XBOX ONE ROUNDUP-of-the-ROUNDUPS: Everything YOU need to know Microsoft’s Xbox One: it's a console so BIG, one games website found it needed five writers to tackle it. And the reviews are big too: waffletastic screeds of such length you wonder how few folk will read ‘em through and not simply scroll to the end for the reader comments. And that's before the thing goes on sale this Friday …
..... the PS4 with the Xbox One. So far, and on satellite channels there are at least 2 per break, the only 'not in game footage' I have seen on an xbox advert is Ryse. All of the other use game footage. The only PS4 ad I have seen is pretty much an amalgamation of numerous titles in a semi live action advert which is pure CGI.
There I was expecting to be proven wrong about Xbox CGI adverts, and you show me a Rage tech demo (which like me, anyone who bought the game knows that isn't the game engine, as half the screen isn't covered in glitches, tearing and the other half missing its texture map) and a demo for Unreal Engine 4 (which while I admit was awesome, Unreal Engine 3 looked damn good when it was demonstrated too).
Your worst crime was making me think about Rage again, having played Id games since Wolfenstein 3D all those years ago I thought Doom 3 would be the game that disappointed me the most but then they released Rage, a £35 30GB download for something that wasn't even fit for beta. Shame on you sir.
TV adverts to advertise games are using 1990s CGI for its animation and at the bottom of the screen in small text, it will say "not actual gameplay footage", because it is all rendered in lightwave or maya etc
any game advert on a PS4 or xbox one, should be made using machinima, then they can have "actual gameplay footage" at the bottom
It's become a standing joke around our office that every new bit of kit seems to require a day one patch these days, but 1.3Gb? Seriously? Is it a whole new OS or something?
On my "broad"band I'd be about a day waiting for that sucker to download.
Only yesterday I was having a heated discussion with someone about the whole "fuck it, publish - we can always patch it later" mentality that's everywhere now. Drives me mad.
If you think 1.3 GB is big, then have a Wii U. Interesting Christmas I spent last year ...
Bloody DHCP wouldn't work (Error X: of course with no explanation) with WPA2 activated as my setup dictates. Had to fall back to ... no security, for it to work. Big N QA (if this thing exists) apparently assumed everyone would either use fixed IP or no security at all ...
Tons of posts on this issue, with people with no clue hilariously issuing this kind of workaround:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/19/wii-u-wont-connect-to-internet/
Then, the 5GB image took a lot of time:
http://kotaku.com/5961577/bummed+out-wii-u-owners-vent-on-twitter-during-huge-firmware-update
Then only would DHCP work with WPA2.
How the heck can you screw up a DHCP client, even in a rushed launch ???
They had to launch in time for Christmas, but testing found a whole bunch of bugs. The program manager said, "Wow! We need to stop and fix all these bugs before we launch! We'll postpone the launch for at least two or three months."
Ha! We all know what happened. The schedule slipped so far to the right that testing was abandoned, the developers knew the box still couldn't do some basic tasks correctly, and the program manager shipped it anyway.
the 300Mb PS4 patch was called Gigantic by The Register, guess they ran out of words to describe patches for the bloated OS mess than the Xbone needs...
There is also no mention of critical missing stuff, like lack of iPlayer, 4OD and other UK catchup services on the Xbox One, or that the vast majority of services and features are US-only., or nothing to like the game streaming twitch functionality of the PS4 (or the Gaikai PS3/PS2 game streaming).
Did I mention the underpowered, struggle to achieve 720p60, the external power brick, the £100 extra pricetag and the abysmal track record of Xbox reliability.
Guessing that's why pre-orders have tanked and microsoft are poking the media in a frenzy to try and stir up some interest.
...... it lets me play Forza 5 without any issues I will gladly wait for the rest. As I get accused of being an MS fanboy I used to love Gran Turismo, it was the reason I bought a PS1 and 2, but in the end the license crap at the start of the game just removed the fun aspect of the game (Games are supposed to be fun aren't they?). Tried Forza 3 and bought a 360 on the back of it. For me it has the perfect balance between arcade and sim and an awesome community.
So for some of us, there is one must have title that requires a day one purchase.
" Meh, just as long as it lets me play Forza 5 without any issues I will gladly wait for the rest."
These corporate shysters must love it that they have people like you as customers.
People who expect the products they purchase to work properly are just so irritating.
This post has been deleted by its author
no problem!
needing to download them all the damn time
problem!
pausing downloads while playing
even worse (steam I am looking at you!)
another bloody great box in the entertainment center which I really would prefer not to have anyway because it takes up so much space
bloody stupid
I wonder if I could glue it to the back of the TV or something
incompatibility with previous stuff
well not gonna buy it, at least maybe give a swapsie credit or something,
found my old master system the other day had a blast and actually felt relaxed after playing a game!
I am old.....get off my lawn!
Steam pauses the download for good reason. If you have a fast connection and a slow drive (5400rpm) it is painful. I can download at close to 8MB/s from my VM connection and that's pretty much 100% disk activity. I didn't realise how bad it would be until I tried to do, well, anything. If you have a faster drive you can force it to resume the downloads while you're playing. I always wondered why it paused downloads before I got this laptop..
Not that I imagine many / anyone will care but the laptop itself is a very good spec but has a 1TB drive which is on the budget / slow side.
"Steam pauses the download for good reason"
You can alt-tab out of a game and restart Steam downloads. I do this all the time and I have never had an issue*.
I also have Windows on a slow 5400 RPM drive.
My Internet speed does suck though which is why I need to do the alt-tab shuffle in the first place, otherwise my downloads would *never* finish due to the fact that I only boot Windows to play a game in Steam and don't have any Steam "idle time" in which it can perform the endless numbers of updates it wants to do.
* you don't want to do this while playing OMP with something like TF2 for obvious reasons.
Every parent tests out the good stuff before giving it to the kids, don't they?
I know I didn't get to open the slot car racing set I was given in the sixties - it had been set up by Santa. Similarly, the tablet the daughter got for a combined birthday/xmas present was thoroughly soak tested before the big day, just to make sure it worked properly.
1 - What time of day?
2 - How many concurrent users happen to be online in the same household at the same time?
3 - How many concurrent users connected to the local exchange at the same time?
4 - What location? (Cities tend to get higher/faster bandwidth than rural areas)
Then I re-read your post: "on tmobile 3g".
5 - Why would I connect a games console to a mobile broadband device to download a day 1 patch?
you download at 400-500 kbs most of the day on your cell phone, at 3 am, it can go upto 700 and be using the 3g 7.2 or 8 mbs connection at full in the uk
if you are over your bandwidth limit you will have 20kbs most of the evening
kbs is actual download speed that is being displayed on your download box, not the connection speed
i dont do the KBs kBs
"That's going to be a wonderful surprise for kids on Christmas day. It may be a good idea to set aside several hours to update it beforehand rather than on the day."
Yes. It's the 21st Century version of the Christmas day "What do you mean we don't have any batteries dad?" fiasco.
What struck me after reading an Xbone review straight after a PS4 review was how indistinguishable they are. The reviews could almost have just switched Xbox and PS4 and remained 90%+ accurate. In particular the PS4 was being described as a media centre, in a way that should frighten the life out of Microsoft. All without Sony pimping that aspect relentlessly.
What's missing from the Reg roundup is, as predicted the media functions aren't well supported outside the US with even iPlayer support missing at launch and relying on HDMI passthrough means around 50% of UK homes can't actually use it - too many of us have integrated DTV decoders and Xbox expects offboard boxes. Also that Kinect is seriously improved but still falls apart in typical UK living rooms.
My roundup would be: they're both the same device but you'd better be in N America if buying for the media functions, at least for the next 6months.
For people who like games that have visual artistry and brilliant gameplay mechanics.
Super Mario 3D World gets 10/10 on eurogamer
Edge Magazine also had his to say:
"This is Mario like you’ve never seen him before, and unlike so many of his next-gen rivals, he nips along at an effortless 60fps. If the true measure of new hardware’s worth is how stark the difference is between it and what came before, then this is the most next-gen game that 2013 has yet produced."
For people who like games that have visual artistry and brilliant gameplay mechanics.
...There's the indie games on the PSN store?
I was wondering when the inevitable "get a Wii U instead" comments would appear. Hey, are half the top ten sellers on that console still release titles? Yeah, thanks, but I'll go with one of the ones with games outside of Nintendo's very limited pool of here-we-go-again gaming.
ah yes the here we go again gaming doesnt exist on xbone or PS4 does it now.....Halo, Call of Duty, Gods of War not repetitive at all
At least there's a choice. Don't like those games? Go play others. On Nintendo there are very few games outside the Ninty fold that are capable of making money or worth a damn in the first place.
I'd go further. For me there's a compelling reason to just stick with the PS3 - GT6 comes out in a few weeks, and a new GT will keep me busy for a looong time. There's also plenty of play time left in GTA5 for me, add in Tearaway this Friday on the Vita, and I've got more games to play than I have time to play them.
Very content to let the early adopters beta test the new machines, and get one in a year or 18 months when there are some games that I actually want. Or not, if there aren't.
I can't think of a reason to get rid of the PS3. In fact with all the silly stuff going on in next gen land I'm hoping the PS3 comes down in price a bit more so I can get another one! Becomes a cheap family friendly BluRay / media player and gaming rig. I just don't give a shit about being an early adopter anymore because work & family life means gaming time already at a minimum.
The PS4 won't do DNLA out of the box, that's not the same as won't do it ever.
But it does illustrate the most significant difference between the consoles, the PR Microsoft and Sony wrapped around them. Sony promised a gaming device that could be a media player, Microsoft a media hub that could play games. Both ship unfinished but right now Sony delivered more of what they promoted than Microsoft have.
...and I'd choose something a lot smaller, cheaper and with lower power consumption for media duties than either of them ;)
I'm all in. If there's one thing I've learned about reviews since the advent of social networking and blogs, most authors can't resist the urge to be bias. Neutrality has seized to exist and they seek hits instead of fair product reviews.
Personally I look forward to the 22nd when I receive my XO, just as I did with Xbox and the 360. Launch titles are typically weak, but the games will improve as devs gain more exposure to the platform. I'm sure the voice controls have room to improve as well, but name one perfect voice solution that works flawlessly? They simply don't exist but they continue to improve. I have no qualms over a 1.5GB update... this means MS has continued to refine and improve the product prior to launch. If no update was available people would still complain.
Good grief, the art of astroturfing sure has taken a serious downturn these days.
"I'm all in. If there's one thing I've learned about reviews since the advent of social networking and blogs, most authors can't resist the urge to be bias" (Yes, of course, any dissent is surely reviewers being bias")
"Neutrality has seized to exist" (ceased?)
"Personally I look forward to the 22nd when I receive my XO, just as I did with Xbox and the 360" (uhoh, fanboy alert)
"Launch titles are typically weak" (Doesn't stop me from laying down top dollar to buy one at launch mind you)
"but the games will improve as devs gain more exposure to the platform" (You have to be impressed by the unbridled optimism really)
"I'm sure the voice controls have room to improve as well" (ie They are crap but I have faith)
"but name one perfect voice solution that works flawlessly" (as long as everyone else is tellling pork pies about voice capabilities then that makes it OK then)
"They simply don't exist but they continue to improve" (I haven't noticed much improvment since the '80s but I'll let that slide)
"I have no qualms over a 1.5GB update this means MS has continued to refine and improve the product prior to launch" (actually, it means they released a substandard product at launch and had to fix it afterwards)
"If no update was available people would still complain" (Yes, I always complain whenever I buy a fridge, TV, mattress or microwave oven if it doesn't immediatley begin a 1.5Gb update as soon as I unpack it)
As I said to another poster, corporate marketing people must love this new breed of easily impressed punters that they can sell substandard crap to.Not only do they lap it up, they get on the Internet and try and preach the benefits of low expectations to the unconverted masses.
And all without payment I assume, otherwise MS are not getting value for money in this particular case.
... Someone at MS got wind of Sony's new playstation development, and then they scrambled into a panicky build. It just seems hacked together, but I'm being unfair, and it may be just the vibe MS gives out through many failed decisions and designs. I just presume they've made more bad decisions, and they're yet to come!
Sorry, but it appears that my TV is a better general media player than either of these black boxes. It has iPlayer, YouTube and DLNA streaming so I would only want one for games and there's a tonne of PS3 games I haven't even tried yet, oh well.
I managed to get on one of the XB1 Tour dates, so managed to get to try, Ryse, Forza 5, KI, Fifa 14, BF4, DR3 and the Jetski game on Kinect Sports Rivals, they had Zoo Tycoon or whatever it was called but didn't fancy that and plus it was laggy as hell.
Overall Ryse was a fun game, but could get very repetitive if it's not careful, does look nice.
KI is basically your normal beat-em-up affair with lots of particle effects to show of the XB1
BF4 actually looked worse than it does running on a high end PC, which was a shame as the XB1 is meant to be similar in power to most high end pc's
DR3 - supped up DR game, more zombies, new toys, same mechanics, just looks a but nicer
Forza 5 - looks nice although there were a few iffy glitches on the shading, flipping from light to dark rather than a gradual shading. Possibly early code of the game
Fifa 14 - didn't play but watched it for a bit, basically it's FiFa
Kinect sensor- an imporvement over the original, reacts better and picks up more detail and can be used in a room a couple of feet smaller than the other one. I think they said the range was 4ft away where-as the original was 6ft.
Overall there wasn't anything there that made me want to go out and buy one now, so for the time beign I'm quite happy tobide my time and see how things pan out between the two consoles.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
