Whitten says:

"My goal is for it to just show up in the marketplace," he told us. "Of course there will be different pivots inside of that. There will be everything from what are we curating, kind of like spotlight content, to the normal discoverability stuff like recommendations, what's trending, what's got a lot of engagement on the platform. And you'd be able to find that content in any of those. There wouldn't be any difference based on what type of game it was. Then of course there will be other type of pivots where you can go and look at whether its a genre of game or any other. But you shouldn't think of it as there's an indie area and a non-indie area."


http://kotaku.com/microsoft-every-xbox-one-can-be-used-to-make-ga
mes-up-898750954

True, but seeing how this is a much better option than Sony's let's see if Sony will follow!

Thank you Microsoft! ;)

Exactly sony doesn't require a publisher but they decide whether or not you can get a dev kit and that isn't really self-publishing.

Then we should say thanks.... Ouya? ;-)

Yeah I don't think MS is reacting to sony rather to Ouya.

Darn right. Thank you MS too. I'm all for escalation.

Also, sadly, I don't think Ouya has been enough of a hit yet to even hit MS's radar. Obviously the Kickstart was a blowout, but not much recently. MS seems to have eyes only for Sony at this point.

I hope sony will stay on their actual plans, controlled things, even really souple are far better than just "open the valves and let see"

@Kujel Except that's not right at all. MS will still curate who gets to publish; devs just don't have to have a middleman. That said, we still don't have any actual policies yet. This is pretty obviously just an announcement to get some good PR to redirect attention from recent events. We don't have any details at all, and we have no way of knowing what they'll actually stick to in the long-run (let alone release).

This has nothing to do with Sony and everything to do with competing with Apple on the TV space.

I hope the market won't be flooded with crap. Expect lots of zombie games.

I'm hopeful, but I won't rush to judgement. This isn't a "policy" yet, this is public relations. Let's wait to hear some specifics.

hahahaha the "closet" clan strikes back :) hilarious!

You know, you could just ignore it like most people could think to do. Put a towel over it or something. Good grief. :\

I know, privacy has become such an outdated concept now - people who actually want it are seen as silly whiners.

conspiracy theorist, much? You really think someone at MS is going to be sitting around monitoring what you say and do?!? :\

It is silly whining when there's an obvious solution to the problem.

Everyone has a smartphone, that has a camera, mic and is connected 24/7.

"Everyone has a smartphone, that has a camera, mic and is connected 24/7."

Yes, and based on comments made publically by Senator Wyden it seems highly likely that the U.S. government is using those to spy on people en masse, so I think being concerned about these kinds of things (including the surveillance capabilities of the new Kinect) is eminently sensible.

@Jim

There is indeed an obvious solution - unplug the Kinect and set it aside. Unfortunately MS will not allow us to do that, for reasons they have not yet explained.

They have explained it. It's an integral part of their experience with the Xbox One and they are making it easier for developers to develop for a single system that includes all components. Not having to worry about catering to systems that may not include integral hardware is very handy. You know what devices your customers will have and can focus on developing great experiences that take advantage of those components without having to worry about customers who don't have it. If a gamer wants to turn it off, disable features in a game, or chooses not to buy games that require Kinect features to be turned on...that's their business. But it's been something developers like me appreciate.

There are many solutions actually. Put tape over it, unplug it when not in use, break the lens, put the box facing backwards, etc... Most devices nowadays have cameras anyways, some of these devices we take with us everywhere we go..

@Jim
Well, they're working pretty closely with the NSA to give them access to Skype, Outlook, Skydrive, etc. I don't see why Xbox stuff will be any different if the NSA asks for it.

You have that a little backwards, Eric. Microsoft and a lot of other companies work pretty hard to keep government agencies from forcing any of their data into other hands and towards getting more transparency on what is occurring in the first place. They aren't even legally allowed to talk about most of this stuff. Cooperating with authorities is slightly different than "working pretty closely" with them.

@Chris

There is a stylus included with every single 3DS system. That doesn't mean I can't set it aside when I'm playing a game that doesn't use it. Similarly, the fact that the Kinect is included in the box with every Xbox is enough assurance for developers that they can create games for the Kinect because they know that every Xbox user will have one. Just as 3DS developers create games that require the stylus because they know every 3DS user has one. There will not be a single Xbox One owner that doesn't have a Kinect, as you worry may be the case.

That still does not explain why Microsoft absolutely refuses to simply allow us to unplug the device if we have no intention of ever using it, as will be the case for many (if not most) Xbox users.

Also, Microsoft's relationship with the NSA went far beyond mere cooperation. They implemented a circumvention for Outlook.com decryption before the service even launched. That doesn't exactly suggest a great deal of reluctance to comply on Microsoft's part, or any reluctance at all, actually. And the leaked documents regarding the alliance between the two organizations further dispels the idea that MS was ever hesitant to comply with any request the NSA had.

@Kyle "reluctance" doesn't play into it. If you don't comply with these orders your execs go to jail for a felony. They have no choice in this, neither does Google or Apple. You get a set of reporting requirements, and a deadline. If you "reluctantly" agree (what does that even mean?) and don't fulfill the requirements or the deadline, straight to secret court you go.

Regarding the Kinect: cover the sensor. Why is this so hard for you to do? You really sound like someone who is just grinding the axe for the hell of it.

@Andrew

I'm not exactly the lone voice of concern regarding the Kinect. And it's not me I'm worried about - I won't be getting an Xbox One. That does not mean I cannot be concerned that Microsoft setting a bad precedent for privacy with this requirement. And considering that there is no technical reason why they would not allow owners to unplug the Kinect, it's not unreasonable to assume the real reason they won't allow it is because they intend to use it to collect very personal data on users, who will not be aware (because they will not read the privacy policy or EULA) of what Microsoft is actually doing.

If people continue to become more and more lax regarding their own privacy, that will lead to more abuses by companies and the government against *everyone's* privacy, including mine. Apathy and Ignorance of privacy abuses is how we got to where we are now in the first place. So I am going to continue to speak out against these practices.

@Chris
I didn't particularly mean to imply that they were happy about it. I just meant it's pretty foolish to take always-on recording equipment from a company known to comply and hand over private data regardless of the circumstance, if you value your privacy. If you don't, that's cool--but many potential customers do. Telling us we can spend $100 on a spare towel rack is ludicrous.

@Jim
You really shouldn't complain about people voicing their opinions in the first place, but if you want to go down this road, then we can. Regardless of what it can or can't do out of the box, it enables a lot of scary things if they wanted to. Whether they do or not is irrelevant to the people who care.

That said, there were patents from a couple of years back (2010?) that people dug up for Kinect detecting how many people are in the room to automatically shut down if too many people were watching a movie or something. There have been a lot of concerns between this and the fact you can't disable the Kinect because it says that Microsoft wants to make sure you're doing things their way. If you can't unplug the Kinect, why would they let you cover it up? They obviously won't, so I guess your complaints to Kyle are just silly whining.

Oh, and there was that bit with the NSA too. Guess that shouldn't be a concern though. Let's try to be civil, shall we? There's no need to call people's opinions whining or to attack them as a conspiracy theorist. Critique arguments all you want, but don't be a jerk.

@Andrew

Do you actually believe that tech executives from fortune 500 companies would be thrown in jail for non-compliance? Give the government some credit. They have much more subtle and effective ways of motivating business. Maybe the technology sector is left out of closed room discussions on a bill that will greatly affect them (see the recent Facebook backed bill to make it easier to hire and retain developers from overseas), maybe there are complications with a specific business' tax exempt status, maybe a patent takes an exceptionally long time to be approved. Technology leaders know why they have to play ball... it isn't out of fear of jail time.

"Ew, gross. This banana has a maggot in it."

"What's the matter? You don't like fruit? Why don't you just eat around it? Good grief."

"Can't I just pull it out?"

"Nope, that's part of the new banana experience. Thank you, Monsanto"

Aren't current gen games already going up to 70€? I've seen prices like that in Italy, or at least close.

Yes but next gen title (at least 1st party) are 70€ in EU vs 60$ in US. i m not speaking about how much but about the difference of 25€ (33$) with US prices. We are bored to be treated as whales

What's the minimum wage in EU countries charging 70€ ? What's the median income?

1 121,93 net / month 13 463.16 / y (minimum wage (SMIC))
2 094.9 net / month 25 139 / y (median)

per hour 7.39€, 35h based

Oops forgot to say in France

Is that in Italy? Ouch.

The US minimum wage is about the same.

EDIT: I see you posted some more details in the time it took me to post. So the the minimum wage in France is a bit higher than the US. I was just looking for something that would account for the difference in pricing.

@Matthew Mouras

Income doesn't matter, an iPhone in China cost twice as much than in the US despite lower income, cost of living, and even being assebled in China.

The main reasons EVERYTHING is cheaper in the US than EU/JP even Canada are lower or fewer taxes/tariffs, superior shipping infrastructre(truck/train/plane) which is helped by lower fuel costs.

If I remember, MS games sold in europe are manufactured in Germany, just near france. So for most french people, it takes less than 1000kms to deliver in France. Truck shipping is less expansive than US Airliners i suppose. Taxes are 19,6 %, and i don't know inside us. But it seems nothing justify the 50% more. (70€ = 91.98$)


Edit : @Matthew Mouras
You are speaking about minimum wage but if you give a look at the distribution of annual incomes (raw (not net)) :
France :
(per worker)
http://france-inflation.com/img/salaires_repartition.gif
US :
(per house)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Distribution_o f_Annual_Household_Income_in_the_United_States.png

Even by taking in count the parameter, there's a pretty big difference.

The best part of XBLIG

But it's not self publishing, since you have to pass a certification.

Yes, but Apple also requires certification, and it's a fairly harmless process. I don't see the negative in having a set of standards to follow. The only down-side I see to certification is if it has an unreasonable cost. I'll wait to see what Microsoft has to say about that, but right now this is pretty cool news.

And make sure that the fee to come back through certification for a patch stays gone on the Xbox One.

While you may purchase development kits from Sony, you can also get loaners as long as they don't run out of them. Which is nice because of the larger amounts of memory for debugging and what-not. But I still think I prefer being able to develop using my own personal system, like on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Save a lot of money going that route!

That is something they [MS] are actually really good at.

If what MS is saying is true, this would open up Xbox One to UDK and Unity in the same way they support mobile development. You'd be able to deploy pre-built binaries that can run interpreted scripts (Unreal script) or AOT compiled .NET assemblies (mono).

I doubt they have the best interests of both gamers and game developers at heart or in mind either. Right now, all those u-turns are marketing. The world keeps talking about Xbox One and how it becomes less worse every month to then give the impression that they actually care about something else than money.

A lot can change between E3 and the release of the console. That's exactly what they are doing, changing everything and that's at their advantage as nobody talks about PS4 at all.

I hope you're right for their sake, I'm just having trouble believing MS have made any correct decisions for years now. Everything they've recently done seems hopelessly out of touch with everyday folk.