This needs its own thread. This had to happen. The system would have flopped otherwise. It may still flop as this has been a PR nightmare for Microsoft.
Their PR has been fucking awful so far; glad they've seen sense on this as it would have stopped me from considering getting one at all. Shame they're dropping that digital family sharing thing for now; that sounded good.
Now it's just a bigger, more expensive box, with a weaker GPU. At least those are the only factors against it now. I guess if you're interested in Kinect the value is fairly favourable.
And it's now official, with an announcement from Microsoft: http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/update To sum things up: -No more always online requirement -The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours -All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360 -Authentication is no longer necessary -An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console -All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline -No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs -Region locks have been dropped Next up is for Microsoft to respond to overwhelming negative feedback about Windows 8 and bring back the start menu and the Aero interface with Windows 9. I don't know what it is with Microsoft, but every few years they get their heads stuck up their own asses. They did this same shit with Windows Vista, and it took the overwhelming spite of the public to bring them back to reality and give us a real OS with Windows 7.
I think after the success of the Xbox 360 and Windows 7 they've gotten very full of themselves and think they can get away with being dicks.
They had to do something to sell this console as no one was going to buy it. Personally I am still going for PS4 first and because both use subscription models now for online will only pay for one and that will be PSN. The fact that X1 is still £80 more plus I would need to buy a headset for it is a factor in this. As for Windows 8 I am getting a bit a bit fed up if hearing people complain about the lack of a start menu. The 'metro' UI is a start menu, just a big graphical one. In theory it is faster to use than the old one as you don't have to go into sub menus anymore. Windows 8 is just windows 7 with a new start menu and the option to use apps but people seem to just moan about it for the sake of it. Haven't used my start menu for years in 7, it is so old fashioned. Pin everything to your task bar that you use a lot and for anything else hit the windows key and type 2 or 3 digits from its name and press return. The same thing applies in Windows 8. I have Windows 8 64 bit on a test system at work doing everything Windows 7 does with the only difference being 8 runs faster! The only one issue I have been able to find is that M$ removed native support for the old xml4 parser but you can still install it with the installer, just dumping msxml4.DLL into system32 and registering it won't work. M$ are not going to change course, apps on the store are going to be here to stay and they want an easy way to get these working between all of your devices. Whether you like it or not people use less and less of desktops and laptops, especially at home but phones and tablets are more convenient. Win8 isn't killing PC sales, the fact that you can't just pick them up and instantly use them is. I probably use my laptop at home for no more than 2 hours a month now.
The main thing that has killed PC sales is that ever since the Core 2 Conroe came out in 2006, PC hardware has been too powerful for its own good. Very few people need anything more powerful than a Core 2 Duo. The days where you needed to buy a new PC every two or three years are ancient history. But Windows 8 hasn't helped either. It's too radical of a departure from what consumers are used to, and they just flat out don't want it. Tablets have very little to do with the decline in PC sales. In fact, I think tablets have been massively overblown and overhyped by the media. They're kind of like the Nintendo Wii of the computer world. People buy them because they're trendy, and they always end up collecting dust after awhile because they just aren't that useful. Everyone I know who bought an iPad stopped using it and went back to a laptop. Last time I was at my brother's house, his iPad was lying on the floor in a corner. He said he never uses it. And he's someone who used to rave about "the post-PC era" and how tablets were the next big thing.
Maybe things are different here but it is computers that are collecting dust everywhere I go. Even the 62 year old senior partner of my firm relies on his iPhone/iPad combination and never uses his PCs anymore. He went to France yesterday and took them both to pick up his mail and to work on using the iPad keyboard he purchased. The Core2 isn't that great. Our 5/6 year old Core2 systems are all being replaced with ivy bridge i5's as we speak as they have gotten too slow. The partners of my firm don't like it when they have to wait 5+ seconds for something to load.
Lack of an SSD causes slow loading, not a Core 2 vs a Core i5. In fact, a Core 2 with an SSD will run circles around an i5 with a mechanical HDD. Britain is a unique situation because PCs never became affordable there like they did in the US. Even budget laptops cost an arm and a leg there, so it doesn't surprise me that people buy tablets. I remember phisix and armadeadn were looking at laptops, and something with a Core i3 was the equivalent of $800 USD. I've seen Lenovo Ideapads with i7s and discrete video for that much here. With your outrageous PC prices I also understand why PC gaming never caught on there the way it has in the US. It also doesn't sound like the partners you're talking about do real work on the machines. Tablets are useless for work.
Maybe Microsoft will learn from this debacle, although that seems unlikely. They should stop trying to TELL people what thus want and instead GIVE people what they want.
M$ and thier oppressive attitude towards gamer culture have totally put me off. Why would I buy the slower, more expensive machine with a big brother camera just for halo? I'll do what many others will - buy the faster cheaper machine and wait for the enevitable loss of face discounting that the xbox will suffer and buy one then. M$ have no hope for the first year of release after this debacle - shit sticks and stinks and this PR disaster honks.
So you prefer Win7 to Win8 because it has Aero and an archaic start menu but Vista is the suxxorz? Makes sense.... Aero is shit, modern UI looks way better. Even OS X die-hards think modern UI is attractive and secretly wish Apple would copy it. Windows 8 definitely needs a lot of work. For one, it needs to optimize its functionality depending on what input it detects. They should allow for the option of a mini start menu, still a similar layout to the full screen one, but for desktop users who don't want to break away from what they are doing completely when multi-tasking. Everything else 8.1 seems to be fixing by the looks of it. But the cry babies want their archaic start menu and shiny aero transparency. I actually think MS had the right idea with the XB One originally. Just 3 things: Firstly, they pitched it badly, it could have easily been spun as a good thing at first, making it optional for those who want to opt in an enjoy easy game sharing without the need for discs. Secondly, the majority of console gamers are a bit behind the times. Last, they just aren't the company to do it. Steam can do it because they're just a store front and Valve had an amazing image in the community.There are games on steam that act just like what MS proposed without the sharing, but others that can be played offline without any caveats. Some can even be purchased on steam but then run independently without steam. MS just didn't handle this well at all.
Only if you ignore the actual statistics and statements from PC makers themselves. They all seem to be able to acknowledge that tablets and smartphones have had a major impact on PC sales.
Monkey is talking crazy. In reality laptops are collecting dust. There is no need for them day to day when a tablet will do. In fact, with the Note 2, my tablet sees less usage.
@Fusion So the future is bland, flat color schemes and icons, a big, clunky screen in place of a sleek, streamlined menu, and mobile apps on desktops and laptops? Yeah that makes sense. Or maybe the future is firing that fucking idiot Balmer, throwing Metro and the ribbon in the dumpster, and listening to what people actually want instead of trying to tell them what they think they should want. People like Windows 7. It's the best desktop and laptop OS yet. All they had to do was get rid of the ribbon and tweak it to make it faster and more secure and everyone would have been happy. No one save for a few Microsoft apologists wants Windows 8. They scuttled a great laptop/desktop OS to make room for Windows tablets that no one is buying. Also, I stand by what I said about tablets being the Nintendo Wii of the computing world. Keep in mind, the Wii also sold well initially. Sales dropped off a cliff once people started realizing it was a useless gimmick. Expect the same thing to happen with tablets. Everyone I know who bought an iPad got bored with it and threw it in a corner to collect dust just like the Wii. This "post PC era" stuff is just marketing bullshit. It's the same kind of thing we heard about how motion controls were going to change gaming. Back in reality, people want things that work, not fucking gimmicks.
But did they go back to a laptop? Or did they find they didn't need any device in the first place? I'm of the opinion, people using laptops for casual browsing can replace it with a tablet. Mine stays near my tv for looking up junk on the fly. I also bring it when I visit my parents, instead of lugging around a laptop like before. I don't actually use the tablet a lot, so you might have a point. But if I could only pick a laptop and tablet, I'd go with a tablet. Of course, if it's some complicated thing, then a real computer becomes a necessity.
Monkey your argument is ridiculously flawed. What percentage of Core 2 systems around the world you think have SSDs in them? Hell SSD's are still a custom part and not the norm now. I would guess that 99% of all Core 2 systems still being used in the world today have mechanical drives with speeds ranging from 5400-7200RPM depending on what the person spent back in the day. The fact is that all of these system will be suffering and running just as slow as we are seeing at work. People are not buying new PC's because they are buying smartphones and tablets, especially for their children who want convenient ways to browse the internet, send a bit of mail and watch BBC iPlayer! Then they boot the PC, realise it is going to take 5-10 minutes and remember why they got a tablet!