The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Also, you can begin collecting free games for Xbox One before actually buying the console! If you have Xbox Live Gold then you can "purchase" free games every month on Games with Gold. Use the web interface to select free games for Xbox One. When you eventually buy the console it will remember that you've already purchased these games.

This might be a glitch: the Xbox One titles can be added to your collection even if you don't have a payment method on file. For the 360 games they want you to enter a credit card number (even though the games are free) which can be a hassle.

how many of you folks have got or are planning to get a One? I seem to recall most of y'all swinging pretty hard PS4. that's fine, I'll just do all the co-op by myself while Arno cries stealthily

Yeah I'm sticking with PS4. Xbox One sounds fine except for specific things that pushed a lot of undeciders away. Not sure how many THB regulars are getting one, though.

what specific things that people had issues with didn't they change other than the system specs? I actually can't remember

They've gone on record stating that they're going to gradually push the old features back through updates so it'll end up as it was originally planned. Also, it's hard to recover from such backlash. I always planned on PS4 since Sony and Microsoft's announcements at last year's E3, and them stating this just increased my preference towards Playstation, much like almost every other user (that are planning on getting a next-gen console) on this site. I just prefer Playstation, even though I had a 360 since it came out. I'm no Playstation fanboy (I grew up with Nintendo-only, then Xbox, now Playstation), I just go by what is most appealing to me, and this generation was PS4. They played their business card well enough to get me to buy a PS4 months before my most desired next-gen games even came out.

Also, don't you need Xbox Live Gold to use any app like Internet Explorer, Netflix, etc? It seems odd to pay an Xbox fee to use services you already pay for. With Playstation, it has a subscription fee, but I haven't paid them a dime since buying the console, and I've been using it to play great free-to-play/indie games and watching Netflix/using the internet. If that's the case, there's another reason.

I don't want to make an argument out of this, by the way. I'm just giving you an opinionated answer to your question.

they're going to bring back the features that people actually wanted without requiring the always-online thing. obviously they didn't mean they'd bring back the stuff that got the backlash.

you don't need xbox gold for those apps and whatnot anymore, they removed that requirement pre-E3 this year.

pretty sure the only thing you mentioned that isn't changed to the ps4 way is most of the f2p games require gold still, but I expect that to change.

I don't want to argue either, obviously you already bought the system. I'm just saying it just doesn't seem like there's much difference between them now besides the system specs. but you have perfectly valid reasons.

during e3 2013, I thought the xbox's lineup looked more up my alley. only thing that made me consider a ps4 was the controversial features, so once those were gone I was onboard. after this E3 I'm pretty happy with my choice, though I think sony folks are getting some pretty neat stuff too.

btw, if you've been playing F2P stuff, have you checked out Warframe? I think it's pretty rad

I think I downloaded that but never played it. Would you recommend it? I stuck with DC Universe Online and then found Blacklight: Retribution (it's pay to win unless you're good at it like me...heh heh). A few others I forgot about because I've been busy with school. I haven't been able to play many games unless there's nothing to do for more than 6 hours in a day. I'm definitely changing that around once Unity is out, though!

Kind of what like Calvar said, there came out an app for the Xbox 360 that can be downloaded for free on Xbox silver. Doesn't the Xbox One still cost more than PS4?
*checks Amazon*
Nope, they're about the same.

Warframe is a bit p2winish, but it's playable without spending anything imo. it's kinda like destiny but in third person and you're a parkouring space ninja with two guns and a melee weapon. (staff, sword, ect.) I'd definitely recommend it as a fun diversion to play in short bursts.

and aurl, yeah xb1 is the same price if you don't get the kinect bundle. plus they've got a lot of "get a free game with your console" offers as stab mentioned so it's a pretty good value.

If Unity turns out to be really really good, I'll get a PS4 simply because most of my friends who own next-gen consoles have a PS4. Also because I have this weird grudge against Microsoft.

Forgot to clarify. A Netflix app.

Does the Xbox One have the ability to record like the PS4? If not it's a real bummer. The sharing option sounds great. From what I've heard you can either record something at that moment or from when you started playing, up to fifteen minutes ago. If only older consoles had this, because we've all heard of people running into these rare glitches and never being able to prove it.

PS4 confirmed for me.

How are PS3 games compatible on PS4? I heard many rumors that all came down to having to pay.

What?

As far as I know, there's no backwards compatibility unless you upgrade from a multi-gen title (AC4, Killzone, Battlefield 4). Then you have to pay $10.

Not sure if that answers the question you were asking but I tried.

I read somewhere that you have to buy some kind of patch each time you put an old gen CD into a PS4. Basically you have to repay for every single game you already purchased at full price years ago.

This comment has been deleted.

I just heard they don't work on PS4. I think that's a lie. I can test it now.

EDIT: I used my PS3 copy of Black Flag and it said "Unsupported disc format". So yeah, that's a lie.

Here's another reason to hate Microsoft. A proposed idea was to make people pay for watching movies by the amount of people watching, known as pay-per-viewer.
http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-11/kinect-watching-you-watch-...
In that case I'll go hide in a closet. Unless... Kinect uses infrared vision heat tracking! Then I'll hide in a freezer. See, there's always a way around it.

The only way so far would be to buy the PS3 games off steam.

And sony had a patent where you'd have to stand up in front of your playstation camera and say "mcdonalds" to end a mcdonalds commercial.

its almost like all big corporations are evil.

and infared doesn't go through solid objects so.. not sure what you're thinking?

anyways, considering how de-emphasized the kinect is on xbox one now, and that they're selling versions without it, that kind of evil "feature" isn't going to happen. it could only work if it was guarunteed that the kinect would be required to use the box, and it's not. And it doesn't seem like the new leadership at Xbox is interested in that kind of thing, instead just focusing on getting cool games out there.

but if you do have it, it's a cool piece of tech for navigation and automatic sign ins, among other features. probably will rarely be used well in gameplay, but the other stuff is worth it imo.

y'all can freak as much as you want, but I'll have a perfectly enjoyable gen on the greener side

And we'll all enjoy playing together.

I just won another $200 Game Stop gift card! That brings my Game Stop winnings to $500 - enough to get an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 and a game or two. I'll wait until November to see if they offer a Unity bundle.

You guys gave me something to think about. My real-life friends are all getting Xbox One but PlayStation 4 seems to be the preference among THBers. I'm leaning toward Xbox because I still have 2+ years' worth of Xbox Live Gold.

If you have that extra 2 years' worth, go for Xbox One! It would be silly to waste that to get a PS4. And you didn't play much of the original AC multiplayer, so I think it's a good fit. You'll have your "real-life friends" (I see where WE stand) to play with anyways, so why not?

I agree. The wasted 2 years of XBLG would be silly.

To get things back on topic, I think this was a pretty slick deal by MS, assuming you had a game you wanted in the list.

Trying to be funny, but apparently I suck.

That's the dark side, quicker, more seductive. But hey, the games for gold deal is pretty sweet.

I'll stick with my trusty laptop. I can't afford a console or a hardware upgrade, so here's hoping Unity runs OK. I'll gladly take the cutscene-lags I had in AC4. Rogue should probably not give any more problems than AC4 gave me.

Bingo! Click image for details.

Saw this the other day... I'll wait for PS4.

It just keeps getting better...

I'm planning to purchase the Xbox One & AC Unity bundle on November 2. Today they announced a $50 price drop for the holiday shopping season (November 2, 2014 through January 3, 2015). Amazon is already honoring the discounted price of $349 for Xbox One bundles, both Unity and Call of Duty.

Wow!

It's kind of funny that for years all the AC exclusives went to Sony... now this bundle goes to MS...

I picked up the Xbox One Unity bundle at my local GameStop for $349. It took the guy about 10 minutes to complete my transaction. I'm not sure why. He kept asking for my PowerUp card and whether I wanted Kinect. The funny part was when I went to pay:

"How would you like to pay for this?"
"Gift card."
"Go ahead and swipe. Okay, there's a remaining balance. How would you like to pay?"
"Gift card."
...
"Gift card."
...
"Gift card."

I haven't hooked up the Xbox One yet. Still trying to decide where to put the 360. It will probably end up in the living room (70" Sharp LED) where everyone can enjoy it.

Has anyone tried the built-in recording capability of the Xbox One? If it works as advertised, it will make recording videos for THB more convenient.

Congrats, Stabguy. I hope you enjoy your console of choice.

If you haven't done so, get on twitch.tv and you can just talk to your xbox to start streaming.. pretty sure it auto-uploads and saves on twitch too, but I could be wrong. http://www.twitch.tv/apps/xboxone

Many places are reporting that Dell will be offering the same Xbone AC:U, AC:BF bundle for $329.99 doorbuster 6pm ET Thanksgiving Day.

They also have a PS4, Last of Us, GTAV bundle for $399.99, same doorbuster time.

I didn't know where else to post this but Ubisoft is offering a small free DLC pack for those who register to watch their twitch livestream tomorrow!

http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-US/news/assassins-creed-first-look.aspx...

Get it while it's available!

Thanks for the tip, Raccoon.

If you buy the digital download of Unity, you can pre-download it now. It won't run until 12:01 AM on Tuesday, Pacific Standard Time. For me, that's 10:01 PM on Monday. Breakin' the street date by two hours.

Dang this is getting tempting.

Target Black Friday deal: Xbone/BlackFlag/Unity combo $329.99 + $50 Target gift card (to use later) = $279.99

Certainly beats the PS4/GTAV/Last of us combo for $399.00...

-------------

Best Buy Black Friday Doorbuster (I think it's 5pm Thanksgiving day): Xbone/Black Flag/Unity + Camera + Extra Controller = $329.99

This weekend I went to play AC Origins but my Xbox One was flaky. It would power up for less than a second and immediately shut down. There are several crazy YouTube videos on how to fix this problem but Microsoft's simple solution worked for me:

You really have to unplug the power supply in all three places, wait 10 seconds, and plug it all back together. I had been lazy about unplugging the cord from the wall because it was in an awkward location behind an entertainment center. Besides, if you unplug the other end from the power brick shouldn't that suffice? Nope.

Anyway, my Xbox One was soon running and I got to play a little Origins on Saturday and Sunday.

My two year surplus of Xbox Live Gold finally expired. The main thing I liked about it were the free "Games With Gold" titles every month. I had a bunch of those downloaded onto an external hard drive for a rainy day. Now when I try to play one of them it says "Requires Active Subscription". Damn you Microsoft!

Is that on the Xbox 360 or Xbox One?

Xbox One. I've read that on the Xbox 360 you may continue to play Games With Gold after your Gold expires. This was a new "feature" Microsoft rolled out for the Xbox One. It's about as popular as parking meters that zero out when a car pulls away.

PS4 also does this. If you get the free monthly game with your PS+ membership, you can't play it if your membership expires.

I really miss Counter Spy...

No Joke... same thing happened to me and my PS4 last week... literally unplugging everything was the only thing that worked...

There must be some corporate espionage going on between Microsoft and Sony. They're stealing each other's trade secrets for engineering shoddy power supplies.

One year later... my Xbox One continued to do that "power up for less than a second" thing once in a while, usually after a long period of inactivity. Each time the solution was different. Sometimes I had to disconnect all the other cables (HDMI, headphones, etc.) except for the power cord. Other times I had to use the eject button to power up.

stabgal witnessed my continued frustration with the Xbox One and did something about it. She got me an Xbox One X for our anniversary! Now we just need a 4K television to appreciate the Xbox One X in all its Ultra HDR glory.

#RelationshipGoals