xbox "ONE"

[snoopy369]

That doesn't make the slightest bit of sense (meaning it's probably the issue, since very little the MPAA/TV studios do make sense in this arena). Giving the XBox the same functionality a Tivo has - which is entirely legal - or a box the cable company sells - which is still legal - shouldn't have any impact on rights. I'm talking about strictly live TV, not Hulu/etc. Why would the studios care? Even if they did care, what could they do about it? Deprive themselves of more revenue? Yeah, that's a good idea.

My guess is that Microsoft doesn't want to have to pay Tivo/whomever for rights to the patents necessary, and they don't want to have to include a big enough drive. It's possible there is a problem caused by the XBox being a media extender (some ability to expose the video files to the PC), but I don't think that's likely. Even if that were true they could segregate the storage, since they control the OS.

[regexcellent]

The media companies don't want penetration of the DVR technology to go any further. Preventing Xbox One from having it helps in that goal.

[Sava]

i don't think you could've missed the point any harder if you were the lovechild of slowwhand and ben.

[img]http://www.sternfannetwork.com/xen/index.php?attachments/******-jpg.141948/[/img]

?

[Sava]

Oh, for the console toolbags... PC Gamer built a PC comparable to the PS4 based on available specs.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/02/21/pc-gamer-vs-playstation-4-theres-only-ever-going-to-be-one-winner-right/

"next gen" consoles are a $600 PC

facts win again Asher, sorry

[Asher]

Facts:

Comparable in raw specs, yes. Consoles will debut at $399 or less, not $600.

In real-world performance, you're looking at a much more expensive PC to even it out.

[snoopy369]

Purpose built machines will always beat general purpose machines, since the software can be far tighter. Not having to write code that supports all sorts of different graphics cards or OS variants means you can do a lot more low-level work that is very very fast. Also being able to use all of the cores - and exactly all of the cores - means you can write your threaded code really really efficiently. Knowing there will be precisely 8 cores means you can optimize for 8 cores - having 12 cores for code written for 8 is actually less efficient, unless the 12 cores are individually superior to the 8 cores.

You also have the fact that you have to make it support exactly 1080p, no higher. You're probably right that on your 25000x18000 monitor it looks nicer; but that comes at some processing cost that means the AA and whatnot is not quite as good, or the shadows aren't as complex. Writing for 1080p exactly (and 768p exactly) means they can optimize the **** out of it, especially since they know exactly how good the console is going to be at doing [whatever].

That's the tradeoff, and that's the difference between PC gaming and console gaming. A PC gamer and a Console gamer have roughly the same upgrade cycle, in that you need a new PC every 5-6 years if you are building top line; but a PC gamer has a sweet spot halfway through the console cycle, when he can upgrade his video card and have a superior experience for the second half of the console cycle, while having a better resolution experience the whole time.

Honestly at this point I find it all silly. PC gaming and Console gaming are both quite good experiences nowadays, and the worst-looking game on the XBox One will still be an amazing game, same as the worst looking (modern-AAA developed) game on your PC. Who the **** cares which is a tiny bit better? We're not talking Commodore 64 vs Atari here...

[self biased]

[img]http://www.sternfannetwork.com/xen/index.php?attachments/******-jpg.141948/[/img]

?

dude, that's super unfair to the kid in the picture.

[DinoDoc]

[Wiglaf]

Snoopy is almost certainly right that there are complicated patent issues dissuading Microsoft from implementing TV recording. Tivo-like devices are a patent nightmare. What I want to know is how hard it will be to use my DVR to record shows if I hook it up to the One.

[Nikolai]

Which parts, exactly?

The video features work via HDMI in. Hopefully Euroland has HDMI.

The games-centric portion will be in a couple weeks at E3. The presentation was mostly consumer electronics focused.

Similar services in Xbox 360 is not available in Europe. The presentation was quite america centric, and it is plausible that many of the services they announced won't work over here.

[korn469]

According to this link, MS will use the power of the cloud to quadruple the Xbox one's power. To me it sounds suspect because of latency, but if it works as advertised does that change anyone's mind on the device?

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Xbox-One-Cloud-Jeff-Henshaw-Matt-Booty-Adam-Pollington,22775.html

[Asher]

It's a bit of marketing speak, but it's for non-latency-intensive parts of the game.

For example, when loading levels they can pre-compute lots of the lighting details specific to the game conditions on the server. They could calculate world events (like in Oblivion/Skyrim) on the server as well. It's not meant for real-time calculations.

MMORPGs have done this for years to some extent.

[Krill]

Are both the PS4 and X1 (or whatever the abbreviation is going to be) due out before Xmas this year?

[Guynemer]

"Offloading computations to the cloud" is a phrase forever tainted by EA/Maxis and SimCity.

[Asher]

Are both the PS4 and X1 (or whatever the abbreviation is going to be) due out before Xmas this year?

In North America, I believe so. The UK as well, at least for the Xbox.