Xbox boss says hardware analysis between consoles is “meaningless”

[AndroidFox]

Speaking to OXM at Microsoft's Xbox One reveal last month, Xbox product planning boss Albert Penello has downplayed technical comparisons between Xbox One and PS4, arguing that hardware analysis is "meaningless" when "our games and experiences are going to be every bit as good as, if not better" than those you'll find on competing consoles.

 

Asked whether he was cautious of comparisons with PS4 by our editor Jon Hicks, Penello pointed out that few players really buy consoles for the specs alone. "The problem is that Sony decided to go out and publish a bunch of numbers, which are in some ways meaningless," he told us. "Because this isn't like 1990, when it was 16-bit versus 32-bit.

 

"As a matter of fact," he continued, "they actually go out and they talk about how proud they are about their off-the-shelf parts. Our guys'll say, we touched every single component in the box and everything there is tweaked for optimum performance."

 

"For me, I'd rather not even have the conversation, because it's not going to matter," Penello went on. "The box is going to be awesome. The games are going to be awesome. I heard this exact same argument last generation and it's a pointless argument, because people are debating things which they don't know about. They're not [head silicon engineer] Nick Baker or [corporate vice president of IEB hardware Todd Holmdahl], and I'm not [lead PS4 architect] Mark Cerny, so why are we having this discussion?"

 

Penello feels consumers will pick a console for the games it offers, rather than for its capabilities on paper. "Here's what you care about," he said. "You bought a system to play great games and have great experiences. I feel like our games and experiences are going to be every bit as good, if not better, technically - on top of all the magic we're going to add with the instant switching, and the power of the cloud.

 

"So the whole numbers game - yeah, I've been following it online and it's like, we tried having that argument last time. Do I want to talk about HDMI 1.3 or 1.4, it's like 'argh!' It doesn't matter. Did you see Call of Duty, it looks f**king awesome! It's going to be great, you know. So we're just saying, it's not worth the debate."

 

The new Xbox console's memory performance has been hugely underestimated, according to a new Digital Foundry report. For more on the specs - and what game developers could do with them - read our gigantic round-up of Xbox One details. Alternatively, skip the techspeak and rifle through this round-up of confirmed Xbox One games.

Edited July 1, 2013 by AndroidFox

[Parker]

Some who works for Microsoft defending the new Xbox, how surprising...

 

It really does sound kind of pathetic though, if their system was so much better than the PS4 they wouldn't need to say anything, they'd simple show it. 

 

 

Parker

Edited June 28, 2013 by Parker

[xVolloxx]

Hardware is irrelevant ? LMAO ! 

Of course your going to say that when your console is clearly less powerful 

 

''Did you see Call Of Duty it looks f*cking awesome'' - That's the spirit 

 

''The Cloud'' - Now that's meaningless !

Edited June 28, 2013 by TheBolloxx

[WolfyRaiden]

"Did you see Call of Duty, it looks f**king awesome! It's going to be great, you know. So we're just saying, it's not worth the debate."

 

It looks boring and is going to be the same boring game like the last 4 CoD games were and yes it's debatebale. No offense to anyone who likes the series it's just that there are better games than CoD.

 

"Hardware analysis is "meaningless" when "our games and experiences are going to be every bit as good as, if not better"

 

Lol what?

[Parker]

I love how the only thing people are getting out of this article is, "derp, CoD sucks." Guys, disregard CoD and read the rest of the article. 

 

 

Parker

[d3m0nd00d]

5 billion transistors, now that's meaningless.

Agreed

[savageamusement]

Dont care about hardware, just the games 

 

Sony has the exclusives i want so they get my money

 

 

Done

[BSAA_Advisor]

Just keeping digging that hole....just keep digging.

Sony has me sold, Micro....not worth notable mention.

[Dragon-Archon]

I would say that too if my competitor's console was being praised instead of mine.

[x_First2Fight_x]

Microsoft is filled with idiots. Period! And funny enough, the reveal of the XboxOne seems to have brought all of those idiots to the surface and forefront. 

[Memnoch]

They guy is right though, as multiplatform games will only be as good as the most common denominator (aka the least powerfull console)

Although he's pretty agrressive in his manner, he's probably been asked that question so often recently.

Consoles are sold on ease of use, price, and games list. Otherwise we would all be playing on pc's these days

Although I undersand that everyone here is pro sony, as I am (i have never liked xbox) please take a slight step back and read between the lines before taking a dump on what a lot of good people have taken countless hours of their lives creating.

[Guest]

Dont care about hardware, just the games 

 

Sony has the exclusives i want so they get my money

 

 

Done

 

Unless its exclusives... usually both consoles get the same game. Now if that's the case, I think the majority would want to play on a system with better hardware with many times better the graphics. So hardware would be important...

[Azaan60]

In the words of President Obama "What a Jackass"

[Captain_Cutscene]

I think the main thing to keep in mind is that everything (literally) that Microsoft have said publicly since their E3 'hiccup' has been a mix of backtracking and damage control spin.

 

They might say things full of confidence and gusto. But it doesn't change the fact that their main objective is to repair any loss of faith in the product they want to sell. The ideas and ideals behind the Xbone were based on a number of things that don't exist yet and while you can see what they wanted to achieve, trying to implement it now just alienated pretty much everyone.

In a way I feel a bit sorry for them, but that being said, they are doing themselves absoloutely no favours by handling their backtracking and damage control so poorly.

[EliteVega]

Any company will say that there product will have the best experience, love or hate them for it that's how it works.

 

I have to say do he does make a point, if the games on the console are going to be great then it is pointless to compare each one. ( Some of Xbox ones exclusive do catch my interest)

[dj_illmatic]

They guy is right though, as multiplatform games will only be as good as the most common denominator (aka the least powerfull console)

That was true this generation, because Sony and MS's hardware were so different. While the PS3 is the more powerful system, 3rd party developers would almost have to develop two different games to take advantage of the power. The PS4 and X-One's hardware are very similar, but the PS4 has more processing power. This means 3rd party developers can take advantage of the additional power without having separate development teams, or they can build to the superiority of the PS4 and dumb the X-One version down. In the article below, a 3rd party developer says that 3rd party games will look noticeably better on the PS4. Now I'm sure 3rd party developers will feel pressure from MS to not make their system look bad, but Sony can exert the same pressure to take advantage of the power. Beyond either of those, I think the biggest pressure 3rd party developers will feel is peer pressure. If you're Infinity Ward, you don't want to dumb down CoD's graphics to the X-One capabilities in order to keep MS happy; and then have Dice take full advantage of the PS4's power with Battlefield 4 and make your game look inferior.

www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2013/06/15/sony-playstation-4-launch-edition-already-sold-out-at-amazon/

Edited June 29, 2013 by dj_illmatic

[Artemisthemp]

If hardware is relevant, why can't I play Xbox One on my Xbox one? <-- Yes the real Xbox One

[yellowwindow7]

oh no.. it's happening again!! reminded me when i read in a website about fully porting Metal Gear Solid 4 from ps3 to 360 that someone at Microsoft studios or something did say the 360 can do what the ps3 can and they're happy about the the watered down port of FFXIII on 360 saying it runs perfect just like in ps3

 

and he also commented that most games on the xbox 360 is high definition while not on ps3 so the xbox 360 can handle MGS4 well

i guess he meant about multiplatforms that most of them looks better on 360 due to the lazy porting job on ps3??

 

LOL! FFXIII on ps3 it run in 1080p with no screen tear 0 frame drops in only one disc and no need for install at all, while on 360 the game is running at 720p with some screen tears and a lot's of frame drops + game comes in 3 discs each need to be installed.     

[Arkthur]

They say that for the same reason guys don't compare the size of their junk with others, they are afraid it might be smaller.

[ChickenExotic]

funny how in most topics we bad mouth COD, LOL! =)

[Lady Lilith]

Tired of the Xbox dragging down the quality of multiplats.  First it was the 360 because of DVDs, now it's the Xbox One for being far weaker in general.  Ugh...

[Parker]

Tired of the Xbox dragging down the quality of multiplats.  First it was the 360 because of DVDs, now it's the Xbox One for being far weaker in general.  Ugh...

 

I don't think the difference will be as dramatic as the difference is between the PS3 and 360 and now that they are very similar to develop for I hope we won't see the lazy ports, though it would be even better if developers use the PS4 as the lead platform which they may very well do considering they aren't using Cell anymore. 

 

 

Parker

[Brawler]

The Microsoft staff came off as far more arrogant than they should have been. It's one of the many reasons I made the switch. They have the number of exclusives down, but in the long run they'll hardly be able to compete. Quality over quantity my friends. Hardware does matter, even if you aren't held up on graphics. Then again who wouldn't trust a company who backtracked harder than any other in recent memory with their whole DRM antics? It sounds like they're worried to me..

[zorry777]

I guess so

[AndroidFox]

Tired of the Xbox dragging down the quality of multiplats.  First it was the 360 because of DVDs, now it's the Xbox One for being far weaker in general.  Ugh...

 

A game being on multiple discs doesn't actually impact the overall quality of a game though. It just means you have to take the disc out at certain points or install the data to the hard drive, all the content is still there. Mass Effect 2 was released on 2 discs on the 360 and the game had notably better performance.