Will you be getting a PS4 or an Xbox One ?

[TheGodBen]

I'd like to think that Valve would implement such features, but I fear that they have such a good thing going with Steam right now that they don't want to risk publisher support by implementing sharing and trading of games. EA already abandoned them for Origin, Ubisoft have one foot out the door with Uplay, so if they loosen up on the DRM then the big publishers may walk. Or maybe such features would necessitate the end of the big Steam sales, which have been a huge boon for their platform.

Now that Microsoft appear to be introducing the concept of sharing digital games with friends, maybe Steam will be forced into doing it too. Or maybe the Xbox One will crash and burn and nobody will ever speak of it again.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Yeah, I suppose so. Would be cool to see them implement something though, a lending feature where your license disappears while your friend plays it or something.

 

[Avon]

if there was an option for ''i'm done with consoles and will spend the money tarting up my gaming pc" it'd get my vote

 

[Owain Taggart]

No matter what people say here or at IGN/Gamespot/the million other video gaming sites.. the XBO will most likely be a success and Sony won't dominate the market like the did during the PS1 and PS2 days. That's over once MS established itself in the market and permanently grabbed a piece of the pie.

Well, as Sony has demonstrated in the past, even the big guys fall. It happened to Sony when they had been big the previous generation, and it can happen to MS. There's no such thing in an industry as too big to fail. It all comes down to how they market them, the PR, and word of mouth. Even Nintendo got a little too confident with their Wii U after the success of the Wii. They didn't market it properly and look at what happened. The winds can change swiftly.

Sony didn't fall.. they just got a competitor with very deep pockets and the will to make it in the videogaming indústry because it is a huge business. MS too deep hits to their pockets in the first and second generation of Xbox (first was to establish itself in the market and the 360 because of the insane volume of RROD problems).

Sony also gambled and fumbled the ball a bit during the PS3 generation.. very high initial price and the uncertainty where the HD race would end up (luckily it went Blu Ray or the PS3 might have tanked hard). However Sony was protected to a degree by market recognition.. Playstation is a brand name even so far that some people who have absolutely no idea abiut videogaming refer to any console as a Playstation. This built in audience helped Sony keep up with Microsoft who admittedly rolled out some pretty good games for their Xbox franchise and quickly caught uo with Sony who had 2 generations of console experience before MS started.

Call it what you want, but we're seeing exactly the same thing happening with MS as what had happened with Sony with the PS3. Over-confidence after the success of a previously dominant console. Last time was with the battle to HD, this time it's over DRM. And currently it's not looking terribly good for MS and the XBone.

 

[ATimson]

What is Xbox One doing with DRM that Steam (the only choice for playing most major games on PC nowadays thanks to Steamworks) isn't already doing as restrictive or more so?

Steam has an offline mode, the Xbox One effectively doesn't.

It's flaky at best on Steam, but I'll grant you that that they do have one.

The Xbox One is also region-locked and apparently will not function outside of the 21 countries supported at launch.

Steam does function world-wide, but it's also region-locked. If you buy games from outside your region (say, from Russia) they'll more than happily ban your entire account.

This is particularly absurd in Europe where only 12 EU states are supported, so if I were to purchase an XBO and bring it with me to Portugal for whatever reason, the games would no longer work.

My understanding was that games you already owned would continue to work but you might not be able to add more to your account until you returned home. Regardless, that is more than a trifle ridiculous.

Either way, I would like the ability to share my Steam library somehow, so I hope Value get pressured into doing something like that.

I've been hoping they'd get around to that for the last 3-4 years. If they had, I'd probably switch back to PC for this next generation. Oh well. Maybe by the next generation in 2023 they'll add it.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'll get PS4 when it comes out, and I'll probably get a Wii U eventually when it has more games for it.

I have both PS3 and 360, but the only games I ever played on 360 are Mass Effect and Tales of Vesperia.

 

[Takeru]

I just looked at the poll results, holy crap that's looking bad for Microsoft. Sony already won the battle between those two.

Meanwhile Nintendo keeps printing money and laughs at the idiots fighting each other. Sure the Wii U isn't a big success right now but Nintendo never makes a loss and they had slow starts before, they're fine.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yep, and I'm willing to bet that MS marketing division is starting to see these same exact numbers happening at the macro scale, across the internet and through various, more official, polling sources. Even if they do decide to change the way all these things work (used games, cameras and microphones always on, 24-hour login), nobody's going to trust their word that any of it's true. For them to even have thought that any of it was a good idea has more than likely shattered consumer confidence beyond repair, at least for this generation.

 

[TheGodBen]

My understanding was that games you already owned would continue to work but you might not be able to add more to your account until you returned home. Regardless, that is more than a trifle ridiculous.

As with much of the messaging for the Xbox One, there's been conflicting information. Some are saying that all you'll need is an internet connection, others are saying that you'll need to be in one of the 21 supported countries to access Xbox Live for account verification. The former makes much more sense, but MS haven't been a paragon of sensibility of late.

There's also the suggestion that there'll be region blocking even between supported countries in the EU, with MS support staff revealing that the UK is considered a separate region from mainland Europe. What that means for Ireland, I don't know. We're usually lumped in with the UK for geographic and cultural reasons, but maybe the UK is separate because of their currency? Either way, if that story is true we'll either be unable to import working discs from mainland Europe or from the UK, and while I don't know enough to say whether or not that's legal, it certainly is against the spirit of the single European market.

Meanwhile Nintendo keeps printing money and laughs at the idiots fighting each other. Sure the Wii U isn't a big success right now but Nintendo never makes a loss and they had slow starts before, they're fine.

Nintendo have actually been reporting losses for the last two years, so they're not looking too healthy right now. They'll live, most likely, but they're certainly not rolling in money like they were back during the days of the Wii hype.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

My understanding was that games you already owned would continue to work but you might not be able to add more to your account until you returned home. Regardless, that is more than a trifle ridiculous.

As with much of the messaging for the Xbox One, there's been conflicting information. Some are saying that all you'll need is an internet connection, others are saying that you'll need to be in one of the 21 supported countries to access Xbox Live for account verification. The former makes much more sense, but MS haven't been a paragon of sensibility of late.

There's also the suggestion that there'll be region blocking even between supported countries in the EU, with MS support staff revealing that the UK is considered a separate region from mainland Europe. What that means for Ireland, I don't know. We're usually lumped in with the UK for geographic and cultural reasons, but maybe the UK is separate because of their currency? Either way, if that story is true we'll either be unable to import working discs from mainland Europe or from the UK, and while I don't know enough to say whether or not that's legal, it certainly is against the spirit of the single European market.

Meanwhile Nintendo keeps printing money and laughs at the idiots fighting each other. Sure the Wii U isn't a big success right now but Nintendo never makes a loss and they had slow starts before, they're fine.

Nintendo have actually been reporting losses for the last two years, so they're not looking too healthy right now. They'll live, most likely, but they're certainly not rolling in money like they were back during the days of the Wii hype.

The last report I saw said Nintendo could lose the same amount they have for the past 2 years for the next 40 years before their cash reserves were used up.

 

[Takeru]

Either way, if that story is true we'll either be unable to import working discs from mainland Europe or from the UK, and while I don't know enough to say whether or not that's legal, it certainly is against the spirit of the single European market.

Like you said, the EU has a single market, citizens of the european union have the right to buy their stuff from every country they like, Microsoft stepping in and seperating the union into regions has to be illegal.

And I had no idea Nintendo was actually losing money, they sell everything at a profit, did they spend that much for R&D?

 

[nureintier]

I've stayed with Playstation since the first system, I doubt that will change in the near future. I might not buy it right when it comes out, I'll probably wait and see what games will be available for it. But I still think that PS4 will be the next system I buy.

That, and all the crap with Xbox makes me not want one.

 

[FPAlpha]

Well, as Sony has demonstrated in the past, even the big guys fall. It happened to Sony when they had been big the previous generation, and it can happen to MS. There's no such thing in an industry as too big to fail. It all comes down to how they market them, the PR, and word of mouth. Even Nintendo got a little too confident with their Wii U after the success of the Wii. They didn't market it properly and look at what happened. The winds can change swiftly.

Sony didn't fall.. they just got a competitor with very deep pockets and the will to make it in the videogaming indústry because it is a huge business. MS too deep hits to their pockets in the first and second generation of Xbox (first was to establish itself in the market and the 360 because of the insane volume of RROD problems).

Sony also gambled and fumbled the ball a bit during the PS3 generation.. very high initial price and the uncertainty where the HD race would end up (luckily it went Blu Ray or the PS3 might have tanked hard). However Sony was protected to a degree by market recognition.. Playstation is a brand name even so far that some people who have absolutely no idea abiut videogaming refer to any console as a Playstation. This built in audience helped Sony keep up with Microsoft who admittedly rolled out some pretty good games for their Xbox franchise and quickly caught uo with Sony who had 2 generations of console experience before MS started.

Call it what you want, but we're seeing exactly the same thing happening with MS as what had happened with Sony with the PS3. Over-confidence after the success of a previously dominant console. Last time was with the battle to HD, this time it's over DRM. And currently it's not looking terribly good for MS and the XBone.

Don't disagree.. MS's hubris is showing quite well these days and their ungodly ability to alienate everybody except their hardcore fanboy group is astounding.

This is a repeat on how Sony acted during the start of the last generation when they thought they could get away with a 600$ pricetag.
It took them years to get on even grounds with MS and the same will happen with MS.

Maybe Sony did learn something from the last generation mistakes and maybe they are just paying close attention to general customer opinion and are doing exactly the opposite of MS to be hailed as the "saviours" of console gaming.. didn't expect that to be honest because companies often enough act similarly if there's a profit to be made but apparently Sony believes they'll gain more by developing their "Anti-MS" public image than following MS in their footsteps.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Sony didn't fall.. they just got a competitor with very deep pockets and the will to make it in the videogaming indústry because it is a huge business. MS too deep hits to their pockets in the first and second generation of Xbox (first was to establish itself in the market and the 360 because of the insane volume of RROD problems).

Sony also gambled and fumbled the ball a bit during the PS3 generation.. very high initial price and the uncertainty where the HD race would end up (luckily it went Blu Ray or the PS3 might have tanked hard). However Sony was protected to a degree by market recognition.. Playstation is a brand name even so far that some people who have absolutely no idea abiut videogaming refer to any console as a Playstation. This built in audience helped Sony keep up with Microsoft who admittedly rolled out some pretty good games for their Xbox franchise and quickly caught uo with Sony who had 2 generations of console experience before MS started.

Call it what you want, but we're seeing exactly the same thing happening with MS as what had happened with Sony with the PS3. Over-confidence after the success of a previously dominant console. Last time was with the battle to HD, this time it's over DRM. And currently it's not looking terribly good for MS and the XBone.

Don't disagree.. MS's hubris is showing quite well these days and their ungodly ability to alienate everybody except their hardcore fanboy group is astounding.

This is a repeat on how Sony acted during the start of the last generation when they thought they could get away with a 600$ pricetag.
It took them years to get on even grounds with MS and the same will happen with MS.

Maybe Sony did learn something from the last generation mistakes and maybe they are just paying close attention to general customer opinion and are doing exactly the opposite of MS to be hailed as the "saviours" of console gaming.. didn't expect that to be honest because companies often enough act similarly if there's a profit to be made but apparently Sony believes they'll gain more by developing their "Anti-MS" public image than following MS in their footsteps.

Exactly. I think it's quite interesting how this is progressing. You can't but help and watch as their efforts derail, as MS seems to be digging themselves deeper and deeper everytime they speak and reveal something. At times it even sounds like a parody. We're actually seeing some of the same attitudes over Windows 8 being applied to the XBone. But I think that a console is a much more personal experience with very specific sets of preferences, and I don't see how MS can afford to piss off their userbase by applying similar tactics.

Another interesting thing in all this is Sony being more friendly to indie games with MS throwing another set of hurdles to them in order to get published, ie finding a publisher when most of them are self-published.

 

[Aragorn]

I've bought every PlayStation and every Xbox since they've come out, but I don't think I'll be jumping on the Xbox One wagon, mainly because I use the Xbox 360 to play multiplayer games with friends, and if they won't be getting the One, why should I? So PS4 it is, but I don't know if I'd want to get it at launch.

 

[Rincewiend]

PS4, because i prefer the games on the Sony platform ever since i bought the 1st one many moons ago...

 

[Darth_Daver]

I'm your average microsoft fanboy, not the crazy one. I own a xbox360 (bought a new one a month ago after the old one the gf had for 5 years gave out), I never liked anything Sony, and will definitely not be switching to PS4. (Hell, I exclusively use Wp7/Wp8 phones for almost two years now)

Used games and internet doesn't really bother me, but the negative vibe and the worse price point virtually guarantees that the earliest I'll buy an Xbone is after two price drops, and the release of the first halo not coming out on x360.

Shame on you MS.

 

[PsychoPere]

That second one is already in motion - Halo #5 (seemingly untitled yet apart from "Halo") is currently slated for Xbox One-only release in 2014.

 

[Jono]

Not in a rush to retire the ol' PS3, but when that time comes I'll continue with the PS line, which I've been with since the PS1.

 

[TheGodBen]

And I had no idea Nintendo was actually losing money, they sell everything at a profit, did they spend that much for R&D?

The Wii U was actually sold at a small loss, at least that was the case at launch. Manufacturing costs may have come down enough by now that they're making a small profit on each unit, but I imagine the cost of the tablet controller is keeping the cost up even though the console itself isn't that powerful. That's why they're reluctant to do a price cut even though the system isn't selling.

As Bob said, Nintendo have a sizeable war-chest so the company isn't going to go under any time soon. The risk is that if the Wii U completely flops then Nintendo may be temped to pull a Sega and drop out of the hardware business, releasing their games on Playstation and Xbox. I don't think that's too likely, but these are strange times in the console business, and if they think they can make more money with that strategy then they may go for it.