Microsoft unveils the new Xbox machine

So there's a lot of pomp and circumstance surrounding the retardedly-named Xbox One at the moment.

All I can say is that I'm quite fond of the minimalist case design:-



Looks like something I could have on my shelf and feel a tiny bit less stupid about owning, because it looks so sweet.

So you do have Xbox One?
The first? Yeah.
No no, the third.
360?
No the new one.
Ah.

HTC called, they want their stupid naming scheme back.

It needs to be black and shiny, with a bit of silver/white, because EVERYTHING is black and shiny these days, and everything is black and shiny these days because black and shiny.

You forgot to mention the FISH!

Well, the D-pad looks less shitty, and the promise of offline mode and "the ability to trade in and resell games" sounds promising. Still couldn't give two fucks about cloud gaming, though.

I must say that I do like the design of the unit, but, er ...

DoomUK said:

because it looks so sweet.

So Xbox looks like a box, I get that. Frankly it looks kinda plain, like a DVD player or minidesktop.

Reminds me more of a NES, heh. Console design has come full circle.

scalliano said:

Well, the D-pad looks less shitty, and the promise of offline mode and "the ability to trade in and resell games" sounds promising. Still couldn't give two fucks about cloud gaming, though.

I must say that I do like the design of the unit, but, er ...

The box shaped consoles hardly began with the PS2. For instance the far older CDi was basically a box:

Apparently there's a 'pre-owned fee' - if you buy a game second-hand, you have to pay money before you are allowed to install it... yeah... I'm not making this up.

Hey, it's better than blocking used games entirely (which was the rumor going around a while back).

Win.

DooMAD said:

Win.

Doggone it, I was gonna say it looks all NES-y with it's boxy-design outlook. Thanks for the awesome picture, though. :D

Also, by saying Xbox One, you're basically saying "Xbox won" well played, Microsoft, well played...

valkiriforce said:

Also, by saying Xbox One, you're basically saying "Xbox won" well played, Microsoft, well played...

Oh snap. Think we uncovered something big? D:

Console names are almost always silly sounding out-the-gate, with the notable exception of Sega's systems. That said, "One" or "Won" or however they want people to say it, is still about as underwhelming as usual.

At least you don't have to explain to people how to pronounce it.

I'll just say Xbox Juan.


Also, the NES had a more interesting shape.

DooMAD said:

Win. [/B]

You know its weird I saw the new X-Box and though eh very forgettable. Nothing makes it stand out. Then when I saw your Nintendo version I thought it was awesome. All about the colors.

@Toenail: Knew it was too good to be true. It's like when EA announced they were scrapping the season pass - rather than rejoicing, everyone was like, "what the hell are they gonna replace it with?" Fact is, I wouldn't have been buying either of the new consoles until such times as I'm satisfied that all of the inevitable fatal hardware failures have been ironed out. So far, Sony is winning in my book.

@Vermil: Not so much that "PS2 got there first, lolz", more that it actually reminds me of a PS2.

@DooMAD: Now, THAT's class.

@schwerpunk: Dreamcast?

This macro pretty much sums up my feelings on this.

<Stallman> XBox Lost

Retarded name aside, I also immediately was reminded of the NES when I saw how the new Xbox looks.

I think my NES will remain plugged into a TV longer than most Xbox Ones :p

TheDarkArchon said:

HTC called, they want their stupid naming scheme back.

Damn it, you beat me to it.

Ahh well, atleast if I get the new Xbox One, I (hopefully)can turn it on, turn on my TV with my HTC One and select the right av channel, connect my HTC one to the xbox one via smart glass and have the complete "One" set up.

We watched the presentation at work. While I was watching I felt pretty impressed by the features, but in retrospect most of the social and "entertainment suite" type shit is pretty much the next logical step in the console evolution and the Kinect shit is still just a gimmick. I do like how quick and seamless everything seems to work, though. Pretty excite to see Sony's presentation at E3 in a couple weeks to see their riposte.

Overheard rumor: the secondhand market will now be handled through the XBox Live community.

Bucket said:

Overheard rumor: the secondhand market will now be handled through the XBox Live community.

Not a rumor, unfortunately.

http://kotaku.com/the-xbox-is-not-always-online-but-seems-to-block-used-509077987

scalliano said:

@schwerpunk: Dreamcast? [/B]

Sega was the only one that's put effort into the names. The vast majority of their systems had interesting names. Youve got the original three, the Master System, Megadrive(Genesis) and Game Gear which go well together. The Mega CD sounds less cool. THese names sound mostly generic now, but back then they were awesome, when the competiton was "Nintendo Entertainment System" a super version of it, and the weirdly named Turbografx(?) 16 (Amazingly named PC Engine in japan, how creative.)

AFter that, they got much more creative. Nomad for a portable Megadrive, the cancelled Pluto and Neptune and the Saturn, then their final offering, Dreamcast.

What did we get since then? Playstation, which will always sound terrible (A staation that you play on? Seriously?), Nintendo 64, Gamecube (Literally a cube that plays games. As creative as playstation) and the worst offender is he Xbox. Because it was LITERALLY named after a box that runs Direct X, and was the "Direct X Box" at one point

We wont even go there with Wii.

Ouya is the only name recently that sounds great.

I suppose the design is an improvement over the current "sat between two fat guys on the bus" look, but this "hey, let's eliminate physical copies so we charge more, provide less and make demands on the customer about when, where, how and how long they are allowed to play what they've paid for" trend, aka the "cloud gaming" trend, needs to douse itself in gasoline and jump off a fifty foot tower into a pile of lit matches.

Ugh, every game company now is going to go on the internet required and used games denial bandwagon.

I'd be more upset about the used-game thing, but the companies doing those things the most are generally making the games that either frustrate or bore me the most. I have a built-in boycott going without even trying.

Glad to see they picked a case design that stacks nicely. I hate anything sitting in an electronics cabinet that isn't a rectangular box.