purplerat wrote:It's kind of a catch 22 on the pricing though, as much of why digital copies are the same price is so not to undercut retail partners. As long as the industry is heavily reliant on retail sales, digital prices will remain the same as hard copies. Of course as consumers more organically transition over to digital and continue to pay the same price then there is no real incentive for prices to go down.

At least if you're paying full price for digital then you know more of your money is going to the people actually involved in making the games as opposed to people who's only role was to cut open a box and stock shelves; if that brings comfort to you.

Animavore wrote:

purplerat wrote:It's kind of a catch 22 on the pricing though, as much of why digital copies are the same price is so not to undercut retail partners. As long as the industry is heavily reliant on retail sales, digital prices will remain the same as hard copies. Of course as consumers more organically transition over to digital and continue to pay the same price then there is no real incentive for prices to go down.

At least if you're paying full price for digital then you know more of your money is going to the people actually involved in making the games as opposed to people who's only role was to cut open a box and stock shelves; if that brings comfort to you.

No more or less than putting those people out of a job brings discomfort to me.

[...]Microsoft announced that the Xbox One will not only ship without a headset, but standard headsets - including the 360 model - won't be compatible with the new system. The official Xbox One headset (designed to work with the controller's uniquely-shaped auxiliary port) will be sold separately, and for the time being it seems the only options are to throw that extra cash to Microsoft or use the Kinect's built-in microphone. [...]

Microsoft hopes to use the voice recognition features of the new Kinect to deliver targeted advertisements to individual users.

If you already have concerns about the Kinect 2.0 being able to "spy" on you and record your habits, this news from the Technical Account Manager for Xbox LIVE Advertising probably won't help. "With the new Xbox One, the technology and Kinect has improved a lot, so that actually the voice recognition, the way you speak to your Xbox and the transition between gaming and watching TV is a lot smoother, and hopefully we can transpire that into advertising that we do." He went on to say that the new Xbox One dashboard was designed "with advertising in mind." [...]

electricwhiteboy wrote:It ships with Kinect... I fail to see why you need a headset. Honestly, where's the beef here?

electricwhiteboy wrote:It ships with Kinect... I fail to see why you need a headset. Honestly, where's the beef here?

Xbox president Don Mattrick is leaving Microsoft and is close to taking the role of CEO at social gaming giant Zynga, All Things Digital reports.

Sources close to All Things Digital said the official announcement of Mattrick’s appointment could be made as early as today, and that the executive has been in discussions with Zynga about the role for some time. The site adds that Mattrick has also been one of front-runners to step into the currently vacant CEO position at EA

Thommo wrote:

electricwhiteboy wrote:It ships with Kinect... I fail to see why you need a headset. Honestly, where's the beef here?

You can argue about whether it needs a headset socket or not, but if you're going to have one deliberately making the socket incompatible with standard headsets such as the one xbox360 owners already have is a spectacularly grubby and anti-consumerist way of going about it.

OnkelCannabia wrote:

Thommo wrote:You can argue about whether it needs a headset socket or not, but if you're going to have one deliberately making the socket incompatible with standard headsets such as the one xbox360 owners already have is a spectacularly grubby and anti-consumerist way of going about it.

what does the PS4 use?

Thommo wrote:

OnkelCannabia wrote:

Thommo wrote:You can argue about whether it needs a headset socket or not, but if you're going to have one deliberately making the socket incompatible with standard headsets such as the one xbox360 owners already have is a spectacularly grubby and anti-consumerist way of going about it.

what does the PS4 use?

Sorry, I don't know. I wouldn't put it past sony to be anti-consumerist as well, though they do seem to have avoided many of the mis-steps microsoft are currently making.

DoctorE wrote:Microsoft house cleaning...

Xbox president Don Mattrick is leaving Microsoft and is close to taking the role of CEO at social gaming giant Zynga, All Things Digital reports.

Sources close to All Things Digital said the official announcement of Mattrick’s appointment could be made as early as today, and that the executive has been in discussions with Zynga about the role for some time. The site adds that Mattrick has also been one of front-runners to step into the currently vacant CEO position at EA

Continues: http://www.gamespot.com/news/don-mattri ... rt-6410944

Animavore wrote:The new PS joypad has a standard audio jack built into it into which you plug the supplied headset. I believe you can still use any bluetooth head sets you may already own. Though with no scart support your AV/Audio headsets won't be compatible.