Also, Xbone comes with a non-upgradeable 500 gig hard drive.  Which is... pathetically tiny.  With installation required and blu-ray discs for your games it'll be like 20 games and you're full up (seriously - my mate's BF3 install is like 30 gig, and it's on Xbox 360 so that'll go up pretty rapidly).

If it was 500 gig with the option to pull it out an put a real hard drive in it'd be fine, but for something that has to last the entire life cycle of the console it's kinda sad.

I now DM a game in which one of my players is a Giant, wielding a cannon, and riding a Triceratops. So I'm very lucky to have been introduced

I can feel the love

Are you that Giant?  If so, I'll count myself lucky that you're just a Conjuror in my game.

[the new Kinect is allegedly much more sensitive]

Well, if nothing else the new Kinect is allegedly much more sensitive, so perhaps that will solve the small room issue.

I love that they're calling the second Kinect the Kinect One.  Because that'll confuse no one.

DaaaaaagNABIT!  Grimm ended on a cliffhanger!  And to rub it in, they're all like:

       To Be Continued...
           Oh come on.
  You knew this was coming.


Have I mentioned that I really like this show?   

Heh.  I read those extra lines well going "Yeah, I really did."  I want to be mad about the cliffhanger, but they certainly delivered it in style.  Last season they had a midsemester cliffhanger with "To Be Continued... sorry..."  Stylish.

I can understand the always online is an issue for some people, so I hope they do something to help those folks.

Luckily it's not actually always online - you only need to go online to install a game.  After that there's an offline mode.  Of course, if you don't have home broadband then you can't play anything ever, but it's not as bad as it was...

At least no discs after install, so that's nice for we that don't have internet issues.

EDIT:  I was slightly off - it's once a day you have to connect to the internet.

Also, does anyone else watch the Jimquisition?  He summed on my views on the new xbox perfectly - that they're trying to sell me my Television, but with that caveat that it also requires my Television.  All the shit from the launch are things that my TV can do with no plugged in devices, no stupid motion capture and no issues.  What my TV can't do is the stuff that Microsoft doesn't seem to value anymore - play games.

That said, I have no plans vis-a-vis next gen consoles. Too much stuff still to play on my 360. It might make me buy a S console, just like I really need to go buy a slimline PS2 before they all disappear.

Absolutely.  I have enough great titles on backlog on just my 360 that even considering this new... thing (you can't even really call it a games console with all the shit thrown in) isn't even on my "to do" list.  In fact, by the time I do polish off my 360 pile, I'll be able to get a PS3 for pennies and play through some of it's exclusives that I missed out on (many of which look really cool).

The only new console title that interests me is dual system anyway (Watch_Dogs).

Cool.  I wonder how different kinect one's hardware will be?  If that lens still works then if there's enough to interest me with the new Xbox then it might be a solution.  As it stands though, I leave the sensor in a box in the cupboard because there is literally no game with kinect that interests me.

In exchange I'd create oils and fuels with similar effects (How about some nitro additive to boost those reflexes)

I'm actually coming up with a series of Construct (different to unborn - more steam powered flavour) specific Foods, Oils, and Potions for my campaign (as well as some recreational drugs - "Stick this in your furnace, mate, it'll let you see that the universe is one giant network...").

At a default level though, I'm with SilvercatMoonpaw.

I'm with Blankbeard and Jim wrt concept (feels like "Legendary Rootwalker", but stretched to fit 10 levels), but the mechanics are both solid and in many cases interesting.

For the Path of Cauldron though, it seems like Alchemy Basics / Mastery would be far more suitable to a "Cauldron" concept then Craft B/M.

I can understand the always online is an issue for some people, so I hope they do something to help those folks.

Luckily it's not actually always online - you only need to go online to install a game.  After that there's an offline mode.  Of course, if you don't have home broadband then you can't play anything ever, but it's not as bad as it was...

At least no discs after install, so that's nice for we that don't have internet issues.

I forget where I read it but it was stated that your family can also play the games tied to your account with their own without problem on the same system.

That's good.  The only official press releases I saw kept saying profile, with no regard for the physical console, so it was looking grim for any of us who have housemates or family members.

My big issue with the new xbox is "must have kinect"  which makes moving the box between televisions a pain in the ass.

Same, but for a different reason - the current xbox I have came with kinect (I got the whole package for free, so why not) and it doesn't work.  Apparently my bedroom, the only place I can really hook up my Xbox, isn't "kinect supported".  So the entire device fails to function.  Something about the size of the room, apparently.

If the new one requires kinect to be properly setup and initialised then the new machine may well also have room size requirements.  If that's the case, it opts me out of the new one immediately.  Also, it'll suck for retail staff who have to deal with the anger post christmas when people find out that their new machine doesn't work (for what it's worth, fully half my friends have rooms too small for kinect - it's not like I have a tiny bedroom).

EA drops online passes.

Maybe (maybe) "We'll do better" wasn't just corporate PR speak.

Guess not.  With the new "Xbox One" (and ain't that a stupid fucking name for a third iteration?) reveal, it's pretty clear they just dropped online passes to try spin some positive publicity while they could since the tech is integrated into the XBone.

For those who haven't seen any of the news - you now have to sign into Xbox Live (or whatever they rename it) to install a game (installation is mandatory), at which point it links that particular game to your profile.  Anyone else wants to play that game on a different profile and they have to pay a fee.  Since the whole reason for "Online Passes" was to combat second hand sales, having a fee for all second hand sales (or games you borrow from a buddy for that matter) pretty much goes one better - at least you could play without the online pass (usually just missing a slice of content, or having an MP level cap).  No word yet if your housemates / family members will also have to pay a fee to play your games (they did say "profile", not "console" though...).

Rereading, I was mistaken, replicators manipulate sub-atomic particles so can create anything except 'materials with a complex quantum structure' like antimatter, dilithium, and latinum. So, there's at least two things the Romulan Empire/Republic/Whatever would need to mine/collect.

I know it's totally not what you were referring to, but I am now picturing some Romulans off mining for antimatter.  Gave me a chuckle.

Kirk says the drinks are on him but no cash is seen.

Yeah, I assumed some kind of Paywave type system (but from... The Future), rather then hard currency - like thumbprints or retinal scans or DNA sniffers (exactly what TL is the Federation, anyway?).

Didn't realise that the original had a no money civilisation.  Sure, given advanced tech I can see why you'd do away with things easy to duplicate (like Notes / Coins / other representative tokens), but no currency is a little strange.  Do they decide who gets to live in the penthouse with an arm wrestling match?

...For a society without money, the Admiral certainly seems to have managed to divert a lot of resources...

Wait... what?  I'm sure I remember Kirk and the cadets paying for drinks at the start of the first film.  Might need to rewatch (and see two directly after one this time).

As a general fan of kitbashing and other improvisation / homebrew type projects, that link makes me happy.  Like you though Blankbeard, I suck at racing games.  The exceptions seem to be GTA and Mario Kart.