
Xbox, A New Generation Revealed (livesteam) - mikeevans
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hub/reveal?hn=1
======
droopybuns
Microsoft's communications are always so unnatural. Why does Microsoft
maintain this corporate communication style? Every announcement event is just
so uncomfortable.

These are clearly executives on stage whose asset is leadership, but they
insist on injecting unnatural banter & distracting idioms. What corporate
communications person hears a marketing manager talking about "photons" w/r/t
kinect and doesn't cringe?

Is it just momentum within a communications team? Is it that they can't
abandon this style because it's so deeply embedded in their communications
team's culture? Or does this style actually work on some market segment?

~~~
droopybuns
"When you are exercising it can read your heartrate."

Why would you present a device that clearly looks like HAL 9000, integrates a
very skynet-esque xbox live and choose to say it can read your heartbeat?

Wouldn't it be better to give the context as a choice? It comes across as
telescreen that is taking your biometrics without permission. Why did they
choose to take the creepy angle? What is wrong with these people?

~~~
bryne
They chose this angle because the number of people watching who care about the
ethics of biometric data capture are basically a rounding error on a marketing
spreadsheet.

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archgrove
Most annoying to me, is we're 30 minutes into the reveal, and they've still
not discussed games. Literally, we've had about 7 seconds of a game playing in
the background. As far as I people can tell, this would (so far) seem to be a
voice controlled cable box.

Oh, and it looks like a shiny VCR. Bleh.

Edit: Ah, at 31 minutes, we have a games developer. Pity it's EA, but c'est la
vie.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Thanks, I got a lot of value from that middlebrow dismissal.

~~~
archgrove
Just as I got a tonne of information from yours. My point is that this is,
primarily a _games_ console. They're up against Sony, who are focusing
entirely on games, and Nintendo, who are focusing entirely on games. They've
shown, essentially, 3 games, and a giant pile of fluff. I can _already_ watch
TV on my TV. I have _never_ desired to go "Quick, watch TV! Damn, back to the
game! No, wait, TV! Hold on, TV guide!". That's a gimmick, not a feature
worthy of nearly a minute of stage time. It looks, in honesty, like a rushed
announcement for something that's years off ready, not launching in 6 months.

My "highbrow" comment then, is that this is a big mistake. They had the
advantage of being the _last_ next-gen console reveal - they can answer every
point of Sony and Nintendo, plus add their own spin. And they basically gave
us _less_ information than was already public in the gaming press, probably
pissed off a large proportion of the hardcore gaming public, are unlikely to
have attracted the non-gaming groups, and picked a rather daft name. It was an
open goal, and this went so far wide, I think they'd have been better _not_
saying anything until they had something to say.

~~~
bryne
You still think this is still primarily a game console?

Microsoft is putting all its chips down on the battle for your living room,
which is a major front. The fight to be the all-in-one device people buy that
replaces their cable box, game console, and media server (and the data being
positioned as the provider of that device brings with it) is not a small one.

Self-identified "gamers" like yourself, who will probably turn out to be the
minority purchasing audience for this generation of consoles-cum-entertainment
boxes, already have a venue for game porn - it's called E3 - and Microsoft
knows it's coming up in a few weeks.

~~~
nsxwolf
Does the average consumer really want an expensive, gigantic box with huge
blower fans to watch Netflix and Hulu - when an Apple TV, Roku, or any coffee
grinder with an HDMI port does the job?

~~~
InclinedPlane
The average consumer? Of course. They want as few fiddly bits as possible.
They want their stuff to just work.

~~~
nsxwolf
Then they want an Apple TV or a Roku. My wife's grandma can and does use an
Apple TV to watch Netflix. There's no way in hell she could ever navigate the
UI disaster that is the XBox 360.

~~~
HelloMcFly
But everyone can speak, right? "Xbox, watch Netflix" --> instantly looking at
Netflix. No need for multiple or big universal remotes, no switching inputs,
etc.

I love my Roku, and I have no plans to get an Xbox 360 as I'm sure many of the
features will require an XBL subscription. But the vision? I'm there with the
vision.

~~~
nsxwolf
So far these "talk to your TV" features haven't worked out, and is it really
worth the (guessing) $300 premium over a $99 Apple TV? No doubt if there's a
good way to do voice control on a TV, Apple's going to figure it out before
Microsoft does.

~~~
HelloMcFly
I agree at the moment. I do have Kinect and had high hopes for the voice
commands, but as yet they just take too long to register. However, if it's as
good as today's demo implied then we'll be pretty close to, if not at, the
level that makes it the simplest (not cheapest) option.

> No doubt if there's a good way to do voice control on a TV, Apple's going to
> figure it out before Microsoft does.

I don't have the same blind faith. Apple hasn't put themselves far enough in
the living room for me to wait for them. Sure, they got Apple TV, but that
seems like barely a side project for them. It's not as good as the cheaper and
more versatile Roku, and it's not as bold in thinking as the Xbox One (or even
the Xbox 360).

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smallegan
Did they discuss how you get TV onto the XBOX? Are they offering a service to
get TV via your internet connection? I didn't see a coax port on the back of
it...Or is this just an extension of windows media center and you need a PC in
the background to act as the tuner?

~~~
barake
There is an HDMI input to connect your existing cable/satellite receiver.

See bullet point #6:
[http://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/114...](http://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/11409/LB_4462.jpg)

~~~
smallegan
Hmm, that could be it but they were showing a guide within the Xbox One
interface if I am not mistaken. I guess they could be showing their own guide
and then just sending a message to the cable box telling it what channel to
switch to. Definitely interested in hearing more about how they see this
working.

------
Drakim
Xbox One?

That's a rather confusing name since it's the third Xbox.

~~~
mikeevans
That didn't stop Apple from naming the newest iPhone the "iPhone 5", despite
being the sixth.

~~~
w1ntermute
Or HTC from naming their newest flagship phone the "HTC One".

~~~
SonicSoul
3 wrongs don't make a right?

~~~
Ecio78
Or Sony calling PSOne a modified/updated version of the first Playstation.

~~~
BrianEatWorld
That actually was the same thing as a PS1 and they stuck to that convention.
The PS2 slim's official name is the PSTwo.

~~~
nsxwolf
Actually, no, they abandoned that convention. The PS2 slim's official name is
the PS2. It just has a different part number.

------
mratzloff
"You can watch TV"

I can already watch TV.

And I don't want to be social while I watch TV, or buy tickets for a sequel
while I watch a movie.

So far I haven't heard anything that has wowed me.

------
mikestew
"Practically silent" means my wife will practically force me to buy one, as
she (rightfully) complains about the jet engine turbines the launch day 360
uses for fans.

I've been holding off buying a dedicated Blu-ray player, so that has some
value. Don't care about Kinect, not enough room in the TV room. Don't care
about being "connected" as I have enough Skype-enabled, etc. devices around
the house.

The hard questions are how Microsoft's ad service, er, Xbox Live will improve
my experience. Right now I'm of the opinion that the XL experience has really
gone down hill with poor UI and loaded with ads. How is the gaming experience?
Is it really going to require "always on"? Do I _have_ to physically hold up
my controller to "raise a shield"? I just want to move my thumbs. Am I going
to be nickeled-and-dimed with micro payments/DLC?

My point is, this is the first time I'll make an actual decision about buying
a new Xbox. Halo made the first one a no-brainer for me. I bought the 2nd
because I still worked at MSFT, and I was a company man. This time there is
the real possibility that I won't buy an Xbox One. Give recent trends, they
better make sure the experience doesn't suck. But I see EA is on the stage
right now, so I'm not optimistic.

~~~
username3
The fan: [http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/xbox-one-
development-...](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/xbox-one-development-
photos/#slideid-138497)

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
Bigger typically means quieter.

------
james4k
Is it just me or were the number of buzzword adjectives in this event
absolutely ridiculous?

------
jimwalsh
Unifying the TV Watching experience can be very awesome. Should be interesting
to see what the actual cable companies think and how they integrate in the
end.

------
InclinedPlane
I have to say I'm pretty disappointed in HN right now. I came to this thread
hoping to see some good discussion but instead there's just a bunch of crap. I
see a lot of complaining and comments at a very superficial level. Can we talk
about the competition and their different strategies? Can we talk about any of
the new things presented and whether or not they are interesting or valuable,
and why? Can we talk about the technology? Can we talk about how Sony seems to
have gone out of their way to court indie developers but MS didn't even
mention them here?

~~~
mratzloff
No one is stopping you from writing those posts, you know.

------
Fuzzwah
So cringe-worthy when when an exec is presenting and obviously pauses because
someone told him to expect applause and the room is silent.

------
_stephan
Can somebody explain why HN's ranking algorithm has already pushed this
submission to the second page? This seems inconsistent with its points, age
and level of discussion relative to the articles ranked above. (I'm just
asking out of curiosity and have no personal interest in having this post
ranked higher or lower.)

~~~
pdknsk
Some moderator probably downvoted it.

~~~
parktheredcar
I've noticed when the discussion is of low quality stories tend to fall
faster. So yeah, you're probably right.

------
alt_
There's an alternative stream at GT:
[http://www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/xboxcountdown/live.ht...](http://www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/xboxcountdown/live.html)

The official one appears to have some bandwidth issues for me.

~~~
stack0v3erfl0w
Thanks for this. I was having issues with the one OP linked to.

------
stack0v3erfl0w
Why couldn't they stream it on YouTube? This one keeps buffering every 5
seconds.

------
lunchladydoris
I think Bart Simpson said it best: "Boooring."

Clearly this event was not geared towards people who use consoles mainly for
games.

------
earlz
Did anyone manage to get a working video player on Linux? I messed around with
trying to get it to play while listening to it(extremely choppy) on a windows
VM. I actually went so far as to open up their video player since I couldn't
find any URLs, and Fiddler wasn't helping, but then it was over.

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flexxaeon
I'm pretty impressed with the device but I was expecting a LOT more when they
started talking about sports. Especially considering that live sports is one
of the last bastions of television. Fantasy football and "taunting friends on
Skype" is not what I consider an ultimate experience.

~~~
Cryode
I'd really like to hear more about what this NFL partnership entails, also.
The NFL is the one thing holding me to my cable television subscription.

------
rralian
If they can really wrangle all of the other sources to come through and be
controllable by the xbox, that would be very cool. Maybe my parents will be
able to work our tv without us having to write detailed instructions.

------
erikj
Three operating systems in one? So that's what Dave Cutler was working on?

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quotha
Xbox One has 3 pieces

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pdknsk
If you hire some people (or invite your employees) to hysterically cheer at
every little announcement, at least make it a little less obvious.

------
quackerhacker
Durango sounded better than freaking xbox one! Come on Microsoft!

------
mattvv
who can i throw my money at to get this

~~~
stack0v3erfl0w
Microsoft.

------
FreeBird
From the web:

"8 gigs of RAM, USB 3.0, Wi-Fi Direct, a Blu-Ray disc drive, 64-bit
architecture and "practically silent operation." Super fast switching of TV
inputs between TV, Gaming, Skype,IE etc. Runs the Windows NT kernel. Kinect
2.0 also gets a substantial upgrade. Whitten promised the integrated camera
will have a wider field of view, and the sensor will be able to detect more
joints, to include rotation of wrists and shoulders. "When you are exercising
it can read your heartrate."

~~~
nwh
It's funny that they are advertising "64bit" as a feature. The Nintendo 64
took that flag in 1999.

~~~
snogglethorpe
> _The Nintendo 64 took that flag in 1999_

1996

