You could also talked about Rise of The Tomb Raider that was just released for PC with a bad news for those who pre-ordered. Square decided to offer a 10% discount to all people buying the game for the first days of release, with almost the same thing than those who pre-ordered the game at full price. Square argue that the pre-order came with a free copy of the 2013 version of Tomb Raider and 2 cosmetic DLC, while the discounted version has only one DLC. What Square did not realize, is that most people who pre-ordered, already have the 2013 version, and the extra DLC the pre-order get is just cosmetic. Also, the higher price paid by those who pre-ordered, means that the "free" version of Tomb Raider, is not actually "free". So, it's also a case of fraudulent advertising.
Let's just say that a lot of people were angry (like me) and decided to get a full refund.
It looks like Windows 8. So basically, the UI is not that bad (takes a little time to get used to but otherwise it's fine). But there is one reason to hate the XBox One OS: if it's the same thing than the XBox 360, you'll have to pay a GOLD Live Subscription to be able to stream NetFlix, while it's free on the Wii, WiiU, PC, AppTV, etc...
For me, the real problem with the Kinect is that it makes the XBox One more expensive than the PS4. Since I am not the kind of gamer to play games requiring a Kinect, I feel like I am paying too much for a useless peripheral. If the price of the XBox One was the same than the PS4, I am sure nobody would complain and the only thing we would hear is that a lot of people would not use it. So if Microsoft really want to force people to buy the Kinect with the XBox One, just drop the price to the same level of the PS4, and it will sell.
The Kinect is my main reason for not buying the XBox One. Not because of the "spying" rumors a lot of people are scared about, but simply because I think it's a useless device. The Kinect on the 360 was such a waste of money. I bought one, and actually gave it to a colleague of mine because it required such a big room that it was simply not functioning properly. My colleague had the same problem, and now the Kinect is just collecting dust. At 150$ per Kinect, I figured Microsoft could drop the XBox One price below the PS4 just by removing this useless device and make the XBox One much more attractive.
I have been working with the RC since its public release and with Vista as well. Frankly, I did not see a lot of difference in term of stability of performance between both systems. If you are a normal user who don't want to know or optimize the way Windows work, Windows 7 will give you a boost in performance because Microsoft decided to optimize the OS for you. But if you are more into the technicality of the OS, you will find that when optimized correctly, both system are almost the same. ( and you won't believe how much garbage is running by default in both OS). As for the new interface, either you like it or not. Personally, I find the new interface less productive. The Quick Launch has disappear (it's still there, but you have to work a little to show it again), pinning application to the task bar is a little quirky and explorer still have the same bug than Vista. My conclusion: for new computers, go Windows 7. For your actual PC, if you have XP and have decided not to go to Vista, don't go to Windows 7. The same reasons not to go to Vista apply to Windows 7 as well. If you have Vista and have a lot of problem with it, first do your Windows Update. Vista has been stable for more than a year and a half. Going to Windows 7 will not magically resolve your problem. If you have installed garbage applications on your PC, and you re-install them on Windows 7, you will have the same result.
I work with Windows 7 for a week now and I have not found much difference with Vista. Games that were running badly with Vista (Railroads!, Simpsons Hit & Run, SimCities, Splinter Cell ) still run badly with Windows 7 (I have not been able to run newer games because my test environment does not have a good graphic card). They still haven't corrected the folder view bug, where the folder views get mixed up between folders (you have to customized a lot of folder for that bug to show up), you have no more email client available (although you can download Windows Live Email ) so you better have Outlook or another email client. Superfetch has not improved from Vista, and disabling it does not make a lot of difference. My early conclusion: this version is aimed to those who are still running XP. Those with Vista won't have much incentive to change (for the moment). I don't know if I'll upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 , but I will definitively keep XP because of all the problems both OS have running older games.
I did not expect much from the first game using DirectX 10. And I don't regret going from XP to Vista, since my PC is much faster with it (don't ask me why, but multitasking is much better with Vista than XP, on the same computer). I still have XP on my other HD partition, but I use it only for some games that are really buggy (likeTestdrive Unlimited). As for my graphic card, I upgraded from a nVidia 6800 to a 8800 GTS. That upgrade itself made everything look better. Unfortunately, the Vista drivers still have some problems, making some games look worst than what they are on XP. I think it's going to take at least another year and a half before the video drivers and DirectX 10 be well implemented. So don't expect anything great before Christmas 2008.
Better graphics will not change the fact that it's just another ordinary shooter. I'll pass. If it has DirectX 10 support then maybe, but just to see how DirectX 10 changes things.
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