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Price is Right model is by far the best part of this presentation so far.

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So if you don't subscribe to cable all of this TV stuff is useless, right? They do realize people are finally ditching cable and on demand/a la carte is the inevitable future (during this console generation), right?

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WHY CAN'T THEY HIRE SOMEONE TO DRESS THESE GUYS? Don't they have enough money?

Marc Whitten's ill fitting sportcoat and untucked faux-denim button-up are not working.

I live 5 miles from Redmond and get that people are dumpy here. But this is bad.

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Hey that console that you don't have to even move your finger to hit a remote control button, or remember TV channels when you meld into your couch? You can also get totally BUFF working out with neo-Kinect.

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He just said your games will be stored in the cloud.

Also Xzibit meme.

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GUYS NBA LIVE, THIS IS WHAT THEY'VE BEEN SAVING IT FOR!

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Games being stored "in the cloud" = you don't get to play stuff off a disc (or installed on your local machine) any more?

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WHY THE FUCK IS HE WEARING A WATCH ON EACH WRIST??

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Oh wait one of them is a lady bracelet.

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The first time you used Xbox Live to invite that innocent 13 year old to come over and play Halo.

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Tall Martha Stewart has ugly black flats, boring black pants, a matronly white blazer, and pearls. But she's still thrashing all the dudes in the style competition today.

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Halo/Breaking Bad crossover!!!

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Taunt your fantasy football bro-friends! NEXT GENERATION STARTS NOW.

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"One of the fascinating new additions to your squad... is a dog."

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This will be the most well written dog squad member ever. WE GOT A SCREENWRITER FROM TRAFFIC GUYS. IT HAS A TATTOO IN ITS EAR.

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So games:

Forza Again and Remedy's Quantum Break are the system exclusives they showed.

Everything else multiplatform: EA Sports, COD:Ghosts.

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They didn't say a damn thing about price, always-on internet connectivity, installing games, what they mean by "your games are in the cloud", whether used software is restricted (pay to unlock, can't install, etc.). Date was just a vague 2013, and we're not sure if that differs by region.

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I'm impressed, Microsoft. You've managed to make me not care about a new console.

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LOL stocks.

During the MS announcement, Sony's went up, and Microsoft's dropped.

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Perhaps MS's biggest success from the reveal is that there's more bad news slipping in quietly.

Like confirmation that MS doesn't plan to allow indies to self-publish on the system. That leaves them the one odd man out in an increasingly indie-friendly world of PCs, iOS/Android devices, newfound strong support from Sony on PS4/Vita, and even stodgy old NINTENDO of all companies.

Stuff like no backwards compatibility and focus on non-gaming use didn't surprise me, but this is an area where it seems like they had some opportunity to avoid disaster with a decent plan. Guess not.

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Potential MS exclusive stuff that I would care about:

Crackdown (which seems like a legit possibility, since a Crackdown agility orb was shown in the "Games" tab during the presentation)
Project Gotham 5
Killer Instinct

Not enough to sell me a system, but if one just appeared in my living room and those games existed I'd probably buy them.

I am skeptical of MS's ability to make new first party IP that's actually good. Xbox had a bunch of mediocre first party published new IP too: Azurik, NightCaster, Brute Force, Blood Wake, Sudeki, Fuzion Frenzy, Amped, Quantum Redshift, Blinx, etc. We'll see if they can manage to make any good new stuff, or if it's still Halo/Forza/Fable/Kinect with a random smattering of garbage and a very rare gem (i.e. the original Crackdown). They'll have to prove themselves to me.

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For me personally, other than the lack of games shown so far, the most unappealing aspect of the Xbone is the physical space/configuration requirements. I buy most of my stuff new and don't resell a lot of games, stuff in my house pretty much always has an internet connection, and I'm not that worried that the Kinect is spying on me. But it's so bad from a physical configuration standpoint.

First the obvious aesthetic complaint, in an era where everything gets smaller and sleeker, why is any company designing a box that looks like a 20 year old stereo receiver and takes up as much space? If they're so fixated on competing with Apple, look at how tiny and minimal the Apple TV box is (barely bigger than a deck of cards, with an HDMI out and small power adapter). Look at media center PCs getting smaller and smaller and more modern looking. Do people want a big 80s VCR-looking box in their living room today just from a visual standpoint?? I don't.

A more practical concern: even assuming everyone lives in a middle-class suburban American home and ignoring the valid complaints about "I live in a small apartment where space is at a premium" or "hi there everyone in Japan who can't get far enough away from the Kinect for it to properly function", a big clunky Kinect box just doesn't work too well with modern US living room furniture. Most people today don't put widescreen HDTVs in big tower style entertainment centers like those that were popular in the 80s-90s. Today's style is a low TV stand. You either have to put the ugly ass camera-brick below the screen (potentially blocking some of the screen, and inevitably looking like shit), or affix it to the top of a slim TV (which looks awful with the current Kinect, and should be even worse with the new one). The Wii/WiiU sensor bar is bad enough, but at least it's fairly sleek and minimal.

And now you have to sit in proper position for the Kinect too? What if I want to sit at an angle to the screen? I'm forced to always be directly in front of the screen at a distance of X to Y feet? With Kinect not being mandatory, I don't have to sit where the console tells me to sit and configure my living room furniture at the direction of the stupid box. With it being required for system operation, games can be designed to not allow me freedom of physical movement because they can correctly assume I must have a Kinect in place. I hate that.

Finally, cords everywhere connecting clunky accessories just looks like trash. The more systems the worse (Wii bar is OK on its own, gets problematic when you want to use that AND a Kinect, AND maybe a Playstation Eye camera). Wireless controllers were a blessing for this, and anyone with a bunch of systems and a spouse/parent/self concerned with a clean looking home should probably understand this concern already.

My living room actually looks pretty modern and nice, and even though there are three consoles hooked to that TV you'd never know from looking until I open a drawer, pull out a controller, and start playing (save a close eye noticing the Wii sensor bar that blends in pretty well with my TV bezel). Just let me put new consoles in my TV stand behind its tinted glass doors with smartly designed cord compartments to eliminate visible messy cords. Consoles should be played and not seen.

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I'm not saying they can make an Apple TV sized Xbone, but if MS is trying to compare themselves to Apple (and they are), they should at least pay attention to the focus on sleek, small, compact devices.

MS seemed to care about this with the change from the original Xbox to 360 and later the slim 360, but now they're just going all out clunky. It's not just the system, but you also have to have the rather large looking new Kinect. Total antithesis of modern electronics trends where everything is getting smaller and sleeker (see also: media center PCs, Ultrabooks, DVD/Blu-ray players, stereo equipment, DVR devices, etc.). If they're trying to stick out as a unique exception they're doing it. But it seems like they're just blatantly disregarding what mainstream consumers are comfortable with today.

I get that there are ventilation and cost concerns, but man... that's one big blocky behemoth of a console (+ mandatory camera).

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So, MS seems to have informed people a bit more about their licensing and required internet connection details in advance of E3.

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/license

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Also holy shit what horrible timing to be launching a console with Kinect privacy concerns right alongside the bombshell news that the US government has been collecting data from tech companies (including Microsoft) about their customers. Including EVERY call made on Verizon's network in the US.