Are consoles becoming too PC?
BY ANDY ASTRUCThe title is a trick.
Due to some recent system updates, my Xbox is becoming more and more like a personal computer. More accurately, a personal computer without all the annoying junk on it, or the digital cancer my laptop has contracted.
As of last week, a few new features were added to the Xbox 360 dashboard: Facebook, Twitter and live streaming movies.
The ability to stream movies is probably the one most people are most interested in, mostly. Basically, you can now select a movie from your Xbox (through the Video Marketplace) and have it stream directly to your machine as you watch - in High Definition, no less!
Each HD film costs around $6 to 'rent', cheaper if you choose the non-sparkly Standard Definition version. Not having $6 to toss down the internet drain, I haven't tested the actual streaming of films, but it seems to go speedily enough when watching previews.
The selection is somewhat limited at the moment (Flashdance?!) but will no doubt grow.
Most fun sounding is the ability to watch a movie along with a group of Xbox friends. You can set up the film to stream to everyone's system at the same time, with the ability to chat to each other throughout. Finally, a way to ruin movies for other people over the internet.
The only problem is New Zealand. We live in it, you know. The horrific reality of data caps (that thing the civilised world doesn't have) means that watching a few movies in HD would wipe out a month of internet for most people. There has been buzzing that Microsoft is doing deals with ISPs to make Xbox movie streaming exempt from data capping, meaning you could watch them as much as you like. Don't hold your breath, though.
Meanwhile, Twitter and Facebook.
The big guns of social networking are now available as applications on Xbox Live. Social networking is that thing I was promised I would never have to do again once I started using the internet.
With a few button presses you can now get into your Twitter account (if you have one) and tell people about how you just opened Twitter.
The Facebook application lets you update your status, check your news feed, look at a streamlined version of people's pages and photo albums, and comment on bits and pieces.
Favourite Feature: the ability to see people on my Facebook Friends List who also use Xbox Live. I still like this feature, even though all it told me was the only person I know with an Xbox is the guy I write gaming articles for already.
Apparently there will also be integration with certain games, allowing you to post gaming details instantly to the two services. Just totally owned a noob? Upload that replay shot instantly. I predict that this will be more annoying than useful, and it had better have a god-damn off button.
The applications work great, but become a nightmare if you try to type anything without a USB keyboard or messenger kit plugged in. Also, people will laugh at you, because you have managed to combine gaming and talking to people on the internet into some sort of Perfect Storm of Nerd.
There is the worry that all these new-fangled doodads will cause consoles to lose what makes them special - i.e. that they are not PCs.
There has always been something very comforting about being able to just turn on a console and have it work. ACTUALLY WORK. No blue screens, no extra downloads, no hoops. Are consoles going to start crashing, slowing down, requiring endless patches, creating system errors and downloading pornography without my permission?
Incidentally, I have no privacy. I can be found on both Facebook (Andy Astruc) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/zwuh/). My Xbox Live gamertag is Zwuh. Later I will update my status to let the internet know I wrote an article about updating my status and time will eat itself.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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Someone who thinks they know it all^^^
I've always thought that PC gaming was better than console gaming. for one downloaadable content is usually free for PC gamers. not to mention the patches balancing the gameplay and bug fixes that the many patches offer PC gamers. New items such as in Team Fortress 2 is another perk PC gaming has over console gaming.
I'd be interested to hear the authors view on this.
actually, BSOD doesn't refer to the death of the computer, but a critical error requiring a restart
RROD refers to the death of an X360 is generally a full death of the console, the most common is solders coming apart, which requires the hardware to be fixed, there are other 'Red Rings' which are not as grave as an RROD and are presented differently to the RROD itself
a motherboard double beep would be a more accurate link to RROD, as they both are hardware errors which need to be fixed to have continued operation
all the way back, consoles have had errors but no net linkage, the net only allows extra features, to come with the main software and for fixes to games which had problems in the past, in a way, consoles were always like computers, except had more dedication to games in the past, due to lack of resources back then, sure you could of made a word processor for NES, but it would of been slower than a dedicated word processor, why? Since the NES is a dedicated games machine These days, games have more than enough hardware to support their needs, so the consoles now can have other extra features to add onto the console 'experience'
also, god damn I love patches, it makes things work better
Like a PC with 3 year out of date hardware and compulsory spyware.
Ahhh the age old battle between console and PC gamers...
HAHAHAHAHAHA
You have to get the PC XBOX HD TV combo going...like me! Compuer on the net downloading movies/tv/games to be played via pc onto your tv, have your pc for your RTS's and hard core FPS, and have your xbox's for your arcadey and mulipayer games. keep all the xtra net stuff off xbox, it just another avenue to spend money where its all being provided elsewhere.
"There has always been something very comforting about being able to just turn on a console and have it work. ACTUALLY WORK. No blue screens, no extra downloads, no hoops."
This bit made me laugh, considering it was microsoft that invented the blue screen as a bugcheck troubleshooting tool, and, also invented the red ring of death for all the xbox users out there.
To call the system stable is quite the contradiction. And i hardly think a costly subscribtion to a service(Xbox Live) that gives you access to a "free" webpage is hardly a feature to boast about.
Regardless of how accurate the metaphor is, I don't think my Xbox RRODing (which it has... twice) even comes close to the critical error explosions my computers have on a regular basis. And all I try to do on my laptop is browse the interwebs and write blogs. I can check my Facebook on Xbox Live before my stupid computer has even figured out how to load Windows.
@Nick: Regarding PC downloadables being free... I think most large DLC items are more like expansion packs, which do cost cold, hard cash. As much as I hate paying for things, there is an upside: developer incentive. Developers have incentive to make really awesome DLC if they will get money for it. The fact that Xbox Live costs and Playstation Network is free is one reason things like the GTA 4 episodes went to Microsoft.
Like it or hate it, often you get what you pay for.
Patches are a good thing in moderation, especially when they improve the game, and I have no issue with them as long as I have to go to no effort to get them (e.g. my console auto-downloads them for me). It all goes downhill when the patches start becoming vital bandages to fix broken games, instead of improvements. PC gaming is well down this ugly road, my fingers are crossed that consoles don't do the same.
If PC gaming is a race-tuned supercar, console gaming is a chauffeured limousine.
Yeah can't ever see myself using the Facebook features on my Xbox... Thats what my work computer is for!
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I can say yes to most of those last questions. Bluescreen = RROD or any kind of overheating / hardware / patching problem. Extra downloads and patches are already happening, with MS retaining the right to shut down your Live account if they think you are a pirate. Slowing down is dependant on what you are running at the time; just like your PC.