Wow I didn't know that. I might have to get that as well, I've missed way too many Rockets games this past year.
The multimedia stuff is more exciting than the games for me. They also announced a partnership to show ESPN 24/7, so you'd pick up ESPN games that League Pass normally blocks. I'm curious about TNT and NBA TV options. I'm also curious if you can start a game shortly after it tips off. If I don't start watching at the beginning of the game, I either have to pick up live or wait a couple of hours after it ends to be able to begin the game again. It would be ace to have live streaming options where I could start the game from the beginning even if it's halfway through. As for the overall Xbox experience, I like being to search for a show and have it tell me what media services it's available in instead of opening each up and searching for that show one at a time. With kids, having the Nicklodeon option is awesome. Between SmartGlass (which looked really cool if it actually works with iPhones and iPads as advertised) and Kinect, my wife and kids would be able to navigate too. Cool stuff from M$, who'd have thunk it?
Resident evil 6 and the Black Ops 2 game play looks awesome. The only 2 games I'm looking forward to.
XBox Live is the secret to Xbox's success. Not releasing Mario & Zelda games? They've always been releasing those about as consistently as they ever have. They just don't release them every year. Before Playstation, Nintendo had the rights to all of the major series aside from Sonic. They lost developers. Squaresoft basically went to games exclusive to PS. Capcom was now developing for Sony and only later porting their games to Nintendo.
Meh. Not that a lot of the Xbox stuff caters to me anyway, but was kind of boring. The multimedia stuff is cool I guess, although never really cared for seeing much of it at E3 (seems better suited for CES or something). Even then, for me personally, doesn't make a huge difference (got a Roku/PS3/Laptop hooked up to my TV). SmartGlass looks good, although some of the implementations they showed seemed not-so-good. Great thing to have though, and will be interesting to see how this space evolves over time, especially as Apple and Google make their moves. Some good stuff game wise (Halo 4, Tomb Raider, South Park, etc.), though would have liked some more. I was hoping we could go a conference without seeing CoD, but I should have known better.
It starts in the middle, or wherever you tune in at. Once the game is over you can go back and replay the previously aired stuff. At least that's the way it works with their ESPN3 content, for newer stuff I couldn't say. I've used the ESPN xbox live app a good bit, and I can honestly say it is the best way to watch sports right now (on a TV anyway). The menus and popping up scores etc are all very cool. Looking forward to ESPN1/2/U content, that's gonna be sick. I'm actually very intrigued by SmartGlass as well. Really good E3 conference considering last year's huge stinker.
There was a year long lull a couple years ago where they did nothing leading to their current predicament. (I sold my Wii during that period for example) Xbox Live is a large portion of Xbox's success, correct. That also points to Nintendo's other massive failure -- multiplayer and online. They more or less completely ignored it leading into the Wii...now look at them. There's a reason they're losing developers. Developers are currently saying that Wii U is the hardest platform of the three next gen systems to program for. The other issues is Nintendo platforms have always had an issue with third party developers. Their first party games almost always sell a lot more. The bottom line is they had first place locked up, it wasn't even close. They made a lot of poor decisions and it's lead to them finishing third behind Microsoft and Sony.
Is there any special requirements for the ESPN stuff? Like with ESPN3 online (via browser)? I used to ignore it because I was online-only (i.e., no cable bill), and I think my ISP blocked it. I moved recently, and I just remembered that my new ISP doesn't do that. I keep forgetting to check out ESPN3 though. The ESPN stuff does look great on 360, I'll admit (but like I said, I usually ignored it for my personal use due to my ISP). Though I've kind of gotten used to avoiding ESPN...and I kind of like it.
Just a XBL gold account, and an ISP that supports it. (Uverse / FIOS / Comcast all support it now, and I'm sure there's others) I'm online only also, I don't pay for cable so I love all of the media stuff Microsoft is doing.
Thanks. I've been trying to convince some people to ditch cable, but sports/ESPN is always something that hangs up the deal. I can usually get by because I mostly just care about NBA (thus my NBA League Pass Broadband subscription), but others love their college football and ESPN shows. Also, I'm glad I bailed out of the stream when they showed that Prometheus trailer. Almost didn't think to do that. edit: I do wish MS would drop the Gold requirement though. Not really any point in requiring that for some of these services (well...all the services IMO, but that's another discussion).
There's definitely a reason for requiring it. The servers and the people behind keeping all of that infrastructure up and running (not to mention bandwidth etc) isn't free. Also I'm sure they have some deal with the content providers that brings them revenue also. Otherwise you'd be seeing these type of services on PSN or whatever garbage Nintendo is attempting to pass as an online service.
But you can get those services on PSN (or even the Wii in some cases). Or other devices. Or similar services (perhaps MS paid for an exclusive, which I guess justifies the cost, but there's no reason technically that it requires a XBL subscription). Just saying it seems silly to have free access to the Amazon app on PSN (or online via a browser), but then you need a XBL Gold account to use it on the 360.
I ditched a few years ago, because I don't watch that much TV any more. I can get the few shows I want via Amazon, Hulu, or iTunes, and Nickleodeon shows are available through Netflix and Amazon. Sports, however, is where things hang up. I got the League Pass BB last year and watched on the TV through the Roku to OK results. I have two small kids, and by the time I get them to bed and clean up downstairs, games are either over or halfway over if they're on the West Coast. Unless I want to blow off the first half of the game, I have to wait for the whole game to finish then at least an hour for them to put the whole game online. Then I have to carefully navigate to the game without seeing the final score, because they blare it on the Roku (in ginormous font) and on the web (smaller font but the games to select themselves are in small font right next to the final score). I don't think this will fix that problem, but I'm hoping for a better viewing option than the Roku, which was choppy too often. What I am excited about is the ESPN option. I hated when NBA TV, ESPN, or TNT broadcast a game I was interested because they are taken off the BroadBand list. I'm mighty curious if the NBA will allow NBA TV games to be shown on the xbox and if TNT is going to jump on board. Right now for these playoffs, I've been able to watch some of the ESPN game action online, and you can get the crappy NBA.com feed for TNT games, but I really want a unified option where I can buy and watch all games without having to jump around through different media services. It sounds like M$ is moving in that direction, although we'll see how it works in action as opposed to their heavily managed stage production. SmartGlass and Kinect also seem like a much easier method of navigating than the PS3. We'll see if Sony has a revamp for their dashboard in store tonight.
Yeah, I don't think it would fix the problem (probably a League Pass Broadband issue), but you're right about the Roku having issues, now that I think about it. I only watched 1-2 games on it, but forgot how bad it was. I usually watch it via a PC (either at my desk, or via my laptop-hooked-up-to-my-TV). And yeah, the blackouts suck. I doubt Sony does much. Best bet would be some partnership with Google and Google TV or something. (not saying that's likely, just saying Sony would probably just push that rather than try to copy what MS...and Apple/Google/etc., are doing...or at least they should do that, unless they want to get lost in the mix again)
Unfortunately my laptop doesn't easily to my TV without using a docking stations, which then requires a mouse and keyboard. And I like watching on the TV as opposed to huddled over a monitor, especially if my wife and I are both watching. And she's a huge Rockets fan as well. The blackouts are the huge issue. LPBB doesn't extend to preseason, summer league, or playoffs. I know you can buy a summer league pass for your computer, but I don't know about streaming options through LPBB. I'd gladly pay right now for a playoff package to supplement my LPBB if I could watch that on the Roku\xbox\PS3. Unfortunately those games are all ABC, TNT, ESPN, or NBA TV. It's going to take all of those channels signing up to being streamed online for NBA to be fully viewable. Sigh. It'll happen eventually, but I'm impatient. At least by the time the Rockets are contenders again, it should all be sorted out. I'm not expecting much from Sony either. They want to throw down with Micro$oft to be the media hub of choice for living rooms, but the xbox looks so much better than what they have to offer. At least right now before their conference. They have too many irons in the fire right now. We'll get 20-30 minutes of Vita (yawn), 10-15 of Move (deep asleep and drooling), and 30 minutes of games. Maybe 15 minutes will go to multimedia functionality, which is a shame. I'm hoping the PS4 will be a much more streamlined and powerful media center. If they want to go mass market and replicate what the Wii did this cycle (nobody will next gen), they need to make the next gen be the default choice for cable cutters and people that one system to play videos, music, and games. They've got a long way to catch up to M$ now. Seeing how the rumors are pointing towards next fall for the PS4, I'd like to see some movement towards that goal now. I think I'll be disappointed. But I'm hoping to see some cool Sly 4 action. Unfortunately it'll probably just be the same stuff they showed last week.
