Opinion Piece: Xbox One and done?

Disclaimer: This article is the writer's opinion alone hence the title.

This past Tuesday the Xbox One was revealed by Microsoft. As it was only a reveal press event we didn't get a lot of information on specifics about games. Well, to be honest they barely gave even a small amount of information on games. What we did get to know are the features it has. It can watch tv, it can switch between gaming and tv watching instantly. It does those things through voice commands. It also has a blu ray player and a redesigned controller.

As for what I feel about it, as of right now I feel I can't justify a purchase. I know that there's going to be more information on the games at E3 but the limitations, both confirmed and possible are just too much for me to ignore. The possibility of paying full price for a game that you bought used, the kinect being able to watch and study your body language and the console requiring an internet connection to be used. Granted the internet connection doesn't always have to be on but the fact that it needs one to be used isn't good. In the United States broadband internet hasn't reached every part of the country and in parts that there is broadband not every one is able to use it as much as different ISPs have different caps. 

About the television capabilities that seems to be such a strong focus, the Xbox One doesn't even have that capability right out of the box. It requires a separate device that needs to be purchased, and at launch that feature will only be available in the United States. Which, if the exclusive games for the Xbox One aren't that compelling and the tv features aren't even available why would people around the world consider buying the Xbox One? I'll wait until we see more information about the games at E3 to say the Xbox does or doesn't have many games worth purchasing the system over. But the ones we do know about probably will see plenty of purchases from the fans. Halo and Gears Of War will sell Xboxes I don't think the Xbox will be a failure even if it isn't a huge hit it won't be a complete failure. 

On the subject of E3 I've been hearing a lot of "wait for E3 this event was just to show the console, get the boring stuff put of the way" Well, Sony revealed the PS4 and were able to show things but still have plenty of for E3. It makes me think of two things, Microsoft probably doesn't have too much for E3 or by trying to "get the boring stuff out of the way" they are trying to focus on appeasing different markets but they're doing it in a way where most people watching were the serious gamer. 

Speaking of markets I honestly feel that this market of people who want to consume content on the internet and watch tv and are willing to buy a gaming console instead of a blu ray player or set top box or just stick with their computer or tablet doesn't exist. Or at least it's not a big market. 

Finally the two things that we don't know too much in detail about but are huge detractors if the worse is true. First, the pay wall for used games. I've been hearing the fee for buying a used game and trying to play it on your own system could be as high as the original price. Which could have some blowback from GameStop for hurting it's business in used game sales. GameStop will stock Xbox Ones but I have to wonder just how much they'll advertise it. Secondly, the kinect could be a turn off for consumers. Having a voice activated console that lets you play games is ok. But the potential of it is a bit creepy. There's been articles that show it can read body language to know what to advertise to you, and it can know how many people are in a room and there's possibilities of it stopping a movie if it detects too many people in a room and asking for a fee. Of course though the reason I brought these up last is right now there's too many rumors about the used games and the kinect "spying" on you. It can be scary but right now these things are just rumors and I won't flip out over that stuff until I know the facts from Microsoft. However the other things like it having three gigabytes of it's 8 gigabytes of RAM are dedicated to the multimedia features it has an older type of RAM than the PS4. it has a custom processor, 500 gigabytes of storage, won't be backwards compatible, and won't support most headsets are facts that we do know for sure that make me not want to purchase it. Things can change by E3 we can learn that it has good games and that things won't be as scary as it might seem. Though the things I mentioned that we do know for sure still don't have me raring to buy one.

Alright I rambled on enough. That's my thoughts about what we know about the Xbox One right now. Let me know what you think talk to me on twitter @ikariradio and be part of the larger discussion by listening to the Ikaricast on iTunes and emailing the show in the show theikaricast@gmail.com

Cageside View: Lighter weight classes

Demetrious Johnson current flyweight champ

Welcome back to a brand new Cageside View! Sorry for the wait, things kept getting slowing this series down. As you'll learn this series will feature editorials on top of event coverage. On account of me missing covering a... FEW past events it will be about a specific topic this time. As you can already tell from the title this is about the lighter weight classes in mixed martial arts. This article is more for the casual fans or for the fans that want to go from being casual to being more serious about watching MMA. As most hardcore fans probably already know what I'm going to say.

What brought this up was watching UFC on Fox 6 back in January. Where Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson had it out for the flyweight belt. The fight that transpired was one of the most exciting back and forth fights I've seen in a while. Yet, since most people believe "heavyweight equals strongest" most people don't care about seeing the lightweight guys. It's something that's been around since at least pro boxing has been around. So, people probably won't buy a pay per view if it's headlined by fighters of the lighter weight classes.

Here's what you should know about the lighter weight classes if you're not familiar as to why they ought to be given the chance to headline main events more often. The lighter fighters are able to move more often and faster and usually thanks to how well their cardio is they can fight with high energy throughout all the rounds. Going back to the Johnson vs Dodson bout there wasn't much of a lull throughout the fight, though there were some illegal blows that stopped things for a bit, but that doesn't count. There's also fights in the 155 pound weight class like the famous Anthony Pettis vs Ben Henderson where something that is much less likely to be seen by heavyweights, a kick by jumping off the cage. There's also the fact that the 155 lightweight class is a division full of top level fighters, another reason why you won't be bored.

Going on the subject of heavyweight fighters and the heavyweight champion being "the strongest man on the planet" as I've said earlier has been around since at least pro boxing has been around. People would think the biggest guys were naturally the strongest. Of course you can't fake physics, having more mass especially muscle mass does make one physically stronger and there are weight divisions because of this, but that isn't to say someone like Anthony Pettis couldn't defend himself from a heavyweight if need be. Mixed Martial Arts is about technique not just brute strength.

In short, watch the fights of the lighter weight class guys (and women too) and see for yourself how exciting and main event worthy they can be. The athletes may be smaller but they're fights are certainly not.

Cage-side View: The Final Strikeforce

Hello guys. This is Jeremias here, with a new series I've dubbed Cage-side View. If you frequent readers of The Broken Infinite didn't know I am a fan of MMA. Seems I picked a good time to start focusing on MMA as the final Strikeforce event occurred this past Saturday and with that final Strikeforce plenty of talking points came with is as well. How are these going to go down? Well, if the article is focusing on a specific event as this one is it'll be broken down into "The Facts: Results" "The Blows" and "Talking Points". Alright here we go!

The Facts: Results (Who won, who lost, no more, no less for those who haven't seen the event)

The Preliminaries

Estevan Payan defeats Michael Bravo via t.k.o

Adriano Martins defeats Jorge Gurgel via unanimous decision

Roger Gracie defeats Anthony Smith via submission

Pat Healy defeats Kurt Holobaugh via unanimous decision

Tim Kennedy defeats Trevor Smith via submission

Ryan Couture defeats KJ Noons via split decision

Main Card

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza defeats Ed Herman via submission

Josh Barnett defeats Nandor Guelmino via submission

Daniel Cormier defeats Dion Staring via t.k.o

Tarec Saffiediene defeats Nate Marquardt via unanimous decision

The Blows (talking points on the fights themselves)

First, I must mention that I unfortunately missed the preliminaries as they happened. But first, I wanted to bring up what was the controversial decision that the judges made giving the victory to Ryan Couture in his bout against KJ Noons. I did see it later though, and I have to say that I felt KJ Noons won like many others. I am not going to bash Ryan Couture however, as I felt, he did solid in this fight but I do not believe he won the match. From what I watched, I felt that KJ Noons fought smarter; he landed more significant strikes and he was stopping Ryan's takedowns and he made it so Ryan could not control him in the cage. I do not think this hurts Noons since Dana White was even saying he felt Noons won; so he'll still get his chances to prove himself.

On to the talking points of the main card, we had a lot of early stoppages. As a matter of fact, only Saffiediene vs Marquardt went the distance. It seems that a lot of these fights were just made for certain people to steam roll their opponents and look good as Strikeforce ends. Except for Souza vs Herman and Saffiedine vs Marquardt. Souza may have won pretty easily but Ed Herman isn't a low level chump though. Souza has been on a good roll lately and looks like he'll still be in good shape for future fights.

An under the weather looking Josh Barnett (for good reason as he was just coming off being sick) took out Nandor Guelmino ridiculously easy considering he still didn't look 100 percent. He also cut as usual a pro wrestling style after his win. I do like Barnett on the mic but it wasn't his best promo. It was still good just not his best.

Daniel Cormier steamrolled through Dion Staring, but unlike other people who say Dion Staring looked like a kid who won a make a wish dream to fight with Cormier in the cage. Dion, however, is a competent heavyweight. There are plenty of people he could beat if put into the UFC. If it's just compared to the skills of Cormier he was no match. Credits to Dion, however, for having a never say die attitude and taking more punishment than most people.

Tarec Saffiedine vs Nate Marquardt is a really good example of executing a game plan. Tarec ,the 3 to 1 underdog, outstruck Nate Marquardt all 5 rounds. Leg kicking Nate Marquardt until his leg looked like a piece of hamburger. Marquardt didn't look lifeless in there but, Saffiedine just knew what to do in there against him. The underdog upset Nate Marquardt for the Strikeforce Welterweight title. Which is a bittersweet win for Tarec on account of it's Strikeforce's last event and it basically meant he was just champion for one day.

Prime USDA choice

Talking Points

Alright! This being Strikeforce's last card one of the main things is people's minds who is coming over to the UFC? Dan Cormier is already set to fight Frank Mir in April so you know he's set. I believe both KJ Noons and Ryan Couture will make it the UFC. Especially since as mentioned before Dana Noons won the fight and Ryan is on a upswing after getting the decision. I also believe Jacare Souza and Roger Gracie will come over as well as Saffiedine, I'm mostly sure that Marquardt will make it as well but you never know. I'm uncertain of the preliminary guys but I think they will as well. The big question as to who will make it over however is Josh Barnett. Josh has been in trouble with drug tests three times before. He also seems to be interested in coming over to pro wrestling.

what will become of the Warmaster?

Another talking point of this card is Dan Cormier. In his post fight interview, he mentioned that he will fight Frank Mir and that in the fall he plans to drop his weight class from heavyweight to light heavyweight and go after Jon Jones. Cormier is a really gifted skilled fighter but can he take it to Jon Jones? Personally, I think he does have a shot, but I don't see Jones going down.

How about you readers? What do you think of the card? Who do you think is coming from Strikeforce's roster that's still unconfirmed? What do you think Josh Barnett will do and what would Cormier vs Jones be like?

Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me on twitter @ikariradio for my thoughts on MMA events as they happen if I can catch 'em.

An interesting link especially if you're curious on the thoughts of the Strikeforce owner with this last card.: Scott Coker reflects on the last Strikeforce from Sherdog.com