The King’s take on Xbox…One? And some news.

 So Microsoft held a wee little Press Conference to reveal the ‘Next Gen’ Xbox yesterday. And in my opinion it was a better console revealing than Sony’s, but still not impressive. So where should I begin…How about I show you what it looks like?

So for what the console itself looks like…It looks just fine. Seems kinda GIANT to me, especially considering the size of the Slim version of the Xbox 360, but that’s a minor thing. It is a fine size and people shouldn’t have any trouble fitting it into their media setup.  I want to talk about the specs and what not before I talk about features and what not, because quite frankly all of that becomes unclear, because a lot of important details were not mentioned or were just glossed over. 

8 Core CPU…that should be good. As far as the CPU goes there shouldn’t be any trouble.  8GB (gigabytes) Ram. Again…for a console that’s plenty. 500 GB HDD (hard drive) Now…if this is supposed to be a "Next-Gen" console…why the fuck are we not at TB (Terabyte) hard drives yet? Especially considering a supposed feature that I will talk about in a few.   Wifi…I have no doubt that will work just fine…Xbox has no problem with their Wifi situation.  HDMI In/Out…The In part is what stands out there, but considering one of the features it makes sense.  USB 3.0…Again that only makes sense by now.  Blu-Ray drive…again..duh…only makes sense by now. The new Kinect seems to be updated and of better quality, but again…the Kinect isn’t being used all that much. It’s a gimmick and usually only used for party times. Have friends over and play Kinect, but it’s rare that you on your own will boot up the Kinect. 

 

Alright so let’s look at the features and what not.  Obviously Kinect means motion controls, nothing all that spectacular. Just more of the same.  Probably the biggest thing to be noted is the tv, and multitasking bits. Apparently you can quickly navigate between a game/movie or what have you on your xbox to watching live tv…through your provider I’m sure. You can snap things to the side, so if you are watching a movie you can search the web with a little side window snapped to the edge of the screen. Voice commands are also part of it, just like they were with the first version of the Kinect. "Xbox on" "Xbox watch tv" etc etc Nothing all that spectacular. Graphics-wise…I guess it’s pretty from what they’ve shown but…it’s nothing in comparison to what quality gaming pcs are capable of and have been capable of. 

It requires an internet connection. It needs to connect to the internet at least once every day, according to current reports. Which is kind of ridiculous and seems that it is going to rely heavily on the cloud. 

Now the next part is going to piss gamers off. If I bought a game for the Xbox One and came to your house, brought the disc, and we wanted to play it..we would not be able to unless I was logged into my account. If I left the disc there, you would not be able to play it without being logged in as me. If you wanted to play it…you would have to pay full price for it. This doesn’t affect people that play on the same console from playing those games, because it will be registered to that console. It will be able to play pre-owned games, and there will be a degree of trade-ins and it supposedly will allow for trades and resale, but they haven’t given much details on how they intend to do this except for that it will probably be based on some licensing system. And all games have to be installed onto the hard drive.   Now if you don’t know why I say that this will piss gamers off…well…trading games, buying pre-owned games at a discount, trying friend’s games out, borrowing games and what not is part of the gaming community. It’s part of the experience. I mean I get that they are running a business and trying to squeeze money out of it, but this anti-gamestop thing they are doing…probably won’t make anybody happy. It’s like buying a car and not being able to let a friend borrow it or resell it. It’s dumb. You purchase the game…it becomes yours. If you want to let a friend borrow it then you should be able to. They got the money, you got the item. What you do with that item is your decision and it becomes your responsibility. 

Every game having to be installed…with only a 500 Gb HDD…that’s ridiculous especially considering that most complete games of today are 10+ Gigs. Not to mention save files, accounts, etc etc. 

Skype via Kinect. 

It will NOT work without the Kinect. 

It is NOT backwards compatible…back-compat, which is completely stupid. The architecture doesn’t match up…so I get it, but at the same time….they should have made it back-compat.  Microsoft is attempting to make the ultimate media room console…but by not making it back-compat, you are just making it so there will be another box in the media room, if you want to paly your Xbox 360 games. 

Digital games bought on the Arcade will NOT transfer over, your gamerscore and gold account will, but not your digital arcade games….Like Minecraft. Which again….Is dumb. It’s a digital game…There’s no reason a so called "Next-Gen" console shouldn’t be able to handle it. 

They will still be charging for Xbox Live Gold. Makes sense, but considering that Nintendo and Sony don’t make you pay to play online…and they are forcing the need to connect to the internet…it seems like that will probably raise issues with the overall xbox consumers. 

Now to me…this is just a new version of the current Xbox….A NEXT GEN console…should do something innovative, or make a BIG step forward instead of this fluff bullshit, with a bunch of features that we didn’t need and won’t be used in excess. It should be bridging the gap from where Gaming PCs are today, and the severe lagging behind that consoles have been guilty of. There needs to be a bigger jump forward for me to feel comfortable calling it Next Gen. 

People are talking pricing it around 500 bucks…but that to me is waaaayyyy too much, for just an updated version of an Xbox. In my personal opinion…this console should probably cost about…350-400.  I know that is still a lot, but new consoles always cost a lot. It SHOULD be around 200, especially considering you can get all of those features (pretty much) but with MUCH MUCH better quality by building a powerful PC for 500 or more and with a PC you are able to do MUCH MUCH more. Chances are this is going to be overpriced…but chances are I will end up getting it..if for anything…Destiny…the one game that has got my mouth watering….literally…no joke…I FUCKING WANT IT NOW! People seem to be leaning towards Sony, but quite frankly the majority of those leaning towards Sony do not understand

what GAMING is. I know some will say…"Gaming is what you make it" and such…BUT Gaming is NOT watching a movie and hitting a button during the movie. Over-use of quick-time events..is NOT gaming. You do NOT need to make a movie slightly kinda sorta interactive to tell an amazing story in a game. There is NO  reason that you shouldn’t be able to tell an amazing story without sacrificing Gameplay. Zelda is probably the PERFECT example. Sony continues to dish out these bastard child things they call games which are actually movies that wish they were games. How long was ( I think it was) the first cutscene for Metal Gear Solid 4?  Like 15 minutes? NOOOO cutscene should be that long. There are plenty of ways to build the story without sacrificing gameplay.  

And how about this name…Xbox One….ummmm anybody that has been around gaming calls the original Xbox…which was just Xbox…the Xbox one.  They could have come up with something MUCH better. Just a dumb name IMO. The code names before the reveal were Durango, Xbox 720, and something else I can’t remember, but still a very dumb name. 

Now with Sony and Microsoft  revealing their consoles before E3 (The BIIIG gaming convention/conference) has me in a weird state. What is there to look forward to at E3? They revealed their consoles. If they want to make any kind of an impact they need REAL, SOLID, and IMPRESSIVE…details on their consoles, and better show some fucking AMAZINGLY IMPRESSIVE games. It can not be a bunch of fluffy bullshit that gamers won’t give a rats ass about. It’s E3 for fuck’s sake…it’s a convention to showcase gaming things. Impress gamers. Get us hyped for some games that look like tehy are worth playing. Nintendo will not have a big press conference at E3, they are moving towards focusing on their Nintendo Direct. The Ouya (lolol the kickstarter console which is kind of a joke) will be there….in the parking lot. Valve I don’t think is planning on being there but Valve is a tricky bunch of devs but really know what they are doing. E3 will be interesting this year…either for the good or the worse, but interesting none the less. 

Some other things they showed/revealed was a Halo live-action series directed by Steven Spielberg. 

Their main showcase was showing off CALL OF DUTY GHOSTS….Are you fucking kidding me….you choose to showoff your new console with that garbage?  The majority of the REAL gaming community agrees that COD is SHIT…It has become a stolen product that is dished out over and over again without even showing the decency to give it a new paint job..it continues to dish out literally the same thing over and over again. Over-saturating the market with garbage. It’s the SAME product that it has been for the past like…8 years. Modern Warfare 2 was the last good one. But that was also before all the legal nonsense that allows me to call it a stolen product. And the sad thing is…It wasn’t impressive. I’d believe that that game could be out right now. That doesn’t speak well for the concept of Next Gen. Oh and I found this on the interwebs….

LOLOL 

OKAY GAMING STUFF ENDS HERE

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Alright, so had a bit of a back and forth with…her. No details for you all, sorry. I want to let up on the negative things, because clearly I’ve portrayed her very negatively in my entries out of my frustration and impatience, but clearly I’ve stuck around her, so in spite of my negative portrayals on here…she really is amazing guys. My arrogant ass would not stick around if she wasn’t. Trust me, when I say…even though I rage and vent shit out on here about her…I do love her, and I do believe she is worth loving. Let’s hope for the best. 

 

NOW for the best news….There is a very good chance that there will be a new addition to my family in the next week XD.

My father has to go to NC to get a part for work, and an hour away from where he is going is a breeder…and she has 2 potential Giant Schnauzer puppies for pick up. 1 family ordered the pup, but got a divorce so chances are they won’t be getting it. The other family just hasn’t responded, so Friday will we know more details on the availability. My mother is riding down with him and they are probably going to be stopping by the breeder next week. I’m excited, but also we have to puppy proof the house…which means A LOT of it gets pinned on me. Especially the wiring and tech situations. I will let you all know more once I know more. We haven’t had a puppy in the house in like ten years. So excited XD XD

 

The screen of my phone cracked today…so that sucks. It’s not too bad. It’s still working and it’s not like bits of the screen are going to impale me as I use it..but I still have an upgrade so I will be putting up half the money for the new phone…cus you know..I hate to not contribute at the very least for something I want. I’m thinking Galaxy S3 or a Note 2. 

 

Ummm not sure what else there is to write about. I will be spending my time puppy proofing the house….OH

SOME MORE GAMING BIT…If you play on Steam and would like an invite to Steam Trading Card Beta…Let me know I have 3 left to give away…or you could just join the group Steam Trading Cards. Also…If you play TF2 I have some stuff to sell…geckingofhearts or The King | GEC is my Steam stuffs. 

 

Alright that’s all…Much love.