xbox one – Dr. Ray Pastore's Instructional Technology Blog

xbox one’s best feature and how it can be applied to business and education

admin — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 15:17:30 +0000

I recently obtained an xbox one. After a few weeks of playing around I have found what I believe is an awesome feature with tons of potential in gaming, education, and business. The feature? The Kinect recording feature. Essentially this is basically like an in game DVR service. So when I am playing a game and I do something that I believe is cool I can say ‘xbox record that’ and it will automatically record the last 30 seconds of play and put that away in my stored videos. Now this is awesome because it does not interrupt my gameplay at all. I dont need to press a button, stop playing, or go back and watch a clip later on to choose a part I want to have.

Now how does this apply to business and education? Well in all of my classes there is an archive that is basically a recorded video of the class. The problem? Its 3 hours long each week. Just imagine a student looking for one chunk of information from that class and having to sort through all of that video. Just imagine if during the class the student could place some kind of marker on the class so that they could come back? This would be like taking notes without having to actually take the notes and thus not distract the student from listening. This exact thing could take place during business meetings and such. Now I realize that there are recording devices out there that do this kind of thing but its not seamless and as easy as xbox’s kinect.

Xbox One’s Cloud

admin — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 12:08:29 +0000

There are many people who either do not understand the cloud or wonder what it is. Here is a great article that explains it. Also, here is an infographic that visually explains it. In a nutshell:

– There will be 300,000 servers to power your games
– These servers will be dedicates. That means that microsoft will host matches so there will be less lag and less pauses in game from a host switch. Current PS3/xbox360 relies on p2p or host matches.
– There will be unlimited cloud storage for xbox live users
– Worlds will continue when you stop playing. So just like WoW on the PC, there will be a world on the server and gameplay will continue even when you are not on.

How does this compare to Sony’s cloud? Well Sony has been rather quiet about it. We do know:

– It releases in 2014
– They are using Gaikai but this is only for streaming ps1-3 games. – Will they have the same functionality as xbox 1? We honestly do not know. Rumors are that they will not. This comes from the titanfall developer who said ps4 does not have the technology to play their game. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen but Sony really needs to make it clear what their cloud is and is not. Unfortunately if it was more than what we know I am sure they would have said so. Better to not say anything when its not as good.

Xbox One Update: No DRM, No restricting used games, and no region lock

admin — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:32:06 +0000

The update specifies that the Xbox One will not require a daily internet connection for games to be playable, that Microsoft will not restrict used games, and that region-locking will also be dropped, and also you can make money and get fun at same time playing at https://nevadaonlinecasinos.com.

Now read a very funny article about it – well here is the text:

Xbox One Rumors Put to Rest…

admin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:35:00 +0000

Microsoft’s new system is actually very awesome, it was just a bad marketing job and users that do not understand the features. PC gaming is 10x better and ahead of console gaming and MS took a step in this direction while sony is staying in 2005. Let me explain…

MS is implementing a cloud (sony is too but it is not the same thing). What this will mean is that you will install your game on your machine and then you will never need the disk again. You go to a friends house, log in and you can play. No need for your disk. You can lend your game to up to 10 friends too (although the time will be limited). How awesome is that? Its like PC gaming. Disks are an outdated technology. My laptop doesnt even have a disk drive. I was so happy to see MS moving in this direction and cannot believe Sony is making them mandatory and people are happy about this old technology? Its like demanding a home cordless phone over a mobile and claming the home one is better lol.

About the 24 hour online check in. It is most definitely needed. Since you do not need the disk after installing on the cloud why wouldnt every single person just sell it? They need to prevent that. It makes total sense. Plus, the majority of gamers play online. I havent played a non online game since maybe 2007. I cant even log into WoW without being online. With this I just need to ‘check in’ every 24 hrs, then I can play offline for 24hrs if i wanted.

Kinect – it will NOT be monitoring you. That is just a bad rumor. You can set it to do what you want. Do you really think MS would spend millions (and i mean many many millions) to record people? Do you know how expensive server space and how big video files are? I dont think people actually believe this…

Xbox One Strategy: What MS needs to do right now

admin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:54:13 +0000

If Microsoft’s Xbox One wants to win the console war, right now, its very simple. Lower digital game prices $10-20. It’s that simple. Show us, as users, that all of your security issues to prevent piracy are so that developers can rest assured their is less pirating, which should increase profits. As a result you should be able to lower the cost of digital games as the PC has done. So do it and do it now. Additionally when users are not buying the disk, case, etc they lower your costs anyway. So if you want to get your rep back fast, make the announcement that digital games are going to be lower.

My thoughts on xbox one

admin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:52:34 +0000

After speaking with two different game designers this weekend as well as reading more information, my thoughts on xbox one have changed dramatically. Here are my most recent thoughts and sure these can change in the coming months are we get more information:

1. Multimedia – If I am spending a few hundred on one of these things (consoles) I expect it to do more than play games. I am excited for the multimedia features of the xbox one. I felt like sony dropped the ball here and should be doing more. MS is really going to shine in this area.

2. xbox live – what can i say, its always been better then PSN. Now that PSN will be the same price I dont see how anyone can justify it considering it was down for 3+ weeks last year. Im sure sony has fixed those problems though but I do not think anyone can argue psn is better. xbox is now getting 300,000 servers, which is amazing.

3. Always online – I only play online. Who doesnt play games online? I have for many years now…maybe since 2007. I pretty much have awesome internet everywhere I go so its not a complaint. I am surprised people are not mad that these systems require always electricity:) All of my PC games, like WOW, are always online too. Plus many sony games will require online access as well. I cant really figure out this one. I do not see people complaining that WoW is only online.

4. Installing games. Just like every PC game I have to install. This is actually awesome. I can now go to a friends and just sign in to play my game. No need to use disks anymore – welcome to 2013 MS. The cloud is the way to go. This is a major selling point for me. I felt like sony actually went backwards here. their cloud is very limited and wont be available until some point in 2014. I do want to see more details on both systems cloud.

5. used games – yea i dont buy them. gamestop is causing an increase in prices. stop supporting them. they are hurting all game publishers, especially the smaller ones. suppport game developers not gamestop. Also if MS’s new system works to help prevent privacy, there is a change the game prices could go down for digital versions.

6. Kinect – I dont really care much for kinect but after thinking about, its kinda nice. it would be fun to mess around with. and no its not always on or recording you, you can set it to do what you want. it will also be kinda cool to skype with people like my family on tv vs my ipad.

7. Games – Well I think the exclusives are better for MS. I am a huge halo fan so thats always a sell for me. Titanfall looks interesting and will be available on PC too. All the other games I want seem to be on both systems although I imagine MS’s cloud will be really cool for Destiny.

xbox one needs to change its marketing among other things…

admin — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:31:08 +0000

Edit: my thoughts after talking to several game designers and doing some research on the system. I am still really annoyed about he price though. $500 is too much for a game system…grrrr

This post will discuss why MS needs to change course now if they want their console to do well. Whoever came up with these ideas is not a gamer and should be fired from MS. Gamers are rebels. They do not like conformity and the marketing for this console is everything they hate, in this case the Google Correlate tool will work well for uncovering related marketing topics. Now just a word of warning – Sony is probably going to be doing this same stuff (well not price) they are just keeping quiet at this point as they should seeing what MS is going through. Its not really MS or Sony’s choice, rather the game publishers. I will also note that I am more than likely buying an xbox 1 (not on release though, I will wait for halo).

Edit: Here is a good explanation of all of these things. Basically what it comes down to is MS did a terrible job marketing some awesome new features and they actually made them sound bad: http://www.neowin.net/news/anonymous-xbox-engineer-explains-drm-and-microsofts-xbox-one-intentions

1. Price – this is the biggest. Given the current economy, people are not going to spend $499 when they could get the sony for $399. It does not matter what you include in the console. Its the price tag people will see. $499 for a console is too expensive regardless.

2. Features – 24 hr online check, no borrowed games, etc. – since these changes would only affect a small % of gamers, why have them to begin with? People are just bashing the system because of them even though they wont be affected. Do not try to educate the community, its not going to work. Whoever thought it would needs to be fired.

3. Kinect – People could care less about kinect and now feel like they are going to pay for something they wont use. Have a bare bones system with no kinect. Heck have no storage, let people use their own. Things like this would reduce the cost and people would be happy.

4. xbox live – there are rumors you are going to charge more for things like netflix and such? Keep xbox live pricing as is. Its only going to confuse people and make them mad. Dont do stupid stuff. If you want to be # 1 listen to gamers not your business analysts.

5. Exclusives – you better get your exclusives in check. The bigger games are all multiplatform. If bungie’s new game is awesome PS4 will win this gen for sure. COD and battlefield already make it not important which console you have.