Displaying items by tag: Xbox One

Just as the rumors that have appeared in earlier today claimed, Microsoft confirmed that we will have and opportunity to purchase Xbox One on 22nd November this year, when it will be available in specialised stores in selected countries.

Microsoft has confirmed that the upcoming Xbox One, which will appear on the market later this year, will not support the use of external drives initially, although this option is announced during the presentation of the console. MS then confirmed that the USB 3.0 ports can be used to connect an external drive that will allow players to expand the capacity of their console due to the fact that the built-in drives will not be able to change.

Although Steve Ballmer is leaving Microsoft they have made statements that the company will continue to follow the plans he laid out for it; at least for the near future. Remember that Ballmer decided to cut the company back to only 4 divisions and decided to put people in charge of these divisions that are already running departments that are less than successful at this point. We have already given our analysis on these moves but want to remind you that most of these moves are intended to bolster Ballmer’s plans for Microsoft. But will Microsoft really follow these plans to the letter? We have a feeling that they will not once Steve is gone.

If you want to know where Microsoft is with their Xbox One all you have to do is look at their latest marketing ploy. They are actually pushing the Xbox One to the enterprise… yes you read that right. According to Microsoft the new Xbox is not just for gaming and would make a great addition to any corporate boardroom. Marques Lyons (an Xbox MVP) called the new gaming console an “entirely justifiable” expense for businesses. Lyons’ reasoning is that features such as Skype integration, Wi-Fi direct connect and of course 1080p video capability will be the driving factors for this.

For those who plan to buy a Xbox One, and then use the console's Kinect on the PC and vice versa we are brining some bad news. According to Ars Technica, the new Kinect for Xbox One will not be able to directly connect to a PC, unlike the older versions of the device for the Xbox 360 that came with the adapter that made connectiong to PC's via USB slot quite simple. Instead, the new Kinect that comes with the Xbox One has its own connector and it is physically impossible to connect it with anything on the PC, and Microsoft does not intend to make an adapter that would allow such thing.

When Microsoft finally realized that they were badly wrong with the way they presented their console, they decided to change their politics overnight, and announced that it they are dropping DRM and restrictions relating to the loan and exchange of used games, it immediately reflected in the subscription.

Microsoft is making a rapid about face on their DRM AND use game policies. Despite their original statements that people should get an Xbox 360 if they want to play offline they are now removing the 24-hout check in period for disk based games. They are also removing the restrictions they had in place for trading and selling used games. Microsoft is claiming that they did this due to user feedback, but for some reason we think it was more about Sony’s announcement and the way gamers shifted loyalties so fast.

Almost two years ago we wrote an editorial on why Microsoft had problems when it came to launching new product (and keeping them in the market). The evidence of this is quite clear in past and present products from Windows Vista to Windows 8/RT. Microsoft has its own way of analyzing market data and their own telemetry data that they collect (which they admit is a small percentage of their user base). With Windows Vista Microsoft ignored user complaints about an implementation of HDCP (High Definition Content Protection) that would be “always on” and interrogate everything a user does to make sure it is compliant with third party DRM requirements (pronounce that MPAA and RIAA), this had such a large impact on performance that the OS was quickly replaced with Windows 7.

There are few times in the consumer electronics world when one company can put a hurting on another in a truly significant way. Most of the time it is merely a matter of PR and marketing efforts to sway an increasingly jaded market. However, in the “next generation” console market there has been just such an event; Sony has just give Microsoft a rather solid kick to the groin. After watching Microsoft lock everyone into an always online connection, restricting used games and requiring the Kinect to use the new Xbox, Sony catered to the annoyed masses and offered them a better deal.

Microsoft just cannot get out of their own way. First they blunder with Windows RT and how they handled its introduction with partners and developers. After that they confused and annoyed consumers by making a drastic shift in the Window 8 UI. They did all of this despite consumer feedback that showed they probably should have stuck with a more familiar UI and OS. Now Microsoft is at it again as we find out more about the Xbox One’s data connection need and the trading or reselling of games.