Topic: The everything Xbox thread

If the Kinect doesn't have to be hooked up that's another reason to want the Xbox One and it gives me hope that a Kinect-free bundle will be released by sometime next summer so I don't have to wait until late 2014 to buy the system.

Kinect Free bundle won;t be for another three years. Microsoft wants to get kinect to get as mch developer and consumer traction it can which is why its included.

You may be right, but the way MS is back tracking on a lot of things I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Kinect free bundle by next summer. If not, I'll just wait until next holiday season to get the console.

I think it's a good idea they're pushing the Kinect this way. It will be better for the platform in the long run.
It wouldn't make sense to make it mandatory, then not.

theire not backtracking on Kinect being included, they plan to backtrack on it being mandatory in light of all the prism and nsa stuff that has leaked as of late.

Considering how seemingly easy it was to take away all the DRM, mandatory Kinect, and other such negative features, who's to say MS won't add them back later? I'm not saying they will, but I wouldn't be at all surprised it happened regardless.

Kinect was always useful. I think people use it most for the mic feature. But this attracts gamers that play exercise games and it also gets some Nintendo Wii exercise gamers into Microsoft's gaming.

If they added those features back, they'd loose all trust with the video game community and wouldn't be able to sell their products to a large group of people anymore. That would mean they're not making money. I doubt Microsoft would want to be in that position.

In regards to the mandatory Kinect stuff, I'm with @SCAR392 on this one. By making it so that every owner of an XBOX One has it, developers can integrate Kinect into their games in a meaningful way because they don't have to worry about how few people have it. That's basically why Move didn't take off, and why Kinect was very limited in its game selection and implementation.
Now, I don't know if developers will find many uses for Kinect, but at the very least it means that they won't be afraid to implement it purely because they have to worry about how much of the user base has it.
Plus, by having Kinect be a part of the package, it allows for Microsoft to differentiate themselves from their direct competition in a big way. That's pretty nice from a marketing standpoint, as what made the machine unique from the PS4 largely went away after that big fiasco post-E3. Additionally, to completely abandon something that Microsoft undoubtedly spent lots of money on in R&D would be pretty bad for them.

If this is true, Microsoft just dealt a big blow in the christmas sales war

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-19-xbox-one-to-laun...

Almost cancels out the price difference.

I wish they would just sell the Xbone one for £54.99 less instead of bundling in FIFA. I'd be more inclined to buy that way.

They probably have a deal where FIFA costs (i.e.)$15 per console to pre-install on the HDD paid by Microsoft and EA.
The $60 software being included doesn't automatically mean the Xbox One costs that much less than they are selling it for.

Obviously, no one has official data on this subject, but it's more likely the cheaper price they(Microsoft) pay for a FIFA bundle will sell more consoles vs. no game included, and buying FIFA separately.
In otherwords, Microsoft is losing money with this deal, but it will sell more consoles initially which means more software sales later.

EDIT: Also, EA makes fast money. After the deal has run its course, EA will try to cater to those buyers on Xbox One.

This is a rumor anyway...

Confirmed at Gamescom

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-20-pre-order-xbox-o...

The next Fable also got announced along with a Ubisoft Kinnect beat em up.

They probably won over Europe as a whole with this move. Isn't Fifa 13 a top 5 seller sincs its launch in the UK?

Keep in mind that the Xbox one isn't launching throughout all of Europe at the same time. A lot of people from the "tier 2" countries will have no choice but to get either a current gen version, or the PS4 version.

Also noteworthy, it's still cheaper to buy a PS4 + Fifa than a Xbone one with a free copy of Fifa.

Edit: I will say, this will definitely give them a big boost in the UK at least.

So the offical launch games list is out. Here's the ones that are exclusive or have exclusive content.

Killer Insticnt
Ryse: Son of Rome
Dead Rising 3
Forza 5:
Crimson Dragon
Lococycle
Powerstar Golf
Zoo Tycoon
Peggle 2
Fighter within
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Fifa 14

Great start for MS. The company has really turned things around tremendously since E3. I wonder how much has to do with the change in leadership from Don Mattrick.

If you guys want to catch up on all of the Xbox One news from Gamescom, don't forget about Nintendo Life's sister site, Pure Xbox

We've really been posting away over there today!

What do you make of Steve Ballmer leaving Microsoft?

Mixed. Ballmer was a money maker but at the same time felt like someone who lacked innovative quallites. Its also rumored that he was the big push behind always online.

Microsoft is having audtions to be apaprt of the Xbox One upload community .
http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/uploadoutreach

Going to send in submission about one of the Fable Games. so wish me luck.

I always liked Balmer, but he certainly made some mistakes along the road.

The real winners right now are MS stockholders, as shares jumped 8% after the announcement that he was leaving.