Should we even consider the Xbox One a games console?

[woodaba]

Because, I gotta be honest, the more and more I see and hear of this thing, the more it seems like games are an afterthought, a cool extra feature on this multimedia device. Like, an Ipad. I don't think anyone bought an Ipad because of it's potential as a gaming console, but it's ability to play games is a neat extra on top of a device that can do a plethora of other things that it's more focused on.

So, is that what we should consider the Xbox One? Not a game console, but the Ipad in the living room?

And I'm not saying this makes it good. Just something to consider.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Well it DOES play games. But then again, so does my phone/tablet. Just call them what they called themselves during the event : A water cooler.

It wants to be everything. And by trying to market to everyone, they will appeal to no-one. It's already discriminating against people in more rural areas, not to mention less developed parts of the world that rely on 2nd hand games and may not have any internet at all.

 

[woodaba]

I suppose it is still a games console because people are going to be developing games strictly for the system.

Pertinent point, but, at the same time, people develop games exclusively for IOS, and we don't consider the Ipod/pad a gaming system.

 

[Keoul]

It started as a games console but I'm not so sure now..
Maybe call it an "Entertainment System"? considering it's no longer focused on games I wouldn't be surprised if people started calling it something else.

 

[SSJBlastoise]

I mean, you are going to be able to stream freaking porn [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124078-Streaming-Porn-Service-Coming-to-Next-Xbox] on it! Just...just why!?

Thought I should point out that you can do that already through the 360 and PS3 browsers so it's not really that big a deal.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I wouldn't consider the XBone a games console for the same reason you wouldn't consider a PC a games console. You can play games on it yeah but, that doesn't seem to be the primary focus anymore. I don't even think Microsoft is trying to market it as a console but as an all-in-one entertainment center/ entertainment hub.

 

[Bonecrusher]

Because, I gotta be honest, the more and more I see and hear of this thing, the more it seems like games are an afterthought, a cool extra feature on this multimedia device.

People must accept there won't be any "NES-like" console out there. Since applying the internet to the consoles, consoles have to follow the trends of current internet standarts.
Technology develops, and the products we use improve according to that. Look at our TVs, many of them turned into SmartTVs. We can watch internet streams, use apps and browse internet on them. But their primary focus are still main TV functions.

Same goes for the gaming consoles. Because of the current technology trends, there will be no more "gaming-specific console", and each consoles will have some multimedia features. Even Xbox 360 and PS3 had them.
Features in the Xbox One are not a surprise.

 

[Petromir]

Of course it is a games console. Just because it can also do a load of other stuff (just as the PS4, PS3 and indeed Xbox 360 all do).

On press conference that emphasized its other features does not prevent it from being one, especially when E3 is so close.

Now we can have an E3 that focuses on the games for it.

Standard disclaimer for PS4/Xbox One threads: Both reveals failed to impress masssively. Both showed some promise.

Extra disclaimer, if I want ultimate gaming power then I'll use my PC, so given the two are fairly close in specs, other functionality may well be a better bet to sway me on which to get 1st, as the games I tend to get on console outside the odd exsclusive tend not to be system punishers anyway.

 

[ninjaRiv]

Why would it need games? Microsoft isn't about video games, oh no! They're about pleasing the masses with things you can already get elsewhere! Pffff games! It can probably play games, I guess. But who needs that in a fancy DVD player?!? No thank you! I just want to watch tv on something that's bound to be overpriced and not needed! Games, you say! ha!

 

[Gorrath]

Stop trying to change the names.

Just as the Wii U is a console of the new generation, Xbone is a console! Just a more (needlessy?) complex one.

I'm curious about your statement. How far diverged from games as the core feature would a device have to get before it was no longer a console? I'm not even disagreeing with you, just trying to wrap my head around what that line would be. How would we know when it was crossed? It seems a lot of it would have to do with the primary focus of the machine in question. Can it be considered a games console if games are not its primary focus, but just one of many apps available on the device, like an IOS or Andriod device?

 

[Gorrath]

Because, I gotta be honest, the more and more I see and hear of this thing, the more it seems like games are an afterthought, a cool extra feature on this multimedia device.

People must accept there won't be any "NES-like" console out there. Since applying the internet to the consoles, consoles have to follow the trends of current internet standarts.
Technology develops, and the products we use improve according to that. Look at our TVs, many of them turned into SmartTVs. We can watch internet streams, use apps and browse internet on them. But their primary focus are still main TV functions.

Same goes for the gaming consoles. Because of the current technology trends, there will be no more "gaming-specific console", and each consoles will have some multimedia features. Even Xbox 360 and PS3 had them.
Features in the Xbox One are not a surprise.

I don't think it's a question of what feature set a device has but what the focus is. I think the fear here isn't that we are getting an expanded feature set, but rather that those other features will grow so prominent that the games console part of the device becomes an after thought. I'm not saying the Xbone is going to do that, but if things do trend that way now or later, those people with gaming as a core hobby have good reason to be concerned.

 

[josemlopes]

Totally, of all the next gen titles it only wont have the PS4 exclusives like Knack, Killzone and Infamous (and they will also have their own exclusives so it all balances out). All of the others multiplat like Thief, Watch Dogs and Assassins Creed 4 will be on the XBone too. And just because Call of Duty and the sports bunch was at the XBone conference doesnt mean that they are what the XBone is all about when it comes to games, those games could also have been in the PS4 conference since they are multiplat.

You can complain that they didnt showed enough games but you cant deny that they have them just as much as Sony does, and Im not really focusing on exclusives because I bet that for each shooter or racing game on one side there will be another on the other side (Forza/Drive Club for example).

The XBone still doesnt interest me much since I dont live in the US and if Xbox Live is still payed that is a big deal breaker for me.
For as things are now I am prefering the PS4 but to say that it is because of the games is wrong because it is still to early to judge on that (mostly the quality of each game seperatly since they will have probably the same amount of games)

 

[Mr Fixit]

I don't think we can call it a game console anymore, simply because that isn't what it is. Yes it will play games & will get a few exclusives, but it's a multimedia entertainment console that Microsoft has been planning on making & wanting to make for years now. That's why the 360 had all that extra shit on it, to test the waters. I remember years ago hearing someone from Microsoft saying that they wanted to have one device for everyone's entertainment needs. Will this turn away alot of gamers that just want a game console, oh hell yes, but Microsoft is counting on getting one of these things in damn near everyones living room playing game, watching movies & TV so the whole family can use it. I am a fan of Xbox, I love my 360, but I use it to play games & watch DVDs & that's about it & I will not be getting this new pile of crap that is the Xbone. Microsoft doesn't want just us gamers anymore, they want everyone & why the hell not that means more money for them.

Sorry for the rambling, I probably shouldn't be doing this with a fever. I can understand why Microsoft is doing what they are doing & I am by no means defending them, but I still don't have to like it or roll over & take it. So when & if I can ever afford a new console I'll be going with Sony or just getting a new gaming PC.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Really? Its a console, it plays games. It does a load of other stuff that is useless and pointless. But it is still a games console. Even though they want an entertainent hub, nothing it does is worth buying it for. I have a tv, laptop and a phone - the only thing it does that the others dont is play xbox games, and thats all i want it for. Or do you think a smart phone isnt really a phone because you can go online and game on that AS WELL as make phone calls?

So i will make my final choice to buy one at E3, and if the games out weigh the negatives, then great. Nothing is written in stone, alot of this stuff MS are saying are not true until we get the official line. For all we know they are throwing out different ideas and seeing what sticks? But again, wait till E3.

 

[Callate]

If that's the case, Microsoft has blundered even worse than everyone is saying. Instead of misreading what everyone was hoping for and expecting in a relatively narrow market, they've blundered into a market that's already both well- and over-served by companies that are widely perceived as being far better at what they do in the field than Microsoft.