20 ms·

Most people I know who own a PS3 consider it essentially a blu-ray player. Most people I know who own an Xbox consider it essentially a Netflix player. These

• minimaxir 13y ago
  Since the Xbox One has Blu-Ray, it'll be the best of both worlds! :)
  • Scriptor 13y ago
    PS3 has had Netflix for a long time as well.
    • ebbv 13y ago
      And without requiring paying $50/year as well.
      • jlgreco 13y ago
        You have to pay for Live if you are just using your ISP to hit netflix?
        • ebbv 13y ago
          Yep. Awesome, eh? I own a 360 but I don't use it anymore.
          • imissmyjuno 13y ago
            Is this true for Xbox One as well?
            • ebbv 13y ago
              Not announced yet but I'd be surprised if they give up that cash cow. The only thing they said is that Xbox Live will continue to be based around the subscription you have now. So, Xbox Live will still cost $50/year. What services require Xbox Live on the Xbox One is not announced yet but based on the 360 the answer is probably almost everything.
            • jlgreco 13y ago
              I would be stunned if it was. It seems entirely unjustifiable unless it is just an artifact of the 360 software being designed with only with online services that use Microsoft servers in mind. They clearly know that isn't the case anymore though, it would be pretty damn shitty of them to keep ripping people off like that.
              • ebbv 13y ago
                Netflix on the 360 requiring Xbox Live is not an artifact. It's just a cash grab. The 360 was the first console to offer Netflix and they had exclusivity for a while so they could do it. Once the exclusivity ended they didn't make it free because they felt no need to because lots of people continued to pay up.
                • jlgreco 13y ago
                  Ugh, that is awful. I wonder if they think they will be able to keep that up with a new console. Probably so I guess.
                • estel 13y ago
                  Allegedly this was a reason that BBC's iPlayer took so long to arrive on the 360. The BBC's charter was somehow contrary to MSFT's insistence that iPlayer was available only to XBL Gold members, so the release of iPlayer on 360 was delayed by years. http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/bbc-we-d-still-love-to-have-iplayer-on-xbox-988145 http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/bbc-we-d-still...
• matwood 13y ago
  I agree as long as it doesn't sound like a jet taking off in my living room. I gave up on using the 360 as a NF player because it was simply too LOUD. The ATV I have streams NF fine and is silent.
  • sk5t 13y ago
    The "slim" Xbox 360 made since ~summer 2010 is nice and quiet. I strongly agree that all previous versions were hatefully loud.
  • potatolicious 13y ago
    First-gen 360 or the Xbox 360S? The first-gen made my apartment sound like a damn international airport, but the second-gen, while not whisper silent, is pretty quiet.
  • cobrausn 13y ago
    A rumor I had read (can't find where now, take with many grains of salt) is part of the reason the thing is so large and, well, xbox huge, is that the cooling solution for the box is nearly silent and to do that necessitated the size.
• untog 13y ago
  Agreed- I will be very tempted to buy one if it handles live TV well. Right now I have a PC sat under my TV running Windows Media Center and it's awkward and showing it's age. I might buy a game too, who knows. Alternately, I'd love to be able to put Linux on that box and make it a MythTV box. Sadly, my cable provider locks all their channels. For better or worse, MS are one of the few that could create a set top box that legally decrypts all these channels and has a great UI.
  • AdrianRossouw 13y ago
    you still need to plug a (supported) cable box with hdmi output into the xb1. my bet is they are going to make use of [1] HDMI-CEC. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#CEC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#CEC
• mtgx 13y ago
  Most of those people got one because of gaming. And then used it as a Netflix machine or blu-ray player. But why would they pay hundreds of dollars more for a "new" Netflix machine? And if they own none of them, and just want a Netflix machine, why not buy a much better (for media) $100 Roku? Or even an Apple TV?
  • bryne 13y ago
    We haven't seen pricing information. Rumors surrounding a subsidized model (as some versions of the Xbox 360 were sold) have been thick.
    • jiggy2011 13y ago
      Still, I'd be amazed if it's less than $300 new.
  • yoster 13y ago
    I received an Xbox 360S 4GB for free from my company at the time. Bought another one for $150 along with some bootleg Hdd's from Ebay. I am going to wait a year for the price drop and to steer clear from any first gen issues.
• incision 13y ago
  I own both a PS3 and a 360 and had those same use cases. Then I bought a Roku on whim at Costco one day. As a result, I've used the PS3 once in the last year, I haven't used the 360 at all. I bought both of those consoles when they were new and collected a bunch of $60 games that I "don't really play". For several years now, the vast majority of gaming I do comes via games bought for a steep discount to console prices on Steam. I stopped buying DVD/BDs when I realized how few of them I'd actually watch repeatedly. These days, a single $4 stream of a new release on Amazon is the norm. I think it says something that a person like myself, who could previously be counted on to buy each new generation of console is unmoved by Xbox One. At the same time, I expect the more mainstream customer might be just fine playing games and watching movies on the smartphone/tablet they almost surely already own. I don't think this is a bad idea, but I do think it might be too late.
  • danielweber 13y ago
    I think it says something that a person like myself, who could previously be counted on to buy each new generation of console is unmoved by Xbox One. Maybe you just got old? It takes a lot to get me to play a video game these days.
    • incision 13y ago
      >Maybe you just got old? Oh, I definitely did, in a way that's the point. The product appears to be aimed at my changed tastes, it's just arriving late.
• Irregardless 13y ago
  Why? They just alienated gamers while showing non-gamers that they've been overpaying for a glorified Netflix machine. I've been a diehard Xbox fan since I first got my hands on the original, but this makes me want to switch back to Playstation.
  • path411 13y ago
    What more do you want them to tell you as a gamer about the new system? They released specs and talked about the cloud gaming capabilities. Having more 3rd party game makers demo games for the system doesn't really improve my appeal to the console. I already knew the new xbox would be the next gaming console. It seems like they went for the non-obvious, and wanted to talk about the other features. The games are going to be the draw for gamers, and I'm sure those will be just fine.
    • simba-hiiipower 13y ago
      agreed. people make it sound like they removed some essential features, just because they didn't emphasize them enough (or because they emphasized others more). from what i've seen this appears to match the ps4 in every way - even down to the architecture. the only difference is they glossed-over all that and decided to focus on the ways its differentiated..
      • jonny_eh 13y ago
        They removed the ability to buy, sell, and lend games. You have to pay an undisclosed fee to "install" a game that has already been installed, which is mandatory.
        • simba-hiiipower 13y ago
          the rumor you're basing that on doesn't appear to be entirely accurate [1]. either way, i don't think its fair to draw judgment one way or another until they actually explain how that will be handled.. also, this issue is nothing new and is certainty not unique to microsoft or the xbox. i think its fairly well understood that there's going to be a change in this area as the way content is distributed continues to evolve.. whatever the actual implementation is, i'm pretty sure it wont be as bad as you're implying (... removed the ability to buy, sell, and lend games) and will probably be standard across the industry - and structured in a manner as not to totally decimate the second-hand market.. [1] http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4348916/xbox-used-games http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4348916/xbox-used-games
• Legion 13y ago
  At least on the Xbox side, it has a lot to do with their systematic dismantlement of the machine's GUI, which was originally a joy to use, and geared towards being, you know, a game playing machine. Now it's like webTV for the 2010s. I used to rave about the old Blades interface and how, OMG, Microsoft made a great user experience, and how weird it was for me to feel so strongly positive about a Microsoft consumer product. So of course they destroyed everything about that interface that was so great. When Steam put Big Picture mode in beta, I knew I was done with consoles. I got a cube-shaped PC case that was big enough for a full-size video card, put said video card with a nice Ivy Bridge i5 CPU in it, and my consoles got the permanent shut-down.
  • zanny 13y ago
    I am concerned though about the lack of any new info on the steambox in the last, what, year? They announced their intention to create a Linux distro with Steam to run on hardware to a spec, but they haven't moved forward with it at all. I think Valve would crush the console scene if they actually had anything to show for the hype.
    • Legion 13y ago
      > I am concerned though about the lack of any new info on the steambox in the last, what, year? Everything I saw about the "Steam Box" suggested to me that it would be an underpowered machine for more casual games. But the great part about Steam is that I could build my own damn hardware and use Steam and Big Picture Mode on it. So now I have a legitimate mid-range gaming PC hooked up to my TV and launching Big Picture on startup. As a Linux user and lover, the idea of an eventual Steam box running on Linux is an exciting idea, but in the meantime, I'm running my own box on Windows.
    • gcr 13y ago
      But they have moved forward. Portal, Half-Life 2, and (I think) Left 4 dead 2 all now work under Linux as of a few weeks ago. That's quite an achievement.
  • macspoofing 13y ago
• rajanikanthr 13y ago
  I second that.. I used to play lot of games on PC.. I bought xbox and some games , but mostly I will be playing youtube videos thru my android youtube app remotely or play a movie in netflix :)