Slashdot Mirror
Xbox One Set To Launch On November 22
Dave Knott writes "Microsoft announced today that its upcoming Xbox One console will launch later this year on November 22 in 13 territories, including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States. This is exactly one week after the announced street date for Sony's PlayStation 4, ending speculation about whether Microsoft would try to launch ahead of their closest rival's next-generation console. It is also the same day that the Xbox 360 launched in 2005."
The supply of pre-order consoles is mostly exhausted already.
But I already pre-ordered a PS4 after Microsoft showed their true colors towards customers and developers.
Until they stop closing down their consoles (which will never happen) and stop implementing any form of DRM (again, probably never), I'll never buy any of this garbage.
So who's still getting one? I'm not getting either but it seems MS seems to the less favorite of the two.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Set to be silently put back in Januray 22 2014 with the first large software update....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Home audio/video monitoring device that the government can use, willingly PAID FOR by millions.
Silence is a state of mime.
Artificial artificial scarcity is going to be the name of this campaign. They don't want real scarcity as that could hurt their probably crap sales. But they want to be able to show the people lining up for days to get one. So I suspect they are going to spin this in some sleazy ways. A few sleazy ideas would be things like having a best buy in a really poor area offer the XBox at 80% off for the first 500 customers. This would then get at least 500 customers lined up for a week or more. You could also have other offers such as contests where you have a 1 in 5 chance of winning either the XBox or a trip or something. Or if worse comes to worse they could just hire actors.
Once they have the scarcity going they will do a huge PR campaign first to promote these 3 week long line-ups and then trying to get the world convinced that there are very few XBoxes in their local retailer. They could then work with the retailers to somehow do something like say 1 store in town has 500 while the other stores only have 50. Which store is it? Then people line up and all find that they were lucky enough to be at the store with 500 as they all had 500.
Lastly we are all going to be reading reviews from Console Times or other made up reviewers saying that this is a "Game Changer" and that while the PS4 is a slight upgrade that the new XBox is revolutionary, a paradigm shift, customer oriented, the only console that will survive.
But the worst is going to be in "Votable" forums like the Slashdots and Reddits; where they nodoubt have an army of voters seeking out to kill the bad reviews and promote the shill reviews. A simple example of this would be in any MS related Slashdot posting the anti MS positions are voted down initially but after a while they resurface and then become the norm. My guess is that the PR firms have a limited number of Karma points at any time and try to steer the mood at the beginning but then run out of ammunition.
This is a concern with a US manufacturer of a device that is often on, has a camera, has a microphone, and comes from a company that has cooperated with the stazi. If you said this a year ago you would get a tinfoil hat award. Now you just get a "Could be right". So a simple question is: After Sony suffered the hacking scandal would they allow a US agency to spy on their customers opening the door to another Scandal?
I might take a break from my PS4 just to laugh at the MS FanBoyz. I hope they enjoy spending their Microsoft Fun Bucks, I mean cash on avatar "clothes".
I have a 360 -- the last Xbox I'll own until MS pulls their head out of their sphincters.
I won't be buying either one for awhile. I can't see any reason to buy an Xbox at all, and the PS4 doesn't have any launch titles that interest me. I'll buy Grant Theft Auto 5 for PS3 and that will keep me busy for probably 6 months. By then, maybe there will be some interesting titles for PS4 and the price will have come down.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
"Half a million Wisconsinites will soon have to open up their pocket books for health care coverage," says a local anchor. "And new estimates show, it may be costly. ... The state's office of the commissioner of insurance released estimates of how premium rates for individuals will be changing under the Affordable Care Act."
I know, I know, don't feed the trolls. But Wisconsin? Wisconsin is already well kn own for having an extremely strong Doctor's lobby and an extremely strong Insurance lobby, which means that we poor little suckups have to pay huge insurance premiums. Luckily I was able to move away from there.
But, in general we can expect Health Care Premiums to o up with this new legislation. After all, it requires you to have insurance. Therefore, the insurance companies can charge you whatever they want and you just have to pay it. They call it "Affordable Healthcare Act" but what it in fact does, is syphons money from your pocket into the pocket of the rich insurance industry. The quality of healthcare will go down because people can't afford to pay insurance AND go to the doctor.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
It's also the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK... coincidence? Actually, yes, I'm pretty sure it's just a coincidence.
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
even the "poorest" parts of America will also be sold out, as folks who have not held gainful employment in over a decade will make sure their kids have the latest toy. While coming in soon after to our offices demanding more "aid".
"This is a concern with a US manufacturer of a device that is often on, has a camera, has a microphone, and comes from a company that has cooperated with the stazi."
That technical specification covers every smartphone going pretty much with the additional features of location data, movement tracking outside the home, contacts lists etc. Not gonna give up your iPhone though are you?
It took both the XBox 360 and PS3 nearly a year to gather enough titles to justify themselves as platforms and look at all the problems that the 360 had with it's ring of death and grindy DVD drives. The PS3 merely suffered from a high price but it was still a reason to hold back.
I'm sure if either console is successful they'll still be making them 6 or 12 months down the line. No reason to rush.
The health care reform requires that 80% of the revenue of any insurance company be spent on patient care, and if the company does not meet that threshold, they rebate the difference to their subscribers.
That does nothing to control medical costs, so getting a Tylenol from a nurse in an emergency room may go from $150 to $375. So the doctors and medical equipment companies will get wealthier. But it does control insurance costs.
Most Democrats wanted to include provisions in the health care reform to control medical costs, too, but they barely had enough votes to pass the legislation as it was. If they had added that, they would have lost a few more conservative Democrat votes, and the whole thing would have failed.
But if you think our health insurance system was less broken in 2009 than it is today, you weren't paying attention. We've gone from "worse" to "bad", and I'll take that any day.
"I have a 360 -- the last Xbox I'll own until MS pulls their head out of their sphincters."
Are you sure you have a 360? It's just if you actually did I'm amazed you didn't realise the update a few weeks back that eliminated Microsoft points and switched everything to real currency in preparation for this being the standard on the next gen.
But FWIW you can buy equally silly stuff as avatar clothes on the PS3 too.
You may well be right that this time around the PS4 will be a way better console but I think you're looking at things from a perspective where you're assuming that the grass is greener when it quite possibly wont be.
... but you'll buy from Sony, the company that spent the last console generation smearing *your* head with shit and shoving it up their ass? Seriously?
I mean, I can understand if you want to ignore all the anti-consumer stuff Sony said before the console launch. Most people were reasonably pissed off by it, but it's not like they actually forced you to go get a second job, they just heavily implied that anybody who thought $600 was a lot for a console was too poor to have one, etc. It's a bit of a double standard to ignore all that from back then, and then slather MS as evil for something that they said, and then went back on, before the console even launched... but whatever.
But to buy a console from the company that just a few years ago went and retroactively removed advertised features from their previous console via forced update? Especially after they then sued the people who worked to restore those features? That's anti-consumer right there. If you support a company that would do that, and has shown no sign of remorse for it, *you* are part of the problem. You are what enables companies to keep screwing over their customers, because you're too much of a "FanBoy" (your term, not mine) to hit them where it hurts in punishment for what they've done.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Smartphones, laptops, no few desktops, and so on. Yeah... if the NSA wants to monitor you, they can (much more easily) do it from whatever device you posted this message to Slashdot using.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Right, because of the two "hardcore" gaming console manufacturers, it's always been MS who retroactively shafted their customer base with forced updates, right? ... wait, what do you mean that it was Sony who did that last time? That can't be right! Sony gave us Linux on our consoles! ... until they removed it? Crazy talk, right? I mean, that was an advertised feature on the box! They would never retroactively remove an advertised feature! ... really? They did it anyway, huh. Wow, damn. Oh well, I'm sure a bunch of hackers got together and put it back on anyhow, so no harm done. ... now you're telling me Sony filed a lawsuit against the people who put an advertised feature back into the hardware they purchased? What a bunch of dicks!
Well, fine, so maybe Sony fucked over its customers via forced updates (and lawsuits) last time, but you know it'll be MS this time. I mean, they've got a history of that kind of shit, right? I mean, I'm *sure* that there's a time before the whole PS3 OtherOS thing when MS crippled their own product with a forced update too! ... not really, huh. I guess that was kind of Sony's big "innovation" of the last few years, then.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
gaming pc in room behind tv, cat5 to usb adapter to run cable through ceiling and get usb hub next to couch (wired controllers >>> wireless)
steam and a gillion other game distribution services
I'm good thanks
Yeah, I remember 2009... it was rather difficult driving to work each day, having to dodge the millions of dead in the streets who died because of lack of health insurance.
Today though... you have millions losing their insurance and hours being cut as a direct result of the law... and you say we've gone from "worse" to "bad"? You do seem to have interesting definitions of words.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Yeah funny, my uninsured brother lost his job because he was sick and then had an emergency appendectomy, and got a $48,000 bill. He called the hospital billing department and explained that he was unemployed, and they nicely offered to cut the bill down to $36,000 if he paid it immediately. Funny, for some reason being unemployed meant he just didn't have $36,000 handy, so he's still working on that bill. Yeah, the system worked really well.
In 2009 I was already paying $12,000 per year for health insurance. You call that better than what we have now? How many families can afford that?
I'm sorry to hear about the issues of your brother... though things like that can happen when one chooses to be uninsured.
So what's changed?
He could still lose his job because he is sick depending on whatever employment agreement or state laws are in place.
At least at my company, while the premiums have remained the same, the actual out of costs expenses have gone up significant.
You complain of paying $12k a year for premiums in '09... but failed to mention what you are paying today. Are you actually suggesting they have gone down?
Thanks to Obamacare, we have:
UPS dropping sources from insurance: http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/21/news/companies/ups-obamacare/index.html
California is expecting to see premium prices increase by 64-146%: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/05/30/rate-shock-in-california-obamacare-to-increase-individual-insurance-premiums-by-64-146/
Even the head of the AFL-CIO (a group and leader who both campaigned hard for Obamcare) acknowledges that the law is actually encouraging employers to cut hours: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhmqLB3B5yA
I am fortunate that at my company... rather than increasing premiums, they simply raised the out of pocket expenses like many others: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/01/12/insurance-analysts-obamacare-to-increase-out-of-pocket-premium-costs-despite-lavish-subsidies/
So again... what is to grand about today?
Much of this is moot though... this is still early in the unleashing of this monstrosity. Even if successful in having everyone have coverage... how easy do you think it will be to get the treatment you need and when you need it given the built in disincentives for those you expect to treat you?
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
He didn't choose to be uninsured. His minimum wage job (at age 26 with a college degree, that was all he could find) didn't offer insurance. God bless America.
Actually yeah, my insurance is now $11400 a year. It has gone down.
Meanwhile, other countries that have public healthcare (like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France etc) and private healthcare don't generally have these problems. Why has it turned into a mess in the United States when they had so many better working examples from first world countries to work from?
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Again you pick and choose the facts you wish to present.
And yes... it was by choice, minimum wage job or not. College degree or not. Cable bill, cell phone bill, living alone or not.
In my adult life (I'm only 33)... I have lived in 3 different states by choice, I have moved as needed in order to get a better job and have maintained an ability to be mobile during that time. All choices.
So goes for your brother, if he chose a degree that was not going to have a good chance of quickly getting him a job, that is a poor choice on his part.
If he was not able to cast a net wide enough to find a job, that was his choice.
If he chose not to pursue other avenues of insurance, that again, is on him.
Years ago when I dropped off my parents insurance but did not yet have a full time job with my employer (still an intern waiting for budget to hire me FT)... I was able to buy into the state insurance pool to keep minimal coverage in case of a major event. All choices, even down to the choice of states to live in which had that option.
Yes... God Bless America, a place which rewards those who work hard and make good choices... and punishes those who do not.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
So... your yearly cost went down by $600, or ~5%... good for you.
As I highlighted above, you are one of the few fortunate ones to be benefiting from this law... the rest of us are paying much more, seeing reductions in coverage and/or hours, and more difficult time finding primary care doctors... only the surface of which of issues have we begun to see.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
The primary reason it has turned into a mess in the US is massive government involvement... even before Obamacare.
Each state decided that it would be the exclusive regulator of insurance sold within a given state... there by preventing any cross state competition, which is unfortunate as previously the price difference between a basic plan in this state or that could be massive.
Remember... I can buy a pair of jeans in California, a TV in Iowa, and a car in Florida and bring them all back to my home state and use them... yet I can't shop around to companies in different states for the best deal on health insurance (short of moving there) because the states tell me I can't.
Worse... once each state said "you require our blessing on all that which you sell"... many then required additional goodies that must be part of a state minimum plan... fertility treatment, wigs for cancer patients, gender reassignment surgery, gastric bypass, etc.
Sure they all sound like good & compassionate ideas... only every item that you get at a reduced price means more people will take advantage of it and force others to pay. If the insurance company thought offering X or Y would reduce long term costs, they would offer it on their own and not require a bureaucrat to force them to instead.
This is also in addition to health 'insurance' no longer actually being 'insurance' but instead a discount program... also caused in large part by government involvement.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Hello, everybody, the good shoping place, the new season approaching, click in. ( http://www.sheptrade.com/ ) (Discount Air jordan shoes) $36, (Air Max shoes) $35, (Nike shox shoes) $36, (Handbags) $39, (Sunglasses) $16, (wallet) $18, (Belt) $17, (T-shirts) $20, (Jeans) $37, (NFL/MLB/NBA)Jerseys $25, ( http://www.sheptrade.com/ )
Man, that's really discriminatory against the outlier territories. Just saying... I'm not that keen on buying a new console on launch day anyway. They usually crap out long before they should. The only launch day console I ever bought that has never had an issue is my PS3.