The wait is finally over. Blizzard’s virtual card game, Hearthstone has officially entered Open Beta! … At least for those playing in the North America region.

The Hearthstone news section has been updated recently with a post confirming the Open Beta, with the journey of Hearthstone over the past year from announcement of the game at PAX East to today’s launch being set out briefly before Blizzard invite players in North America who didn’t manage to get into the Closed Beta to download the game and begin playing against their friends; assuring them that there won’t be any more wipes of the cards accumulated in accounts so they are free to begin building their collections.

The post then goes on to assure players in other regions that they are planning to bring the Open Beta to all over server regions within the next few days, but say that open beta registration might be closed at points if the servers get too overwhelmed by the influx of new players. They also remind everyone that Open Beta is still Beta and therefore they are still monitoring the game closely and things might still go wrong even after all this time.

I can’t guess how many new players are going to come into Blizzard’s popular free-to-play now that the gates have finally been opened, but I believe the decision to open them region by region is a smart move from the company to avoid too much server overload from new registrations and annoying down-times during those periods when hype is once again at a high for the game. At the very least, I know that an awful lot of people are going to be very excited today/tonight after reading this news.

Blog post is here.

Machinima, bastion of 360 no-scope headshots and other YouTube memes was just outed for offering a monetary incentive to their YouTube partners who created positive videos about Microsoft’s new Xbox One console and it’s games. (PredictedCyborg’s original blog about it here)

While I would like to claim I am surprised by this, the sad truth is…I’m not.

(Full disclosure: I am a YouTube Content Creator myself. In fact, I happen to be partnered with the Fullscreen network.)

Here’s the facts about being a YouTube creator.

1) Its Hard – Making videos is hard work. Its even harder to get noticed. making quality content doesn’t guarantee exposure.

2) Its Hard To Make Money – Once you get exposure, making money is hard. You need a lot of views, yes. But you also need to be able to monetize your content in the first place. And if you’ve been following the recent Content ID kerfluffle, you know that easier said than done these days.

3) People Like Money – Ok, maybe I’m cheating this one. But yeah, people like money. Its a rule of life basically.

With this in mind lets move on.

What Machinima is doing, with either explicit or tacit approval from Microsoft (I’ve seen sources reporting both ways – Microsoft is actually behind the idea, or that they are smiling and nodding at Machinima’s bright idea that’s getting the Xbox One good press), is appealing to the base nature of the human animal. Most creators who are part of a network want to make money. My own network, Fullscreen, runs campaigns for us all the time. And yes, they get us extra money. The difference here is that a Fullscreen campaign is usually something silly. As an example, we ran one over Thanksgiving where we could make a video with a silly way to say “turkey stuffing”. They then gave us extra money on those views. What’s the difference between that and what Machinima is doing you ask? Simple:

Machinima is asking it’s own members to state positive things about a product. In fact, the agreement even explicitly states that you may not say anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One or any of its games in said video. This engenders in me a feeling of deep distrust towards ANY video that I see on Machinima about the Xbox One. And it calls into question many of their other videos. For better or worse, many gamers these day tun to YouTube “celebrities” for news, reviews and other gaming related content.

An uproar is sure to break out over the next few days about this. So let’s all remember a few things. Machinima is a business. Machinima and it’s partners are in this game to make money. Microsoft is also a business out to make money. Furthermore, the shining image of YouTube creators as paragons of journalistic integrity that so many people are crying foul over is ludicrous. People out to make money aren’t going to have that type of journalistic integrity. Especially when almost none of them were trained as journalists to begin with.

Do I find what Machinima is up to shady? Hell yes.
Am I surprised by it? Hell no.
Should we cry foul at YouTubers over their journalistic scruples? Maybe. Maybe not. Each YouTube has their own goals and morals. Its up to them to establish what they are and aren’t willing to do for money. Be that making videos of CoD headshots, giant dicks they built in Minecraft, taking money from Microsoft/Machinima to pimp the Xbox One, or shaving a goat while wearing a speedo (maybe that last one is just me), they are going to do what they are going to do.
In the end, its up to the viewer to make their own judgement about the creator’s intentions.

(For our XBox One review, look here)

One of the most common complaints levelled at gaming Youtubers who get big and well known are that you can’t be sure of their journalistic integrity, that they might be being paid off to say good things about games that maybe aren’t that good. Most Youtubers will deny anything of the sort, however it does seem that not everyone involved in Youtuber gaming journalism are so above-board…

This Saturday an e-mail emerged on NeoGAF as a leak, that detailed a a promo deal that Machinima was offering to the content creators they have under them to promote the new Xbox machine for a bonus $3 per CPM (which refers to per thousand views on a video). A since-deleted tweet from Machinima’s Ron Smith confirmed that the deal was for real.

While this seems a bit shady in itself, a copy of Machinima’s terms for signing up for the promo deal has also come to light and it just makes this situation even murkier. One particular line of the terms reads “You may not say anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One or any of its Games in your Campaign Video.” which seems to justify those worries from people about Youtubers accepting cash to big up something that isn’t really that good to begin with. What’s more, the terms go on to tell the creators signing up that they are effectively also signing an NDA about the entire promo deal between Microsoft and Machinima.

 You agree to keep confidential at all times all matters relating to this Agreement, including, without limitation, the Promotional Requirements, and the CPM Compensation, listed above. You understand that You may not post a copy of this Agreement or any terms thereof online or share them with any third party (other than a legal or financial representative). You agree that You have read the Nondisclosure Agreement (attached hereto and marked as Exhibit “A”) and You understand and agree to all of terms of the Nondisclosure Agreement, which is incorporated as part of this Agreement.

A lot of viewers listen to their favourite Youtube personalities and Microsoft know it. While there’s been no word about how many have taken up this offer, this is surely a blow for the video reviewers’ journalistic integrity and all those content creators who value being honest about anything they review above all else.

The Console

Now let’s talk about the look of the console, a lot of people when it was announced said it looked like an old VHS. While that’s not quite the case, it is essentially a large black brick so it’s not going to win many votes on the looks alone. The console is also big it’s a full 6.3 cm in length bigger than the Xbox slim, this is noticeable difference when the console has to be laid on its side. However the fact that it must lay on its side shouldn’t be as much of an issue as people made it to be, because a lot of people had their 360’s laid on their side and up to this new generation all Sony consoles had to be laid on their side. Along with the increased size of the new console, there is also the increased fan grate which takes up half the top of the console (see below). This being said, even with this large fan grate the Xbox One runs practically silently, to the point where I have actually left the house forgetting that the console is on.

The Xbox One also has the addition of an extra HDMI slot over the old 360’s, as well as an optical drive both of which would make it easier to connect to a PC or Mac should you wish to record footage from your console for the likes of YouTube or should you wish to stream to twitch. There is another option should you wish to record content on the Xbox One which is to use the game DVR that is actually built into the console. This built in DVR allows you to record the last five minutes of gameplay or the next five minutes, so if you weren’t recording and something amazing happened then you are able to go back and capture it. The other advantage of this is using the built in uploader you are able to edit your video immediately after you capture it (even give it a voiceover) and then upload it straight to the cloud to share with either just your friends or all other Xbox live members. Thus making it much easier to capture, edit and then get your content out for people to see than using a PC or Mac where you would require separate editing software and capture card or programme.

There are however issues with the built in DVR least of which is the amount of time you are able to capture video for as most people, would either be recording single player for a let’s play or multiplayer where they’ll want to record whole games. The other issue with the DVR is you have to snap it to the side of the screen if you wish to start recording from the point you’re currently at, meaning that you have to stop whatever gameplay you are currently doing in order to set up for the shot you wish to record. This is made especially difficult if you are not using the Kinect because it means you have to physically come out of the game to snap the DVR to your game screen making it almost useless for multiplayer, unless you’re using the Kinect. However that being said most people using the DVR are probably going to use it to record random amazing things that occur, such as glitches etc. so coming out of the game to record that won’t be an issue.

The Kinect

Next let’s have a look at the new Kinect, which is actually part of the main reason people do not want to buy this console. First off let me say I never owned one of the original Kinect’s but I had played with one at friend’s places and it was not an easy thing to use, with it always having trouble understanding you or tracking you. Therefore I was obviously slightly apprehensive about the Kinect being included in the box for the Xbox One, but I was also excited to get hands on with it and see how it compared to the original Kinect and see if it was any better.

Now while the new Kinect is not perfect it is on a whole new level compared to the original, managing to track you much better and understand you a good 90% of the time with the occasional need for repeating yourself because of background noise or distance from the Kinect. However it does still have some bits that are rough around the edge. Such as unless you know the exact commands you can often find yourself yelling at it thinking it’s broken, but once you’re use to the commands this really isn’t much of an issue and just takes a little time to grasp. The Kinect also seems to occasionally still stumble over non-American accents, but nowhere near as bad as the original and it’s never really been a problem for me more than a couple times. Overall I’d definitely say that Kinect V2.0 is a long way from its predecessor and its almost perfect just with a few rough edges to polish out, so hopefully should Microsoft every release another Kinect it should be able to understand and track people perfectly.

The main issue people had with the Kinect though is that it meant the Xbox One was a full £80 more than the PS4 at launch and people could not justify this price difference given that a lot of people, me included, don’t have the space to move and jump around while playing games. Therefore the Kinect ended up just being a voice controller for your console, which people believed just wouldn’t work because of how bad the original was. However while the price difference caused by the Kinect was a sticking point for some people I would just like to point out that anyone potentially wanting to buy the PS4’s camera would be adding an additional £60 on top of the console itself, bringing the price down to only £20 which for new console’s is a pretty negligible amount.

The final issue a lot of people had when the Kinect was announced was that originally it was going to need to always be plugged in or your console would stop working. This brought about a bunch of scare rumours that Microsoft would be collecting data about you while the console was off or even be watching you while you sleep through your Kinect. To start with I’m fairly sure Microsoft has bigger things to be getting on with than watching Xbox One owners while they sleep. Nevertheless to alleviate these fears and rumours Microsoft announced that it would no longer need to be always plugged in. However there are still people who believe that if you leave it plugged in Microsoft will be watching you and having now got my hands on a Kinect I can see why some people may still think this, because the Kinect has the ability to not only see using a normal camera mode but also night and thermal camera modes.

There is a reason behind this function though and that is so if you want the Kinect is able to sign you into your account whenever you walk into its field of vision, no matter what the light level is. If you still believe that Microsoft are plotting to watch you through your Kinect, there is a very simple way to fix that either turn it to face a wall and use it purely for the voice commands or unplug it entirely. The Major issue for me with the new Kinect is it’s integration into Xbox One games like Ryse: Son of Rome where if you don’t use the Kinect voice commands when prompted and instead use the button prompt, it almost punishes you by making the time for the button prompt to work about 3 times as long as using the Kinect.

The Controller

Now while the controller is relatively unchanged in design the changes they have made actually make quite a large difference. Starting with the removal of the large battery pack on the back in place of a flush built in battery container, allowing the back of the controller to be smooth and fit better in your hands. A new ergonomic stick design allows for more precise movement within games and with the ridge tops your thumbs are much more planted on the sticks compared to the old smooth sticks. The new trigger and bumper layout means that when playing games you don’t have to take your fingers off the triggers in order to use the bumpers, especially handy when playing FPS games. Also the addition of rumble into the triggers is a really nice feature allowing you to really feel the action through the controller. My favourite thing about the Xbox One controller though is the fact that every button, bumper and trigger has real feedback. What I mean by this is that whenever you press something on the controller it feels like you are pushing against something rather than just feeling like there is an empty space behind it all.

This differs massively from the PS4 controller in that the triggers still feel practically weightless when you press them as though the controller space behind them is empty. Also while the PS4 controller now sits more comfortably in my hand compared to the old one’s it now feels a bit large with the addition of the touchpad. I also found with the addition of the touchpad that when trying to use it I had to take a hand off the sticks which was rather counter-intuitive. So overall I found the new Xbox One controller fits better in my palms, it was more instinctive to use due to the fact that it hasn’t changed much from the 360 and the increased feedback in all the buttons really immerses you in the games.

The Games

Right now there isn’t a lot out for either console there is a lot of games in the offing, many within the next few months. While obviously a lot of titles are coming to both new platforms, in order to get the most sales they can, the Xbox One will end up having the last laugh because overall it’s getting more games than the PS4 because of the amount of exclusives that are coming to the Xbox One. Titles like Project Spark and Sunset Overdrive which for me like more innovative and interesting than the exclusives being launched on the PS4.

Overall

So should you buy the second placer or go with the fan favourite? Honestly for me if you haven’t bought one of the new consoles, or if you’ve dismissed the second son and are just waiting for prices to come down to buy the PS4, I would seriously reconsider the Xbox One as a contender for your affections. While they are almost impossible to separate on the graphics and in spite of the fact that it does have its issues with the Kinect, which for the most part just require a bit of patience or are very simply fixed. The Xbox One has a much more user friendly controller with the way it fits in your palms and the feedback it gives you from your games. Not only this but the fact that it’s got more exclusives being launched for it means that you’re going to be able to put even more hours into saving other worlds, surviving zombie apocalypses and becoming the best in the world. So give the runner up a second chance and delve deeper into the new and exciting generation of gaming. See you all on the other side GAME ON!!

2013 saw some great changes to The Sanitarium.FM, especially in the way I did the Sunday Night Showcase (new co-host, which was great and she is sorely missed) and new ideas ready for a bigger better show in 2014

During 2013, three other amazing bands joined us on air and added some awesome new music to the station playlist (and the Listener Chart)

Now, we are looking to crown our 2012 Sunday Night Showcase band!

All you need to do is vote for your fave band on the forum poll, and this January, Sunday Night Showcase shows will ONLY be 2013’s bands until the award show on the 26th January!

Vote on the forum and tell your friends too!  Your fave band needs your help!

Bands in the running:-

New Infection

A Call For Submission

The Dead Good

To vote you need to make a forum account

The poll is open until 25th Jan and you can change your vote at any time, also feel free to say hi in this thread and give your favourite band a shout out that you voted for them, I’m sure they’ll appreciate it!