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Microsoft: "Delivering More Choices" (Kinect-less XB1 $399)

Mercedes

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In the run-up to E3, Microsoft has just announced quite a few new things which will be happening for Xbox One in the near future. It seems like the new Xbox Team has been hard at work reversing quite a lot of what the old Xbox Team set about to do and to remain competitive with the extremely successful Sony Playstation 4.

You can read the entire news article below at the link, written by the new Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, but here are the main bits and a minor explanation of some. Rather than the sometimes long-winded explanations to just say "FREE GAMES!!!11"

xbox said:
  • "First, beginning on June 9th, in all markets where Xbox One is sold, we will offer Xbox One starting at $399 (RRP). This is a new console option that does not include Kinect." - Releases June 9th, with a standalone Kinect to come later for any who want one. Price for the Kinect alone is unconfirmed but expect around $75 - $100.

  • "Free games with Games with Gold" - All Xbox'ers (both 360 and One) will get a free game per month, 1 of them retail and 1 of them being a choice between 2 digital games. These are then your games, and can be played anytime. You do not lose them at the end of the month. 1 Xbox Live Gold membership will entitle a user to this on both their Xbox One and Xbox 360, if you have both.

  • "Deals with Gold" - Xbox Live Gold members will get discounts on titles. A VIP room for Xbox One Gold members will feature free games, deals, and other benefits every month. 50% - 75% are the suggested price drops you'll see, but whether they'll get into Steam territory we will have to see.

  • "Popular entertainment apps will be available for all Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners." - Entertainment stuff will no longer be hidden behind the Xbox Gold subscription paywall. So no more paying a subscription to then use a service you pay a subscription to use like Netflix.

http://news.xbox.com/2014/05/xbox-delivering-more-choices

So the old Xbox unveiled at the original E3 is... pretty much gone now, so much has changed on the software side. And begs the question why couldn't these guys have been in charge from the start?

It seems like Microsoft wanted to get these out of the way prior to E3, rather than clog up their limited presentation time announcing these. Makes more room for the games, and if the recent leaked line-ups of both Microsoft and Sony's conferences are anything to go by it's probably good that they did because it's going to be packed with a lot of titles, which may include a reboot of Perfect Dark from Rare and likely will include news on up-coming titles like Sunset Overdrive and Quantum Break.

Good moves? Leave a comment!

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Forgive what may seem like arrogance on my part, but I simply don't care. I've never been a huge supporter of Microsoft when it came to its gaming division, and that had little chance of changing when the Xbox One was revealed and eventually released. I've been quite loyal to the Playstation brand for a pretty long time now, and I don't have any regrets when it comes to buying the PS2 and the PS3 that I still own and that are still working in good condition. I'm going to pick up a PS4 once it inevitably picks up more compelling software, and when it hopefully gets some form of price drop.

The Xbox One may be awesome, and these new changes may be enough to entice potential buyers, but my mind was made up quite a long time ago. I don't really have the money to comfortably drop on the last next-gen console I don't own, and unless there's just some insane price drops coming that end up being vastly smaller than the PS4, there's no reason for me to do so. Again, this isn't bashing Microsoft or Xbox One; there's just nothing right now that could conceivably make me switch from Sony and the PS4.
 

misskitten

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I wish they could disclose information about what games (just tried searching for it), I'd be much more inclined to give Gold a try if I knew if it would be worth it.
 

Mercedes

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I wish they could disclose information about what games (just tried searching for it), I'd be much more inclined to give Gold a try if I knew if it would be worth it.

Well, this month for 360 they're Dark Souls, Charlie Murder, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. And for Xbox One, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault. So not brand new games, except for Max I suppose, but they're not exactly old I'd say. Selection will likely improve when it's been going for a little while and there's more games for XB1.
 

Salem

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Finally, I think a lot of us expected this to happen. Well, I was gonna get a PS4, but the X-Box seems slightly more tempting.
 
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Justac00lguy

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I'm with Vergo in that I don't really care for Microsoft and the Xbox One. Sure my main console was the Xbox 360, but I much preferred the PS3 as I only used the Xbox to play more with friends and whatnot. On the topic of the Xbox One though, it could have grasped my attention at E3 last year, but it failed in miserably, in my eyes, of trying to sell to console with a number of off putting things. So to me this just seems a year late, and I guess it's still a positive, but the console itself fell so short of what should have been an exciting new leap into the future of gaming failed so bad that I couldn't care one bit. For me it's damage limitation at this point and the only way for it capture my interest is with "quality" exclusives.
 
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Mercedes

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Finally, I think a lot of us expected this to happen. Well, I was gonna get a PS4 but, not the X-Box seems slightly more tempting.

Just wait till E3 and get whichever you like the games of more. Now that Microsoft has pretty much matched what Sony offers there's not much that differentiates them bar the games; the PS4 is more powerful, and the Xbox One has more features. Pretty much it. :P One of those might interest someone more, which pegs one console higher, but now it's more about the games than ever!
 

Triforce Hermit

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Xbox is still going to be last on my list of consoles for this generation. Unless Phil Spencer can restore my trust as a consumer, I have very little faith in the X1 and will stay with my 360.
 

Mercedes

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So Microsoft has just announced something quite cool; if you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription when these new changes come in and want to cancel it, since a lot of stuff is now no longer behind a pay-wall, they will refund you however many days you had left. Nice little touch they didn't have to do and I like it when the big companies do these little things. Just in case it applies to anyone!
 

Fig

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I'm very certain that everyone was expecting for this change to happen sometime in the future. While I myself a support of Microsoft and the Xbox One, it really is nice that they are deciding to make this change as soon as possible, and in time for E3 no less. Since the Kinect will not be bundle with the system, I feel that Microsoft is going to let the accessory die off as there really isn't a lot of games that focus in using the Kinect and there isn't a lot of developers who are looking into using the Kinect as the main focus in their games, but who knows, maybe something might occur this E3. I know I don't have a lot thoughts about Microsoft, but I do believe these videos do explain what the situation in a better light:

[video=youtube;_LDSz4drzQ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LDSz4drzQ0[/video]

[video=youtube;2HBgUn7Yy2Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HBgUn7Yy2Q[/video]

[video=youtube;0m1hqkTea2I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m1hqkTea2I[/video]

[video=youtube;VxIv7CWoV-I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxIv7CWoV-I[/video]
 

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