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Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

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Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#111

Post by cududa »

hfourm wrote: post #108
zaroth wrote: post #51

What they really need to do is maybe just start completely over on the whole Xbox Dashboard. For something that could be so simple and easy, the whole experience of trying to use the Xbox for anything other than playing a game is insanely frustrating. Every time I sit down to try to use it I'm just tearing my hair out! It's been, what, over a decade they've been working on that Dashboard and it has always been just a…

Totally agree. Although offering "simpler" functionality, the oldschool menu and UI system on the Xbox 360 was LIGHTYEARS ahead of anything the Xbox One has put out. Everything was fast and easy and as expected, from lobby systems, profile viewing, and party chat/party lobbies. I feel like the One was a major step back, UX wise, from the 360

Working on the 2010-2012 dashboard was one of my favorite parts of my career. Back then the dashboard/ system OS had a hard limit of 64 MB - and all the clever optimizations that go into that memory profile.

My favorite day was when our local builds started spitting an "Out of memory" error, and quite literally everyone on the shell+platform team was trying to debug what that meant - turns out it meant our builds were actually, finally utilizing over 64mb of memory.

Many nights were spent on converting PNG assets to vector drawings..

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#112

Post by ballenf »

mhermher wrote: post #68
zaroth wrote: post #51

What they really need to do is maybe just start completely over on the whole Xbox Dashboard. For something that could be so simple and easy, the whole experience of trying to use the Xbox for anything other than playing a game is insanely frustrating. Every time I sit down to try to use it I'm just tearing my hair out! It's been, what, over a decade they've been working on that Dashboard and it has always been just a…

Honestly don't have any of the same experience as you except that some things are buried behind too many clicks. I use the amazon stream all the time. I don't even remember installing it. Can't remember ever having a problem installing apps. I have it set to always on, so I basically never even notice the updates since they happen while I sleep or am at work. So yeah, I don't share your experience at all.

I tried that but it keep the fan running and draws 60+* watts of power constantly (mine is original, don't know if the newer models have lowered this). Mine is in an open entertainment center and I can hear the fan running from the next room.

But either way, why is it so important that I install the update just to use the Amazon Prime app? You can't do anything online until the 30 minute install finishes. I can see blocking online multiplayer games, but video streaming?

* Number may be off a bit, I measured it shortly after it was released. I putt a watt meter on it and left it on for a few days to see if it would ever go into a lower power mode. It didn't.

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#113

Post by ballenf »

supernovae wrote: post #85
brosky117 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100%. The UI is insanely difficult to use. I frequently find myself wondering how to do the most basic tasks. If it weren't for Halo, I'd be gone a long time ago.

such as?

Read reviews for games you're looking at buying? Star ratings is all I've found, but they sold this as an entertainment hub and touted how it's all integrated.

What's the point of all the flashy store interface if it's lacking what has become a critically important part of the buying process for most people?

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#114

Post by pixel_fcker »

lowbloodsugar wrote: post #107
joshuamorton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big part of it is the type of graphics card. FirePro (the kind in workstations) are much more expensive than normal general purpose graphics cards, which are again more expensive than custom SoCs which can be developed barebones for a specific use. Reason being that a calculation error that results in a dead pixel is fine when you are playing a video game. It'll be there for 1/60s and then be gone, never seen again…

Actually the difference between a top consumer graphics card and a professional card is just the drivers. A few years ago the president of nVidia went as far as to say that we was running a software company that monetized their software with "dongles" (the card). It used to be the case that cutting or adding a link would turn a $500 consumer card into a $2000 pro card: the link would be detected by the driver to enab…

> Also, aren't Disney movies raytraced?

Yes.

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#115

Post by hfourm »

cududa wrote: post #111
hfourm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree. Although offering "simpler" functionality, the oldschool menu and UI system on the Xbox 360 was LIGHTYEARS ahead of anything the Xbox One has put out. Everything was fast and easy and as expected, from lobby systems, profile viewing, and party chat/party lobbies. I feel like the One was a major step back, UX wise, from the 360

Working on the 2010-2012 dashboard was one of my favorite parts of my career. Back then the dashboard/ system OS had a hard limit of 64 MB - and all the clever optimizations that go into that memory profile. My favorite day was when our local builds started spitting an "Out of memory" error, and quite literally everyone on the shell+platform team was trying to debug what that meant - turns out it meant our builds wer…

Yea, many nights of mine were spent converting finger movements into headshots. So your work is appreciated.

It is just amazing to me that it was such a downgrade. Granted, the Xbox Ones menu system has improved over the years. But it still is sloppy feeling, laggy at times, and just overall non user friendly. Like you have some menus where you have to press different buttons for actions (like inviting people to a game) and otheres where you select the option with 'A'.

I may be a bit jaded because it was so awful at launch, but I still feel like it never got close to as clean and usable as the 360.

I will stop ranting now.

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#116

Post by Yhippa »

zaroth wrote: post #51

What they really need to do is maybe just start completely over on the whole Xbox Dashboard. For something that could be so simple and easy, the whole experience of trying to use the Xbox for anything other than playing a game is insanely frustrating. Every time I sit down to try to use it I'm just tearing my hair out! It's been, what, over a decade they've been working on that Dashboard and it has always been just a…

> Everything I want to do buried the absolute maximum amount of clicks away from where I would expect to look for it.

Part of the latest update had a video for the new Home button functionality. It used to be that pressing the Xbox button on your controller took you home. In the video they literally said "to go home press the Xbox button and then the "A" button twice".

I can't imagine recording a video telling people to do that. They got it wrong IMO. They should have just had the Xbox button take you home and a long press take you to the menu that you see presently when you press that button.

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#117

Post by Yhippa »

mikestew wrote: post #66
zaroth wrote: post #51

What they really need to do is maybe just start completely over on the whole Xbox Dashboard. For something that could be so simple and easy, the whole experience of trying to use the Xbox for anything other than playing a game is insanely frustrating. Every time I sit down to try to use it I'm just tearing my hair out! It's been, what, over a decade they've been working on that Dashboard and it has always been just a…

I really don't understand how they have millions of users and so much basic shit Just Doesn't Work. Because those millions of users use the box to play games, like I do. Oh, I've tried all the other stuff, and as you point out it's generally such a steaming pile of shit that I feel foolish for having even tried. (If the Kinect weren't in a box in the garage, I'd be staring in its direction right now.) Frankly, I'd be…

> but I'm guessing some PMs needed to make their mark, so they "improved" things by breaking them

I loathe this so much and you know this is _exactly_ what happened. This is a problem at a lot of big companies. At the end of the year you don't get reviewed on "improving existing customer experience" you get more money based on how many features you put into production.

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#118

Post by good_sir_ant »

pwthornton wrote: post #61

I hope this is more than just putting out 4k games. Most people don't have 4k TVs, and, very importantly, for those that do, most don't have a big enough one for how far away they sit. I'm thinking of upgrading to a 65-inch OLED this year, and from my couch of about 10 feet away (maybe a hair closer), I won't be able to tell 1080p from 4k. And that's a pretty big TV! I would much rather see Scorpio games at 1080/60 f…

The best 'gaming investment' I ever made was to take 2000 bucks and instead of building a new dynamite pc, I bought one of the best 1080p plasmas you could buy 3 years ago, and a ps4. I haven't looked back.

Consoles have come a long way, and the visual fidelity of a truly great quality display is a much better investment than a machine that can power a mediocre display at higher resolutions.

This is coming from someone who was gaming on ultra on 1440p for 5 years before switching back to consoles. It feels good to be back on the couch.

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#119

Post by mikewhy »

supernovae wrote: post #88
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #46

This is MS admitting defeat for this gen and going for an early next gen. BC gives it the mid-gen excuse though. This is a good move though and will put Xbox back on the map.

So Sony admitted defeat and made the PS4 pro? I think more than anything, it's the fact 4k happened much quicker than expected..

Maybe. My thought was that the release PS4/Xbone were still too far behind PCs

Re: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed

#120

Post by alvarosevilla95 »

rbanffy wrote: post #87
mortenjorck wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Animations are a big part of graphical fidelity. Games with lower-detail character models relied more on your mind to fill in the details as characters spoke or made facial expressions (I still remember an incredible scene in 2001's Anachronox where a character slowly smiles, conveyed with the motion of three vertices), but when you have a near-photorealistic rendering of a human face, the animation has to be up to s…

Wouldn't then be desirable to avoid showing human faces up close and, instead, explore other ways of telling stories that better match both budget and technical resources? Insisting on showing a character in great detail when the costs of doing so far outweigh the benefit is unwise.

If your game is a third person shooter which is a sequel to third person shooting franchise you can't really do that.
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