"Any Xbox One you go to, your content is on that Xbox One. That's something we haven't been able to do with the old world of disc-based licensing. Ten of your family members can have a shared content library."
While there's a certain head-in-the-sand mentality in ignoring the concerns (mainly around consumer rights and ownership) that many have over Microsoft's policies, Harrison does have a point about the potential benefits.
Being able to access your game library on a friend's console (as long as you're signed into your profile) is a neat enough touch, but actually being able to share libraries with ten of your 'Xbox Family' is actually a generous addition. It's a shame for Microsoft that these positives have been overshadowed by the thornier side of their pre-owned policy.
Take the online check-in for the Xbox One, where if your console is offline for more than 24 hours, you will not be able to access your games library. "The advantage is that every time you turn on the machine, it will recognise you and bring your content onto the home screen," says Harrison. "It will bring your choices and recommendations and everything will be updated, you won't have to wait for a content download before you can start enjoying your game. These are tangible steps forward."
True. Though it perhaps doesn't explain the necessity of a call home every 24 hours if it's then going to disable your games. "We do recognise there will be these very rare edge cases where for whatever reason your internet is down," says Harrison. "In my experience internet downtime lasts for seconds or minutes. In those few occasions you don't have access to your usual broadband connection, you could tether your Xbox to your mobile phone. The 24-hour ping takes kilobytes of data."
It is, in every sense, a real shame that these issues have rather dominated the headlines at E3 2013. This year has seen the industry get some of its swagger back, and the next-generation titles look terrific.
Microsoft, in particular, had a strong lineup of games at its conference. It displayed a great deal of variety, from smaller indie projects and creative games like Project Spark, to the big-budget blockbusters. One of those blockbusters, Respawn's Titanfall, is exclusive to Xbox One. Harrison says this is due to Respawn wanting "the ability to enhance the game through a connection to the cloud."
As much as 'cloud computing' is a frightful term, the practical benefits of it are potentially exciting. But with such an abstract concept, how do you go about making that tangible?
"I agree it can be an abstract term," says Harrison. "But it is servers in data centres around the world that users connect to automatically, and it allows the game running on Xbox One to take advantage of dedicated servers over the internet. We can offload certain computational tasks to those servers. Day one of Xbox One, we will have the server power equivalent to the entire computing power of the planet in 1999. There's a tangible data point for you."
Microsoft will have 300,000 servers forming the Xbox One's 'cloud', a number Harrison expects to grow exponentially as the console evolves. One example of a game using the cloud is Forza 5's 'Drivertar' feature, which uploads your driving behaviour in the game to the cloud, which in turn can teach the game's AI to race like a human.
Harrison himself presented a section of the conference showcasing Microsoft's support for independent developers. It's an area Sony where has seemingly stolen a march since the PS4 reveal, but Harrison sees it differently.
"I don't think anyone has been has committed to the independent developer more than Xbox over the previous generation," he says. "That won't change with Xbox One. We will welcome developers large and small. I'm keen to stress that when I talk about an independent developer, I don't care whether they have 500 people or 4 people. Im not interested in the size of the company, it's the innovation and creativity that they can bring to the table."
The question remains over how that content is then curated on Xbox One. "You'll hear developers, particularly in the mobile world, talk about discoverability -- how do I get my game discovered by my potential audience." says Harrison.
"Inside Xbox One we have designed some things that help solve that in a number of smart ways. Inside the home screen you will have recommendations. Games will be recommended based on your previous playing preferences. We have built in game DVR and upload studio that allow you to share what games you are playing in video form with your friends. Your friends can then simply and quickly get that game on their system."
Which all sounds great, but how do independent developers get onto Xbox One in the first place? "As we speak there are meetings going on with developers large and small in these meeting rooms," says Harrison. "We have a very large team dedicated to it."
One other area where Sony won points was its pricing. At £349, the PlayStation 4 is £80 cheaper than the Xbox One's RRP of £429. It's not an insignificant amount of money, but Harrison is confident that the Xbox One will justify the extra. "We feel great about the value of Xbox One," he says. "It's a unique architecture, with Kinect and the power of the cloud. What we showed yesterday was the most incredible games lineup in any first few months of a platform launch, many of which are exclusive and all of which have advantages being on Xbox One. That's what's really going to drive value. We couldn't be happier with the price we're starting at."
Microsoft certainly has some work to do in convincing the paying public that Xbox One is worth the cost. Controversy aside, that task has begun in earnest at E3 with some terrific games showcased for Xbox One. PlayStation has a few of those of its own too.
"There's always an additional frisson of excitement when you've got new platform launches, says Harrison. "But there's no doubt that games as an industry is in rude health, and is one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment on the planet, and I think that's reflected out there."
No comments:
Post a Comment