chuckd21

Ahem...

DaveNinja

Got the Xbox One set up on xmas day. downloading and installing games constantly since, haha. Have only bought Terreria for $6.60 on the xbox live sale. I needed it for my kids so i could put the PS3 away.
I never had the xbox 360 (only the PS3) but i'm loving the xbox controllers. I'm having a much easier time with them than the PS3 dual shocks.

my quick game reviews:
Knight Squad - a lot of fun with 4 people. i like the soccer game.
Need for Speed Rvials - free download with EA access. need more practice with the steering sensitivity since it seemed way too touchy.
Borderlands prequel - the ability to play 3 or 4 at a time makes this game awesome. a little too much jumping, though.
Star Wars Battlefront - loving it. still need a lot more practice. i have trouble trying to snipe people. i'm too used to using mouse/keyboard with FPS games
Peggle 2 - played this a bunch while waiting for other games to load.
Viva Pinata - part of Rare Replay. i didnt know anything about this game but then it crashed right when i built a pinata mating house thing.
Screamride - it was fun downloading other peoples coasters and destruction levels

others:
Plex - works great. i'm hoping my wife will have a better time figuring it out than figuring out the Kodi HTPC.
digital OTA tuner - works well. Its nice to have a live tv menu. It should also allow me to watch OTA tv on my phone while other people are watching non-OTA tv. looking forward to DVR abilities that are rumored.

questions:
-Is a Kinect the only way to be able to use voice commands with the Xbone? can you just plug in a microphone or something?
-How does the xbox control other devices, like TV or receiver? I saw a plug in spot for a IR blaster; is that sold separately? does the Kinect have IR blasting built into it?

fumanstan

Life Is Strange - $2.50 - 50% off
Life is Strange Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) - $10.00 - 50% off
Season Pass - $8.50 - 50% off

Everyone should play this if they haven't already! Teenage girl drama for all!

Music

xmiyux?

Michael Corvin

Sweet! I thought I nabbed LiS during the PSN sale but I guess I just got the demo. So $10 works for me.

Jay G.

A Kinect is currently the only way to use voice commands, and may be required for Cortana:
http://www.windowscentral.com/want-u...ll-need-kinect

The Kinect has IR Blasting built-in, and it can control multiple devices (mine controls TV, DVR, and receiver). You can use IR blasters instead, but you'll need one IR blaster per device you want to control:
https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/com...ster_v_kinect/

fujishig

I think you only get the bonus codes for the BC Gears games if you buy and play the title before the New Year? Or am I remembering that wrong?

DaveNinja

So really the kinect isnt as lame as everyone says it is since it handles some of this boring stuff that i'm now missing out on.

pinata242

Story of my life.

Kedrix

Question time...I am in need of a wireless gaming headset for my Xbox One AND my Xbox 360 (one that will work on both) and I have about $100 in Amazon Gift Cards from Christmas. I do most of my gaming at night now and I'm starting to get tired of playing it at near silent volume since my wife and baby are sleeping soundly.

I ran across this one:
PYRUS Optical Fiber 2.4G Wireless Professional Gaming Headset but not particularly too fond of the month wait (despite the good reviews).

Any ideas without breaking the bank?

davidh777

OK, fine, I just paid 10 bucks each for Life Is Strange (have been thinking about it for a while) and Alien Isolation collection. I also got two seasons of Black Sails for $18 yesterday.

Jay G.

Yeah, it's kinda cool to say "Xbox on" and have the Xbox, TV, receiver, and DVR all turn on. My wife loves using the voice commands to control the TV, and she doesn't game at all.

Michael Corvin

Voice command stuff was always cool. It's the forced camera stuff that was bonkers.

I still don't understand why they couldn't put a mic on the console itself(and/or controller) and "reclaim" some of these features they wanted people to have. Probably because putting a $.75 cent mic in the console further diminishes the $150 pricetag of the camera.

Jay G.

To be fair, voice recognition isn't easy, and the Kinect has some processing capabilities of its own. Keep in mind that the iPhone's Siri actually sends your voice commands to an online server for processing, since the iPhone itself can't handle much beyond basic processing:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-app...-really-works/

When the MS team is trying to squeeze every last bit of performance out the the XB1 to try and close the gap between it and the PS4, hacking out a section of the system so that non-Kinect owners can run voice commands likely isn't on the list of priorities.

Michael Corvin

So make it a Gold feature and use an online server for processing like you said Siri does. Done!

Next!

Jay G.

Meh, there'd still need to be some provisioning of the system to make it "always listening," and the delay caused by having to send it remotely would make the added utility of many of the voice commands moot.

Also, it would create a confusing multi-tiered system of requirements: Works for free and offline with the Kinect, or with Gold required and always online with an external mic. I think MS would rather just leave it as is instead of creating a customer service nightmare for themselves.

Edit: I'm also thinking that the "Xbox On" command wouldn't work with an external mic, since that relies on specific sleep modes of both the XB1 and Kinect, with basically the Kinect triggering the Xbox to turn on after hearing the command. So then you're fracturing the functionality of the voice commands, where some that work with the Kinect don't work without out.

Also, there's likely QA concerns with using other mics. The Kinect has a pretty advanced mic, designed to filter out noise and such. They could maybe certify certain mics, or make their own camera-less mic, but that's more work and additional information needed for consumers. They could maybe restrict to only headsets to help eliminate room noise, but some could view that as too restrictive.

The main point I'm getting at is that there's a lot of technical, QA, and customer service considerations when thinking of migrating a feature that was specifically integrated into the Kinect they originally would be part of every system onto just the system itself.

Spiderbite

So just to clarify, the season pass is only for people who have already bought episode one?

Still no pinball sales. grumble grumble...

fumanstan

Yup.

Michael Corvin

Decided to give Lara Croft a rest and give Ori a shot. Fantastic game. I was rolling along pretty good until the Ginsu Tree. Holy shit, fuck that level. I added a solid 50-60 to my death total both ascending it (not too bad) and escaping the flood waters (fuuuuuuckkk!!!) ... mostly the latter.

I did find a decent little area to farm for energy/ability points early on. Leveled everything up until the items require two points each. Not bad.

edstein

Ori is a great game but it does have a few controller throwing moments for sure.

DaveNinja

what happens when you're playing a game and someone runs in an shouts "xbox off!"? does it shutdown or is there some kind of fail safe that wont bork your game?

edstein

You have to confirm that action with a "yes" or "no" voice command.

DaveNinja

so someone would just have to shout "yes" before you shouted "no" after saying "xbox off"?
I just imagine having this set up and having my kids constantly shutting off the other ones games. i guess its not really different than running in and hitting the power button, though.

Brack

You have mean kids.

davidh777

I'm having some trust issues here.