Xbox One specs out today 5/21

faethor

faethor

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Having both PS3 and Xbox 360 it's time for these consoles to be updated. Our home probably uses the 360 nearly 90% of the time and the PS3 bout 10% of the time. Even though Xbox Live costs a bit we find it's value compared to the PS3 Network a better option for our home. Definitely I'm looking forward to see what Microsoft has to offer. And, of course, pricing between the two consoles will always be a factor. I'm expecting we'll not have both consoles this generation, but we'll see.
 
Here's a reminder of the PS4 Specs
ps4-specs.jpg


There is definitely room for improvement there. 802.11 AC (2012) vs N (2004) or Bluetooth 4 (2010) vs 2.1 (2007) are a couple of easy examples.
 
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/xbox-one/

Many rumors look spot on - A custom 8 core "Jaguar" x86-64 core. 8GB GDDR3 memory. 500GB harddrive, Blu-Ray player. HDMI Input and an IR Jack to control other devices. (Goaling for your cable box.) They didn't reveal speeds. Likely the PS4 is more powerful.

New items - triple 802.11n antennas. 1080p Kinect 2GB/sec data rate, shipped with each system. Lots more Kinect functionality for voice and motion. Including an interesting heartbeat detection to help monitor work outs. (That's kinda creepy if it can actually measure your heartbeat.) New controller looks nice. No touch screen, but you'd interact with Kinect in the same sort of way. 8x graphic performance of the Xbox 360. 4K TV ready. 5 Billion transistors vs the 500M in the 360. On a single 40nm die vs the 2 90nms in the 360.

Unlike Sony Microsoft showed off the Xbox One itself. It reminds me of a square early 80s VCR. Not very stylish compared to the Xbox Slim or the PS3, IMO.

Games - Call of Duty Ghosts presentation made it seem fairly epic. 15 new exclusive titles with 8 of them new franchises in the new year. 2013 Xbox Live 'cloud' is based on 15K servers. Xbox One Live will use 300K servers. Also, it seems Microsoft locked up EA to be a primary partner. At this time no backwards compatibility with either consoles. While Sony is doing a handwavy we'll use the 'Cloud for this', Microsoft looks to be saying no.

Microsoft focused more on overall Entertainment. Which makes sense over 1/2 of the Xboxes out there are primarily for non-gaming use. I'd pick the Xbox over the $100 TV boxes like AppleTV, WD etc. New Xbox exclusive TV shows coming. Including Halo TV by Stephen Spielberg. And of course phones, tablet interactivity to be greatly improved.

Each system looks compelling. Nintendo - yeah I think 2013 Christmas will be a difficult sell if either Sony and/or Microsoft price these within $100 of the WiiU.
 
Cost cutting consoles? A sign of the times? Or did they just learn their mistakes from the prior consoles?

802.11n is probably just fine for streaming HD content. What do you need BT4.0 for? HDMI input and IR jack kinda reminds me of the original specs for the PS3 that were axed, however, all that stuff is lots cheaper now. HDMI's CEC protocol is most certainly more important these days, and surprisingly a digital standard that's actually an industry standard and unlikely to be replaced any time soon. :eek:

Overall it seems to me that both consoles will be equally capable, it'll just be a matter of what flavor people prefer. Not sure I'll buy into either console right now, and if I do, it probably won't be for a while. Still kinda hoping for an OUYA console, but the fact is that at this stage in my life gaming has taken a back seat.
 
@Glaucus,
Sony users Blutooth for interconnected items. 4.0 provides 26Mbps vs the 2.x 3Mbps. If you wanted to video stream from your console to a device it may be useful. I don't see the Xbox One using BT in any way. For controllers they use directional WiFi with a 260Mbps theoretical throughput. For the small sizes of button presses will there be any real difference?

And I agree I think the consoles are closer in capabilities than the PS3 and 360 were, and they were for 98% of the games out there equally comparable. I'm sure both companies will have more games to announce and display at E3. These early announcements gets this out of the way. Though notably they've switched from nearly 2 years from announcement to release to announcing and releasing in the same year, or in Microsoft's case less than 6 months. E3 will help decide which direction we'd like to go.

That being said neither one has backwards compatibility baked in. I already have a multiple consoles on my system, I really don't want 2 more. It just may be I wait this generation until a truly compelling game comes out. Neither 360 nor PS3 are going away anytime soon. So it might not be until summer or Christmas of 2014 when we decide.

If one is a big NFL fan I think the Xbox One is a clear choice at this moment.

NOTE: It is crazy that the Xbox One is running 3 OSes to make things happen. Talk about 'multitasking' on steroids. Not too much different than the VMware and HyperV servers I have running here at work. It's clear my 'kids' gaming machine is cut from a different cloth then the Sears Pong of my youth.
 
U.K. tech retailer Zavvi indicated the XboxOne will be 399 pounds. Another retailer leaked a 399 pound price for the PS3. If these leaks are true that'll make the choice harder, and some strong competition against Nintendo.

I'd like to note if you converted this to US $ it's $610. However, when it comes to last gen (PS3/360) both Sony and Microsoft were known to have region pricing that is not always congruent with currency conversion values. PS3, for example, had a higher price in Europe at launch than in the USA, and slightly less features.
 
Against my better judgement and somewhat to my surprise, I found myself vaguely lusting after this thing and I say that as someone who last bought a console when the N64 came out. (Still have it too.)
 
This Slate writer poo-poos all over the next gen consoles. And I have to agree with him.

The Real Reason Gamers Should Rage About the New Xbox

I've somehow come into the possession of a couple of laptops that have some technical flaws such a broken screen. However, aside from that they seem to work just fine. My current plan is to make one of them a modern media center and hook it up to my big screen. A wireless keyboard and mouse is all it needs and I'm sure it'll serve me well for most things except perhaps hard core gaming. I've actually done that with my tablet (mostly just to watch cinavia encoded videos that my ps3 won't play), but the tablet is more useful in my hands then tucked under the TV.
 
@Glaucus,

I'd agree the analysis. The XboxOne seems like the closed Jobsian vision. Sony's - be the Facebook/You Tube of games isn't something I care about. And neither has a compelling backwards compatibility story. I'll probably skip launch and see what happens in the market. Perhaps E3 will have some exciting games.

Windows 7 w/ Media Center works fairly well. But, I've been digging on XBMC lately. As for a wireless keyboard we just got a Logitech K400 and I'd say you should at least try it. Note: we use it on the Windows 8 box so I'm not sure if there's Linux drivers?
 
Microsoft's new Xbox will track EVERYTHING you watch on TV - but will reward you for watching the ads

  • Application submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office shows Microsoft's plans for tracking viewing habits of Xbox owners
  • The company plans to reward viewers who watch adverts or shows with credits and achievements
  • The new Kinect sensor can follow eye movements, track your reaction to shows using heart-rate monitors and see you in the dark



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2331985/Xbox-One-track-EVERYTHING-watch-TV--reward-watching-ads.html#ixzz2UrcE4giH

SWEET!! credits and achievements!!
 
@Robert,

The 'track everything' nature of the Xbox One may be new for a console. It's hardly new in the marketplace. Amazon does similar tracking for everything their customers do with them. Apple iOS, Android and all their various apps track activity, GPS location, etc. Also, while more indepth it's seems to be less intrusive than Nielsen type of ratings are. So, again I'm not seeing lots 'new' here. Microsoft is bringing those to the 'console'. ( Though I think it's fair that the PS3/360/WiiU aren't gaming consoles in the same sense as the Atari 2600. They're more entertainment consoles. Microsoft is seeing the 360 audience as evenly split between gaming and watching media. A pure 'gaming' approach is mostly dead, aka PSVita for example.)
 
The interesting thing about the "entertainment console" is that when the xbox 360 and the ps3 came out, they were pretty much the best at doing it all. But now we have cheap boxes you can hook up to your TV that do it better and all new TVs and Bluray players can do all that "smart" networking stuff too.Sure the new xbox might do it a lot better, but will people buy it for it's media playing abilities if their TV and Bluray players already do it? I wouldn't.

I would have thought with this generation that the consoles would go back to their roots, and that is, to play games better than anything. This will be an interesting generation and we might see some surprises in the market.
 
faethor said:
U.K. tech retailer Zavvi indicated the XboxOne will be 399 pounds. Another retailer leaked a 399 pound price for the PS3. If these leaks are true that'll make the choice harder, and some strong competition against Nintendo.

I'd like to note if you converted this to US $ it's $610. However, when it comes to last gen (PS3/360) both Sony and Microsoft were known to have region pricing that is not always congruent with currency conversion values. PS3, for example, had a higher price in Europe at launch than in the USA, and slightly less features.
Click to expand...

It should be noted that UK prices include 20% VAT. So, if these prices are correct, the US price would likely be 499 USD which is in line with what many insiders have predicted. So, the XBOX One would cost about the same as the base configuration of your average high-end tablet or smartphone which is a price point that consumers seem to be comfortable with given the success of, say, the iPad.

On the other hand, the 499 USD price is a little harder to justify if you consider that software prices are so much higher compared to what is sold in the Android and Apple app stores.
 
JoBBo said:
It should be noted that UK prices include 20% VAT. So, if these prices are correct, the US price would likely be 499 USD which is in line with what many insiders have predicted. So, the XBOX One would cost about the same as the base configuration of your average high-end tablet or smartphone which is a price point that consumers seem to be comfortable with given the success of, say, the iPad.
Click to expand...
Microsoft has been able to sell Xbox Live subscriptions. It's a very popular service. Microsoft should treat the Xbox One like a cellphone. Price it at $100 and charge people the monthly online subscription rate. Have a contract for services which if one breaks prior to the end they are charged the high $500 rate for the console. I think it would work and many people would take this model up.

On the other hand, the 499 USD price is a little harder to justify if you consider that software prices are so much higher compared to what is sold in the Android and Apple app stores.
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It is and it isn't. The Xbox 360 has probably the best selection of Indy Games last generation. Lots of games are under $5, and even for $1. That being said the PS4 looks to be the better Indy selection this generation. I hope E3 reveals more.

@Glaucus,
But now we have cheap boxes you can hook up to your TV that do it better and all new TVs and Bluray players can do all that "smart" networking stuff too. Sure the new xbox might do it a lot better, but will people buy it for it's media playing abilities if their TV and Bluray players already do it? I wouldn't
Click to expand...
I think the answer is this industry is still in it's infancy. Different price points and approaches are ways to figure out what the market desires.

One thing I think we'll see even more this generation is software and services makes the difference. Hardware is a commodity and while the Xbox One looks slower than the PS4, I think the difference is going to be even less noticeable this generation.
 
With all the intelligence that the xbox is able to gather on the users physiology and habits, how much is microsoft paying people to have them in their homes?
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
With all the intelligence that the xbox is able to gather on the users physiology and habits, how much is microsoft paying people to have them in their homes?
Click to expand...
Tracking what we watch is nothing new and the way of the future. You don't think Netflix tracks what we watch? Our lives are tracked, that's a fact. Most people are fine with it so long as they stay anonymous.
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
With all the intelligence that the xbox is able to gather on the users physiology and habits, how much is microsoft paying people to have them in their homes?
Click to expand...
I definitely hear you Fluffy! Certainly Microsoft could pay us to gather this data. That'd be a great switch from the - Google, Amazon, Apple - approaches we know today.
 
Glaucus said:
Tracking what we watch is nothing new and the way of the future. You don't think Netflix tracks what we watch? Our lives are tracked, that's a fact. Most people are fine with it so long as they stay anonymous.
Click to expand...

Staying anonymous is very much on the decline in almost every aspect of life and I expect this to continue.
 
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