End of Xbox?

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VideoGameCritic
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End of Xbox?

Postby VideoGameCritic » October 14th, 2017, 10:14 am

The last two games I purchased for my Xbox One have been such a hassle to play, I'm not sure I'm going to buy any more games for this console.

Killer Instinct Definitive Edition should have been a slam dunk. The game is great and it's been out for a while, so should be able to just pop in the disc and play. But no, it prompted me to "see in store". So I had to put my console online and spend the better part of an evening waiting for it to download all the various "pieces" of the game (since it was originally sold piecemeal). Then there was some other issue that prevented me from playing. I would say this "definitive edition" disc will be worthless in a few years, but it's worthless NOW!

Last night I decide to review Resident Evil Revelations 2. After the install it said I needed an update. I took me console offline and suddenly I didn't need an update - it started right up. But when I tried to control my character (Claire Redfield) the game was unplayable. The framerate was about 2 frames per second. Maybe I did need that update after all! So I put the console back online, downloaded the update, and tried again. Since I was now playing online, it prompted me for my password which I can't remember. So I took my console back offline and started it up. It played fine and it's not a bad game. But sheesh!

I've been playing consoles for a long time and I've never experienced such a user-hostile piece of hardware. I get it - most people keep their systems online 24x7, but that is not my style and not a documented requirement for the system.

I'm wondering if Xbox is still even relevant. The few people I know who own them say they never touch it anymore. Most people have a PS4 which has a better selection of games anyway.

This fall Microsoft is released two new hardware models and I'm wondering who their audience is? Personally I think this may be their last gasp in the console arena. The funny thing is, only one generation ago they were riding high with the Xbox 360. The degree of incompetence at Microsoft cannot be overstated.

Voor
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby Voor » October 14th, 2017, 11:01 am

As a retro gamer, I'm so confused by these hardware update consoles. I had my little brother explain it to me and I just couldn't understand why MS and Sony just don't wait until their next real console release to implement these features. I guess they feel like it's a race, so they put these things out. Worse yet, I'm baffled that people actually buy them.

As impressive as these machines are, I still think that playing on a couch with your buddy, and being able to start a game in 5 seconds is the most fun way to enjoy video games.

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scotland
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby scotland » October 14th, 2017, 11:14 am

monthly_sales.JPG
monthly_sales.JPG (41.03 KiB) Viewed 2630 times


This is from VGChartz site. Of course, this is worldwide sales, and we know the Xbox One has very little presence in Japan.

I don't think the Xbox brand is either going away or changing significantly. We know from their launch years ago what their vision of the future is - download only, online always, etc.

If those things are not your thing, at least our hobby is broad and deep. The Switch seems to be selling quite well in its first half a year (the holiday season will be telling), but maybe its a pointer that many consumers do want a more traditional gaming model.

DaHeckIzDat
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby DaHeckIzDat » October 14th, 2017, 11:39 am

In a way, I can respect console and game updates. If there's something wrong with a game or how the console runs, the developers can throw in a patch that fixes it, hopefully saving a good game from becoming a bad game. But they've definitely gone overboard and started relying on them way too much, to the point that they're not even finishing the games before releasing them.

In other news, the sky is wet and water is blue.

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zetax
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby zetax » October 14th, 2017, 1:57 pm

DaHeckIzDat wrote:In other news, the sky is wet and water is blue.



You may need to apply a patch to that sentence :D

DaHeckIzDat
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby DaHeckIzDat » October 14th, 2017, 2:06 pm

zetax wrote:
DaHeckIzDat wrote:In other news, the sky is wet and water is blue.



You may need to apply a patch to that sentence :D


Water the sky blue, and is and wet is.

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DrLitch
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby DrLitch » October 14th, 2017, 3:54 pm

Microsoft exclusives "mostly" end up available for the PC market as well. I had a choice: Killer Instinct on Xbox or on Steam. Chose Steam, got the full game, no gimmicks, all the DLC on sale for $30. One download, it is done. Plays well on my Laptop and has full Xbox Controller support. I do prefer console gaming over PC gaming for several reasons, but if Microsoft are going to release most their library on PC as well, I am searching for reasons that justify owning a Microsoft console in future.

Alucard1191
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby Alucard1191 » October 14th, 2017, 5:54 pm

DrLitch wrote:Microsoft exclusives "mostly" end up available for the PC market as well. I had a choice: Killer Instinct on Xbox or on Steam. Chose Steam, got the full game, no gimmicks, all the DLC on sale for $30. One download, it is done. Plays well on my Laptop and has full Xbox Controller support. I do prefer console gaming over PC gaming for several reasons, but if Microsoft are going to release most their library on PC as well, I am searching for reasons that justify owning a Microsoft console in future.



More or less this, if something behaves like a PC, which frankly a lot of the new systems do, why own the system? Spend some money on a decent PC and it plays all these games and more. My modern system experience is rather limited, (friends have a PS4, so I've played a few games on that.) so take my opinion for what it is, but I do find myself agreeing with the VGCs general opinion of having lengthy installs, patches, etc. I understand the upside, something is wrong with a game, it glitchs, runs bad, etc. But when I play a console game, the value of "insert game, press power, play." can't be understated.

I would include Bluray in with this as well. The first time I ever tried a bluray player it had an extensive loading process. Easily 5 times longer than a standard DVD player. Now I personally don't think that the quality of blurays is enough to justify that... but I digress. Why are more modern things seeming to run slower/more poorly than older stuff? Honestly, if it weren't for the poor audio, I would use my PS2 as my DvD player exclusively. It loads them faster than brand new DvD players. (Which I test in my thrift store all the time.)

Alright... rambling done. On actual topic, I don't think Microsoft is going to give up on consoles in general, they've made a lot of money with them over the years. They might just rethink something new/better for the next one. The Xbox one hasn't failed on the level of the 32X or Saturn for example. When a system of theirs flops that hard they might focus away from consoles. I don't think it will happen until then though.

/End old man rant.

djc
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby djc » October 15th, 2017, 12:37 am

I am probably one of the few people who do not yet own an XBox One (or PS4 for that matter). My XBox 360 is still supported and I can find new games (I just purchased NBA 2K18). I am not really an avid enough gamer to really go for the latest and greatest. As a collector (and I do have an extensive console collection), I eventually will get both of those systems but for now, they are not work the cost especially since the backwards compatibility is limited/non-existent.

Getting back on topic, I feel your pain. Every time I turn the thing on lately it's looking to update. Update needed for Kinect, update needed for Xbox Live, update needed for the sake of updates... I mean geez just let me play the game I want to play. It's not like these are quick updates. They can range from several minutes to more than an hour. Totally kills the 'quick fix' need to play a game sometimes.

TheBlondeGamePunk3
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Re: End of Xbox?

Postby TheBlondeGamePunk3 » October 15th, 2017, 11:52 am

TheVideoGameCritic hit the nail on the head with this one, I last played an Xbox back when they were new (the original model I should say) and I generally never did see any difference between PS2/PC/Xbox at the time but I did see that yes, The game DID play like an high end at the time PC and it did have a few stand out titles but that was then.. this is now. :idea:


I don't own an Xbox One but I have played it and see it in action at my friend Harvey's house next door, And I've seen the expressions he makes whenever things don't go right, He has only played ONE game out of all of them due to the Xbox One refusing to play any games until the "latest" update is installed and even then I can't see differences between PS4/PC/Xbox One at all.

I am not a fanboy nor do I believe consoles are superior but I CAN say that I do believe.. That Microsoft's heart isn't in it anymore and that they should just concentrate on making more Windows for PC's. 8-) 8-)


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