This postcard written by a child about Xbox went in a time capsule today. Did he foretell the future already?

This postcard written by a child about Xbox went in a time capsule today. Did he foretell the future already? Here's the story of how this made it into the time capsule.

How much does Xbox One cost? Your soul is the simple answer

I see a large expense in my future

Microsoft has announced that the Xbox One will be available November 2013 and it will cost US $499.99. The Xbox 360 launched for $399.99 back in 2005 so either it has some expensive parts of Microsoft wants to really cream the cash when it launches. Probably both.

There will be a single SKU and it will cost €499 and £429 in other territories and will launch all over the world on the same day.

Thanks to Xbox One we now know why EA 'REALLY' dropped its online pass programme

Last week it was reported that EA was doing away with its stupid online pass programme. And everyone went "yay! That nasty evil corporation (that makes FANTASTIC video games) has finally come to its senses". Kinda.

EA was quoted as saying: “Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn’t respond to the format”

“We’ve listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward.”

Which all sounded like some corporate bullshit. And now that the Xbox reveal has happened, that bullshit is confirmed.

You see there is now no need for EA to have such a system as the Xbox One is going to do it for them with it’s registration of games to specific XBL accounts requirement.

This way the spread of second hand games is somewhat muted as EA will continue to be able to get people to pay for their games at retail rather than by way of the second hand market as punters will be engineered down that path by the Xbox One.

Rather nice timing for EA to get their announcement out a week or two before the Xbox One reveal  to get build some respect / lurve from the gaming community wasn't it? 

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not really complaining about the new Xbox One system to connect software to an XBL account. After all, that disk that you buy with the latest Call of Duty on it is all you own, you actually are licensing the COD software for use, you never actually own that. 

DLC is tied to an Xbox account and no one really complains about that - this new approach by Xbox to games is simply the same principle. 

This is really just an example of technology catching up to the needs of the software vendors to help them extract better 'economic rents' for their very large investments'. 

But how much does it annoy you?

Xbox: there can only be ONE

Here's the details of the new Xbox, known as 'One'. I shall be calling mine Neo in honour of the Highlander or something...

Here's what TVNZ repeated on the announcement. A Halo TV series produced by Steven Speilberg sounds pretty cool:

Microsoft has given the world a first look at its new Xbox One, announcing that its first gaming console in eight years will come with exclusive video and software content, including a Halo series produced by Steven Spielberg.

The Xbox One, which will be available later this year at a price yet to be announced, will also be the first platform to release the next installment in Activision Blizzard's blockbuster shooter franchise, Call of Duty.

Microsoft hopes its third-generation console will attract video game fans who are increasingly sampling games on mobile devices, while also becoming a hub for living room entertainment.

The console took four years to develop and will launch worldwide "later this year", games unit chief Don Mattrick told reporters at an event at the software company's campus near Seattle, without providing details on timing or pricing.

The device's launch came after months of intense speculation on industry blogs about what new features it might sport.

The new device interacts with a television, responds to voice and gesture commands, and includes Skype video calling, 15 exclusive game titles and original programming content.

The Xbox One will chiefly compete with Nintendo's new Wii U and Sony's forthcoming PlayStation 4 for a bigger slice of the $US65 billion-a-year computer game market.

The world's largest software company also sees the Xbox One as a broader strategic piece in the battle with Apple,  Google and others to control consumer entertainment in the age of sterilization tablets and smartphones.Console gaming still takes the lion's share of a growing gaming market - about 42% of the world market, according to Microsoft. But playing games on smartphones and tablets, or as an offshoot to online social networks, is gaining ground fast.

To that end, Microsoft presented the new box as more than just a video game console.

Acclaimed movie maker Steven Spielberg will be executive-producing a television series based on Microsoft's blockbuster sci-fi game Halo for the Xbox One, the company said.

The new console will offer exclusive National Football League content and eight new game franchises, executives said.

Activision Blizzard will launch Call of Duty: Ghosts later in 2013, first for the Xbox.

The device will have 8 gigabytes of memory, with an updated controller and new-generation Kinect sensor that communicates a user's voice and gesture commands to the console. The technology is built on the Xbox operating system and the kernel of Windows software to handle Internet-based content.

Moreover, the device will let users store entertainment content, including movies, games and music, on cloud servers, the company said.

Despite its strong brand and 'cool' factor, the Xbox itself is not a key financial factor for the world's largest software maker. Its Entertainment & Devices unit is set to break $US10 billion in sales for the first time this year, but that's half the sales of its Windows unit, and a lot less profitable, averaging less than 15% margin compared to 60% or higher for Windows or Office.

The company has more than 46 million members who subscribe to its online gaming and digital entertainment service Xbox Live, but that's still a fraction of the people who pay for its software.

Who's excited for the new Xbox reveal?

Pot of gold in the dumpster?

Maybe these Xbox units all had the red ring of death? Either way, why throw them out when you could get money for these on Ebay selling them as parts?

As found on Reddit.

Kinect 2 specifications leaked?

The old one that hardly gets used at my house as it sucked for real games like Halo and Mass Effect

Apparently the technical specifications for the 2^nd generation of Xbox Kinect have been leaked.

The device will feature an ability for 6 users at once, will utilise High Definition and offer better tracking – as you’d expect!

JJ gets to beta test the new Xbox Dashboard layout

Jimmy Jangles gets to beta test the new Xbox layout

Somehow I managed to find myself as a beta tester for the new Xbox dashboard layout. I'm not sure how this happened but I recall being sworn to secrecy on the basis if I spoke about it Steve Ballmer would turn up at my house with a gimp suit, expecting a hot night out. My secrecy assured , I was given the keys to the kingdom by way of a code redeemed via the Market Place on the Xbox itself.

This code then allowed me to download a program that told the bowels of Xbox's mainframe that I was good to go and be a tester. And duly their computer talked to my computer, secret handshakes were conducted and I had the new dashboard.

And that's about it really, I just used the dash to load up Dead Space 2 which I was playing at the time and went about on my merry way.

So what was the first thing I did? I went straight to the big blue E which stands for Internet Explorer and tried to use the internet but first I had to download the IE application. Yawn.  Eventually, we got there but the whole time of the download I was wishing I was getting Chrome. Still Internet on the Xbox worked a treat. The Xbox controller was easy to use with the app, the only slow part was entering URLs. Kinect is present but limited. While one can use Kinect to save a website as a favorite, one still has to type in the url using the keyboard. Having Kinect fully integrated with IE would be amazing but I imagine that's coming down the line 

No Flash meant certain things couldn't be displayed which was disappointing. I thought Steve Jobs worked at Apple (do they ever drink cider there?)?

I didn't try out Voice Studio which appears to be a tool to improve voice recognition on the Kinect which seems like a great way to teach the device how to pick up on accents from people from Noo Zillan.

Movies and TVs have had a good revamp. The new feature to search by Studio is possibly a good idea - I imagine lots of parents will go to the Disney section often. I didn't spy Pixar there though and I couldn't find Up in the general movie section so bad form Xbox - get Pixar movies on your service !

The System Music Player - which plays your MP3s has not had an update which is a bit lame as I have always thought it an area of weak design for the Xbox.

I was pleased to be able to use the new Smart Glass feature where I can use my iPad and iPhone as a controller. While it's the first iteration of this kind of software for the Xbox, I found it easy to use - it worked quite well with the You Tube application.

People have already covered how Facebook and Twitter are no longer there as applications which is fine by me as I hardly ever used them (that is possibly a reason why they were removed) however you can access this and other social media via Internet Explorer.

In all, the new Dashboard amendments means are not a giant leap forward but a strong step in the direction of making the Xbox console a one stop shop for all your Internet and family entertainment needs.

How MS Points are a rip off in New Zealand!

So it was my birfday recently and Xbox Live Rewards sent me an email saying Happy birthday and here’s 20 MS points! Sweet! I thought. That’s really cool. I feel truly loved by Microsoft Corporation.

And then I thought, what’s that in dollar terms?

So in New Zealand, 500 Microsoft points costs $8.25 which means my birthday gift was princely value of 33 cents. Which is basically the cheapest birthday gift any body has ever given me. Thanks Steve Ballmer, you sure know how to make a xbox game feel special….

And then I thought to myself, what can I buy with 20 MS points? What if I wanted to by the Halo 3 Crimson Map Pack? That costs 800 points so with my birthday points I can buy 2.5 percent of that.

I can also buy one quarter of the Halo 4 Logo Tshirt avatar. Actually, the cheapest Halo related thing I could find on XBL was 80 MS points.

The cynic in me says that this birthday gift was just a cheeky way to get me to buy more MS points so I would actually buy DLC and what not. Nice try there Microsoft, I see what you did.

I imagine a ‘spokesperson for Xbox Live Rewards’ might  respond to that by saying something like, “this gift of points was just a token from us to acknowledge the member’s birthday. Greater use of the XBL rewards system will er.. reward members with more points which can be used to redeem a set of useless avatars that no one cares about”. Or sum such thing.

But it gets worse. 

In the United States, home of the Xbox, the Yankees and  Pee Wee Herman, 80 MS points are equal to US$1. Which means result, an 800 point DLC such as the Crimson Map Pack would retail for US$10.

What’s the comparison to New Zealand? Well if 500 Microsoft points costs $8.25 that means a point = 1.64 cents so 800 points = $13.20.  And according to the ap on my iphone the currency conversion to USA $ value is $11.016 which means if I am in NZ, I appear to be paying a premium of 10 percent just because I live in NZ than America to buy some Halo DLC content. 

Thanks Steve, you sure know how to make a xbox gamer feel special….

While I was at the Xbox site working out the prices of points, I saw I could earn 20MS  points if I did a quick survey. Well it was quick and I lied about everything. Even my age. Take that Steve, you should have made me feel special. 

Why the next Xbox console does actually need discs! For Now....

Why not allowing second hand games to run on the new Xbox would be plain wrong.

Why not allowing second hand games to run on the new Xbox console would be plain wrong. 

Kotaku is suggesting that the new version of the Xbox will potentially not allow used or second hand games to be played on the console. While closed units and IPR rights and DRM is all the rage in some quarters, it would seem to be a shitty move by Microsoft if they are trying to stamp out trading in second hand games .

Their motive of course would be enourage the purchase of new games either off the shelf from bonafide retailers or by download through the XBL service (which also would encourage the purchase of gold XBL member accounts).

And that’s fine. Microsoft is there to make money.

Publishers are there to make money too. That’s why you have to pay for DLC – and if DLC is free, you can be sure that there’s a marketing incentive behind it (such as goodwill to fans to keep a community active etc). 

What I do not like is Microsoft’s attempt to thwart something that is perfectly legal – in NZ where I live for instance, it is perfectly legal to sell second hand software. In the form of an Xbox game, it is absolutely legal to sell your copy of Halo 3 to the kid down the street.

Arguments about raising revenue aside, there should be no other reason to prevent such a transaction from occurring if it's a genuinely legal activity.

All this huffing and puffing is of course only a short term concern as it's bloody obvious we're heading to a 'download' only gaming world - it's just hard to say how long it will take us to get there? NZ is soooo far behind in the internet world we still have very low data caps so downloading full games is out of the question.

In the end, I suspect Kotaku's sources will be full of crap and if there is some kind of intiative, it will be more along the lines of tying a game to an account in some fashion. The mind boggles.

What's your view? Should Microsoft block second hand games from running on the new Xbox console?