Xbox Makes Bold Push to Own Living Room

Microsoft has made a bold move toward controlling consumers' relationship with television, while potentially reshaping the living room entertainment and ad experience with the upcoming launch of the Xbox One gaming console.

[christocolus]

the good thing about this console is that it does both games and tv very well..ms actually wants to have an all in one box and if they keep playing their cards right they may pull this off.they aare actually being bold and they know to reach a wider audience consoles definitly have to step out of that niche.just like cellphones now and i really dont see anything wrong with this and besides the inclusion of kinect is something i believe will pay off in the long run or much sooner..imagining what great devs will be able to do with kinect really gets me hyped..

[KRUSSIDULL]

If they actually had TV streaming (IPTV) it wouldn't be a gimmick.

Just what I think.

[Drewidian]

Just so you know.... The 360 already does streaming IPTV with many cable companies. MS does have the best relationships with the cable/satellite companies of any system out there. Sure Sony is courting some studios, but imagine if MS made deals with Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner, AT&T, Dish Network, and DirecTV to sell the XBox One as a solution subsidized for say... $99 on a 2 year contract. None of their competitors would be able to touch their sales. Since there is an ongoing working relationship with these companies that Sony, Steam, or any other company has then its pretty much up to MS if they do this.

[darthv72]

Even if the idea is a collaboration of supporting existing service providers, the unit can (could) effectively replace a box that you are renting from the provider.

Early on in the 360 life, they offered up support for UVerse tv from ATT. You could use the 360 as a UVerse receiver and DVR. ATT dropped support for that after the 2nd NXE dash update but by then Ms had got into it with Verizon as well as individual channels.

Ms making the XB1 as a pass through is only 1 of a few ways to use it to get TV content. It isnt like all of a sudden their existing relations with the individual channel apps are going to become invalid.

Chances are the same selection of TV channels available on the live marketplace will carry over so you can be selective in what you use for tv/movie content. OR...you plug in your existing cable/sat box and use the XB1 as the go-between to live tv.

It should also not be forgotten that the XB1 could be a streaming box (aka media center extender) like the 360 is. Most windows 7 PC's as well as windows 8 are incorporating windows media center which you can load up lots of different channels and stream them to the 360 (and XB1) over a home network.

[Belking]

They already have tv streaming with xbox360. So it's not a gimmick right?...lol

[kingdip90]

If microsoft really wanted to own the living room they would strive to make themselves indispensable in the cable, tv side of things. I think that if they came up with a tv streaming service with a la carte channels where costomers didn't have to pay a subscription for a bunch of channels they don't want they could give cable companies a huge run for their money. Instead they decided to work with cable companies and have the cable box plug into the console. Considering how many people stream media to avoid the cost of cable this is a huge missed opportunity for microsoft.

They left the door open for someone else. Vita tv is up to bat, lets see if they fumble or not.

[cleft5]

The biggest hurdle for Microsoft with the general consumer is the game branding and the $500 price tag. The Xbox One as a media center is not a bad ideal, but the problem is that they are competing with stuff like Apple TV or the Roku Box when they enter that area, both devices are priced a lot less than the Xbox One.

Than you have the fact that Xbox One is still seen as a gaming device and people still see those devices as being for children. Obviously an outdated view but one that still holds true. Microsoft has a tough fight ahead of them and I can't help but wonder if chasing after this new market will hurt their relationship with the core gamer market.

[Drewidian]

Do you really think MS would charge the cable companies $500 for a subsidized XBox One? In all likelihood they will charge the cable companies $350 and those cable companies will most likely charge consumers $99-199 down on a 2 year contract. We've already seen that for DVRs and the like and it makes the most sense for it to happen.

[UltimateMaster]

"Microsoft has made a bold move toward controlling consumers' relationship with television."
Nah, I'd just resume it to: Microsoft has made a bold move toward controlling consumers with DRM, and failed.

[Magicite]

those who think that Kinect is what makes xbone worth buying over PS4, this is worth reading:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

[OldGirl]

Vita TV seems to be doing a better job at that if you asked me.

[christocolus]

@oldgirl

Xbox Makes Bold Push to Own Living Room..i believe the title is talking about the kinect and xbox one here..and if you asked me.sony isnt chasing the same markets ms is pushing for..ms tv plans cover usa, uk and asia..and its on a far more broader scale and with a far greater investment and imo if ms actually sees it as necessary they could also release a stand alone portable streaming device to work with the tv content they have and are securing for their service..that aside, i am stating the potentials of having kinect in the box and its possibilities aint starting any argument..i am actually happy with the steps ms has taken so far and i sincerely hope it pays off...

[OldGirl]

Wrong, a lot of you people have this huge misconception that Sony doesn't offer what the Xbox One has. They do and its better also in much more convenient ways. They even just talked about this TV service but many of you think it just came up now, this has been a long standing plan of Sony's. It is called Virtual MSO.

Long before the Xbox One, Sony already had plans to make a streaming service for TV that rivals cable and they were making deals with Viacom and other major cable providers some time ago.

http://variety.com/2012/dig...

Feel free to google Virtual MSO and read all the articles about it.

That was from 2012 and they planned to have this service running sometime in 2014. Sony has been dropping nuclear bombs lately, I won't be surprised if they announce this later when its in full swing to drop another.

Why would I want to use my cable box routed through the Xbox One when I could just use Virtual MSO on Playstation systems that doesn't require any of that.

So yea Vita TV, with Gaikai, streaming the PS4, streaming PS3 games and eventually getting virtual MSO will be better than anything the Xbox One offers in terms of services.

Including the fact most the services on the Xbox One are behind a pay wall and require Live to even be used, when the same stuff on the PS4 is not behind a pay wall and doesn't require PS+.

[UltimateMaster]

I remember Sony making a bold move with TV DVR with the PSX in Asia.

It stayed in Asia...

[WeaseL]

The TV in the living room and the console in the man cave is the way its meant to be.

[Wikkid666]

I have console on every tv in the house.

[RiPPn]

A Roku offers far more entertainment features than the Bone at $400 cheaper and no paywalls for services you already pay for. A PS4 offers superior gaming hardware at $100 cheaper. I just don't see how this thing is going to be a success when it doesn't offer anything that can't be had cheaper and better elsewhere with the exception of a couple of overrated exclusives.

[WeAreLegion]

I agree. You forgot to talk about the Vita TV though. ;)

[RiPPn]

Well who knows when Vita TV will be available and what services. As of now not much competes with a Roku.

[Drewidian]

I think the only way any gaming console will "Own the Living Room" is to partner with cable and satellite companies and offer a subsidized device on a 2 year contract.

Some of these systems are moving to IP TV like Time Warner, Verizon, and Comcast, but there will still be millions of legacy homes and networks that can't make that switch quickly or easily. Whichever system can make deals with the cable and/or satellite companies will win the living room, because everyone watches TV.

[WeAreLegion]

Yeah. Sony just did that. I'm excited to see what happens.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

With Kinect, STILL having major Lag issues,.. (faster to use a remote). I think this grand plan , may back fire.

{Vita.TV- the smart choice, for the the Smart TV. Streaming Games, Movies, and all your app's, all in one place. - $99}

[stuna1]

Let's put it like this, even at a subsidised rate I don't see Cable, Satilite, Apple, Roku allowing Microsoft a chance to muscle in on their market! Here's why, most of these entities supply their own hardware, so to allow Microsoft to potentially offset the profit margin, they would have to pay practically what paying customers would pay to replace said companies hardware, which I see as highly unlikely.

On top of that most of these providers also have more than one reciever per household. My household for example has 5 recievers, and sad to say makes a profit off of each one of them! Here's something that no one is even looking at, without Xbox Live that would also affect the providers profits as well unless there's some type of pass through which so far isn't on the Xbox 360, because without Live the HBO app doesn't work.

Even with the different apps on Xbox 360, most are behind the paywall! So the question would still remain why would I have to pay a total of 3 times to access something I should have to pay once for!? Don't take my word for it do the math!

1) You pay a internet bill.
2) You pay a Cable or Satellite bill.
3) You pay for Xbox Live.

Now the fact that you pay for Internet, most people view that as a necessity, because it has more than one application; School, Work, or just for fun.

Cable, or Satellite, that falls more along the lines of wants, meaning it not a necessity! It's mostly purely for entertainment purposes.

Then we have Xbox Live, which from most standpoint is completely for entertainment purposes, it's definitely not a necessity unless you're totally addicted to it for gaming, which is definitely within the realm of possibilities.

What I'm saying out of the 3 costs I just listed, only one of them is able to make the others ones useless, even though one of them could be considered a necessity! I wonder if anyone could tell me which one that is!? Here's a hint! Oh forget it!!! It's Xbox Live.

If no one finds something wrong with that picture, it truly is a sad day for not just for gaming, but entertainment in general.

[Goku781]

Doesn't have to try hard, the system and the camera would take up most of the entertainment space to begin with. Not to mention the space needed for Kinect to work with certain games.

[jmc8888]

Except Xbox One isn't a device that can realistically own a living room.

A game controller is still better then Kinect for controlling games.

A remote control is still better in terms of speed and functions then Kinect is for controlling TV.

A PC is still better for browsing the web, and people don't need to pay a fee to Microsoft just so they can access their high speed internet just so they can access their netflix account. In other words, needing Xbox Live to access the web is adding another pay wall layer that isn't necessary.

Plus only Kinect can look at my room and exploit me. Which I won't get into here other than the fact that on PC there is no patent saying they can count the people in my room and deny me the ability to watch something.

Even then, when it comes to games, PC's and PS4 are more powerful.

So if you want the slow media function, more expensive to access, and 3rd most powerful version of games, along with massive privacy concerns, you can let Xbox One own your living room.

Me? I'd rather just do what is best.

That means using my remote to control my cable (you know where I can scan all 1400 theoretical channels in a minute compared to 30 minutes of telling xbox to go up a channel).

That means using a PC for all web browsing for all reasons.

That means a PC/PS4/Wii U for gaming.

Oh and if I want fantasy football, I won't choose NFL.com and have PC and phone to access my scores. Hell even an app for my phone for free live updates.

Anyone who looks objectively at what Xbox One brings to the table realizes that the Xbox One is trying to sell people on an INFERIOR experience. At only $499.

In other words. I'll own my own living room, and my living room will be much better for it.

[WhyHate]

Man, Nov. 22nd can't come soon enough...
Xbox One = gaming gold.

[Blu Ray3]

Relax
Your hate is obvious
What happens if xbone turns out to be more powerful?
Spin spin