**XBOX ONE** Official Thread

Looking at the back of the console it looks like the new Kinect will be wired to the console which is impossible for my setup. What are the chances of a wireless adaptor even if a separate power supply is needed?
 
ps3ud0 said:
For most, the news is neither here or there though...
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Although it seemed to get brought up as a negative somewhat compared to Sony when some were saying MS had abandoned indie developers and wouldn't allow self publishing... Oddly now it's neither here nor there... :eek:;)
 
Macro said:
Although it seemed to get brought up as a negative somewhat compared to Sony when some were saying MS had abandoned indie developers and wouldn't allow self publishing... Oddly now it's neither here nor there... :eek:;)
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Of course its a negative, have a look at anyone prominent in gaming and 8/10 times they were a lowly indie dev early in their career - its quite amazing why MS would want to turn their back on them. I guess its hard for them not to understand if people dont use the words 'Metro' and 'Apps' when talking about the XO :p

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Macro said:
Although quiet clearly they didn't... :confused:
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Erm yeah they did, XNA update development ended at the start of the year, well publicised hurdles to get stuff onto the platform. Its all out there...

Hell just look at the comments from indie devs in the article you linked thats been updated. No one seems to be embracing MSs new policy, more lets wait and see.

MS really have done themselves no favours in how theyve continually poorly treated indie developers.

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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XNA is no longer in development but presumably C++ and Direct X is viable and potentially gives a dev access to the entire windows platform as a market, not just Xbox one..

In any case, MS has certainly not abandoned Indie developers, all retail Xbox ones will work as dev debug kits, they will allow self publishing and have already dropped the $10k charge for indies to re-cert/publish their app after patching and the removal of Live Arcade means Indie games/apps will be found in the main marketplace/store along with big publisher games rather than being relegated to a less visible section tucked away. Why so bitter about any positive news on Xbox One?
 
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Macro said:
XNA is no longer in development but presumably C++ and Direct X is viable and potentially gives a dev access to the entire windows platform as a market, not just Xbox one..

In any case, MS has certainly not abandoned Indie developers, all retail Xbox ones will work as dev debug kits, they will allow self publishing and are looking to speed up/reduce expense of certification programs with more news to follow. Why so bitter about any positive news on Xbox One?
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Im not bitter at all - which is why I said to some the news is neither here or there (to some indie games are a blight) - its you that wanted to make a cute point ;)

Its great MS are doing (another) u-turn in policy regards self-publishing, just seems far too little, too late. I dont understand why something that should already be happening and is only happening because of wide criticism rather than actual gamer/developer-centric thinking is actually good news.

Not sure why we should applaud a decision when every other game platform already allows this and has done for years...

EDIT: Without XNA you have to develop using Win 8 tools supposedly to get stuff on the XO - supposedly thats not the same access AAA developers get as they obviously have proper dev kits etc...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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ps3ud0 said:
Its great MS are doing (another) u-turn in policy regards self-publishing, just seems far too little, too late. I dont understand why something that should already be happening and is only happening because of wide criticism rather than actual gamer/developer-centric thinking is actually good news.
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As far as I'm aware MS had never said it wouldn't support self publishing on Xbox One and isn't making any kind U-turn, they had previously only said they had nothing to announce yet. I could be wrong and happy to be proved so if there's a direct quote from MS but it seems to me much of the anti dev "news" has been FUD. Not previously having announced self publishing support on Xbox One is not the same as not allowing.

As for the dev environment MSDN, VS, C#, C++ and Direct X gives access to some of the best developer tools in the industry. Retail Xbox Ones being dev units at $500 are substantially cheaper than PS4 Obis dev units unless Sony now does a U-Turn to allow Retail PS4 to act as debug units as well. Sure some people that were skilled in XNA and not Direct X will be annoyed but then C++ & DX are hardly niche environments with no devs. The potential market when you take into account Windows across PC and Xbox for an Indie is huge.

Add the removal of recert fees and talk of speeding up initial cert and publishing as well as inclusion in the main store and it's a pretty compelling story for a dev.
 
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You may find this at least a bit interesting:

http://www.shacknews.com/article/79309/xbox-one-wont-allow-indies-to-self-publish-games
And apparently, Xbox One won't change how Microsoft approaches indie games.

When asked if developers will still need a publisher to get content onto Xbox Live, Matt Booty, general manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms, told us that "as of right now, yes. We intend to continue to court developers in the ways that we have."

He did add that "I would also expect that for this new generation, that we're going to continue to explore new business models and new ways of surfacing content. But Microsoft Studios is a publisher that works with a wide range of partners, as do a lot of other people, to bring digital content to the box."
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I think its fair to say they were looking to keep policy as was for the XO - Im sure youll argue semantics though :)

Its good theyve changed their tune though, be interesting to see what indie devs do, some of which are infamously fickle :p:
Independent game developers such as Minecraft's Markus "Notch" Persson said that "I tried to get excited about the Xbox One, but failed.".
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ps3ud0 :cool:
 
ps3ud0 said:
You may find this at least a bit interesting:

http://www.shacknews.com/article/79309/xbox-one-wont-allow-indies-to-self-publish-games

I think its fair to say they were looking to keep policy as was for the XO - Im sure youll argue semantics though :)

Its good theyve changed their tune though, be interesting to see what indie devs do, some of which are infamously fickle :p:


ps3ud0 :cool:
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I take it you deliberately managed to ignore the bit in your own quote which said He did add "I would also expect that for this new generation, that we're going to continue to explore new business models and new ways of surfacing content." :confused::eek: Which seems a pretty clear statement they were not just going to keep things exactly the same as 360.

So no where did he say they would not support self publishing on Xbox One, hence no U-Turn or change of tune... It never happened, as far as I can see it's just FUD.
 
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Dan Marshall, whose latest game Gun Monkeys has just been released on PC, is more optimistic. "It's hard to be grumpy about these things now," he says. "Good on them, they've been paying attention and they're making strides in the right direction...

...Marshall is also unconcerned about any technical limits that might accompany a development environment running on a retail machine. "From a certain point of view, it's brilliant," he says. "Dev kits go for around $15,000 – well as an indie, that's $15,000 that I can now spend on better graphics or polishing bugs or nicer music. It instantly opens doors. We're in this era of Unity and of engines and middleware doing a lot of the heavy lifting for you. In all honestly, I don't have the time or the technical understanding to be dicking around with the memory access or graphics processing unit. That stuff's vital if you're making Gran Turismo 6, but if you have a small indie team, you're not going to need that raw power
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Alex Zoro, founder of PixelToys, saw Microsoft's move coming, but expected more information by now. "Microsoft has historically been open to indies but I'm surprised they didn't announce more at E3," he says. "They haven't handled the PR in a way that's done them any favours, and we still don't know much about what they're proposing. I presume they are moving toward the openness of the Apple store, and if you look at the increasing integration between Microsoft's platforms, they need an integration of policies. Also, we don't really know Sony's policies either; they've talked about being open, but both manufacturers will have agreements that you have to sign up to; I'm sure the wording on those won't yet be finalised on either machine. Nothing is clear at the moment."

Zoro also questions the idea that working within retail machines will limit indie developers in what they can achieve. "If you look at the way that people develop for mobile devices now, there's no special hardware, everyone is using the devices themselves – it's about having adequate tools to get the debug information that you want. If Microsoft builds enough of the diagnostics into the machine, then in the same way you can build a high quality iPhone game, you can do that for the Xbox One as well."
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Whilst the details remain to be seen at Gamescon the definitive statement at the moment is:

Xbox business VP Marc Whitten "Our vision is that every person can be a creator," he declared to Engadget. "That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox LIVE. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We'll have more details on the programme and the timeline at Gamescom in August."

Taken on face value it seems a good opportunity for indie devs, in particular if using HTML5, JS, C++, C# and DirectX gives their apps and games access to the potentially massive market of the Windows 8 and WP8 store with minimal changes.
 
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I hope I'm wrong, but Ryse doesn't look all that interesting from what I've seen. The bit I did see where you're advancing towards a line of archers looked really dull, just a load of hints up on screen to say "press this, do this". It just seemed boring.
 
ScarySquirrel said:
I hope I'm wrong, but Ryse doesn't look all that interesting from what I've seen. The bit I did see where you're advancing towards a line of archers looked really dull, just a load of hints up on screen to say "press this, do this". It just seemed boring.
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I read a while ago that the developers themselves regret that demo, as it focused too much on the QTEs, which are not meant to be as big a part of the game as they appeared to be. I like the look of it, but it's one game where I'm going to wait to see some proper gameplay nearer to release before deciding if I want it or not. Considering I'm already looking at 6 games on release (the wife wants me to get Lego Marvel as well as the 5 I posted earlier), it's one I'll probably pass on for a while.
 
ps3ud0 said:
Independent game developers such as Minecraft's Markus "Notch" Persson said that "I tried to get excited about the Xbox One, but failed.".
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ps3ud0 :cool:
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Interesting, although somehow, entirely by accident I'm sure, you managed to miss off the rest of the sentence which reads:
"...Persson said following the console's reveal event before admitting that he will be getting one.

"I'm getting one, though. The 360 is my favourite current gen console, and the One seems to be a nice upgrade, plus the controller looks good."
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I'm sure it was a honest mistake and not a selective quote trying to score anti Xbox One points in the Xbox One thread of course.

The same interview with Persson also starts with some interesting context and background
"Got a vip invitation to an e3 event from sony in the form of a gold colored psone. Wow," Persson wrote on a Twitter with a picture of the gold PSone console.
That wasn't all though.
"Sony also once sent me an original copy of Dungeon Master 2 they had lying around for some reason," he said. "They sure know how to bribe nerds."
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As a matter of interest another quote from Persson was published today.
Minecraft creator Markus Persson says the ability to use 'any Xbox One' for game development is 'a wonderful idea'.

Persson commented, "I think it's a wonderful idea to have the actual box be the dev kits." He went on, "This makes it easier for both the developer and for Microsoft, and presumably they could make it a lot cheaper since they'd only sell unlock codes."

"I realize there are other factors at play here, though, like a perceived need to make sure only 'legitimate' developers get access to it, so a monetary barrier might still be in place," noted Persson.
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Surprisingly he doesn't seem to mention PS4 at all.. ;)
 
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