More U.S. shoppers prefer Sony Corp’s upcoming PlayStation 4 than Microsoft Corp’s Xbox One, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, as the industry’s two leading videogame console makers prepare to do battle this holiday season.

Asked about their interest in dedicated game devices, 26 percent of 1,297 people surveyed online last week say they are likely to purchase the new PlayStation 4 when available, versus 15 percent opting for the Xbox One.

The rift widens among those below the age of 40. Of that group of 408 people, 41 percent picked Sony’s PS4 versus 27 percent for Microsoft’s Xbox One, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Sept 23 to Sept 27.

Source: Yahoo News

VGN: Video Games and News

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Sources:
PS4 feeds into Xbox One
Playing PS4 through Xbox One won’t be a great experience
VGN: Video Games and News
Watch more Red Dragon

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Playstation 4

• Records last 15 minutes of gameplay
• Share Button built into the controller that you can press to share screenshots or video to social media networks. You can edit and save game clips.
• Live Stream service (Ustream)
• Playstation has said that devs can restrict and disable sharing capability (Example: Block you from recording a boss level, or a cutscene)

Xbox One

• Records last 5 Minutes of gameplay
• Upload Studio built into the console that you can access to edit and share with social media networks.
• Live Stream service (Twitch.tv)
• Can say “Xbox Record That” during gameplay to have the Xbox automatically record the last 30 seconds of gameplay and save it for you to edit later. This allows you to continue playing the game without interruption, but still have your clip saved.

So while the Playstation 4 has a clear advantage over Xbox One’s constant record time, the Xbox One does have some nice features with Twitch.tv, and the Kinect voice recording. But there are some key questions that remain.

QUESTIONS:

• How many devs will restrict gameplay sharing? 
• How many clips can you save?
• Can they be saved across multiple games?
• Can you save as many as your hard drive can store?
• Could you say “Xbox Record That” every time you got a kill in a game and then end up basically having only the best parts of a match recorded?
• Will Microsoft let you transfer video clips to your PC? (Like Media Center)

Sources:
VGN - Video Games and News
CVG - PS4 and Xbox One Recording Times

PS4 Share button restrictions - GamingBolt

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* Why is Microsoft forcing us to buy a Kinect? Why is there no option to remove it?

* How close is Microsoft and the NSA?

* Should you be concerned for your privacy if you buy an Xbox One?

* Who is to blame? Microsoft or the Government?

Sources:

How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages - The Guardian

Microsoft Responds to NSA Relationship Stories – Microsoft

VGN – VideoGamesAndNews.com

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In this video, I cover some ideas as to how this technology could change the way we interact with games. Imagine playing a game that doesn’t have a Easy / Medium/ Hard difficulty. What if the difficulty was customized to you – because the game could recognize when you’re stressing out and reached your stress peak. What if a horror game could learn what elements in the game are scaring you – and learn which ones are just annoying.  There are a number of different implementations that are plausible.

Do you think Kinect 2.0 could revolutionize gaming?

Sources:

Forza Motorsport 5 Drivatar

Gamasutra: Can Xbox One Kinect Read your Mind?

Get the latest breaking gaming news at VGN – VideoGamesAndNews.com

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“I heard this exact same argument last generation and it’s a pointless argument, because people are debating things which they don’t know about. They’re not [head silicon engineer] Nick Baker or [corporate vice president of IEB hardware Todd Holmdahl], and I’m not [lead PS4 architect] Mark Cerny, so why are we having this discussion?”

He later clarified his statement by explaining that both Microsoft and Sony engineer teams are talented and are still tweaking the insides to get the best optimal output.

“The guys who are building these machines on both sides are unbelievably talented and experts in their field. Nobody knows the specifics of how the machines are architected or if there may be bottlenecks in one system or accelerators in another that change the impact of the published specs.

“What I believe is that our games are going to be great and they are going to look next-gen, and I think E3 sort of showed that. And great games are what matters”.

I don’t believe many people believe that engineers can tweak enough on the Xbox One to match the PS4, but it does appear that they are indeed working on it. Earlier this week, Digital Foundry published an article stating that Microsoft Engineers drastically underestimated their ESRAM.

Xbox One processor is considerably more capable than Microsoft envisaged during pre-production of the console, with data throughput levels up to 88 per cent higher in the final hardware.

Xbox One was previously thought to sustain a peak theoretical throughput of 102GB/s – useful, but still some way behind the 176GB/s found in PlayStation 4′s RAM set-up. Now that close-to-final silicon is available, Microsoft has revised its own figures upwards significantly, telling developers that 192GB/s is now theoretically possible.

Do the Playstation 4 and Xbox One specs really matter? To some, the answer will be a resounding yes. And some developers will no doubt push these consoles to their limits. But more than likely, it will be a very long time before that happens. If this generation is any indication, developers are still figuring out ways to maximize the dated hardware to this day.

It doesn’t appear at least with Ubisoft’s Watchdogs that there will be a graphical difference. When asked about differences between PS4 and Xbox One, a developer replied,

“The Xbox One is a powerful platform, as of now we do not foresee a major difference in on screen result between the PS4 and the Xbox One.”

I think specs matter to some hardcore gamer’s. But when Black Friday rolls around in November, and people are standing in lines that stretch outside the stores – how many of those people if they were polled do you believe would have a clue what the specs were for either console? I can’t imagine that it would be very much. Maybe in the end, Albert is right. Specs won’t matter to the average consumer. It will be about the games and features that the  casual gamer cares about. What do you think?

 VGN – VideoGamesAndNews.com

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Battlefield 4 Multiplayer Screenshots

Whether or not the screenshots remain up for a long period of time remains to be seen. So if the images are taken down, let me explain some of the more interesting things to note.

• The menus look much cleaner with a heavier integration of Origin

• Listed is a “Bronze Battlepack” – Description reads – Bronze Battlepack contains 3 items, including: - A minimum of 2 standard items – 1 Bonus item with a small likelihood of rewarding an Advanced Item

• Squads look like it has 5 players now

• Deployment Screen now shows which vehicles are at the base before you spawn in

• Back Button appears to take you to a Social Hub (Just like Medal of Honor)
• Press Y for “Team Setup” (Not sure what this is – maybe you can elect leaders)

• New Assault Rifle CZ-805

• New Specialization called “Offensive”
• Looks like there may be more unlocks for grenades – so possibly different types of grenades
• Setup screen shows a chart for each weapon that gives a visual graphical representation of Damage / Accuracy / Mobility / Range / Handling / Firemodes / Rate of Fire / Magazine Size

• New Engineer Weapon CZ – 3A1 – Scorpion Evo

• New Support Weapon U-100 MK5

• New Recon Weapon Scout Elite – Can equip a Variable Zoom [14x]

• One map feature a city line that includes the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai

• D-Pad indicator on Hud shows your different accessories
• Commo rose confirmed for consoles

• Appears to have a sprint function in the water to swim faster
• Can ride an elevator up to the 40th floor of one building on the map shown

• New Vehicle – Cougar H – - Heavy armored vehicle that is designed to be resistant to anti-vehicle mines and improvised munitions according to Wikipedia

• Tank displays ammo (That regenerates) – And indicator displaying how long before your smoke is reactivated

Reaction to new features and further discussion

The Red Dragon - Special thanks to Houdini for helping me compile this list

Stay tuned to VGN – VideoGamesAndNews.com 

View All Leaked Battlefield 4 Screenshots Here

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Xbox One Used Game Policy

Here are our platform policies and capabilities for game licensing – all of which will be made available when Xbox One launches later this year:

• Buy the way you want—disc or digital—on the same day: You’ll be able to buy disc-based games at traditional retailers or online through Xbox Live, on day of release. Discs will continue to be a great way to install your games quickly.
• Access your entire games library from any Xbox One—no discs required: After signing in and installing, you can play any of your games from any Xbox One because a digital copy of your game is stored on your console and in the cloud.  So, for example, while you are logged in at your friend’s house, you can play your games.
• Share access to your games with everyone inside your home: Your friends and family, your guests and acquaintances get unlimited access to all of your games.  Anyone can play your games on your console–regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you.
• Give your family access to your entire games library anytime, anywhere: Xbox One will enable new forms of access for families. Up to ten members of your family can log in and play from your shared games library on any Xbox One. Just like today, a family member can play your copy of Forza Motorsport at a friend’s house. Only now, they will see not just Forza, but all of your shared games.  You can always play your games, and any one of your family members can be playing from your shared library at a given time.
• Trade-in and resell your disc-based games: Today, some gamers choose to sell their old disc-based games back for cash and credit. We designed Xbox One so game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers.  Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers, or consumers for enabling transfer of these games.
• Give your games to friends: Xbox One is designed so game publishers can enable you to give your disc-based games to your friends. There are no fees charged as part of these transfers. There are two requirements: you can only give them to people who have been on your friends list for at least 30 days and each game can only be given once.

In our role as a game publisher, Microsoft Studios will enable you to give your games to friends or trade in your Xbox One games at participating retailers. Third party publishers may opt in or out of supporting game resale and may set up business terms or transfer fees with retailers.  Microsoft does not receive any compensation as part of this. In addition, third party publishers can enable you to give games to friends. Loaning or renting games won’t be available at launch, but we are exploring the possibilities with our partners.

As we move into this new generation of games and entertainment, from time to time, Microsoft may change its policies, terms, products and services to reflect modifications and improvements to our services, feedback from customers and our business partners or changes in our business priorities and business models or for other reasons.  We may also cease to offer certain services or products for similar reasons.

Source: Xbox Wire

Xbox One Checks In Every 24 Hours

• Superior wireless performance and coverage throughout the home: Xbox One is equipped with a gigabit Ethernet port and 802.11n wireless. With 802.11n, Xbox One can use the 5GHz wireless band which eliminates considerable interference from other devices in the home, such as cordless phones, Bluetooth devices and microwaves.  Xbox One uses two wireless antennas, versus one in Xbox 360. This provides dramatically better coverage and sustained performance, which means faster internet speeds in more areas of your home.

• Faster connection to a world of smart devices: With Wi-Fi Direct, Xbox One can speak directly to smart wireless devices and connect to them through the cloud. This means your smartphone or tablet will interact with Xbox One seamlessly.

• Future proofed with power from the cloud: Microsoft has created a global network of more than 300,000 Xbox Live and Windows Azure servers, to help creators realize their visions of what is possible with a connected system.

Networking Requirements

To ensure Xbox One works optimally and can offer the experiences described above, it is designed with the following networking requirements:

• For an optimal experience, we recommend a broadband connection of 1.5Mbps. (For reference, the average global internet connection speed as measured recently by Akamai was 2.9 Mbps).  In areas where an Ethernet connection is not available, you can connect using mobile broadband.
• While a persistent connection is not required, Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend. Games that are designed to take advantage of the cloud may require a connection.

With Xbox One you can game offline for up to 24 hours on your primary console, or one hour if you are logged on to a separate console accessing your library. Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection, but you can still watch live TV and enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies.

At Xbox, we’ve always believed in a connected world of games and entertainment.  With Xbox One, we are planning for a connected future.

Source: Xbox Wire

For the latest breaking news – VGN | VideoGamesAndNews.com

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Xbox One and Kinect offer easy and approachable ways to control your games and entertainment with your voice and gestures. By recognizing you, Xbox One can tailor personal experiences and customize content just for you.

At Microsoft, we prioritize your privacy. We understand that your personal data and privacy are important. Xbox One and Kinect will provide tools to put you in control of your data. These include:

You are in control of what Kinect can see and hear: By design, you will determine how responsive and personalized your Xbox One is to you and your family during setup. The system will navigate you through key privacy options, like automatic or manual sign in, privacy settings, and clear notifications about how data is used. When Xbox One is on and you’re simply having a conversation in your living room, your conversation is not being recorded or uploaded.

You are in control of when Kinect sensing is On, Off or Paused: If you don’t want the Kinect sensor on while playing games or enjoying your entertainment, you can pause Kinect. To turn off your Xbox One, just say “Xbox Off.” When the system is off, it’s only listening for the single voice command — “Xbox On,” and you can even turn that feature off too. Some apps and games may require Kinect functionality to operate, so you’ll need to turn it back on for these experiences.

You are in control of your personal data: You can play games or enjoy applications that use data, such as videos, photos, facial expressions, heart rate and more, but this data will not leave your Xbox One without your explicit permission. Here are a few examples of potential future scenarios:
A fitness game could measure heart rate data to provide you with improved feedback on your workout, allow you to track your progress, or even measure calories burned.
A card game could allow you to bluff your virtual opponent using your facial expressions.

You can use other inputs to control your games, TV and entertainment experiences: While it’s faster to find what you’re looking for using your voice and gesture commands with Kinect, you can use a controller, your remote controls or your smart devices instead. And you can use all of these devices when Kinect is paused.
We’ll have more information available as we get closer to product availability later this year.

 

Source: Xbox One Kinect Privacy

 

Latest Gaming News Headlines – VGN VideoGamesAndNews.com

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