Alright, I am officially worried about Xbox One. The way its going - with them desperately catering to all the sceptics - they are gonna end up with a machine as dull as the PS4... Though with less GDDR or whatever.

When I first saw E3 this year, I was aaaall about the PS4. Their insistance on not changing anything, felt like a warm hug to all the worried (and price-concerned) core-gamers out there. Heck, I didn't even bother to watch Microsofts show, because I already knew, what I needed to know: Always online, huge bother with pre-owned games and the stupid dance-camera will be forced upon everybody.

Eventhough Sony had no real innovations I could put my finger on or games I wanted to play - and the biggest impact of their show was Tretton sticking it to Microsoft in the closing minutes with Sony's "no change"-policy - the case was closed. Take my money, Sony, I begged.

But then, through my job, I heard more about Xbox One. Alot more. And I watched the E3 show and it all started to make sense. Especially the stupid dance camera.

Though Microsoft changed their DRM policies, they still stuck to their guns with the Kinect 2.0. I started seeing the console and camera as "One" (pun intended!) and the possibilities it would open up for developers, when they knew every Xbox One owner had one of these bad boys hooked up - ready to do all those insane things, they claim its capable off. Scan your face, tell your mood, keep track of your fingers, your BMI, if you have goosebumps or not, I mean: thats a next-gen thing if there ever was one.

Now I wanted one, and the PS4 seemed decidedly boring in comparison.

Obviously haters are gonna hate. To many, the Kinect simply boils down to: Lag, shovelware and waving your arms about, when you could just press a button.

But, I thought that Microsoft had enough confidence in their product, to see through that. Confidence in the fact, that the Kinect 2.0 will change the landscape of gaming, and those haters will eventually "get it", when they set it up and start messing around with it, cos' - come on - it wouldn't kill ya, would it?

But it seems Microsoft doesn't trust their own instincts anymore. Of course, they HAVE dropped the ball a few times as of late, so they may - understandably - be a bit shaken, but now its gone to far. Now they are simply too eager to please (almost on the level of Gil from The Simpsons) and the fact of the matter is: If they keep this up, they will end up ruining their "edge" and the very reason why anyone would choose an Xbox One over PS4.

Microsoft should perhaps seek out Nintendo for some wisdom.

Remember the Wii? Many thought the whole idea of controlling with motion as dumb, but many didn't. When the machine finally arrived, people invited their friends over for a round of Wii Tennis and those friend "got it". And the console went on to spread like wildfire. People had to try it, to understand it and Nintendo had confidence in this, no matter what the core gamers said.

That machine wrote history - and it was even a generation behind from the get-go.

Xbox One isn't. Its packed with muscle, clouds, an awesome controller and original IPs to die for.

If they could just get their balls back from the impound, the Xbox One could be the trend-setter for the future of consoles.

@UnwantedSpam Oh quit yer whining. We just got Sakura Samurai (as Hana Samurai for some reason) over here in Europe. It's one of the greatest 3DS exclusive downloads and we had to wait AGES. Why we're on the subject - why can't we all get the same? It's already in english so whats the deal? Did you get Megaman on your Virtual Console over there?

@bananaclawz Yeah well, we can't all be volunteering for the red cross. Blood-thirsty? Smelly?? Sure you're not thinking of some post-apocalyptic thunderdome-esque establishment instead of a store? In any case -- not a nice way to describe your videogame-lovin' brothers and sisters. Fascinating conspiracy theories aside: A shop can only do so much. Laying all the responsibility on the shoulders of retailers is like killing the messenger. It's up to Nintendo or Sony or whoever, to drum up interest and make people buy it. Retailers have plenty of other things on offer after all. So my point was: How will Nintendo angle it? WHEN will they angle it? IF the machine comes out in two months, they gotta hop to it. Compared to how they worked the Wii, they're almost disturbingly discreet this time, which probably wont work to their advantage. Anyways, don't worry. Soon enough, there will be no physical shops. You'll buy everything online, and will never ever have to bother leaving your house again. You can just sit there and watch your ass grow into an entity, well-knowing, that there ain't nothing more honest and transparent than the internet........

As an employee at Gamestop, I gotta say that the lack of interest and awareness of this machine is troubling. What is Nintendo doing here? I get the feeling that suddenly this thing will just be sitting on the storeshelves and noone will care. Casual gamers who got into the world of videogames via the family-friendly Wii eventually bought a Playstation or Xbox and have become somewhat "hardcore" and people who just like swinging a wiimote, will find nothing to like about this new console. So... besides the die-hard Nintendo fans - who's gonna make this a succes?

Ok, so I've been an avid user of this site for years and years, and I've been onboard with pretty much every show you've blessed us with, but I have to make a comment here. Making teams and quizzes in an audio-only show just doesn't work. I wanna hear news, insight and interesting gaming-related conversations, that's it. Keeping track of who's who and what team is saying what is just a hassle. Keep it simple. No gimmicks. We like you just the way you are.

@Yulaw2000 Well, then just ignore that stuff (should it somehow come to that). If his previous games (or jp games in genereal) are anything to go by, the online component, probably won't be particularly interesting. And again, wouldn't it still be worth it? It's Itagaki-san man. Just look at him! That's one cool cat.... ;-)

@Yulaw2000 Why no EA? At least then we might get to play it. Yeah, sure, it's all the rage to bash EA, but they brought us Shadows of the Damned, and although they pretty much snuck it out under their breath, we still got to play it and that game was awesome. Maybe I'm not a particularly ethical guy, when it comes to this, but don't we just want to check these games out, regardless of the publisher?

Waaaait a minute.. This isn't news at all. What we have here is a RUMOR that there was a Bayonetta 2 planned - and in the same paragraph - that the game (which hasn't officially been confirmed or anything) has been cancelled. Jane Douglas, you're dangerously hot, but was this written merely to satisfy some quota? Anyhoo, Bayonetta was amazing and also Vanquish and it is truly heartbreaking, that these games will (most likely) never see a sequel. Meanwhile Ass Creed and Call of Boredom gets yearly releases and... oooh... nevermind...

@awheaten Harsh words... But I agree that Jeff G does indeed seem to have a different approach to games sometimes. Many see him as a complete guru, and though he IS extremely knowledgable and experienced when it comes to videogames, I must admit that I kinda lost some respect, when he claimed that Saints Row 3 was THE game of 2011. Sure it has humor and is "crazy-awesome" in a killing-people-with-a-giant-d****-and-then-farting-on-their-grave - sorta way, but.. I found the game itself to get real old real fast, and the story arch, just isn't particularly interesting. I, for one, just stopped playing it. Was he serious or was he just being a "renegade"? I mean, look what other games came out that year. Aaaah, I dunno. I still like him, though. Funny guy.

@Iamshmee We are in complete agreement. An online co-op mode is a fine idea. Games like Dead Rising 2, Dead Island and Fable 2 did it afterall. (Sidenote: Dead Island did perhaps push it a bit too far, effectively ending up as co-op game, that you could play alone.. though you might not enjoy it). Special mention to Dark Souls, which is a complete singleplayer behemoth, BUT did something really interesting online, with its complete anonimity and freedom to invade other peoples campaigns and help or destroy them. You are of course right, Mass Effect 3 is the last game - for now. But if you were to catch a recent Hotspot where the executive producer of the game pays a visit, you'd learn that they are completely open to the idea of more Mass Effect games in the future. He even states that it's up to the fans. And sadly (for us two), it's quite likely that many will see a fullblown MMO as the next step. But, that's all speculation. Singleplayer prequels, origin-stories or side-stories seem much more interesting to me at least. The world of Mass Effect has a seriously rich and detailed history, so there ain't exactly a shortage on stories worth telling in game-form...