Be Excellent To Each Other

The 360 was fairly consistent throughout, I reckon. There wasn't much that topped Burnout Paradise or Bioshock, IMO.

The water in gta5 is beautiful. That's what a decade of getting to know a system results in.

Microsoft haven't published any worthwhile games ever since kinect came out, aside from stuff that is also available elsewhere.

Forza Horizon was great fun.

Rubbish - that's what eleventy billion dollars and eighty kabillion manhours gets you. And it's still not as nice as the water in Bioshock.

The water in gta5 is beautiful. That's what a decade of getting to know a system results in.

And the water in Skyrim after i tried a certain mod. Well, i don't know how is the water in GTA5, but i know for certain that the Skyrim mod water is better than Bioshock. All of Bioshock actually.

Price cut to £399 and includes Titanfall for free.

Ouch for those early adopters.

Even at price parity it's not tempting me. No killer app for either Kinect or HDMI in, plus poor performance of multiplatform games leaves it in a relatively poor position currently.

"Titanfall is a game that has won more than 80 awards so far, it's incredibly hotly anticipated, and I believe it's a game that people will buy an Xbox One in order to play. But moving forwards if you think about what I think are the three hottest games of the year to come, Titanfall, Watch Dogs and Destiny, the only place you're going to be able to play all three of those games is on Xbox One."

Even if you forget all the DRM nonsense previously.
If they were really confident Titanfall would be a system seller, why drop the price before it's even out?

All three of those games are going to be released on the 360 and both Titanfall and Watchdogs will also come out on the PC (there have been rumors of a Destiny PC version but at the moment its consoles only)

Microsoft Quietly Region-Lock "Xbox One Digital Games And DLC", Error Code 0x87de07d1 Reported

It seems like Microsoft has quietly made Xbox One digital games "Region-Lock", it was activated last month and the firm also deleted game licenses from gamertags. Now as a result of this new restriction, download keys bough abroad will no longer work, Xbox One players will receive error message along with this code: "0x87de07d1".

Many Xbox One are facing this error code as they try to redeem their digital game codes, here are few complaints of official Xbox forum:

"I am getting the error code 0x87de07d1 on my digital download copy of Forza 5. I have also seen in other posts that at least 2 other people have this error on Dead Rising 3. This is a digital copy of the game that has worked fine for several weeks. It is now acting as though I do not own the game. I have tried turning the system on/off, switching profiles etc but nothing is helping. In the xbox store Forza 5 is displaying the option to buy for £49.99, where it would usually say Play, as I do own the game. I also have a digital copy of FIFA 14 which is working fine, and displays 'play' in the xbox store, this shows that I am definitely logged into my xbox live gold account. Originally, I only owned Forza 5 on disc, but later purchased the digital download version. However, I have only ever owned the digital version of FIFA 14, I have never owned a disc version of FIFA 14, so maybe this has something to do with why FIFA works fine but Forza doesn't."

Another user who contacted Microsoft support has this to say: "There's definitely a region lock on digital downloads in place, whether that be DLC or full games."

"I've got a UK account and bought a digital copy of Forza 5 on ebay, redeemed it and then about 10 days later it wouldn't load, just giving me the option to buy it again.

After over an hour with xbox live support, I was told "For the Xbox One, that is correct. Discs are region free, so it should be that the codes are the same. This is the reason why we are having it being investigated further my friend. It could be an issue somewhere along the way of redeeming the codes, and should be fixed surely, we can assure you of that."

They passed me on to the 'Advocacy' team, who eventually told me "I was able to figure out that the reason you could not redeem your PPC was because it was intended for another country. When redeeming your token there are two things that need to match up. The country listed on the account must match the country that you are connecting from and the token needs to be for the same country as well."

The resulting advice being "I suggest going back to the person you purchased the game from and inform them that the code he provided you was set for a region other than the U.K."

I asked for clarification on region locking on digital game downloads and was advised "All Xbox digital content is region specific. Due to many international and cultural laws, not all content is available everywhere. "

When I pushed and asked how it was possible to redeem a code, only for it to be later disabled, I was unbelievably told "I can honestly say that it may have been a fluke"

... a FLUKE! what a joke. I'm now stuck trying to get a refund for a game code I've already redeemed.

So, the 0x87de07d1 error on purchased digital download game is due to region locking and the code being from a different region"

Microsoft on Xbox One: some things haven't worked, but we are learning

Microsoft’s UK marketing head Harvey Eagle concedes that aspects of the Xbox One haven’t gone as planned, but says a system update and big E3 announcements will help in the battle against PlayStation 4

Microsoft has learned its lesson from elements of the Xbox One launch that did not work, says Harvey Eagle, the UK marketing head of Xbox. Speaking before the announcement of the Titanfall bundle deal, which will see the sci-fi shooter included with the console, he conceded that aspects of the service, especially its social functionality, need improving.

“I want to be honest: there are some things that haven’t worked as well as they were intended to - we’ve had a lot of feedback from our community about that,” Eagle told the Guardian. “The March system update will improve party chat; it will be turned on by default, you’ll be able to chat with friends across different games, you’ll be able to get to your friends list much faster - that will now be on the homepage of the Friends app.

“We’re also adding an ‘invite friends to game’ option to the multiplayer titles and that will be available within each game’s menu so it’ll be much easier and quicker to set up multiplayer games. The last thing is we’re adding a ‘recent players’ list so you can quickly call up who you recently played with, making it easier to stay in touch and add new friends. All of these things will be implemented in time for Titanfall to make sure it’s the best multiplayer experience it can be.”
Hype and Hype-ability

So far, a key problem has been that Microsoft has had to fight on the backfoot, the victim of a sometimes chaotic pre-launch build up. The machine’s controversial announcement event concentrated on live TV and multimedia functionality rather than games, and its digital-first agenda obfuscated the sharing and selling of software between players.

However, Eagle says that Microsoft has clearly moved on. “The original thinking behind what we did at the time was to make some announcements about the entertainment features that we were building into the box that we felt were unique and special, and then very quickly afterwards move on to gaming,” he said. “We’ve been consistently talking about games since E3 2013, that’s what we’ll carry on doing, reminding people that this is a games console for gamers, that just happens to have some incredible entertainment features built in as well.”

Another much-discussed aspect has been the arrival of ‘paymium’ titles on the Xbox One – full-price games that also offer purchasable items and features in the form of microtransactions. Forza 5 was heavily criticised for its inclusion of an overt in-game real-money mechanic.

“We’re trying out a number of different business models to understand which are best for us and best for gamers,” said Eagle. “You’re not going to get everything right first time – we’re still at the stage of experimenting and trying new things; everything we learn from our community we put into what we do going forward. There is still a huge appetite for big commercial triple A titles if you get it right - look at GTA V. But obviously developers are looking at other ways to monetise and I think that will carry on.


The HD conundrum
There have also been technical questions over the Xbox One hardware, with several early multiplatform titles running in full 1080p HD definition on PlayStation 4, but only 720p resolution on Xbox 360.

“Let’s be clear about this: Xbox One fully supports 1080p at 60 frames-per-second,” said Eagle. “Forza Motosport 5 is an example of a game that delivers on that. It’s up to individual developers to determine what is the best balance in order to deliver the best experience to gamers. No longer can you measure or talk about power in terms of pixels and polygon counts. Performance in this era comes from three areas: hardware, software and the cloud.

“The reason the Titanfall beta has been so successful is that it is powered by dedicated servers – that makes the game run smoothly without interruptions. You need to think about what power really means in the next generation.”
So will other developers, outside of exclusive deals and first-party studios, be supported in using Microsoft’s vast server network to ensure multiplayer games run as smoothly?

“We’re committed to allowing developers getting the maximum out of the investment that we’ve made,” said Eagle. “We said at launch that we’d built a server farm of 300,000 dedicated servers to support multiplayer games - it would be foolish of us not to work with developers to ensure they get the maximum from that power.”

As for forthcoming games, Eagle has said that Microsoft understands the importance of original and exclusive content – as well as supporting the indie development community – and predictably promises that more will be announced at the E3 video game exhibition in Los Angeles in June.

“We’ve made some exclusive announcements, including Project Spark, Kinect Sports Rivals and Sunset Overdrive,” he said. “There will also be a significant pipeline of new games coming from Microsoft studios, some of which have been announced, some you’ll hear about at E3.

“Look out for some very exciting game announcements, both from Microsoft studios and also our third-party partners... We’re very excited about E3.”

UPDATE: Xbox One Titanfall bundle sells out at GameStop, 365games matches discount
Greg Lockley

UPDATE: Online retailer 365games.co.uk is also offering the console bundle for £369.95.

Whilst listed as currently unavailable, a banner displayed on the store reveals it will match the discounted price tag for the Xbox One Titanfall bundle.

ORIGINAL STORY: GameStop has sold out of its heavily discounted Xbox One Titanfall bundle in under 24 hours.

Following Microsoft's announcement of the Titanfall bundle on Monday, the retailer listed the console online with a price tag of just £369.97 – a £30 discount on the already reduced RRP for Xbox One.

But after just 24 hours on sales the Titanfall bundle is now listed as out of stock. However, GameStop has told MCV that more deals are on the way.

"We will occasionally put irresistible deals on http://www.gamestop.co.uk to surprise and delight our loyal UK customers," said GameStop Europe VP Niall Lawlor.

"This is one such offer. More to come."

So.... they are adding features to the One that the 360 has had for years?
WOW! So innovative!

Err,you do realise you are posting in the xbone thread, right?

Err,you do realise you are posting in the xbone thread, right?

Oh come on, everyone else in this thread when the xbone came out was saying how MS had focussed on TV apps and skype, than on any games.

Xbox One Coming to 26 new markets in September

We’ll have much more to share at a local level towards the end of April, so stay tuned. In the meantime, the confirmed additional launch markets for September include:

• Argentina
• Belgium
• Chile
• Colombia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• Greece
• Hungary
• India
• Israel
• Japan
• Korea
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• South Africa
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• UAE

You're saying that, but imagine being a Japanese Sony fan right now. They must feel like forgotten children

You're saying that, but imagine being a Japanese Sony fan right now. They must feel like forgotten children

Yeah, 'rewarding' their core fanbase by giving them the new console last is a real kick in the teeth. It's unlikely to affect Sony's long-term position, which is exactly why they're doing it of course, but it's pretty shit for Japanese gamers.

Let's say the PS4 had been released in Japan at the same time - what games that appealed to Japanese gamers were ready for release?

Would you even know?

1. [PS4] Knack (Sony) – 309,304 (New)
2. [PS3] Yakuza: Ishin (Sega) – 138,158 (New)
3. [PS4] Yakuza: Ishin (Sega) – 82,540 (New)
4. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca (Square Enix) – 72,350 (Lifetime: 634,433)
5. [3DS] Kuroko no Basuke: Shouri e no Kiseki (Namco Bandai) – 45,681 (New)
6. [3DS] Yokai Watch (Level-5) – 35,125 (Lifetime: 458,961)
7. [PS4] Killzone: Shadow Fall (Sony) – 32,336 (New)
8. [PS4] Battlefield 4 (EA) – 24,799 (New)
9. [3DS] Kirby: Triple Deluxe (Nintendo) – 17,665 (Lifetime: 457,796)
10. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons Z (GungHo) – 15,092 (Lifetime: 1,374,333)
11. [PS4] Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends (Tecmo Koei) – 14,356 (New)
12. [WiiU] Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Nintendo) – 14,330 (Lifetime: 50,047)
13. [PS4] Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (Ubisoft) – 13,862 (New)
14. [PS4] Call of Duty: Ghosts (Square Enix) – 13,701 (New)
15. [PS4] Tomb Raider (Square Enix) – 12,093 (New)
16. [3DS] Pokemon X and Y (Nintendo) – 11,302 (Lifetime: 3,961,624)
17. [3DS] Puyopuyo Tetris (Sega) – 8,859 (Lifetime: 67,204)
18. [PS4] FIFA 14 (EA) – 8,808 (New)
19. [PS3] Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Full Boost (Namco Bandai) – 7,763 (Lifetime: 321,054)
20. [PS4] Need for Speed: Rivals (EA) – 6,602 (New)

If Sony had planned to launch their console in Japan three months ago then developers would surely have altered their schedules accordingly to get some more suitable titles out for release.

I can't be bothered to find out currently (no ps4, see) but what is available in Japan basically isn't reported over here short of looking for somewhat niche news sites.

Because why would it be? chances of translation are slim, so it's basically pointless to report. Except in cases like Demons souls where it starts off English anyway.

Here's the Japan chart after the first week of the PS4 being released:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps4-domi ... ts/0128724



Skewed by Knack being a pack-in title. There seems to be a fair mix of east and west stuff in there, but there were no jRPGs ready as far as I'm aware (unless they held them back of course).

That's the first I'm hearing about a new Yakuza game and I'm surprised they're not releasing it elsewhere, I was under the impression the Yakuza series was pretty popular outside Japan as well? The demo I played of one of the PS3 ones made it seem like it would be pretty good fun and endearingly odd.

It's rare for a japanese game to release worldwide simultaneously. Almost always the western release lags.

I hadn't thought to look but from Wikipedia there was an entire year between the Japanese and western releases of Yakuza 3 and 4 which I totally didn't realise. Excellent, that'll give me something else to play on my PS4 a year from now.

The Swapper, MouseCraft, Titan Attacks by Curve ruled out for Xbox One

Curve Digital's current lineup of games won't be coming to Xbox One, it has been revealed.

Microsoft's parity clause, which requests developers release games on Xbox One at the same time as other systems, rules out The Swapper, MouseCraft and Titan Attacks, which are coming to PlayStation platforms first.

"Unfortunately, all these titles here get ruled out by the parity clause," Curve's managing director Jason Perkins confirmed to Digital Spy.

"We feel like it's unnecessary handcuffs really," design director Jonathan Biddle added, "but that's the way they've decided to run that."

It was explained that its current lineup of spring and summer games were signed before Microsoft indie programme ID@Xbox was in place.

However, this should mean that future games from Curve Digital should arrive on Xbox One.

"That's the plan," Perkins said. "It's important for us, we want to be."

Biddle added: "We're platform agnostic. We'll support everyone. What works for us is having many as healthy competitors as possible.

"They'll all try and promote the games they've got, and that's what we want. We want a healthy ecosystem, so we want everyone to do well."

Curve Digital recently confirmed release dates for its spring and summer lineup.

It also announced Stealth Inc 2, which will launch as a Wii U exclusive later this year.