Xbox + Occulus = Virtual Living Room?

Xbox announced a partnership with Oculus  

Nintendo needs to become a third party

The Xbox One Two Years After the Reveal

The Xbox One came out 501 days ago[1]. The Xbox One has certainly changed my life. It’s the reason, I got a job. That was a big change but lets get done talking about William.

            The Xbox One had all of the hype in world going for the it .Its predecessor the Xbox 360 Dominated the North American market aside from the Wii; but, when your comparing it to its competitors (PlayStation, Wii),the Xbox 360 was king. The Xbox 360 on a consistent basis doubled the sales of the PlayStation 3. It seemed Microsoft had its next console success story in the bag but in the video game industry, there is something called the Third Console curse[2] where a company that does well with their third entry into market gets to high and mighty for their own britches. This happened with the N64 going with cartridges instead of the more institutive and efficient CDs and Nintendo giving third parties[3] to the wolves. Nintendo has a problem of thinking it can supply all of the games for its own console. Sure there games are great but when games like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and Assassin Creed come out and it doesn’t land on a Nintendo platform, it makes them look like  a joke. This also happened with the PlayStation 3, it officially was priced at $600 and that was absurd at the time. When one considers that the Xbox 360 was equivalent, if not better hardware wise and it was only priced at $300.  

            The “Reveal” of the Xbox One, was a huge a bummer for me. It was terrible amount of time spent on TV, Sports and NFL partnership, it was absolutely ridiculous.  I am a huge Xbox fan but this made me distraught as a fan and a gamer. This was the future of Xbox? There was even a rumor going around after the reveal that Microsoft was going to sell Xbox Brand, I was worried. The reason I care so much about Xbox was because it was my first console and Xbox was my escapism from my parents’ divorce and all the other bad events that happened. Then just to see, the first steps of Xbox One be such a failure. I see more games on a commercial, then I did on the Xbox Reveal and it was an hour long. Then here are my sources about how terrible the Xbox One[4] Reveal[5] was[6]. The sources are to prove, I’m not just a loner complaining.

            Aftermath, this was the worst public relations damage control, known to man. Here was one of the conversations between the press and a Xbox One representative . Press said “I was wondering, a lot of soldiers overseas want to play Xbox One but they don’t have a reliable internet connection, what do you say to our active duty soldiers”? Xbox One Rep said, “We have a product for people overseas it called a Xbox 360”. This was offensive because it implied that the serving troops aren’t good enough to play on Xbox One and it also proves that Xbox is being represented by a bunch of twerps. A lot of people blame Don Mattrick for leading Xbox into a full blown nose dive. Xbox fired over 40 people for the Xbox One reveal and public relations disaster.

            There is one, a true savior and that is Phil Spencer. Is someone who I have immense respect for. He took over Xbox when it seemed like, it was a lost cause. It had already looked like a failure and it hadn’t even hit the market. Phil Spencer took over between the reveal and E3. Now what is E3 one asks themselves? Wells it’s the super bowl for video games. This is where all of the new games, get gameplay shown and new games are announced. Phil Spencer proceeded to go on stage and show a hour and half of video games straight. I was in bliss and I later went out that day a got a job at the grocery store. The reason this was important, at this point was that the Xbox One was totally a buzz kill and this was the first time that gaming was the priority of a gaming console. He gave me confidence in the Xbox Brand again, I can’t thank him enough. Phil Spencer cares about games and he understands games, not like Don Mattrick. Phil Spencer isn’t a corporate suit, he’s gamer.

            So how is Xbox One doing two years later, well its sold over 10 million consoles and its already outsold the Wii U. It has allowed for games to be made that would not have been made without the Xbox Ones existence and it provides thousands of American jobs and millions of people’s enjoyment.  So next time, you slander a nerd for crying about how his favorite game company closing, just remember how you felt when Friends ended.

            This editorial had a lot of lessons, that we take for granted such as leadership and getting through a rough spot. It shows that, sure we shouldn’t be defined by the stuff we own but I do think there is something to be said about being attached to something we have. So the next time, you look at that plastic machine they call a Xbox and remember it is much more than a machine that plays games.

---

[1] As of April 7^th, 2015

[2] Third Console Curse!!! its Real!:source

[3] Third parties: games that are not made by Nintendo but still go on a Nintendo consoles. Such as Madden, Grand Theft Auto, and Call Of Duty   

[4] http://kotaku.com/that-xbox-one-reveal-sure-was-a-disaster-huh-509192266

[5] http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/05/21/microsoft-stumbles-through-xbox-one-announcement-shows-little-answers-less/

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbWgUO-Rqcw

How, have I spent my money on my Xbox Account?

What Year Did I Spend the Most
2013: $861.69
2014: $586.46*
2012: $339.72
2011: $209.89
2015: $148.39*

The 5 Most Expensive Things

The Most 5 Expensive Games

The 5 Cheapest games

The Grand Total:






*Xbox One Came out
*2015 isn't over

20 Predictions For Xbox E3 2015

   Well alas E3 is coming is one month away (counting may as the only one). So its Prediction time.

1. Halo 5 gets a Campaign Demo on Stage

   It makes sense they had the beta to show off the Multiplayer but they have been building a lot of hype for the story this time around and I think it will be featured. Its Microsoft's biggest Franchise.
How Certain: Guaranteed
2. Xbox One OS will be revamped
Xbox One OS is god awful. I have not a clue how to do anything and its been almost two years. I usually yell at Kinect what does everything for me. Also Windows 10  and Xbox One are suppose to get interconnected in such?
How Certain: A 50/50 Shot
3.Scalebound Gets a Gameplay Trailer

Platinum games has released Bayonetta, Bayonettta 2 and Vanquish. Where do I insert the money this could be Microsoft's Bloodbourne . This game has huge phenomenal to be amazing.
How Certain: Probably
4.Forza 6 Trailer

















Forza 5 was good and Forza Horzion 2 was better and this will be a slam dunk and hopefully with the extra time in the life cycle, the guys at turn 10, have gotten more next gen out of Forza.
How Certain: Guaranteed
5. Gears Trailer and Dated for 2016











People say 2015, I say 2016. Its only been a year since Microsoft bought the Gear's IP back from Epic
How Certain: Probably
6. Tomb Raider Gets Gameplay and Dated for release

Tomb Raider the Reboot has sold 8.5 Million copies, sure its shot term but a exclusive is a exclusive.
How Certain: Guaranteed 
7. Halo Online is announced for Xbox One 

I think its unlikely, but we can still hope?As long as its not terrible or has a ton of microstrasactions.
How Certain:Unlikely 
8. Xbox One loses some weight 

 As much as we love are Xbox One, hes pretty beefy and it would hurt for him to shed some weight
How Certain:probably 
9. A New Exclusive, First Party  IP gets announced for E3    

 Xbox could use the extra fire power and its been confirmed by the Head Xbox man himself,Phil Spencer.
How Certain: Guaranteed
10. Inside Gets Released during E3

Its not exclusive by any means but there is a ton of Xbox love for limbo check out the Xbox Boss.
How Certain: 50/50
11.  Alan Wake Remastered is Announced

 Seems like a no brainier to me, Alan Wake was Epic.
How Certain: probably 
12. Indie Montage  (for the games that originally skipped Xbox One)
Ok maybe not Killing floor 2 but I think there going to make a huge point for indie developers, that skipped Xbox because of the parity clause. ( Examples The Forest, Octodad and Abe's Odyssey).
How Certain: Guaranteed 
13 Halo Wars 2 gets announced

 Halo Wars was a RTS, that worked on consoles and it was teased in the Phantom Dust trailer. 
 How Certain:probably
 14 I think Kinect will get "some" screen time 

 The Kinect 2 works and after being forced to own it. ......I would actually buy it again. 
How Certain 50/50
 15. Phantom Dust Gets Gameplay Trailer

 Its been through some sketchy development but Microsoft reaffirms, it still exist.
How Certain:Probably
 16. Battle toads gets a trailer and .....maybe gets dropped during the show

 Its going to be a nostalgic hit and Phil Spencer's shirts never lie!
How Certain:Guaranteed
17. State of Decay developers announce their new game  

 State of Decay came out in 2013, I imagine they got something cooking.
How Certain:50/50
18. New Crackdown Gameplay
I can't contain my excitement and I can wait. 
How Certain:Guaranteed
 19. Hololens Announcement (spefically for Xbox One)

 It would be cool but I don't think its probable.
How Certain: nope
 20. Marcus Fenix Collection 

Not likely but would I say.....EPIC.
How Certain: not likely
 Bonus: Banjo-Three gets announced 

We can dream cant we?
How Certain: .......Sigh

Well their you have it folks, My predictions leave your's in the comments!

Forza Horzion 2 presents:Fast and Furious Review

Forza Horizon 2 presents:Fast and Furious: how I was surprised
This game caught me completely off guard. The only reason I even played it  was because  Forza Horzion 2 needed an update and thank god for that.I really enjoyed this standalone experience. This game has puns and fast cars and thats all you need.

Setting

The game takes place on a modified version of Map used in Horizon 2. They used some nice touches to make the map stand by itself to the original map such as adding the golf course that was by far the best addition. The game uses the sound track from Furious 7 and that was a good call. I'm in to that kind of music. They also have a lot of homage to series such as Dom's Dad's 1970s Dodge Charger is in it and achievement saying not to fast junior. its great to see that kind of stuff in a cross over. 

Story 

This is probably the weakest part of  Furious. It features overhead dialogue from a character in the films., Its typically cliquche. Don't worry though this is not reason you want to play this game. 

Gameplay  

 I forgot how Awesome Forza Horizon 2 driving is. If you need an Introduction into the series, then

pick this up immediately. Now if your veteran, don't expect a full fledged Forza game by any means. It has about 20 events counting everything and game main campaign took me around four hours but it was really enjoyable and it was a achievement fest.There is no tuning what blows but it is only FREE until APRIL 10th but then it will be ten dollars.

8/10 Its a Good game Bronze Rating I would recommend!

+ Homage to the series

+ Great Driving

+ Golf Course

+FREE

-Story blows

-Short

-No Customization 

 

iPad are in our school!

IPads…….

​They were given”forced “to the students and faculty. Now some people say that IPads are the second coming of Christ and then the vast majority of people and the sane ones see them as a huge waste of tax payer money.

​Now the first reason is the inefficient of them many teachers have little use for them or don’t even incorporate them in the class room.  Now most time of the time we use them for web browsing such as looking up P.O.W or looking up stuff for history but we spent $600 for web browsers. People will argue , well you can do presentations and write papers , just no. you can make a keynote presentation but it’s frustrating and is PowerPoint’s very dumb little brother. Now notability and pages is stupid to, Ms. Lopez gave us a worksheet in notability and she told us about Spain we thought (class) that it was fun facts about Spain but in reality it was a note taking prepping us for a test. When are class found out about this almost instantly everyone demanded a paper copy because when  you typed on the IPadthe words would go over the words.  

​IPads are scary because of breaking them . Now this year you get two free bees if you break your iPads but next year you pay $50 if it breaks and then after the second time you pay out the full $700 dollars. Thing you could buy with 700 dollars Xbox One, 50 inch plasma TV and a PlayStation 4. So do you get to keep it if you pay the $700 nope and you get no additional freedom and the iPads is gimped. So the tax payer paid for inefficient and gimped iPads.

​The way iPads could get better. Give the students more freedom we can legally smoke (don’t smoke kids its retarted) but if I want to download clash of clans I cant and I why is a bunch sites blocked like Facebook when twitter is not, just saying, if you are going to block websites at least have some consistency.  I think there were better options I know the school has a contract or there cheaper but if cheaper is not always better when it comes to quality and efficiency think about all the extra time you had to spend just to make some stupid keynote. I also there should be a trade in program where if a student’s device meets certain standards they can use their personal device instead of an iPad. 

​IPads are here to stay and it’s a shame there was a lot more potential for the 1:1 program. So we must improve the iPads by giving the students more freedom and getting more variety for apps plus office came out so get on that, school hire ups.