News Announcement: Elite: Dangerous coming to Xbox One

Rapster

Rapster
I see that since I left the thread last night, the PC vs. Console War has started - I'm just waiting for PCMr to rear its head.

DB, asking a PC crowd to welcome a console crew is just asking for trouble...

As for the 'dumbing down' of the PC version, I hope I'm wrong about this, but I think we never had a PC version to begin with. FD was probably always going to release an Xbox One version of EliteDangerous and we are just playing the cross-developed iteration for the PC. Hence why DB plays with an Xbox controller, he's probably just testing the controller for use in EliteDangerous on Xbox One. I also have a suspicion that the starting money for EliteDangerous was provided by Microsoft. <Entirely my own view!> The Kickstarter effort of ~£1.6m is nowhere near a large enough sum to produce a multi-year development and because of the close ties with Microsoft it may well have been relatively easy to speak to the right person to get cash from the 'Bank of MS', especially as there have been previous business relations between the two entities. The previous statement may also allude to why the Xbox One is getting the 'exclusivity' deal for the time being, this may well have been part of the investment strategy for Microsoft. There's a mantra in business; why risk your own money when you can risk somebody else's.

Speculation, I know...

As for consoles being able to play in the same instance as PC, I don't think that will happen beyond what's already discussed, i.e. trade prices, etc. The platforms have very different netcode technology and bearing in mind EliteDangerous is also coming to PS4 in the future, well, Sony and Microsoft have not wanted to play ball together in the past and why should they now.

In conclusion, I am disappointed. I was hoping for <finally!!> the (re)release of Elite on PC that would take advantage of everything that a modern PC architecture can offer. It seems that EliteDangerous is turning out to not be what I had hoped for. I'm ever so slightly happier with the knowledge that I also backed 'the other game'...

<All views expressed are my own. As it says under my handle; I am mostly harmless...>
 
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jabokai

jabokai
I don't have a console, and can't imagine that I ever would, but reading the latest press comments from DB it seems unlikely (but not yet impossible of course) that XBox and PC people will play together. It looks like it will be the same background sim but different instances. Given this, if I were an XBox player I would actually prefer a virgin galaxy - where all the inner "first discovered by" tags are available at launch.

But I don't have an XBox so I don't really care. :p But if I did, I would. :)
 

Alien

Alien
jabokai said:
I don't have a console, and can't imagine that I ever would, but reading the latest press comments from DB it seems unlikely (but not yet impossible of course) that XBox and PC people will play together. It looks like it will be the same background sim but different instances. Given this, if I were an XBox player I would actually prefer a virgin galaxy - where all the inner "first discovered by" tags are available at launch.

But I don't have an XBox so I don't really care. :p But if I did, I would. :)
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Pretty much my opinion as well.
 

Patrick_68000

Patrick_68000
almostpilot said:
English is not my native language, so, please someone could help me understand this point:

"is being beta tested by some of you right now, and the third will be coming in the spring, free of charge"

After 1.3, all updates will be paid??? is that?

Is incorrect my interpretation?

Thanks in advance
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Some important updates will be paying (walking around the ship, planetary landings....) Except, if you bought the pack of extensions there is a few weeks ... and which is no longer on sale now
 

Frank

Frank
devastat said:
Maybe they'll put Xbox players on the other end of the Galaxy.
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Oh yes! you have it. I can see the plan now. The Xbox players will be asked to but on funny rubber costumes with six legs. The mask they wear will make it hard to understand what they're saying. All we will be able to hear is a funny "Chrrk chrrrrk!" sound as they plead with us that they aren't aliens.
 

Pibbles

P
Vladimar Rubicon said:
I don't understand how ED would NOT be dumbed down completely because of this. I never play console since I'm used to having control over everything. Explain how playing with a little toy handheld controller can allow all the bindings like on a PC? It can't, therefore the game will have to cater to those people, and remove all the customization that we currently have.
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It's been completely playable - and IMO completely designed around - a gamepad from alpha 1. I started playing using my X55 HOTAS setup then stuck that in the cupboard as I realised I could play it perfectly well with my XB360 wireless gamepad whilst saving myself some desk space. The menus are designed for that very controller and when you start using one it makes a lot more sense.

Looking at FD's very fragile state, successful expansion to consoles can only provide more longevity to them and therefore the game, and thus please those fans who want that. I personally reserve judgement on whether FD can successfully deliver to the console community, but it's good they are trying to do so.
 
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Patrick_68000

Patrick_68000
Commander Edison said:
Intersting question, picking up on some interesting wording. The impression given up to this point was that "expansions"- eg planetary landing, first person would be paid, but updates to the core gameplay would be free.

I can't see, off the top of my head, how they could make major changes to mining, exploration or the mission system and make it paid for. Updates to the core mechanics would have to be rolled out to everyone otherwise it'd be an almighty mess to the point where you couldn't be instanced with people who hadn't paid as much as you had. So my guess is that there will continue to be more free updates.

On the other hand, I have no idea how they're going to work first person and the planetside schizzle so that those that have paid and those that haven't can still play easily together. I'm a high rollin' PB backer, so I don't have to worry about it but I am curious.

TL;DR- I have no idea, spread across three paragraphs of nonsense.
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Since a few weeks that Frontier insists on the "Free" word. We need to provide that certain updates are going to be paying after the 1.3, rather quickly
 

AnnuverScotinExile

AnnuverScotinExile
Redstar said:
Not to "that guy", but may I ask how the Xbox version is funded? Sales of skins and copies of elite after launch, or perhaps a big bank loan? My immediate concern is of course that this is funded by KS funds, but surely this is not the case?
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The kickstarter funds did not even fund the PC game, which has already cost over 4 times the KS income. And, of course, development was well under way before the KS. There will be, relatively speaking, not a lot of cost in the port, since the COBRA engine has been multiplatform, including XBox, for years - that is a platform that many of the FD games have been built on in the last decade.
 

rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
rootsrat
Frank said:
Oh yes! you have it. I can see the plan now. The Xbox players will be asked to but on funny rubber costumes with six legs. The mask they wear will make it hard to understand what they're saying. All we will be able to hear is a funny "Chrrk chrrrrk!" sound as they plead with us that they aren't aliens.
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They'll be the Thargoids!

::EDIT::

Ninja'd :)
 

almostpilot

Banned
almostpilot
Patrick_68000 said:
Some important updates will be paying (walking around the ship, planetary landings....) Except, if you bought the pack of extensions there is a few weeks ... and which is no longer on sale now
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Thank U. I have the expansions. But what I meant was that in the text I had the impression that the update 1.3 will be the last (free of charge). And I think it's too early.
 

devastat

D
Frank said:
Oh yes! you have it. I can see the plan now. The Xbox players will be asked to but on funny rubber costumes with six legs. The mask they wear will make it hard to understand what they're saying. All we will be able to hear is a funny "Chrrk chrrrrk!" sound as they plead with us that they aren't aliens.
Click to expand...

Thargoids confirmed... Next Summer!
 
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Pibbles

P
almostpilot said:
Thank U. I have the expansions. But what I meant was that in the text I had the impression that the update 1.3 will be the last (free of charge). And I think it's too early.
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I think that's a misinterpretation on your part. All these 1.x patches have done is fix bugs (some introduced by the preceding patch) and deliver planned content, charging for such code would lose even their most loyal supporters.

Now, if they release a major update that changes the game from its designed release state by addition of content (e.g. ED 2.0), then of course FD would be charging for that, the same as any other publisher. But the subsequent point releases would all be free because it's inevitable they would introduce more bugs with such large change, and the onus is firmly on them to fix their own stuff.

If they attempt to charge for fixes and things that should have been in the game anyway, then their time as a viable company will be very limited indeed and I think they will surely know this.
 
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