
That's it for today, I should be back tomorrow with thoughts on Super Luigi U and a couple other things.
2 comments:
Ill address a couple of these:
6: The online cost to play PS4 and XB1 are gonna be within $10 apart, I know you dont need to pay to watch hulu or netflix on the PS4, but if im already paying to play online, why does that really matter when the costs are pretty much the same?
4:I think the voice commands for Mass Effect were pretty well executed, with a limited amount of buttons on a controller, voice commands definitely come in handy. Also with the improvements in the Kinect hardware it seems that the gimmicky days of motion gaming are moving toward the grave. Naturally squirming when a zombie jumps on my neck to trigger an "escape" from that zombie, well we will see how well it's executed before I render judgement. Also, Voice recognition is getting pretty good, and it seems from tech demos (scripted as much as they are)
3: What about Project Spark, Below, Sunset Overdrive (FPS i know but daily changes to the world based on how other people play the game is pretty cool) Destiny is a pretty big change to FPS considering it is almost a MMOFPS. Also Episodic Horror Survival in D4. Those are all pretty different types/styles/or a few changes.
Just some things to chew.
The difference between PS+ and Gold is the freebies. The instant game collection you get is huge and it's recent stuff like I just got XCom & Saints Row the third for free. It's a far superior deal.
I'll give you Project Spark, I think that looks great, but Below? Below is an old-school roguelike. And I like the look of Sunset Overdrive but it looks still in the really early concept stages.
As far as Kinect 2.0, that's still a huge question mark on so many levels, basically everything they've shown has been heavily controlled and scripted, there hasn't been a real world test of it yet.
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