@graffitiheart: I think I may go back to PC, not for gaming, I will always prefer playing on a console, but rather because I used to really enjoy doing mods and improving games and creating emulators.
I was watching a video on the Jailbreaking of the Ps4 and was fascinated to discover they successfully got Linux installed on the thing. I read through the instruction set and found that they discovered that the Southbridge isn't really a Southbridge, its actually an ARM, but they use it to their advantage. The PS4 isn't a PC either, it's a cheap set of Sony proprietary hardware that emulates and mimics legacy PC and x86/64 arcitecture. I always thought that the easiest way in would be to eventually hack the GDDR5 RAM, which is still a possibility, or to install a modded system update file through a usb drive. Instead, they got in through the PCIE and the serial port. In other words its easy to get in but difficult to get running you have to emulate the timer and everything else Linux needs from legacy to operate.
Fascinating stuff, but again I digress....
I left out a lot of detail but it's rather boring to people who aren't long time computer geeks... I can hear my wife snoring in the background whenever I talk to my geeky friends, or when I pull out the ZX Spectrum 128 that I modified to run on NTSC and has an old cell phone as a "tape recorder", which loads games from .wav files stored on a micro SD card in the phone. The hardest part of that was to get the game speed running correctly, which required timing it against another spectrum (64) running on a PAL television which were borrowed from a friend. That was years ago and it took months, but I got to play Jet Set Willy and Sabrewulf!
Kind of went off on another tangent, didn't I?
Anyway, I may have to get a PS4, not to jailbreak it, rather because my wife really wants to play more Hatsune Miku...
@livedreamplay: You choose teams like my dad used to. Its called the anti-fan but its still choosing sides, whether you cheer for or against them. It's the team you complain about. One year he was against the Dallas Cowboys, complaining about how they were totally messed up, no defense, bad coach, etc. He wanted every team to beat the cowboys. The next year it was the Redskins he hated because "The Cowboys had improved but the Redskins are just nasty." It switched about every two or three years but he always had a team he hated on. Just like him, you chose the team to hate, when the tide turns, you will switch sides again. But you have chosen a side, anyone can win except the one you hate right now.
@graffitiheart: I suppose I should clarify my original statement about games being cheaper on PC. If you know where to look is the keyword I didn't use. An excellent example of this is Recore. I was shopping on my phone at the windows store when Recore was on sale for $20 on the Xbox store. I actually started the purchase of the game then clicked cancel. 2 minutes later, I got an email from Microsoft, with a $5 off coupon. I then purchased the game for $15, which is installed on my Toshiba and on my Xbox.
By the way it's not a bad game, fan expectations were just too high.
That's the key, there are promo codes and coupons and so on that you can find online for PC games, even windows games that aren't available on PS4 or Xbox One console stores. You just need to know where to look.
Since you mentioned Tomb Raider I decided to do some steam shopping, to see if I could get it cheaper than list price. I switched to £ to get an accurate price since exchange rates fluctuate daily.
After two promo codes and some jiggery pokery I got it down to £20.95, which is pretty good considering I was also negotiating for the DLC package included version. If you want the coupon code I'll be happy to share it with you. If Game is still like it was when I was last across the pond, you can sometimes haggle a better deal out of the shop on a used copy. We do it all the time here in America and I rarely pay list price on used games. New games are non negotiable, but when bundled with used games, you can reduce the overall cost so it appears that you got an average discount on everything, but that's completely off topic and unimportant right now.
As I said I prefer physical copies and hate digital only. At any time they could deactivate your purchase and there are no refunds. Also, what happens when Xbox is retired and Xbox live support ends? Do your digital purchases disappear also? This could also be said of modern physical copies, as most require a day one patch just to work and much of the content is sold later in DLC. With that, physical copies have little value until hackers can find a way to jailbreak the systems and preserve the digital data for future use. 360 data is being archived but some of it may end up lost forever, like some original Xbox game DLC has.
But I digress...
Since we will probably never come to an agreement, then instead of case closed, how about case dismissed?
A note on your statement about selling at a loss. Projections indicated that Xbox 360 console sales would become profitable by 2008. Because of red ring of death, they sold Xbox 360 at a loss until end of fiscal year 2010. Since then, PS3, 360, PS4, and Xbox one were sold at a price that turned a profit on every unit sold, mostly due to the technology being more common and more plentiful. The 360 and PS3 featured innovation and new tech that was being tested in the machines. Just involving bluray and HD DVD, cell processors, Power PC arcitecture, and having IBM on both teams must have cost a pretty penny. With PS4 and Xbox One, they went to cheap compatible components that could be bought "off the shelf", so to say. This was partially to make the systems PC compatible, but mostly because with current components, the systems cost one third of the MSRP, which means they were profitable on day one. Kinect raised the overall cost by $30 which is why the XB1 was launched at $100 more than PS4. So, today we are back on good old x86 which means the Xbox One is just an upgraded original Xbox.. I guess we should call it the first HD remaster of a console?
Xbox has taken risks, I grant that, but it is nothing like it used to be. On OXB we had a ton of new and different games. Many first party, many exclusives, and some of the best Japanese games out there (Panzer Dragoon Otra, Ninja Gaiden Black and DOA come to mind.) This continued into the 360. Ace combat 6, Kameo, Viva Piñata, Blue Dragon, DOA 4, Project Gotham Racing, Forza I could go on for hours! The point is on Xbox one they tried three new games in three years and cancelled 15, andthere are only a handful of Xbox one exclusives that have been released. In the same time frame 360 had 85 and original had 74. What does that tell you?
@livedreamplay: But you just said you ar bashing Xbox this generation and Sony last generation, regardless of why you picked sides, you did choose a team.
@7tizz: I am not on anyone's bandwagon. Personally I prefer Jim Sterling. You see, that's the problem. It isn't a matter of being a fan of someone or not. I can honestly say I am not a Joe fan but I like what he said in this video, even if I don't agree with him totally or even sometimes at all.
Most people nowdays get instantly offended whenever someone doesnt agree with them 100% of the time. They accuse them of bias and dismiss their opinions as unworthy. They then reject the person as invalid because their thoughts are "wrong" to them.. Personally I seek out knowledge and differing opinion to help me expand my own intellect and understanding. If you are so closed minded and egotistical, then I feel sorry for you. Nathaniel Branden called it the Zero complex, and too many people have it today.
In regards to Joe, at least his rant was entertaining, I spent years studying body language to discern if someone is honest or genuine and can safely say Joe was truly upset. He lashes out with anger and instantly laughs it off. On many of his reviews he acts angry, but it is an act, for entertainment. This is just a short reaction video.
There, now you don't have to watch it and can still hate Angry Joe.
@graffitiheart: Okay, clarification for the illiterates. You speculated, here, on this post, in this article, in 2017, "Are you threatened by a game console?" Back then, on past articles, in 2013, Xbox fanboys said we were (and I paraphrase) "threatened by Xbox". I used the similarity to emphasize the fact that fanboys in general would rather question your motives than try to understand the reason you have complaints. The idea that I made the suggestion that you were there fighting us in 2013 is utter nonsense.
Don't they teach simple comprehension in schools any more?
As for resting my case, it was a fantastic point to end on, but as we have seen from the first paragraph, along with this being the third time I have had to explain the subject to you, and since you lack any comprehensive skills, I will use smaller words.
Since Xbox and Steam sell games in digital format these are comparable products, value-wise. A digital copy of Battlefield 1 can be purchased for $10 less, on average, using Steam as opposed to the Xbox store. The Steam version will also have better graphics quality and keyboard & mouse support which are more desirable and of greater value to the customer. A physical copy is not a comparable product as it retains a resale value that digital versions do not and can not be instantly activated at the point of purchase.
Used copies also do not count as they are 1. Used and 2. Download codes are usually redeemed by the previous owner leaving you with less product than a new purchase.
So the "cost effective" argument, as you so hilariously put it, was never at the door because it was never a consideration. Value for money is the main topic and Steam has just been proven to have more value for money over your new digital and physical as well as used physical Xbox version.
I, again, rest my Case!
With Xbox slowly becoming nothing more than a Windows 10 app, it means that you are absolutely right that they do not need to sell cheap hardware, but they do keep making it cheaper in build quality and cheaper in price. Then they spend billions of dollars in advertising during the 2016 holiday season to shill their cheap hardware in prime time, during major sports programs, on the internet, and on product placement. If they don't need to sell consoles, then why did they break advertising spending records trying?
And why wasn't that money spent making games instead?
Complacency and apathy are the greatest threats to innovation and growth.if the customer is too ignorant to see the possibilities, why bother making them reality. Those without imagination or a desire for something better and greater will tell those that do that they should go elsewhere because they are happy in their stagnant little world. I expect more and better and do not desire to live in your shallow stagnant pool.
@7tizz: Watch Angry Joe's video on Scalebound, there is genuine fan passion he expresses when he calls them out. It's not a bias, he is genuinely upset with the cancellation and Microsoft actions. Only an angry fan of Xbox would say what he does in the video.
As mentioned below in another post, i am an Xbox fan. We have 3 360's, 2 original Xbox, and two Xbox One S.. All are limited edition consoles.. Our total Xbox library is over 600 games. My kids have a ton of Halo toys I wear halo and gears shirts, my Rare studios jacket and have many steelbox collectors edition games.
In my other post I mentioned that Xbox is giving us poo this generation. Blind fanboys eat this poo and ask for more. Real fans refuse the turd and say "No more!" I am one of them.
During Xbox one launch I made a total menace of myself to Microsoft and to other fanboys on places like this.
I was shouting I don't want DRM, and Always Online. I hate Kinect! Xbox is not a cable box! I want physical copies of games! And so on.
Fanboys like yourself said I was "threatened by xbox" (yep, you said it too) but there was one thing you may not have noticed.It was people like me who raised such a stink that Microsoft had to listen to our demands for less turds. Especially since many of us refused to buy the turd on day one. We waited until 2015 and some waited longer.
We can make a difference again if we refuse to accept their crap! We want xbox exclusives to stay on xbox ONLY!!! We want more exclusive games on xbox and no more cancellations!!! If one party cant make a game work then find someone who can!!!
I have to touch on your talking out my arse comment. Ever buy a game on Steam? Is it usually cheaper on Steam than on Xbox? Duh, yeah? I rest my case.
@7tizz: If they piss on your cake then they have Bias... Bullcrap. If they kiss your butt are they unbiased?
Does that mean I am not a true Xbox fan because I am pissed at them for giving away the farm to the pc master race? Does this mean I am not a fan because I call them out for treating gamers like idiots, making stupid moves closing studios, cancelling games, treating Xbox One as a sub pc Windows Phone, or making third party multiplatform games be the only selling point of the Xbox?
No,
We have Two XB1's, we use Windows phones (simple compatible, and cheap), we have three 360's and two original Xboxes.
We have over 200 Xbox games, 400 360 games, and 20 xb1 games.
I proudly wear my Halo and Gears of War T-shirts, weather permitting, and own a Rare Studios jacket.
My kids have tons of Halo mega blocks and halo figures, and I have every collectors edition Halo and Gears set to date. In the living room is our Halo 4 360, our Battlefield 1 Xbox One S and our Green Halo original Xbox.
Am I not a fan?
I can smell a turd when it's under my nose and Microsoft keeps dropping them in front of us this generation.
Am I biased? Heck yeah! Everyone is! But we have to look at what we want, and if we accept the turds microsoft offers we will end up with a pile of crap. That is what the Xbox one will become and King of the turds is Phil Spencer.
Am I not a fan because I want gold instead of turds?
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