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Adam Sessler & Albert Penello on the Xbox One (Interview)

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I'm not arguing it's out of the realm of possibility, I'm arguing that assuming it's true and arguing it must be so is cynical and presumptuous.

Microsoft paid astroturfers to come here and push an agenda about DRM being the future and try to manufacture a positive spin on it. Bish confirmed this. That is not conspiracy theory, that is fact.

An MS employee only coming here to do damage control and promote the Xbox One is not conspiracy theory either, because that is what he does when he posts. He doesn't come here to check out the latest tipping thread on Off-Topic, or to discuss how scary Outlast is. He comes here to promote the Xbox One and to run damage control when something goes wrong or is seen as negative. Go through his post history, its all there.
 

Chobel

Member
Albert seems like a very decent guy and forthcoming, I think its great of him to post here for our sake. Can't remember any Sony/Ninty reps doing that? No surprise the usual people choose to derail and degrade any X1 thread, like its their dayjob. Why are the Sony fans the most vocal (and rude)?

Good, this thread needs even more generalizations.
 

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
The thing is if he posts in threads not related to Xbox, many people will see his opinions as MS opinions.

That's true....now. I think if he had been posting in other threads since he joined (like other game-biz people) he would come off more favorable.

Again, I think it is great he is posting here, but it is hard to not see him as just straight up PR machine.
 

krioto

Member
Albert seems like a very decent guy and forthcoming, I think its great of him to post here for our sake. Can't remember any Sony/Ninty reps doing that? No surprise the usual people choose to derail and degrade any X1 thread, like its their dayjob. Why are the Sony fans the most vocal (and rude)?

and to those discussing conspiracy theories above - here's a nice example. you cry this in every thread - what's your agenda Ushae - if that is your real name......
 
I'd argue "so what?" Honestly, why does it matter? Why does it bother people so much? Of course he is biased, and has some agenda...he works for MS! But, again...so what?

If you don't see his posts and realize that he works for MS and that his comments should be taken with a grain of salt (as should ALL people that are representing any company here), then I don't know what to tell you...

That isn't to say that Albert doesn't care about gaming or that he isn't passionate about it. It is quite possible for him to be here on unofficial business, but also because he's being genuine and honest. He does seem quite passionate about gaming (something that the Xbox team has seemed to lack for a few years, at least on the leadership front).

And yea, of course he's trying to change the "messaging". He's been pretty upfront about how far they were off about it, actually. Did you watch the interview? He's admitted they have made many mistake...

MS's messaging honestly hasn't improved much since their reversal (although it's better than before), and I'm glad he is here because he adds another layer of understanding to their announcements. Have you read his posts? He is the only MS representative that I've seen take on so many direct questions. And usually, he does it in a way that is calm, informative, and fairly level-headed (this is the first time I've seen him take a jab at Sony, even if it wasn't that big of a jab).

Thank you.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
In other words: Guys, get over the fact that he's biased. Why don't we focus on asking him questions and get some info.

Sure, he's not perfect. You can call him out some other time. I personally would like to know some of the answers to those questions, and we aren't going to do it by attacking him and spending several pages about it.
I asked questions to him since July. I asked questions this time. He choose not to answer those questions.

So... what exactly should I do know? This was done as soon as he did his post, so the whole insulting saga wasn't started yet and he responded to other posts after mine chronologically. (I even used insulting here and I haven't seen more than two post that was over the line.)
 

vpance

Member
He said that MS has some of the best software engineers in the world.

He wasn't juniored...because that statement is true. Sony is known for their hardware, and MS is known for their software. I mean, they do make Windows. They're very good at making software.

People don't use DirectX just because it's on Windows. They use it because it really is very good.

No, he was using the fact that they "CREATED DirectX" as a reason why they wouldn't give up a 30% advantage in performance to PS4. Really? C'mon. I don't even see that kind of logic coming from the most strident and immature Xbox fans on this board.
 

artist

Banned
Microsoft paid astroturfers to come here and push an agenda about DRM being the future and try to manufacture a positive spin on it. Bish confirmed this. That is not conspiracy theory, that is fact.
Completely forgot about this, would have been nice if we got some closure to that ..
 

gaming_noob

Member
I'd argue "so what?" Honestly, why does it matter? Why does it bother people so much? Of course he is biased, and has some agenda...he works for MS! But, again...so what?

If you don't see his posts and realize that he works for MS and that his comments should be taken with a grain of salt (as should ALL people that are representing any company here), then I don't know what to tell you...

That isn't to say that Albert doesn't care about gaming or that he isn't passionate about it. It is quite possible for him to be here on unofficial business, but also because he's being genuine and honest. He does seem quite passionate about gaming (something that the Xbox team has seemed to lack for a few years, at least on the leadership front).

And yea, of course he's trying to change the "messaging". He's been pretty upfront about how far they were off about it, actually. Did you watch the interview? He's admitted they have made many mistake...

MS's messaging honestly hasn't improved much since their reversal (although it's better than before), and I'm glad he is here because he adds another layer of understanding to their announcements. Have you read his posts? He is the only MS representative that I've seen take on so many direct questions. And usually, he does it in a way that is calm, informative, and fairly level-headed (this is the first time I've seen him take a jab at Sony, even if it wasn't that big of a jab).

Thumbs up.
I think some Xbox fans are being baited in this thread. Don't fall for petty jabs.
 

The Flash

Banned
Albert seems like a very decent guy and forthcoming, I think its great of him to post here for our sake. Can't remember any Sony/Ninty reps doing that? No surprise the usual people choose to derail and degrade any X1 thread, like its their dayjob. Why are the Sony fans the most vocal (and rude)?

I hope you have a flamesuit on hand cause a wall of fire is about to hit you straight in the face
 

unbias

Member
Unless its Sony, because they like to look out for the gamers, and if they could they would all give us free consoles. Hail Overlord Sony.

So now GAF is collective or something and no longer individuals posting on a board? Trying to lump a large group of people together to try and make a point only makes the position one is taking appear weak. Beyond that, it isnt even a matter of who you trust more, it is a matter of who's message consumers are agreeing with more. The crop of people who seem very please with sony are either brand loyalists to begin with or jsut people who like the message that sony gave them, by comparison.

While brand loyalty is foolish, having an "optimistic" approach to corporate talk is much more foolish, imo. Cynicism is the most healthy thing you can do, when it comes to making purchasing decisions. Hell, I personally believe consumers are not cynical enough with corporations.
 
That's true....now. I think if he had been posting in other threads since he joined (like other game-biz people) he would come off more favorable.

Again, I think it is great he is posting here, but it is hard to not see him as just straight up PR machine.

Perhaps... because you want to see him like that? He's much more down to earth and honest than the other guys.

Like the post I quoted above said, he admitted they were wrong. He also did it in a much more down to earth way than the PR-screaming banshee of an announcement that was the famed 180 page on Xboxwire.
 
Penello said that demos of Kinect IO is all over the air, I have yet to see any videos of it being used (outside of the clicking E3 demo). Anyone can point me to some youtube videos where it shows just how snappy it is??

They have shit for Kinect. Unless you count Kinect Rivals and talking to it. Penello does a good job until the Sony part. There is nothing "in the hardware" that you can do to make an inferior gpu better or make slower memory faster.
 

Freki

Member
Why are some acting like "PR" is some demonic term when labeling Albert? 'Public relations', well ok...

It's not a "demonic term" per se - it becomes one when the message becomes about bending the truth and spreading FUD (a practice MS is known for btw...)
 

BadAss2961

Member
Just noticed that Albert's been registered since 2008, but only started posting just a couple months ago... Gotta say, this adds merit to the notion that he's here strictly for PR reasons and rehabbing the brand's image.

This is fun though.
 
It's not a "demonic term" per se - it becomes one when the message becomes about bending the truth and spreading FUD (a practice MS is known for btw...)

Exactly. The amount of misinformation coming out of folks like Albert and Larry has been staggering. That shit might fly on Major Nelson's blog, but not here.
 
Just noticed that Albert's been registered since 2008, but only started posting just a couple months ago... Gotta say, this adds merit to the notion that he's here strictly for PR reasons and rehabbing the brand's image.

This is fun though.

Of course he is but he does come off as less of a douche though. He is the first MS guy that doesn't want to make me throw the remote at the TV.

Kinect is a dead horse though, I can't understand how they don't see it.
 
He talked about going back to the old days of cartridges and playing quickly with little to no load times. So why is it that every time I see a demo for Forza 5 I'm seeing load screens that take quite some time to get into the race?

Further in the interview he was asked about kinect in every box and responded with adoption being key. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit when he mentions ethernet and being online for the first box and a hard drive. That was one glaring issue with the XBOX 360, not every system had one. Which means it probably is key to have kinect in every system if they want it to be fully exploited and be supported. It's just too bad everybody will have to pay at least an extra hundred dollars for it.

I do like some of the prospects moving forward of what those digital games can be capable of when he said midnight launches or even what Nintendo is doing on the Wii-U and Zelda: Windwaker.
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
Completely forgot about this, would have been nice if we got some closure to that ..

It was confirmed, and probably all of their accounts banned.
astroqlup2.png


This, the reddit Xbox Dev account, forum posters, astroturfers. It's all new marketing.
 

unbias

Member
Why are some acting like "PR" is some demonic term when labeling Albert? 'Public relations', well ok...

PR, as long as the owner of the sit is fine with it, is perfectly find. IT only becomes a problem when you have people try and get people to not be cynical what corporate mouth pieces comment, specifically, on that corporation. All these people complaining about GAF being too cynical would have a point, if gaf was being cynical about Albert posting about FFXIV(for example). This isnt the case, so viewing a employee's words about one of the employers products, with a cynical eye, is nothing short of a good idea.
 

imtehman

Banned
Just noticed that Albert's been registered since 2008, but only started posting just a couple months ago... Gotta say, this adds merit to the notion that he's here strictly for PR reasons and rehabbing the brand's image.

This is fun though.

i'd have to agree with this too. A lot of his posts are in threads about the xbone. That isn't to say that the stuff he says is either true or false, but we willl see soon enough (2 months) whether the graphics between the ps4 and xbone are as close as they are as he is asserting.

It is sad to see some saying that Sessler is shilling for microsoft for saying positive things about the console though.
 
It's odd, but I seem to be following the same trend I was before the PS3 and Xbox 360 launched: First I was all about the console wars and nitty gritty. Then I got tired of all the bickering and just wanted it to end.

November can't get here soon enough.
 
So now GAF is collective or something and no longer individuals posting on a board? Trying to lump a large group of people together to try and make a point only makes the position one is taking appear weak. Beyond that, it isnt even a matter of who you trust more, it is a matter of who's message consumers are agreeing with more. The crop of people who seem very please with sony are either brand loyalists to begin with or jsut people who like the message that sony gave them, by comparison.

While brand loyalty is foolish, having an "optimistic" approach to corporate talk is much more foolish, imo. Cynicism is the most healthy thing you can do, when it comes to making purchasing decisions. Hell, I personally believe consumers are not cynical enough with corporations.

I guess you didn't catch the sarcasm? With how people go around here talking about how Sony can do no wrong, I agree with you, cynicism is good.

I don't know if its been brought up before, but I totally believe that Sony was onboard for the always online DRM, as well as the majority of the major publishers. With Microsoft showing their hand first and seeing the negativity I think everyone chose to make Microsoft the scapegoat and reverse. I just can't see how Microsoft could come up with that plan with no input from developers and publishers. Microsoft ran with it and they got hit first.

I'm short on time but I will flesh this out more in another post.
 

vpance

Member
I'd argue "so what?" Honestly, why does it matter? Why does it bother people so much? Of course he is biased, and has some agenda...he works for MS! But, again...so what?

Because his posts inherently draw attention due to his title.

We're supposed to be all equal members here right? Pretend he was a regular person posting. Now read that post of his again. We'd have pages of WTF gifs quoting it. People actually held back because of his title.

The beauty of GAF is ignorance is usually quickly stamped out and not allowed to spread. If we're supposed to allow people to post things like that and let it slide, well, GAF has changed then.
 

Verendus

Banned
Albert seems like a very decent guy and forthcoming, I think its great of him to post here for our sake. Can't remember any Sony/Ninty reps doing that? No surprise the usual people choose to derail and degrade any X1 thread, like its their dayjob. Why are the Sony fans the most vocal (and rude)?
But seriously, if they came on here and did this kind of job, they'd receive a verbal beating. Maybe a physical one.
 

Freki

Member
You make it sound like Albert has been outright deceptive. I haven't seen that at all.

Here you go
Performance: I’m not dismissing raw performance. I’m stating – as I have stated from the beginning – that the performance delta between the two platforms is not as great as the raw numbers lead the average consumer to believe. There are things about our system architecture not fully understood, and there are things about theirs as well, that bring the two systems into balance.

People DO understand that Microsoft has some of the smartest graphics programmers IN THE WORLD. We CREATED DirectX, the standard API’s that everyone programs against. So while people laude Sony for their HW skills, do you really think we don’t know how to build a system optimized for maximizing graphics for programmers? Seriously? There is no way we’re giving up a 30%+ advantage to Sony. And ANYONE who has seen both systems running could say there are great looking games on both systems. If there was really huge performance difference – it would be obvious.

I get a ton of hate for saying this – but it’s been the same EVERY generation. Sony claims more power, they did it with Cell, they did it with Emotion Engine, and they are doing it again. And, in the end, games on our system looked the same or better.

I’m not saying they haven’t built a good system – I’m merely saying that anyone who wants to die on their sword over this 30%+ power advantage are going to be fighting an uphill battle over the next 10 years…

There's zero way he could know that.

The most obvious point is that anyone looking at games on both platforms do not see ANY difference, let alone this alleged 30% - 40%. Both systems are powerful. Both are capable of next-gen graphics. I'm merely saying the application of that performance will mean the actual difference will not be that great.
And here he's implying there won't be a difference between both consoles...
 
No, he was using the fact that they "CREATED DirectX" as a reason why they wouldn't give up a 30% advantage in performance to PS4. Really? C'mon. I don't even see that kind of logic coming from the most strident and immature Xbox fans on this board.

You're blowing this out of proportion. Stop taking everything he says to an extreme. He listed that as one of the examples as to why they are good at what they do. Sony is not as good as MS on this front. Not that Sony is bad, because they certainly are not, but that MS is better, and they are known for this. He only said that that would help to balance the scales more.

You seem to act like he said "The Xbox One is more powerful cus we know software better." He did not. We call that a straw man.
 
It's odd, but I seem to be following the same trend I was before the PS3 and Xbox 360 launched: First I was all about the console wars and nitty gritty. Then I got tired of all the bickering and just wanted it to end.

November can't get here soon enough.

Release won't end it, you never seen how last gen started? It still continues strong for the first 3 or so years and it never ends just dies down a bit.
 

imtehman

Banned
It's odd, but I seem to be following the same trend I was before the PS3 and Xbox 360 launched: First I was all about the console wars and nitty gritty. Then I got tired of all the bickering and just wanted it to end.

November can't get here soon enough.

by the time the consoles come out i'll disappear until the next console gen again, and with random pop up during E3's.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
You seem to act like he said "The Xbox One is more powerful cus we know software better." He did not. We call that a straw man.
He said there there are scenarios where the weaker machine outperforms the machine with the higher specs.

I quoted it several times in this thread.

That sounds almost like what you said he didn't say.

Have there been games shown on both platforms with obvious differences?

I know this is the expected outcome, but I haven't heard of any concrete examples yet.
I'm not aware of any game that was both shown on PS4 and Xbone.
 

sangreal

Member
Here you go

What's deceptive about that? He says PS4 games don't look much if at all better than what we've seen from X1 so far. Most people would agree with that. Will that change? Who knows -- he thinks it won't. That's a prediction, not deception
 

Verendus

Banned
i'd have to agree with this too. A lot of his posts are in threads about the xbone. That isn't to say that the stuff he says is either true or false, but we willl see soon enough (2 months) whether the graphics between the ps4 and xbone are as close as they are as he is asserting.

It is sad to see some saying that Sessler is shilling for microsoft for saying positive things about the console though.
Of course they will be. You're not going to see any significant differences this early. These are launch games; they're already dealing with various problems. You'll be waiting until 2015 for stuff like that to occur.
 

Pain

Banned
i'd have to agree with this too. A lot of his posts are in threads about the xbone. That isn't to say that the stuff he says is either true or false, but we willl see soon enough (2 months) whether the graphics between the ps4 and xbone are as close as they are as he is asserting.

It is sad to see some saying that Sessler is shilling for microsoft for saying positive things about the console though.
Can't wait to see Albert in the Digital Foundry comparison threads this holiday!
 

sangreal

Member
Just noticed that Albert's been registered since 2008, but only started posting just a couple months ago... Gotta say, this adds merit to the notion that he's here strictly for PR reasons and rehabbing the brand's image.

This is fun though.

It's almost as if the project he was working on was a secret...
 
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