xbox one – SomeGadgetGuy

May 13, 2014

Microsoft Delivering XBox One Without Kinect for $399

They said it would never happen, but seeing as how even the release of Titanfall couldn’t help Microsoft close the gap on Sony PS4 sales, it would seem more drastic action was needed.

Announced via Youtube video today, Microsoft took the wraps off their plans to off consumers more pricing choices with an XBox One minus a Kinect smart camera. The reaction here has been mixed, as many early adopters were confident that there wouldn’t be a less expensive offering and ate the $100 difference between One and PS4. This also casts some doubt on what third party development there will be for the wunder-camera, if game devs don’t think every member of their audience will have one.

Does a $100 price drop (and lack of Kinect) change your mind about investing in the XBox ecosystem? Drop us a comment below!

March 15, 2014

Playstation 4 Price Rising to $449 in Canada Starting Today

In an odd response to “changing market conditions” Sony is bumping up the price of the PS4 console, Playstation Camera, and the Dualshock 4 controller.

Starting today, the PS4 will jump $50, from $399 to $449, the Dualshock and Camera now retail for $64.99, and games will also increase in price by about $10 over USA prices.

This move makes sense to a degree as the current exchange rate puts the Canadian dollar at around 90 American cents, which would bring the price difference pretty close to that rate adjustment, as $399 USA is about $443 Canadian at the time of this posting.

As a platform strategy however, the timing on this increase is tricky. Sony still enjoys a sales lead, but rival Microsoft has been chipping away at that, and currently has no plans to raise the price of the XBox One which remains at $499 in Canada. Sony’s bump here brings the stock PS4 (without a camera) to within $50 of the XBox which includes the Kinect camera and tracking system.

Consoles exist to move software however, and Microsoft is only adding a $5 premium to their games up north, largely eroding the cost advantage Sony enjoyed when you factor in a console, and additional controller, and actually buying a game to play on that new system.

NPD sales data for February showed Microsoft selling just over 90% of what Sony moved over the same time period, and we’re about to see the impact of Titanfall, which has all the buzz and momentum of being the first true “Next Gen” hit. It’s impossible to declare any kind of “winner” this early into the console life cycle, but thankfully the competition is about to get a lot more interesting.

December 11, 2013

Another Tech Support Joke infographic from 4chan targets XBox Owner’s PCs

Let’s just make it a rule that we don’t follow tech support advice from infographic pictures on the internet? Cool?

Following some epic pranks, like convincing iPhone owners their phones were now waterproof, sights were set on the XBox One. Backwards compatibility for our consoles is always a sticky subject. Our next gen consoles are not able to play the games of last gen off of the discs in our collection. The desire to do so though can lead people to do some rather silly things. Preying on that desire, a pic circulated detailing a set of instructions to enable backwards compatibility. Instead following the steps in the pic hard bricked the console. Anyone else find it strange that Microsoft would include such an easy to find auto-destruct sequence? Just me? Ok.

Well now 4chan is following it up with an attempt at wrecking a few PCs. The steps outlined in a new “tech support” pic would have users cut out all the files on their C: drive in an attempt to fix their bricked XBox. Again, preying on people who are JUST tech savvy enough to find these things, but who don’t really understand what they’re doing. Thankfully this joke will probably prove less effective as Microsoft has done a much better job of protecting Windows OS files. You’d have to be an Admin, and savvy enough to disable UAC (Microsoft’s protection software), and if you could do all that, you’d probably know better. Even if you didn’t however, Windows can often re-populate the files.

Microsoft probably got tired of fielding tech support calls from folks who deleted their OS. Even I have an Aunt who once went tearing through Windows 98 and threw out a bunch of “junk” files trying to free up space on her PC.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re smarter than the average bear. It’s that time of year where we’re often tasked with fixing family computers and tech, while doing this, how about we all sit our relatives down again and have a little chat…

December 9, 2013

Halo: Spartan Assault released for XBox One on December 24th

One of the best games for Windows Phone and Windows 8 is now making its way to the XBox One this Christmas Eve.

Spartan Assault is a top down arcade style dual stick shooter set in the Halo universe with all of your favorite weapons and power ups. Over 30 missions will be on tap, and 343 Industries has polished up the game to be displayed in glorious 1080p at 60fps. Console gamers will also have access to a new online co-op mode to plow through missions with their bestest pals on Live. You lucky dogs.

This new take on Halo will launch at $15, but if you’ve already purchased the game for Windows Phone or Windows 8 (or purchase it before Dec. 15) you can get it for $5. If you’ve been looking forward to Halo: Spartan Assault, you should really jump on buying it now as you can schnag it for Windows 8 and XBox for$12, instead of $15 for the XBox standalone version.

Check the teaser trailer below.

November 6, 2013

Activision announces $1Billion opening day sales for ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’, while we wait for Next-Gen sales numbers…

Great news for Activision, but potentially troubling news for Sony and Microsoft.

Activision today released sales figures topping $1 Billion for it’s opening day release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, a new series to its popular shooter franchise. This obviously points to the $800 Million opening day performance of Rockstar Game’s GTA: V, even though these two opening day “sales” figures aren’t directly comparable.

Rockstar announced sales to consumers for it’s opening day, while Activision is talking about sales to retail channels. Regardless, it’s still juggernaut sales performance considering Activision somehow manages to pop out a new installment every year.

What the entire industry now awaits are CoD sales numbers for the PS4 and XBox One. Nearing the release of these next gen consoles, Activision opted to release versions of the game compatible with Sony and Microsoft’s next systems. Those sales figures could be valuable data for gauging what early console adoption might look like, and how engaged the consumer base might be.

It must be a difficult decision for the hardcore gamers out there. Play CoD immediately or wait for next gen consoles to arrive. Activision can only hope that some of their consumer base might actually motivated to buy the game twice…

October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

Microsoft Posts Video Showing XBox One Dash and Multi-Tasking

Getting really hyped up for the next console generation!

Microsoft is teasing us with this short video showing off the Xbox One’s Kinect integration and giving us a sneak peek of what the UI will look like. Kinda nice seeing some Live Tiles on a TV screen, and it’s certainly clear that Microsoft wants to be the front end interface for your entire living room, as we also get to see IE and Skype in action. Thankfully they remembered to include a little game play footage as well. Because, you know, it IS a game console and all…

Check it out below.

September 9, 2013

Microsoft XBox Music coming to iOS and Android devices.

Online music streaming radio is a really competitive arena at the moment. You’ve got Slacker, Pandora, Rdio, Spotify, Last.FM, even streaming terrestrial radio. Recently Google entered this market with Play Music All Access, and we’re pretty confident Apple will eventually arrive with iTunes Radio. Not entirely sure what the hold up with them is, as they kind of created the online music scene, but I digress.

Microsoft certainly doesn’t want to be left out of this market and they’re jumping in now with XBox Music.

The service sounds fairly familiar if you’ve used any other online music streaming solution. Microsoft has a library of around 18 million songs, and you can listen to unlimited music either with ads or ad-free for $10 a month (or $100 a year). After the first six months with the ad supported service however, you will be capped at 10 hours of music per day.

XBox Music Pass allows you to sync your music across all of your gadgets, from your XBox, to phones, tablets, and computers. That might be the smart play here by Microsoft, their music streaming will also come in iOS and Android app flavors. They have to know a large chunk of their XBox live subscriber base probably have phones or tablets from their competitors, but still might consider using the Music app built into their game console.

There’s also a music discovery service called Smart DJ which should function like Pandora, and an update to Windows 8 will allow users to catalog music they find on other sites like Pitchfork to listen to later in their library.

This is good timing on Microsoft’s part. Sure they’re late to this party, but as they’re trying to move forward with their phone and tablet solutions, filling out the media purchasing options for their ecosystem means customers will be more likely to shop in their stores. As we’re getting set for the release of the XBox One, Microsoft is making a compelling argument for their console to be the front end of the entire living room. Plus iOS and Android users wont be excluded.

And, I did mention they were beating Apple to the punch here right? I mean… That’s just weird…

XBox Music