Off The Cuff
Xbox One Announcement Discussion

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Than dog shit from Shaunzy? Uh huh. The only
person whose opinion matters to you less than
mine It's good to have standards both of your
opinions matter to me just in severely lessening
degrees Welcome. Uh, this week's episode of off
the cuff. We will be talking about the Xbox one
announcement or the X bone or the XO or the zone
as some people call it as well. Um, I am your
host as always, Michael Powers. I'm joined by
Danner and Sean Z. Hello, and Joe Reed I'm back
at least I was never gone, but I'm my head is
back now You were with us in spirit Sorry, we're
all we're all back now after being gone for more
than a month Yeah, we Dan did the part of you
when you were gone. It's okay. What? There was
no show released you weren't supposed to tell
him He has the internet he can see the podcast
I don't even subscribe to the podcast so You
bastard I just put my stuff out there and let
it go Well, I don't listen to it because I have
to listen to it while I edit it and then I don't
want to listen to it again. So It's okay. I don't
listen to it mostly because of the fact that
I lived it. I Don't listen to it. I hate the
sound of my own voice. I was there I survived
an off the cuff recording. So obviously, the
Xbox One announcement was very divisive. Divisive?
Like, you either liked it or you didn't, or you
just don't care. What? Nothing, I was just gonna
say I think it was just like divisive for a lot
of people But unfortunately everything to me
that they brought up in the reveal Didn't speak
to me as a gamer or interest me in the slightest
nothing none of the stuff. They talked about
is Stuff I'm remotely interested in and on that
On that I agree with you Do Like I said, I reserve
a lot of my judgment until we get to e3 and we
actually see games in action Which is two weeks
away I'm interested that being during the school
year. What happened? I thought it was always
June. I thought it was always May Thought it
was so I don't know. Well, I don't think it's
in the next two days Anyways, yeah, everyone
goes Microsoft and Sony both go on June 10th
with Microsoft going first and then Sony coming
in afterwards, which might work out in their
favor depending on what Microsoft decides to
share about their system. And okay, that's the
first year that I think going second is going
to be a good thing for Sony. The one thing that
I'm interested is that I've been hearing that
Regarding being able to see like videos because
I know like a lot of the cut Everyone does a
live stream of their e3 conference because I
know Daner and I have watched them the last two
years together. Yeah Is this will be the first
year where the the streaming video can't show
actually show you what you're getting From yeah,
cuz it the game they The internet connections
and bandwidths can't support how high quality
it looks, right? Yeah, it's it supposedly it's
A one you have that you would need to download
a one gig file for a five minute trailer in order
to get the video the fidelity out of it. For
what the consoles are able to present you. In
actual gameplay and basically what they what
I've heard is that watch dogs looks a lot better
than you really think it does. Given I mean even
the HD trailers that are out there don't apparently
don't do that game justice. So what am I gonna
need a new cord to hook up to my gonna need a
new television? No, no, no, no, it's it's just
the it's just streaming video support The internet
it doesn't matter how good your stuff is You
can't see unless you're there. You can't see
how good the stuff looks on the system I think
Google fire can do it, but that's just No one
has that so doesn't matter Well, none of us have
that anyways, I wish we all wish That's the sound
of Mike getting a boner. Yeah Yep, I would tap
my microphone, but I think that'd be too too
gross Plus gross fully overconfident so yeah
the Xbox one announcement The only thing that
I got out of that which is probably as a gamer
is I got what the device actually looks like
So can we talk about that for a second is? Everyone
happy that they went back to the look of the
original Xbox no Just a box Is it is it bigger
than the original Xbox? I think it is looks bigger
than the original They didn't they didn't show
like size -wise, right? It looks how big it is
compared to other things. No, they didn't looks
I think it's Like, um, it looks taller than the
old Xbox's but like Width and depth, it looks
the same, but that's just from seeing it. So
who knows? And then I think the fact that they
made it like it's perfectly like they're 90.
It's all 90 degree angles and it's not curved
at all. I think that makes it look even bigger.
Well, to be honest, I think I think they did
that just for the point of making it fit in people's
like as an entertainment device. Yeah, like how
Blu Ray players and stuff aren't shaped all pretty.
They're just boxes. Here you go. Depends on which
one you buy. But no, I I agree with that and
I also heard one of the reasons they made it
look like that is so that it you don't notice
it Because they don't really want you to interface
with the box so much as they just want you to
the giant bar that has the connect on it Skynet
point one. Oh man, but the look I I like the
way that it looks but then again once I get it
if I get it it It's you know, I'm just you mean
when you get it when I get it you'll get it when
I get it the time frame Right what when I get
it. It's just gonna slide in my entertainment
center. Although I don't even know if I can put
that in my entertainment center Because the vents
on that thing Are we the whole tops event? Well
that the s is like that, too It's kind of like
a sloping thing, but I guess from the pictures
at least, it looks like 90 % of the top is vent.
Half of the top is a vent. Yeah. The entire box
is like split down the middle. Half of it is
a matte finish and the other half is a gloss
finish. But obviously the part where the CD drive
is a matte finish, I think, and then the other
part where the hardware is, is all vent. On the
top kind of like the Xbox s the 360 s is But
you want to call it the Xbox s now Does anyone
have like does anyone have any like the controller
looks almost very similar It looks like the original
Xbox controllers That used to have the slide
in Memory cards into the controller. That's what
doesn't look like an s -type. That's for sure
Don't like I just the I don't like how the guide
button is way up top though Well, I tell you
what I'm gonna not accidentally hit it all the
time. Like I do now. I don't know if I think
is that Certain games and cutscenes that won't
let you pause usually if you hit the Xbox guide
button acts as a pause Well, that's okay because
apparently with the 360 you can say or the Xbox
one every game can save anywhere quit Yeah, it
just keeps it open like a cell phone app right
boy understanding of it apparently if you are
like close it to it just creates a save right
where you are So like they don't even the game
developers don't have to incorporate like a save
file They'll just save right where you are We'll
see how that goes yeah, I kind of like save files
so I can quit and restart and go somewhere else
and I Guess I see what they're doing I think
there will be some similar Again, this is all
rumors speculation and all that stuff I think
there will be some sort of saving mechanic, but
I think you'll just have the ability to just
stop at any point So it's like there will be
no more like you know for like you know the the
ten -year -olds that'll have the system You know
when their mom calls them to do chores. It's
no more. Let me get to a save point No, it's
get up and do your fucking chores. Yep Fuck you
Microsoft Jesus all my good things gone. Yeah
I guess the The real bad thing Which has gotten
blown totally out of control because Microsoft
has not confirmed anything one way or the other
is the whole Use game and the always online internet
connection stuff I Know you guys have some opinions
on that stuff Think you have opinions on that
stuff too, but you haven't realized how it actually
can affect you like we can't let each other borrow
games Yeah, we can I mean all's you have to do.
It's kind of like how we share stuff on the ps3
right now It's is line into yeah as long as you
have my login Hold up everyone's talking over
everybody Dan or Joe because Sean that's how
we're American. That's how we talk Fuckin New
Yorkers, um blow me Like a typical New Yorker
So basically what we I would do Joe is I would
go over to your place I would put my gamer tag
on yours and Then if you borrowed any of my games
you would have access to those So that is essentially
how it works But the thing is is that you can
do the same thing now like I was talking to Mike
earlier about this like I have Infamous. Yeah
infamous. All right on 360 and I have a friend
I love playing fighting games when I'm sitting
next to the person you mean injustice. That's
not sorry Sorry No, and yeah injustice my bad,
so I'd go over to their house to play And so
I wanted to use I had the season pass downloaded
on my Xbox. So I wanted to use that to get some
of the new kid. I have two new characters out.
So I downloaded my gamertag onto their Xbox.
Was able to download all of those characters
for free. But as soon as I came back to my Xbox,
I had to reacquire my gamertag onto my home,
my own Xbox, and they couldn't use. My gamer
tag unless they did on there, so it would only
let it be on one system Whatever was the most
recent one could work I and and like we said
earlier when we were talking about this I think
that the way live is going to work on the Xbox
one where everything's in the cloud I Think that
I think the the transferring and sinking of stuff
is going to be different I hope so I hope so
too so but again that doesn't I mean I've only
let Dan or borrow like I don't know, a handful
of games. So it's not unless I move out there,
I don't really see that becoming an issue for
me. I understand how people are irritated about
that. But again, all this stuff is there's there
isn't anything one way or the other about how
any of this stuff works now, because apparently,
you know, three months ago that the whole Internet
check in thing was like every three minutes.
Not every 24 hours. It was every three minutes.
It wanted to phone home to get updated information
So apparently that is all flexible, but yeah
the I think in the issue with it I think with
that Microsoft is handling very very badly is
they've kind of accidentally created this giant
mess of News and things that are terrifying the
gamers and all it would take is for Microsoft
to come out and say look None of this is right.
Don't worry about it. But they're not. They keep
coming out with, well, no, it'll actually do
this. And then people get scared. No, no, no,
it'll actually do this. And then people get it.
They are not fixing the misinformation, which
leads me to believe that a great a large amount
of it is true. And I agree with you there. But
at the same time, I mean, it's weird to see.
It's weird kind of to me that Sony handled this
better than they did. because when Sony did their
announcement and they were asked about the used
game thing they already had their answer like
in the can they had their answer ready and everybody
had the same answer like anyone that the press
talked to they all had the same answer which
was yes it'll play used games we have we'll have
more information for you later and that was it
nobody like you know broke the line and shared
a little more here or there whereas you're like
you said Joe at the Xbox event you know they
had Phil Harrison out there Saying one thing
they had their twitter account saying something
completely different and then they had your nelson
saying something completely different Yeah, it's
kind of it's it's like you you guys should have
had this And you saw how it went you guys should
have had a powwow before yeah, you know, and
i'm still I don't you know, I PlayStation has
said yep. We'll play used games, but that can
mean a lot of things and I don't understand how
it's the publishers that are gonna Say we don't
want our used games played. It's not I don't
think it's the hardware's job to do that And
here's Microsoft being the champion of the hardware
saying we're going to not let it do this. Not
exactly saying that, but we're going to have
controls over this. And Sony hasn't said anything.
I am almost afraid at E3 we're going to hear
what Sony is doing and that it's going to be
kind of similar to what Xbox is doing because
the publishers want it that way. I have a feeling
a lot of the PS4 and Xbox One stuff are going
to be almost exactly the same. The one thing
I've heard is that... They both have systems
in place for the developer to have always online
DRM from a publisher standpoint. Sony and Microsoft
won't make it a mandate kind of thing. But that's
like here's here's how you do it here. It is
it's like it's in the it's no crazy tools It's
like in the dev kit tools for the the Xbox one
and the PlayStation 4 It's like if you enable
this then your thing has to phone home every
so you know every so often or it won't play So
it's kind of like EA could could make every single
one of their games always online And then you
know what you do you don't buy an EA game exactly
and I hope that Microsoft needs to say that without
dropping EA's name, but I Don't know I think
that would fix the problem that fixed the all
the panicking fans. But what's got a lot of people
in it is what kind of adds more wood to the fire
or gas to the fire, if you will, is the the fact
that EA just dropped their season passes or not
their season passes, their online pass. And a
lot of people think that's because that stuff
is going to be incorporated into the next all
both of the next gen consoles. And I think that's
what the resell use. thing is kind of in regards
to Because if all games are doing it then EA
doesn't have to do it with individual games now
I I Understand why people are mad about this
I understand what it what it means and I you
know Daner says I sound like a broken record
But it doesn't you know it doesn't affect me
because I don't play use game. I don't I don't
buy use games and It you know in the 20 years
not 20 years. Sorry the Sorry, I used 20 years
a lot yesterday when there's a tornado warning
In you know, the last 10 years being a broadband
subscriber. I've never lost my my internet connection
ever So it doesn't and at least in my area you
in my area I'm not really worried about having
to phone home every 24 hours, especially since
I'm probably I I don't think among the four of
us I don't think I'm in Minority, I don't really
sign on to a game console and then not sign online
Well, that is only what I'm trying to avoid you
I yeah hide offline, but there's definitely times
where Internet isn't an option because of some
you know something being down or busted or whatever
and I would hate for the fact that oh I have
power I can't pull max boxo because I can't let
Microsoft check to make sure my thing is legit
Can't take my Xbox to grandma's house. I mean
yeah like that, but other people do what if I
go to a I don't think you're taking the Xbox
one anywhere Yeah, I'm pretty sure it comes with
a bolt you have to bolt it down before it goes
yeah, I mean Honestly, I might end up taking
that thing to Florida with to my to my in -laws
place if I had it which I know you won't I don't
but the You don't have to rent a separate vehicle
just to get it down there. Just for that, yeah.
There's a lot of talk on Twitter from some people
saying that they think that even though you put
the disc in and it installs it to the hard drive
automatically, which I think is great, It's great
as long as you're okay eating up all that space
on your hard drive and so using it for other
stuff Well, they also said the fact that it's
not an option Well, they said that this time
around you can actually hook up any external
hard drive to it and it'll function like it's
an internal hard drive So at least they're not
freaking time at least they're not going. Nope
It's got to be our hard drive or your it's not
working our hard drive. Oh and it It's overpriced
by a hundred and fifty dollars. Yeah, no, so
basically you could go get yourself a four terabyte
hard drive for a hundred bucks and never worry
about space again. Well, depends on the lifespan
of the Xbox One then, doesn't it? That's true.
But I... Shit. Oh, fuck. See, this is what happens
when you drink. I like that. Alcohol, my name
is Mike. I do, I'm an alcoholic. Hi, my name
is Mike and I'm an You have your name and address
in your underwear. Don't you just think yes,
maybe I don't know I Can't even remember what
I was gonna say now. Oh No, no, no. Okay. I People
have been talking about you know, you put the
disk in and you install and you never have to
put the disk in again Which is something that
I really like But there's a lot of people that
think that they should yeah that you should have
to put that if if you don't have the internet
connection that Putting the disk. Yeah putting
the disk in your system should count as your
your off check And I agree with that computer
like with computer games. Yeah in the day Well,
I think they I think most computer most CD based
games still do that like I Don't know. I've played
one. I remember when I played Starcraft If I
took it offline I had put the disk in Yeah, I
you know I only have a digital copy of sim city
So I don't know you know, but I know Ali can't
play sims without having the disk in her drive
Because it just does a check, but I do like that
it will uh That's got to save the hardware some
wear and tear Not having to have a disk in there.
Well the other reason suppose. I happen to spin
up every time like supposedly now blu -ray is
the bottleneck To the hardware whereas like on
the ps3 was kind of like a one -to -one kind
of thing and now the hardware is faster than
the the drive can actually then the then the
CD the DVD can oh my god It's faster than the
blu -ray can read it. Oh, it's good. So that's
why that's one of the reasons why they have it
installed But the nice thing is unlike the 360
you can play it while it's installing So yeah
Now The reason I'm at the event, it was a whole
lot of TV talk, whole lot of live TV and controlling
your cable box. That had a remarkable lot of
non -gaming stuff for what was, you know, a gaming
console. But now they're trying to turn it into
an entertainment console. To me it almost sounded
like, but we won't know until E3, it almost to
me sounded like they wanted to get all that stuff
out of the way. now and then hopefully when E3
comes around they're going to focus on the stuff
that we want to see. I've actually heard that
that came I've actually seen that sentiment from
somebody from I think Major Nelson said that
on his Twitter feed he said that if we if we
did if we pulled this at E3 you'd be even more
pissed. Which is as soon as that came out everyone
kind of a lot of people on Twitter kind of like.
Flipped back and was kind of like they took a
step back. We're like, okay wait, maybe this
wasn't for us This was for like the mainstream
like they said it was for the media. I mean right
and I and it's in it obviously the Xbox is no
longer a Only gaming console. Yeah, but it hasn't
been for a while It's just it the the 360 slowly
assimilated into what it is It didn't come out
the gate as what it is. So it's kind of like
a it was a slow transition from a from a gaming
machine to You know everything machine. Yes And
now the now remember how it used to be to navigate
the 360 now. It's just a mess. I love the blades
I love them. I wish you could like choose You
know what? I really hate Windows 8. I do what
a piece of crap Everything should still run off
a Windows XP But it just it seems like they're
trying to turn it into a hey my Netflix slash
Skype machine can also play video games Doesn't
matter because the ps3 ps4 was still trounce
them on the Netflix playing so Look at my system
it plays football games I mean the event Love
it or hate it the event clearly was not for us,
but I started thinking about this for the dude
bros. Yes You bring up the the shareholders Joe
because Microsoft stock went down and Sony's
went up yeah After that I heard about that so
I just funny I just started thinking about everything
else like if you if you you you You think about
what they're doing with the system and what the
system actually is. And both both the PS3 and
the PS4 are basically a PC and a fancy case.
They're almost in a very broad stroke. They are
almost identical, which I joke, correct me if
I'm wrong. I don't think that's ever been the
case with a console before. That one generation
has been identical to the next. Oh, no, I mean,
we're two competitors and very, very similar.
The PS4 and the Xbox One are very similar. I
want to see someone mod a PlayStation 4 to play
Xbox One games. Don't tell me it can't be done.
No, I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm saying
it's... They're the most similar they've ever
been. The only difference on paper outside of
maybe a clock speed here or there is the RAM.
That's the only difference between the two. I
had it pointed out to me by one of my computer
nerd friends that the Xbox has Really really
cheap RAM in it. Did you see my face? Yeah, our
RAM. I don't remember. Did you see my Facebook
post to you? I might have I I saw that conversation
and then I couldn't comment directly to it. So
I just posted on your wall Okay, the the RAM
in the in the in the 360 is generic computer
RAM system RAM for a computer. Just off the shelf
kind of stuff? Yes. But there's many different
clock speeds for DDR3 RAM. But it's not as fast
as the RAM that is in the PS3. Basically, the
PS3's system RAM is graphics card quality RAM.
for the entire system where the Xbox One is using
just your generic PC RAM. However, the Xbox One
has a little bit of secret sauce in it in that
it has, I think it's either 32 or 64 megs of
something called ED RAM, which is wicked fast.
And the 360 also had that, so developers already
know how to use it properly. So it makes it easier
on them when making games, how to effectively
use it. It's basically, I've been dealing with
this technology forever. It's basically just
a really fast swap file. Like they can load stuff
into that and then that can piece it out to where
it needs to go a lot faster. But apparently the
entire pool of the PlayStation 4's RAM can do
the exact same thing as that 32 megs on the Xbox
one can do. So the Xbox one basically just has
the same functionality split between two separate
components. Yes. So again... Is that a good thing
or a bad thing? I'm not sure. I'm not a computer
guy, so I don't know. I think it's gonna come
down, just like this last generation, I think
it's gonna come down to the first party games.
That's where you're gonna see them shine. That's
where you're gonna see it. Yeah, and that's really
why I'm leaning towards the PS4, just because
I'm way more impressed with the exclusives. Well
yeah, I mean, of all the exclusives they announced
for Xbox One, most of them were... Xbox live
arcade games or whatever they're gonna call now
Well, I think that I think they're getting rid
of that arcade distinction and it's just gonna
be yeah, I think there's the games Yeah, they're
just in the price point is the only difference,
right? Yes But the I mean they're still and that's
and that's why I thought the 15 15 exclusive
games in the first year I thought was a little
Open ended and deceiving at the same time Because
they didn't specify What they were well like
they're gonna be like triple -a style titles
or they're gonna be arcade games or anything
like that How many of them are gonna be connect
titles exactly everything's gonna use the connect
no, but I mean like actual like Connectable for
whatever the hell it's oh, yeah There's only
been one. I mean, just sequels to connect games
that are out now. Michael Jackson, The Experience
2. I mean, the only thing that's really been
confirmed is the Remedy game. And Forza 5. I'm
sorry, I forgot about driving games I don't give
a crap about. Joe does. I do. Yeah, I'm sure
Joe does. That's gonna hurt, but I have Forza
4 and my Top Gear track. I can be happy with
that. The thing I'm concerned about is I pointed
it out on Facebook. They were touting Alan Wake
as a launch game for 360. And when did that come
out? Five years after the launch. I mean, it's
they can say that there's going to be 15 in the
first year. But being a person who worked at
a video game store is you guys being people that
follow games You know how lame a lot of promises
are when it comes to this And it's nothing against
them. It's just I'm okay with games getting delayed
because if a game gets delayed It typically means
they're gonna take the time to polish it and
make it better When a game gets pushed forward,
however, I get a little nervous. So, I mean,
it's... It's one of those things that, yeah,
I'm impressed with the fact that they want to
do 15 in the first year, but they didn't really
specify the parameters of what they're referring
to, and it just felt to me like they just wanted
to get that out into the ether. And I've seen
so many people... use it as reasons why they
think the Xbox One's gonna be better than the
PS4 on Twitter, but mostly because of the fact
that if anybody who follows me on Twitter is
listening to this podcast, apologize in advance,
but most of the people I follow on Twitter seem
to be porch monkeys and idiots. Oh, man, I'm
just gonna cut you from this right now. You follow
me on Twitter. Yeah. So you're a porch monkey.
Yeah, it's okay. We're bringing it back. It's
okay. We're bringing it back. We're taking it
back. It's my name I Don't condone porch monkey
to being a certain race thing I condone it to
a certain type of person But it's it's just so
I don't know like the the fact that they're hanging
on and then they're like not like today Mirzaj
2 is rumored to be an exclusive Xbox One game.
Oh shit. I hope not. That's the rumor. That's
what started today. That's what I've heard. I've
heard that too. Mirzaj is going to be Xbox exclusive.
Mike, suck it up, man. No, I. OK, the other question.
OK, I just want to say that 15 exclusive number
has nothing to do with my 60 -40 split. Nothing.
Zero. I just want to put it out there now. I'm
more concerned about, unlike you, I'm more concerned
about the games. I know you have other things
writing on it, but for me, like I said, Sony's
exclusive properties to me... Are better. Are
better. Agreed. I love Ratchet and Clank. I love
Infamous. I love Uncharted. I'm sure there's
other games that I love that are exclusives too.
I just can't really think of any of them. Well,
there's probably going to be a Sequel to The
Last of Us. Mean, yeah, obviously we haven't
played that yet, but oh but we will in two weeks.
Yes So I mean your pants boys it's It's it it's
hard for me to get excited about exclusives for
Microsoft because I don't I'm not into halo Gears
of War is insanely boring to me Forza not a series.
I care about but on the Sony side I don't care
about Gran Turismo either. Well, my other thing
is, exclusives, as far as I can recall, most
exclusives kind of went out the window with the
last generation. Unless it's published by Microsoft.
Third parties don't care about exclusives for
systems. They cared about content exclusives,
and that was about it. Yeah, right seemed like
a lot of stuff like Mass Effect making the transfer
oversuit PlayStation given PlayStation available
ability to play metal gear kind of coming to
I Swear to God if Mass Effect 4 is exclusive
to one of the systems that that's this that would
be an issue dumbest thing I'll To be honest,
I think as soon as they released the trilogy
To me that put that to rest in my head is that
that would Why would they go through and release
the trilogy for PlayStation? I just but like
I was saying is how many of these 15 how many
of the 15 exclusives are published by Microsoft
and not just like, oh, we're exclusive for a
year. It's well, I bet most of them are published
by Microsoft or are little independent people
that are just happen to only be developing for
Microsoft, maybe not even contractually. I don't
think any EA game is going to be published by
Microsoft. So I'm not really worried about Mass
Effect. I'm not worried about Mirror's Edge.
Unless Dice isn't making Mirror's Edge. But then
again, it's like, do I care if Dice isn't making
Mirror's Edge? I certainly do care if they're
not making it. I'm just really looking forward
to one of those 15 being like five or six of
them all being rare games. Like Grab by the Ghoulies
2. Or maybe we'll get Blink's Time Sweeper 3.
Or maybe we could finally get Brute Force 2,
you know, the Halo killer. What I'm thinking,
one of them, my fear is that one of them, and
I'm just pulling this out of my ass, I didn't
hear this anywhere or anything, I'm just thinking
one of them might be, and everyone's gonna roll
their eyes, but Arkham Origins. Is it exclusive?
Yeah. Well due to the fact that it already sounds
like that's completely boned I don't care right
now. I know that's what I that's why I said You
know you we can roll our eyes, and I I mean I'm
gonna play the game But I don't have any hopes
for that game whatsoever. It's just I lost all
hopes when they announced multiplayer I've lost
all hopes when it wasn't rock study anymore Well,
there was that too so Unless they do the only
thing that would make me excited about that game
as if it comes out that it's an open world 1960
style at a West Batman and Then I would be all
over it because that would be a hoot now Now
give me a mode where every time I punch a bad
guy in the face pow comes up if how now Pow smack.
Let's talk about and if there's a shark repellent
scene in it sold. Oh my god. Oh man. Okay, so
The reason I'm on the fence about the whole thing
is just because of stuff that rumors again that
I've I've been I've been hearing and whatnot
is I I've heard that the Xbox one like the Xbox
360 in the beginning, is going to force developers
to go through the DirectX API to talk to the
hardware. Which, my understanding from where
I've heard this from is that up until, I heard
this from Rebel FM, is that if Microsoft had
released a new Xbox three years ago, They would
have had backwards compatibility, because I guess
up to three years ago, the 360 operated under
the same principle, which is everything had to
go through the DirectX API to talk to the hardware.
So almost every game was being run in a virtual
environment. But in the last three years, to
push the hardware farther and farther, developers
had to drop that layer to get more out of the
system. It's like they could have put backwards
compatibility in the Xbox one, but it would have
been every game prior to like 2010 So you wouldn't
have been able to play like any of your games
and from like the last three years Now they've
apparently they've gone back to this with the
Xbox one so They have backwards compatibility
in mind going forward again And then I kind of
Strung that together with the subsidized 360
that they have right now Where you can get a
360 for 99 dollars as long as you sign up for
two years of Xbox live And that is something
I mean if I get it if I When I buy an Xbox that's
a step up. That's what I'll do because I'll be
playing on Xbox anyways, right? And it's it's
kind of like that's what that's what the cell
phone market does and the service that you're
buying is the service from your carrier and You
sign a contract for two years and you get the
phone for 200 bucks They've got that, obviously
they have the infrastructure. It's like, hey,
I will be your customer for the next two years.
Yeah. And so obviously they have the infrastructure
in place to do this. So what it may allow them
to do is, okay, so you can go and you can buy
a four or $500 Xbox One off contract. And then
you can get your $60 a year, whatever, Xbox Live,
if you want to. I mean, obviously you can find
it on sale for 30 bucks, but that's not the point
here. Or you can buy the same model for $200,
sign a two -year contract, and you pay like $10,
$15 a month for Xbox Live, which is a service
you're probably going to want anyways for the
system. And you get the device for $200. Now,
both Sony and Microsoft in the last generation
released updated hardware almost every two to
three years. They didn't release new hardware,
they released redesigns. But what the going through
the DirectX API would allow them to do is What
you know Apple does with iOS it's you can release
you can really release a redesign with new hardware
inside of it every two years For 200 bucks to
people that want to sign up for it again, and
they'll be able to play all Xbox one games Plus
there'll be new hardware in there that developers
will be able to take advantage of And use going
forward Then that is a huge step. I understand
that's a huge rumor but it's it's apparently
the Xbox one is like that they're like they're
developing it as their answer to the living room
like this is it and with the way that the the
cell phone market and the in the in the mobile
market is kind of like hardware wise people have
gotten used to you know upgrading their hardware
every two years and stuff like still working
it's kind of like it's we're to that point now
and they have like i said they have the infrastructure
in place to offer a subsidized box they'll have
the the the service there that people will want
to pay for because i still i like xbox live i
mean playstation plus has you know the added
the added benefit of giving you free games but
you know what the first year of playstation plus
on the playstation 4 Sony gives away a free game.
I will be surprised considering there is no backwards
compatibility There is no incentive for them
to offer you a free game because you'll have
to buy one I And and coming coming back to that
I feel like of the two I feel like one of them
is more proven or capable to deliver out of the
box what they're selling me at their press conferences
and That is the that is Microsoft I As far as
I can tell Microsoft Microsoft really hasn't
failed to deliver on what they've said Sony system
hmm nothing What I said just on working systems
Okay, but we've been over this before on the
podcast apparently the three the ps3 had just
as many failures too So I didn't experience those
ones firsthand though. So neither did I But every
time we've talked about we've brought up the
the flip side, which is apparently the ps3 had
the same issues I just And Sony Always in in
in everything that they've done and maybe outside
of the Vita from what I can tell is they've always
over promised and then under delivered and the
line that Microsoft came out and said no backwards
compatibility That is way better than Sony coming
out and going We're working on back. We'll see
yeah, we're working on maybe we can get there
because then they'll just go Yeah, you already
bought the system Clearly, you don't really care
if we put backwards compatibility in it anyway,
so no backwards compatibility for you Yeah, they
got bit with that on the ps3 I think a lot of
people bought that to be a blu -ray player and
then just bought a bunch of ps2 games out of
the 1499 dollar bin at GameStop but it's just
kind of like I but they said they're working
on one so that's like that's a promise that I'm
expecting them to deliver on and It doesn't bother
me if they don't deliver on that because I have
my old system and I'll keep mine too But it's
one of those things like they shouldn't have
said it because it's it's one of those things
that people are banking on it Like when people
are comparing these two things together. It's
like well Sony's the PlayStation 4 is gonna have
backwards compatibility Is it not is it it also
might have it also to my shit gold nuggets from
what I hear I mean like I'm in the same boat
as Danner. I infamous uncharted Heavyweights
as far as I'm concerned. There's the 360 if the
360 the Xbox one they can't Match that and the
titles that I can think of are that I want to
play We've had this discussion before is that
I've slowly started realize they're all a multi
-platform So there really is no reason for me
to play it on the 360. I I'm hoping that Sony
can get their act together on party chat they
have on the hitting they have on the Vita Danner
and I know that yeah Well, I can't imagine them
Making it that much more different from the Vita
for the ps4 then I mean I think they probably
have learned that I hope I'm Just but at the
end of the day. Yeah, I'm 60 % PlayStation 4
40 % Xbox e3 will probably swing something somewhere
one way or the other And. I at right now I'm
kind of in that spot where it's like I'm going
to say about $400 that way I'm in spitting distance
of whatever the boxes cost. And I'll wait and
see which one is I think more right for me. At
that time and then I'll go and grab that one.
I do think that both of them are going to end
up being like the Wii U where you're going to
be able to walk into a store and find one. Yeah.
Well, yeah the you said it a couple of seconds
ago $400 is going to keep me from buying this
thing for a very long time and if Sony pulls
the same thing that they did where they came
up with a new version of the hardware at the
original price tag and So like the price never
really drops. They just keep at making a bigger
hard drive and selling it at $3 .99 Yeah, I'm
never gonna get one of those because I will never
be able to afford it I mean, I will not buy one
of these pieces of hardware until it's $2 .99
for the good version. And even then, there better
be some good games on there, because right now,
there is nothing that I'm really looking forward
to on the horizon yet. I will probably pick up
one of the systems the day I fall out for it.
It's going to be one of them is going to be opening
window. One of them is going to be down the road.
Well, it's whatever fallout 4 comes out. That
is my window that is I will not be what's ever
closest to that Yeah, so I'm wondering if all
four isn't gonna be an exclusive don't don't
swear No swears. It's terrible. Don't say that
So what do you guys obviously I threw out a big
hypothetical? speculation rumor stuff, but Does
a subsidized box interest you guys at all I?
Don't like I said if if I'm when I buy an Xbox
it'll probably be with a certain way if you know
if there's a subsidized box with the service
thing Because I would buy Xbox live anyways I
Would rather I can't spend $400 at one time.
Well. Yeah, but would you spend two? And then
spend to if you have my life if you had to make
payments for the next couple years Just like
I can probably do that again if there's a game
that I want Yeah, um because He's just quiet
on the whole subject I want to see if he had
an opinion I It depends I mean it depends on
It depends on what I say. I mean it really depends
on what I see from the games ultimately it the
subsidized boxing I would totally be down for
it, but it has to be Like Joe said the games
have to be there. Yeah, I think we're all in
agreement on the games. I think I'm just yeah
personally I'm just taking a broader picture
of the So far seems the games that I'm most excited
for personally Our multi -platform so that's
not the huge it like watch dogs. I want on a
play I want to play best. I want to play games.
I can get anyone destiny or Watch dogs watch
dogs. I don't play both of those, but I don't
want to play both of ours to play them I yeah,
anyone that interested in watch dogs should probably
check out person of interest the TV show Yeah,
that's what I've heard But what it's basically
gonna come down to when it comes down to if I
have you know PS4 in this hand and Xbox in this
hand. Sure, the exclusives are going to matter,
but it's definitely going to be it's like what
what my friends are playing because I might if
you all get PlayStation 4s, I get Xbox. Great.
I have and whatever the Xbox live, but I don't
get to play the games I want to play with the
people I'm playing with. Yeah. So it's it's that
stuff, especially when one of the major games
I want to play is a cooperative multiplayer game.
Right. And I think generally with all of the
cross -platform games and the exclusives that
I don't care about on either system, the first
-party titles, that we're all going to end up
kind of needing the same system. I mean, I think
we're going to go together with that since none
of us... I mean, you guys care about first -party
PS3 stuff, but I think that's where we're all
going to end up one way or another is on PS4.
Keep getting sucked into you know, I every time
I talk about The you know going PlayStation 4
only with my wife or with you Sean's he always
comes down to the controller and Yeah, I that's
I like the 360 I like the 360 controller and
that's like also one of the reasons why it's
it's I mean I have no issues with the PlayStation
controller because I've been you know Using one
for I don't know what almost 20 years now almost
16 But I I Don't know there's there's there but
again the PlayStation 4 has slight redesigns
on its controller It actually looks like it's
got a little more meat to us, but the stick placements.
It's yeah, that's huge I've never I've played
first person shooters on PlayStation 3 I'm I
mean, I'm sure a good portion of it has to do
with just practice with it, but I don't think
I will ever be able to outgun myself without
the staggered joystick. I don't know what it
is about that. Whoever came up with it, there's
something to it. I wonder if it's the stick layout
or just how the sticks feel fundamentally different.
There's a different tension to both systems.
So I'm wondering definitely plus I mean they
think that that's one of the things they changed
is the The fidelity of the of the sticks on the
PlayStation 4 so yeah I can't remember was the
was the tops of the Sticks for they concave or
convex. I can't they're concave now They weren't
before right on the PlayStation 4 they're concave
now. Yeah, but they're convex on the yes places,
right? Yes, which I was That was stupid. I've
slipped off those damn sticks to me. Maybe you
should stop sweating while playing video games.
Dude, it's so intense. There's no such thing
as too much jurgens. So I just use the bottle.
Get that image out your head ever, I dare you.
No, so. We all just came back to the whole thing
of it being you know the games and we're not
gonna know that until June 10th Yeah, but like
I said, it's it's gonna matter. It's gonna matter
more What I think I I have a feeling before both
things gonna come down. There's gonna be one
where it's like, okay guys What are we getting?
I think destiny is that game but it's for me
destiny is that game? Between the system systems.
Okay guys, are we going Xbox or are we going?
Or fucking x -bone. That's so stupid. I hate
that name too. I hate x -bone. It sounds like
a horrible cyber porn star. I like I like XO
I Yeah, XO hugs and kisses So Well, oh honey,
I want to come and play hugs and kisses system
Does anyone the way to do it does anyone have
any rumors of speculation they want to throw
on in the end that we didn't cover speculating
about the xbox connect listening and watching
all the time even when it's off it's um creepy
it's listening when it's off it's not on it's
not watching it's listening it's it goes in a
low power mode it's trying to detect you try
because you can turn it on with your voice now
right that's the whole deal yeah i somebody dug
up a patent though a couple of years ago that
has the camera being active to to tell when you're
in the room and when you skip commercials and
things so that they can track and reward you
for watching ads. Well, here's the OK. Here's
here's something interesting. So the connect
has to be plugged in at all times for the system
to work. Right. But there are privacy settings
so you can turn the connect off off. It just
physically still has to be plugged in. Yeah.
Well, that makes no sense to me. I I don't get
it. They want I'm using some fail safe words
literally there has to be a plug -in hey listen
if it works has to be It's a stardust guy in
that yeah, if it works you know that it does.
I'm telling you If it works the way that it does
in their demo which it won't then awesome because
my my connect does not work for shit I Can't
make I say Xbox play Netflix or Xbox Netflix,
and it goes to Bing and says did you mean this?
Did you mean frosted? What do you like? What
do you mean? Did I mean this? No Chandler being
no I did not mean this so I I Don't know how
concerned I am about you know it just being on
because the flip side of that is Most of us have
a cell phone in our pocket that has a camera
two cameras and two microphones in it that can
be turned on at will I mean remotely. Yeah, it's
kind of like, well, OK, if you're going to be
paranoid about something that's sitting in your
family room, then but you're not paranoid about
the thing that's sitting in your pocket with
you all the time. Then because it's in my pocket,
it's not looking at, but it can listen to you.
Your mom can listen to me. She certainly can,
but. Vividly the one thing that I'm kind of freaked
out about about the connect is there was another?
Patent that was dug up that Microsoft has that
it can you know it can see how many people you
have in the room Yeah, I know where you're going
and if there's more than 15 people it can charge
you more for watching a movie Because you because
you're over the what is that with the license
the light? They are the license for watching
a movie in your home It becomes a public it becomes
a public showing if there's more than 15 people
Yeah, and if you talk about a football game without
the let the pervert and consent from the NFL
Association Yeah, can you imagine At that point
I'll be I'll be draping something over top of
my neck. Can you imagine them behind my TV? Can
you imagine the mess of trying to what having
a Super Bowl party and having everyone in there
watching it and also you get a bill from the
NFL You owe us $1400 because you had 16 people
at your house But um I did like the one thing
they were saying about the connect is that um
The way the controller works is you know how
now it's the radial It's like quadrant one quadrant
two quadrant three quadrant four to tell you
which player the controller is yeah That's not
that's not the case anymore. How does that is
it recognized? the way the way I've heard it,
you know speculation aside and everything is
Say I set up the connect It recognizes me as
main person. Yes, I pick up a controller when
the Xbox it sees me holding a controller in the
Xbox is mine That's controller one because it's
mine But how does it determine who two three
and four is? The lesser the people you like Yeah
Joe comes over is just his controller shuts off
in the middle of like One other neck the connect
knows no matter who picks up the fourth the the
pink controller. They're the bitch controller
so they I'm assuming it literally does that like
like sage, you know Mike comes in the room Turns
on the controller. It's like oh, it's Mike's
thing So he's player one art comes in and it's
like this is like do you want art to be there?
Do you want him to be? number two Oh, you know
what else is awesome? Being able to walk into
someone's house and just say Xbox off while they're
in the middle of a game. I've heard I can't turn
it off with the voice commands. Well, you can
power it down. Yep. You can send it with like
a standby mode. It doesn't lose any progress,
but it's kind of like walking by on someone's
cell phone or on their on their eye, you know,
on their iPhone and hitting that top button and
locking the screen like you. God damn. Nothing's
gonna be better than when you get an argument
with your wife, and then she just goes Xbox off
And then you just yell wife out Xbox you're drunk
go home No and and you know that the the ps4
is supposed to come with a camera too they they've
detailed very little about their their camera
and how it's gonna be integrated and all that
stuff and obviously everyone wants the wants
Sony to come out and be the champion and do everything
that Microsoft isn't doing and At the end of
the day They did it was failing they did it I
just I hope I don't know I Just I just want to
enjoy gaming Yes, and as long as the whole uh
the heartbeat thing about the connect kind of
creeped me out Oh, yeah, it can it it basically
has the fidelity of one of those the security
checkpoints at an airport now It can sense your
heartbeat. Oh No, master's dying. I'm gonna call
9 -1 -1 Listen fatty you need to take a break
you're getting too hyped up on call of duty Instant
pause is your game Sean, I think you should lay
off of the Cheetos. You're not looking so good.
I think you should mind your goddamn business,
Xbox. But I'm concerned for you. Did you hear
that Germany and Australia are up in arms about
that camera and microphone always being on? Like,
their privacy laws don't allow that sort of thing?
What? Isn't Australia up in arms about something?
For a band of thieves and criminals, they're
very particular. Here this is this is a funny
thing up world there was a there's a rumor that
the the the Xbox one is supposed to Be able to
have conversations with you kind of like Jarvis's
and Iron Man And this is a tweet that I write
about it That's all my girlfriend needs is me
actually talking to my Xbox and talking back
I don't know if you guys can see the the text
we're involved we have a relationship, but now
I No, it'll be interesting to see what happens
on June 10th, and I don't know I Don't know should
we try and record a show that night It's a Monday
night it's a Monday night I'm down for it so
we'll see because then we wouldn't have to do
one on Wednesday Alright, well We covered a lot
of crap and it was all a whole hodgepodge of
stuff It's how we do it it's how we roll here
on off the cuff. Yeah, you're lucky. You're lucky.
We even talked about games I Thought I thought
for a second. We should probably talk about Star
Trek into darkness Well Iron Man 3 seen that
Yep anyways I've been your host Michael powers.
You can find me on Twitter Xbox live and the
PlayStation Network with the handle booth ninja
81 Danner You can find me on Twitter at our Danner
or on Xbox live it. Well, you really can't find
me in Xbox live You can find me on PSN at x51
the machine man Shonzi I've been Shonzi Brown.
You can find me on Xbox at weapon 87 caps You
stole my line because I have been Joe Reed and
you can actually find me on Facebook at your
always Joe I'm always read And you're always
Sean But you can find me at the garage sale Facebook
page go head over there We're up the 12 vendors,
which is twice the size of last year. I'm gonna
have to get chalk in the parking lot Swear to
God I want to go to one of these it's getting
out of hand man. It's it's really good. Oh my
god Convention Center I know this is yeah, I
don't want to hit any bigger and not until I
measure the parking lot All right, so we will
have another episode for you next week I don't
have a suitable tag Danner. Do you want to sign
us off? You usually seem to have something pretty
witty Perfect.
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