Topic: The everything Xbox thread

Seems odd you would make the discless version look the same as the S model. Just hope not many less informed parents who buy their kid an XBONE and several disc games don't accidentally buy the wrong model....

@NEStalgia well my issues are more thematically than the streaming is the future option. I have always been a “ you bring the games and I shall bring my wallet” sort of woman.

The problem is gaming is like comics: a lot of it looks familiar but when you are clearly not the intended demographic it feels bleak because you want to care because this used to be magic for you.

I don’t mean in a “I like five games so there is a game drought!!!!” brigade (hence why I was a very happy wiiu owner and it is one of my largest collections) I play a ton of games and often love B/C list efforts as much as the AAA movies. However that is my issue games are not only movies... they are incoherent or tone deaf movies. They are trying to squish too much in an attempt to follow 14-20 year old boys and a lot of it becomes a mess that makes me question if I should exit the hobby.

Yet I know that is not the right answer because I will play Sekiro or SF V and go “oh yeah this I why I sink so much time and money into this”. However, that feeling is happening less often on the twins. That is what makes me nervous. Japanese companies keep certain trends enough that gaming is familiar, comforting and enjoyable. Western devs change so much that I can’t “bet” on them. So that makes me wonder if I should focus on retro or BC and Nintendo and sit out the twins this next rotation. I’m still not entirely enamored with the twins as is. It doesn’t help that the Switch is trying its level best to ruin me financially.

Still committed to riding out this cycle with the twins though.

@NEStalgia It burnnnsss usss....
I don't have the spinning up issue, but I stopped fighting the (external) hard drive light's quirky behavior. At some point, I tried the option to power down drives completely, when switching the console off, but that started to annoy me too much because that stopped my free games from automatically downloading and installing. I even forgot I turned on that option, and for several days actually wondered why the hell Plants vs Zombies refused to download completely...

@Morpheel Somebody at Microsoft's marketing department should definitely be fired, coming up with that name/acronym. What the hell were they thinking? Social media are having a field day with it, and you can't even blame them.

@Angelic_Lapras_King Also a good point. Although in all fairness, if you buy a console AND games at the same time, then I would hope that the people in the store would be kind enough (and knowledgeable/professional enough) to point out the difference between the various models, and that the latest model isn't compatible with discs anymore...

Mistakes could happen when someone who isn't aware only buys a game, though. But even then, I'd hope that someone in the store is smart enough to ask the buyer for what model console it is. Unless of course the buyer doesn't have a clue...

Here's hoping they keep the receipt, just in case...

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, I can get that to a point, though it could be burnout as well. There's just been so MUCH it can feel like the Atari era. And yeah, the younger demographic seems to have very different tastes and we're not the target demo anymore, but I don't know I feel like there's a lot of revivals for the "old guard" where devs have been champing at the bit to do it and they're finally getting chances. BUT, the mainstream...yeah....it's definitely geared toward that adolescent market....and the "movies" are generally awful (though isn't that true of actual movies these days too? Do you actually find the new SW films to be anything but merchandising opportunities to kids?) of course we were once the kids they were trying to cater to so maybe we just didn't notice that's how it's always been.

I really have to get into Sekiro. I own it...I just haven't tried it yet! I'm stuck on my like 300 JRPGs across 3 systems....

The West will always be the West. Companies here, especially in entertainment, relentlessly try to follow whatever the trend looks like it is. It resembles the TV industry. Only now, in the internet age, it's not just guessing at trends and accidentally stumbling into success by guessing the trend wrong. They now have metrics for every facet of everything to give people the EXACT pinpoint trend with EXACTLY the right set of features to match it (If I could uninvent the internet, I'd do it, it's broken EVERYTHING about human society that used to work and replaced it with a vacuous nothing of ever adapting metrics.)

I do wonder what magic the new Twins 3.0 will have other than "shiner graphics" though, to make them stand out. I can't help but feel XBox is the one more attuned, this time to "here's how to make hardware compelling" versus Sony's "let's just iterate the same thing with moar blast processing." And I actually just said that about MS with a straight face....

@ThanosReXXX I wouldn't care if it weren't for the fact it's doing something physically destructive to the hardware. That's what bugs me. Who knows if it's doing that to the non-replaceable internal drive, too?

@NEStalgia Don't forget about their fake, checker-boarded 4K...
And from what I've heard, they're going to go down the same road with the PS5, maybe to keep costs in check or whatever. The wording concerning the PS5 is also curious: the official statement mentions that the console will "support" 8K.

Sounds quizzical and ambiguous to me. Remember "HD Ready" TV's? A console that will "support" 8K doesn't sound like a native 8K console to me, so ultimately, all Microsoft needs to do, is to release the upgraded, 8K native successor to the 4K native Xbox One X, and they'll also have the most powerful console of the next generation.

@NEStalgia Yeah, in your specific case I would be bothered as well, but in my case, there's no spinning up of internal OR external drives. At least not that I can hear, so I've chosen to ignore the blinking light, and enjoy the upside of an "always on" hard drive.

@ThanosReXXX For a good time, visit the PS4 thread where we're arguing about how it definitely won't be under $500, and they'll be taking a $100 loss at that price point because of how powerful the rumored hardware will be. I'm in the camp that believes $500 is PS3 Phat redux and a disaster launch. Even if X2 disc is $500, X2 SAD surely won't be. $500 worked for 1X as a premium tier, not the main product tier. Once you hit $600 you're better off building a PC.

Heck, even X1X....even a lot of PC GPUs for that matter aren't really 4K...they're 4K in limited situations. I don't consider it "true 4k console" unless most or all content is 4K. 8K is a joke. Of course, Sony's the TV manufacturer, so....

I think if 8k is the big thing the next gen is selling, there's not much use for the next gen to begin with. This effort to push new consoles all the time is driving them into a tailspin. They need to figure out if they're selling hardware or software. This is a scary generation. X1X does much of what PCs do, just less pretty or with less FPS. if the big leap is just do it smoother and faster like PC with higher res (that few people own TVs for), we're in for a bleary generation ahead.

HDDs: Yeah...though you may not hear the sound. Easier to feel the vibration if it's a 2.5" drive.

@NEStalgia I considered burnout but I honestly still play too much for it to be that. It is the structure of the storytelling. As I have mentioned in previous conversations I can turn off my brain if the selling point is the game play. Mario and sekiro make no sense but that isn’t the point. The point is stomping koopa shells or murdering everything. It’s when you sell the story as part of the deal when I start nitpicking and this is where the west underdelivers for me. Why brag about your robust, vibrant world when the world building or overall narrative makes no sense? Trying to juggle balls, a sword and a shotgun ends in a certain way after a point.

I’ve always been fairly critical of story so I don’t think it’s so much that I ‘ve ignored plot holes so much as the overall package isn’t enjoyable enough for me to accept them. Take Dragon Age, I started disliking the series with two because without the fun (for me) tactics mechanic of orgins plus the frakenstein’s monster plot (EAware’s in house turmoil was started to get obvious at that point) that means that all I can focus on is the crap writing. Then I get buyer’s remorse.

The other piece is guilded cage syndrome. It’s very difficult for me to find media that speaks to me or represents my interests and the way the world reacts to me. So things that seem small to a say caucasian hetero male (to repersent western mindthink) or a Japanese hetero male (to represent Japanese mindthink) were/are big to me. Gender select(biological not the social nonsense), skin tone, female leads and stronger NPC personality, homosexual romance options were big things because that means media that is important to me. Doesn’t mean I don’t play the rest of the stuff, but things like that make me take notice. However after a point you realize that there is no attempt to go deeper or to make meaningful stories. I get reminded that these are toys, and that there won’t really be much of an improvement from a narrative perspective because the intended audience wants senseless violence, a power fantasy , sexual objects and bleeding edge graphics (even though hard ware cant really keep up. You get rid of loading screens and then I will board the graphics are everything train).

That being said media ingestion is likely my issue. I read or I play video games, that’s it. The rest of my pop culture interaction is broadway shows, concerts and museums. No tv (at best I will watch a few clips for fanfic fodder) and only marvel movies and I still haven’t seen anything past spiderman homecoming. So I think the disconnect is standards. Movie vs book if you will, except from my point of view I am being told the movie is better written than the book so I when I am disappointed, I am extremely disappointed.

I wish devs would look more at things like animation and textures rather than hair physics. Half the games I really like right now are not uncanny valley realistic but the gameplay is fun. Sekiro is among that list. I haven’t really even gotten anywhere because I spend too much time trying to perfect the gameplay. So fun once you hit your stride.

@Ryu_Niiyama I think it's not just gaming. Look at what makes it big on TV and theaters? The modern screen writer is either wholly incompetent, or is told by suits precisely what to write to check all the demo checkboxes and make money. Western media overall has failed, IMO. Games just make it obvious because it's supposed to be immersive.

Though I think anything Bioware or Bethesda is the wrong example to use. Bioware's strength was Black Isle. Without them, they were nothing and EA mutilated what was left. (They did good with MS Game Studios, though.)

I get your point on story and all...though, I have to go with the "normie" route on that. I like human condition commentary to a point in a story, or a kid of "semi-spiritual in an insightful way" kind of element like FF tries....but I don't want too deep a specific "social issues" type commentary in games that are supposed to be fun and universal...then you start getting into David Cage type controversial "not for everyone" games.... That works in film with limited screenings, but I"m not sure gaming is the right situation for that (I'm not a fan of Life is Strange, either. Cool design, but goes too far into trying to focus on specific social issues, and I'm not sure a game is where that fits best.) But I can understand the need for relatable identities/roles in the game....if gaming were nothing but playing as, say, Indian female protagonists I'd feel kind of detached from it, too.

I also don't involve myself with most western media beyond games (which is all garbage.) And if that's the standard game studios are emulating...well...there's the problem.

@NEStalgia No, the X1X truly is 4K. Look it up. And don't forget that superior media drive...
The fact that some games aren't displayed in 4K doesn't take anything away from that.

Better than the other way around where you have a console that is NOT really/completely 4K hardware-wise, but uses tricks and slight of hand to display a semi-faux 4K...

Oh, and if you're trying to get me mad, then by all means: keep suggesting I'd visit the PS4 thread...

As for the drive spinning thing: is your memory lapsing?
I do remember having already told that I have neither noisy drives nor vibrating ones. This specific problem is truly all yours. Perhaps you having installed them in those contraptions that you once mentioned having them in, works as an oscillator or something, changing barely audible sounds and vibrations to far larger and more noticeable ones...

@NEStalgia Agreed. The comments about EAware/bethesda were more because they tout the strength of their world building. When it’s middling but they have no competition.

It’s not really a normie stand point though. Ihate that concept anyway as it is a matter of perspective especially in America as media portrays one thing but what you see outside your window is another.

I don’t mind games that delve into the story they want to tell (even though that story is almost never mine) because that at least measn that thought and care go into that story. Also I may learn something new and that is always exciting. I mean you run the risk of a drama king or negative nelson making a horrible story from a human decency perspective but those games tend to play terribly anyway as no company is gonna back that. I like the idea of games made for certain demographics ...it’s the fact that nobody wants to tell more unique stories that bores me.

I grew up on fantasy books, yeah sure all the elves where white but it was still unique and vibrant. Which is likely the real problem. It’s one thing to tell the majority’s stories, I get it “welcome to earth”. The issue is many of those stories are the same. How many times can people play the same game with a different weaponset and maybe a change in setting? I’d go back to playing all white male 20-30 year old, usually unjustifiably angry, dark haired hero games if the story or world made sense.

AC before it went off the rails lampshdes this. All the main characters look like or similar to Desmond by design. Even Connor has some of his features. Because the point wasn’t who you played but what they did and the meta/modern conflict. Now we have unique assassins but the game feels and reads like every other entry in the open world sandbox fake rpg genre.

Suit meddling has some impact on that but the writing is still in the hands of the devs. Being told to add lootboxes or have standard protags should not suck the ability to write a compelling cohesive narrative. I think western devs need to dial it back. Pick a theme major plot, write a story around that, mack characters that feed that, make strong mechanics that support that. Again they are trying to do too much at one time.

The weirdest thing about that Inside Xbox was no Forza Horizon 4, I wonder if expansion 2 will be an E3 shadow drop then (there's no May Inside Xbox).

@Ryu_Niiyama All the elves were white? That's against D&D rules! There should always be dark elves as well...

@ThanosReXXX LOL! Touche. But Dark elves were usually ashen or some fantasy color like grey or grey blue.

I played Hellblade, it was really nice. Went through it in one long session yesterday.

Also, here's 1000 coins for apex legends. I don't play that game so I don't need them, but it would be sad to see them go to waste:

4Y2DV-WMRFF-TF2XC-J7G6K-YXQQZ

If someone takes them, please let the others know.

@Ryu_Niiyama To be fair to Ubisoft, every other open world sandbox fake RPG is mostly copying the AC series, or started that way, so there's a reason it feels like all the others

I agree though that they are trying to do too much. But I do think the suit meddling does it. The game is designed around the features on a marketing checklist it must have, and no doubt keeps changing until it goes gold. How do you build a story around "something, something, make sure to showcase a need for this characters' DLC costumes, something, generic action sequence that has the right metrics, something, something." Squeenix builds a game around the story. Nintendo tacks a minimal story onto a game design. Other companies get a screenwriter to build a script, then chop up pieces of it to fit whatever systems they want to showcase, do it out of order, then advertise how big a blockbuster it is.

Was there an X1 update this weekend? I notice the long-press screen now has 3 buttons, Turn off console, Turn off controller, and Restart console, which wasn't there before. But I didn't get a "spring update" message or anything.

I can knock wood and hope futile that they fixed the HDD problem this time....I know...it's like wishing for world peas.

@NEStalgia Yes there was an update, but not this weekend. I already received the update last week. Tuesday or Wednesday, if I remember correctly. Was downloading my free games, started one up (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2), and my console suddenly froze mid load, so I physically rebooted it, and then a firmware/system update screen appeared.

Took some time to update as well, but in the end, all worked as it should once again.

@ThanosReXXX Weird, it must have rolled out in waves. I definitely didn't have it on Wednesday. I didn't use the X1 Thurs, Fri or Sat, but I believe it was Fri that I noticed my HDMI switch powered off, which happens when the X1 reboots and kills power on the HDMI out (that apparently always runs and keeps the switch active, while the PS4 and Switch's does not.) So it must have installed on Friday.

I wonder if the past month of HDD activity was related to trying to download or install that patch? It would be nice if were just that, but I doubt it.