#but yeah ideally want a more interesting name than that if anyone has any funky puns or anything-

[queerestqueertoeverqueer]

does anyone have any Ideas for the name of a doctor who themed typing game. all i can come up with is TARDIS typer 😭😭

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #374

Top Ten Things I Want from the Next Xbox

Well, it’s getting to that time again! E3 isn’t too far away, and this is One Of Those Years. Big announcements, hardware, speculation, rampant fanning… it’s all go!

Recently, Sony have discussed aspects of their “next PlayStation console”, presumably to get ahead of the announcement game as they’re skipping E3 entirely. It looks like Nintendo will be revealing a new, somewhat cut-down version of the Switch very soon, with a slightly souped-up version possibly coming later in the year. And Microsoft have earmarked their standard pre-E3 conference as the time when they will, at last, lift the lid on their next Xbox or two.

And so, inspired a little bit by a recent, very fun, Eurogamer podcast, I’ve been thinking about what I want from the Xbox Two (or whatever it’s called). And, yes, I’m just thinking about the Xbox, because I’ve got an Xbox. For better or worse, I’m in that ecosystem, and frankly I don’t have the time or money for multiple consoles (although I do really want a Switch). Plus, to be honest, I’m far more interested in the general direction that Microsoft seem to be going than Sony; sure, the PS5 looks like being an evolution and is a simpler proposition I guess (assuming what we think about it is true). But Microsoft focusing on software and one game purchase carrying across multiple platforms and even console generations, that sounds more up my street than “just” sexier graphics.

Anyway, here we go: ten things, some realistic, some not, that I’d like to see in the next Xbox. I’m not really focusing on games here, more the hardware – what I want the box to do.

Backwards Compatibility: this is a no-brainer, surely? Microsoft have really leaned into this, and I think it will continue. All Xbox One games should work, no question, and all of the 360/OG Xbox games already in the Back Compat list should work exactly the same on the new machine. I’d also like to see a graphical upgrade from Xbox One games played on the new machine, like when you’d play certain Amiga 500 games on the A1200.

Backwards Compatible Hardware: I’m not really aware of this happening before, but I really think they should extend the “it all works!” notion to include hardware. Sure, refine and improve the controller, but just make it so that the new box can use the old stuff too. I know they want to make money but it’d be a great incentive if I went in to the next generation knowing my kids already had two working controllers to use.

4K Blu-ray Drive: basically, I don’t want a discless Xbox yet. I do, in fact, buy most of my games digitally nowadays, but I still buy Blu-rays and physical editions of games when I really love them. I want my Xbox to be the only thing under my TV if at all possible, and that means a Blu-ray drive. What I hope is that, if they make a two-tiered system, the cheaper option still has a BD drive, because I have a feeling that any top-end Xbox 720 will be a mite bit pricey.

A Sub-£400 Price Tag: speaking of which… I’m fairly convinced, in my own head, that Microsoft will announce two iterations of the next-gen Xbox. It’ll be a bit like the Xbox 360 “Core” and “Premium” editions (although hopefully the cheaper option won’t be quite as cut-down). I think they’ll cost about £350 and £400 respectively, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the relative success of the Xbox One X means that MS feel comfortable charging a high premium for the top-tier version. I like having nice things, but I’m also a tight-arsed Yorkshireman, so at the moment I’m ambivalent towards which iteration I’ll be getting. If the cheapo option is discless, it’ll be a no-no; but if the sexy version is £450 or even (gulp) £500 that’ll be a tough decision.

Keep the HDMI-in: I’m not sure how popular it is, and whether it’ll be worth the hassle of Microsoft including it in the hardware, but I for one really like the TV-in functionality of the Xbox One. I suppose it can be a little fiddly having to access the Xbox first to watch TV, but seeing as we hardly ever watch TV or use the PVR, we pretty much always go through the Xbox regardless. It’s nice to flit between “live” TV (well, stuff we’ve recorded on the PVR) and the rest of the Xbox functionality. Maybe this will be something that’s retained for a ���high-end” Xbox Vol. 4 but ditched for a lower-priced model.

Controller Standby: okay, this really is me just chasing something that would make my personal life easier, but one thing that irritates me with the Xbox One is the controller turning itself off. This is because we use the Xbox as a media hub in the living room; virtually all the media we watch – Netflix, iPlayer, Blu-rays, you name it – comes via that little black box. I did buy an Xbox remote control, but its functionality was a mite limited (nowhere near as good as the 360 media remote), and besides which, it broke. Using the controllers is fine (and easier if you need to navigate the dash), but they turn themselves off to save battery life, and it feels like it takes an age to make them come back on. Some sort of standby mode to reduce battery drain, but where the controller comes back to life, fully functional, the minute you press any button, would be fantastic. Or, y’know, bundle a remote.

Bring Back the 360 Quadrants: speaking of controllers, one thing I really miss is the little circle of light around the Xbox guide button that was on the 360 controller. It’s a simple thing, but lighting up a quadrant of that circle was an ideal way of indicating who was using which controller. Maybe nowadays hardly anyone is playing local multiplayer; maybe more hardcore games use other methods. But some way of easily identifying who’s in control of the dash, or which is the “primary” account at that moment, would be very useful, as it can get a touch confusing. Tying a profile to a controller feels elegant to me, but what do I know? Oh, which reminds me – unified controller settings! That was a godsend last gen, so why did they get rid of it? I wanna tell the Xbox that I play inverted, and then not have to do it for every single game. Please bring that back Mr. Microsoft.

Streamlined Interface: the Xbox One dashboard and whole user interface comes in for a fair bit of stick. To be honest, I don’t mind it, but it is fiddly, and it’s certainly a step back from the Xbox 360 experience. I’m not sure if my problems with it don’t just stem from the console targeting people with other interest than myself; I really just want fast access to my games and apps, and a quick way to check out my friends, achievements, and friends’ achievements. I hope they bring back the old “Guide” so there’s a really, really fast way to access that info “on top” of the dash, so to speak. But seeing as it’ll almost certainly be based around Windows 10, I hope they make it really customisable, too.

Intelligent Use of the Cloud: let’s face it, “The Cloud” is Microsoft’s USP as far as consoles are concerned. Sure, everyone has a cloud nowadays, but set against Sony’s “it’s a console but really good” and Nintendo’s “everything is mega-weird and super-cool”, Microsoft saying “all your stuff works everywhere” is a nice little hook. I hope it does work. Cloud processing was this generation’s hyperbolic disappointment, on display in Crackdown but far from the revolution we were hoping for (a bit like that funky sci-fi camera they had last generation…). Game streaming, however? Yeah, sure. The thought of playing my Xbox games anywhere – on my laptop, on my phone, on a Switch – is quite exciting, not just because “yay games”, but because they’re my Xbox games. Playing, I dunno, Halo 5, continuing the story, maintaining my progress, earning achievements… it’s an enticing prospect. On the Eurogamer podcast someone suggested that streaming could be potentially used (or, rather, hypothetically used) to create an “instant-on” situation, where you can start playing a game immediately before it’s finished installing or even downloading. Stuff like that would be nice. And I hope they extend Play Anywhere too, making more games cross-platform.

Discless Play: okay, this is a long-shot, as I imagine MS doesn’t want to go anywhere near the ideas they had when they announced the Xbox One; but all the same, I loved the sound of some of those ideas. Chief among them was the ability to install a game off a disc, but then play it from the hard drive without needing to put the disc in the machine again. I get why some people don’t like that, because of the restrictions it could place on resale, but I’d love it as an option. Seeing as this upcoming generation appears to be all about digital, downloading or streaming games, the concept of a physical unit or physical ownership is a little bit old-fashioned. Now, I’m a big proponent of physical media, but all the same Netflix is way more convenient. If I can rip a CD – or even automatically download its contents from Amazon – then activating a digital copy with a physical product would be great.

Right, there you are. Ten things I wanna see in the new Xbox. Will they come true? Well, maybe some. But I imagine I’ll still be scrambling on my hands and knees looking for errant Halo discs.