They Need an XBoX Live VT
Derulbaskul
Adventurer
I think maybe you should save this suggestion until at least one of the e-tools is actually working properly. Just one. Pick any one.
Dragonblade
Adventurer
I don't have a Xbox... all I want is a Planescape MMORPG
HELL NO!! No more freaking MMO's. I want a D&D PS3 or Xbox game that I can play by myself, or with friends who are actually in the same room with me (e.g. D&D Heroes or Baldur's Gate, but a Dragon Age style RPG would be good too).
mattcolville
Adventurer
This seems like such a colossally bad idea to me as to be possibly, actually, impossible.
Maybe the Kinect makes things different, but the Xbox Controller seems to me an *incredibly* poor tool for doing...well, *any* of the things a GM or players would want to be able to do. Draw on the map, for one thing. I mean, the most basic, simple task a the table ("grab a pen, draw") becomes almost impossible with the Xbox controller.
You'd spend so much of your time wrestling with the controller and whatever interface allowed that controller to select and move things onscreen that you'd never get to play. You'd never experience play. The interface and controller would never become invisible.
So I'm not sure what the *virtue* is. Surely if you have an Xbox...you have a computer and the internet. And I suspect if you have, say, a computer and the internet, the possible pool of players is *much* larger than "those people with Xboxes."
Like, let's imagine there's a Virtual Tabletop Solution on the PC. Let's just take that for granted for now. Given that, imagining your sitting at whatever computer you're reading this forum on and using it...why would you want to get *up* from that computer and move the experience to the Xbox?
What would be gained?
Maybe the Kinect makes things different, but the Xbox Controller seems to me an *incredibly* poor tool for doing...well, *any* of the things a GM or players would want to be able to do. Draw on the map, for one thing. I mean, the most basic, simple task a the table ("grab a pen, draw") becomes almost impossible with the Xbox controller.
You'd spend so much of your time wrestling with the controller and whatever interface allowed that controller to select and move things onscreen that you'd never get to play. You'd never experience play. The interface and controller would never become invisible.
So I'm not sure what the *virtue* is. Surely if you have an Xbox...you have a computer and the internet. And I suspect if you have, say, a computer and the internet, the possible pool of players is *much* larger than "those people with Xboxes."
Like, let's imagine there's a Virtual Tabletop Solution on the PC. Let's just take that for granted for now. Given that, imagining your sitting at whatever computer you're reading this forum on and using it...why would you want to get *up* from that computer and move the experience to the Xbox?
What would be gained?
Scribble
First Post
You'd need to change the way a few things are done to make it easier sure, but even so, I don't see it as being impossible to do the same types of things- Just different.
Don't agree here. Once you get accustomed to doing things with the controller, it becomes just as easy as with a computer- sometimes even easier.
I think this might be a matter of perspective? For instance, I almost never play games on my computer. As a result, using my computer to play games is- aggravating. None of the commands feel natural to me. My friends who do- they have no issues with it. To me, it always seems impossible.
I don't think I agree here at all. There's probably a high correlation, but I doubt it's "surely."
I actually know a number of people who have an xbox and an xbox live account but no computer, or a very very old computer.
Also see below about different types of gamers.
Different types of players. See below.
Comfort.
My xbox is in front of my nice comfy leather couch, and a big huge TV, with a nice audio system.
I never play games on my computer, except very occasional, because it's not as comfy.
I would much rather play games on my xbox, sitting in my big comfy leather couch, my dogs curled up next to me, listening to my nice surround sound system.
It's one of the reasons I have never even tried WoW... If it came out on Xbox I would try it in a heartbeat.
I'd be willing to bet there are a lot of players out there that are like me.
mattcolville
Adventurer
Are you...are you arguing that anything anyone does with a computer is just as easy to do with an Xbox controller...once you get used to it?
You're saying that you, personally, find it easier to play video games on a device expressly made for playing video games, than you do on a general purpose machine?
Ok, so in a round number, say hours per week, and feel free to round up, how much writing do you do on your Xbox? How much time do you spend in Word or Excel or writing emails, or, indeed, posting here, on your Xbox?
Like, let's imagine you're on your Xbox and you want show everyone an image you found on Google Images, that you think represents what the players see. How long, again in whatever time units you feel appropriate, do you think it would take you using the Xbox's web browser?
I know a guy who doesn't have TV or internet in his house, but I wouldn't try and market a video game to him. I think the number of people with access to an Xbox but *no* access to a computer is close enough to 0 as to be meaningless.
And we're not talking about playing a video game, you realize that right? You're not suggesting a D&D video game. You're suggesting replicating the tabletop experience on the Xbox.
There's a reason MS and MIT are working on the Surface, it's the same reason they make Windows7, different devices are specialized for different purposes an the Xbox is *highly* specialized for video games. It's crap as a general purpose computer.
I'd bet there aren't. I bet there aren't a blue ocean full of D&D players who find the process of sitting around a table playing games with the friends really physically uncomfortable and would much prefer having all their D&D interactions restricted to what can easily be done with an Xbox controller.
Nor do I think there are a lot of people who use a computer regularly and wish they could write, compose, search, and work on their Xbox. That would be awful. That would be a terrible painful experience and the people on the Xbox team know it.
The stuff you'd reasonably need to do, to run and play D&D, like...show everyone an image you found, draw a picture, *write* grab things, would be...it's a product the buying public wouldn't want.
Scribble
First Post
No, I'm saying that the things that would be needed for this purpose are.
None of this has anything to do with the point.
If having a way to show uploaded images is a needed function, then there would be a way to store images for use on the xbox, and browsing to google images to show it off would NOT be that way.
I think you're missing the point of if they released it on xbox they would design some elements to better suit the xbox.
As in to show an image, hit R1, then the Dpad down to the image you want.
See what I mean- just because it's done one way on a computer doesn't mean they couldn't do it in a different way on the xbox.
We can go back and forth on this all day. All we have is anecdotal evidence.
Same way Magic The Gathering is a tabletop experience but they replicated it on xbox.
Uhhh? Wait... now you're jumping to compairing physical with xbox?
I'm comparing people who want a virtual game to begin with.
Well we'll agree to disagree- here's hoping the development team if they have the extra resources, agree with me that you're being very short sighted!
On a real computer you could however just browse google in one window while running the VT in another and then on the fly download new images into your VT upload folder.
