Xbox One Will Support Eight Controllers at Once

Classzero, concerning your first post, not all multiplayer games are split screen. I used to LAN Bomberman and it was a hoot with more than four people - but, simply put, all the people were always on the same screen, so 8 controllers would be quite handy in very rare circumstances for very rare types of games.

Concerning your second post... Do you have even a hint of a whiff of a glimmer of evidence supporting that Microsoft pays Tom's? I was hoping for at least a semi-credible answer.

Fair question Dax, and I'll ask you an honest question in return. Can you think of any single screen game that would actually coherently have 16 people on the same screen at the same time, since split screen obviously wouldn't work? In the case of Bomberman, I found the sweet spot was 6 players - but 8 was pushing it for actually being able to tell what was going on.

I'm genuinely curious - what would you do with 16 controllers on a console? Even with 8, I recognize that the times it might actually be used would be *incredibly* rare to the extent where it's at best a little "meh, kinda cool and I *might* use it one day, but I could do without" feature. 16 I could never see me using.

Edit: The potential for more than 4 people in a rhythm game is there as well. A *lot* of bands are five people, after all. Though, the logistics of this still put it as a "once in a blue moon" type of thing.

I'm already having a hard enough time keeping eyes on my own character on 4P games, I can't imagine how much worse it would get at 8P.

Anonymous said:

@steven Look, tons of people are saying bomberman is the only way to go, but what about space shooters game like galazy Z or maybe a retro HD version of pacman? They all contain the same screen with characters so why not make it 16 for those Lan parties or huge get togethers? Would be awesome I think! ^^

You know, you might be right. Heck, particularly with the resurgence of retro graphics styles and whatnot, a giant Pac-Man type thing *loaded* with people makes sense. Honesty question, and I got an honest answer that made sense. Pity they did stop at 8 and, if it wouldn't have required some fancy new hardware, it's a pity they didn't add more controllers...

And Invalid, I know how you feel. When I was a kid it seemed like I could pay attention to all the flashing lights a lot better. Now? Oye... Give me a 60 inch screen and one figure filling up a big chunk of it to focus on an I'm good. Actually, upon further consideration, I'd probably just embarrass myself if I ever try more than 4 people in Bomberman again... Getting old.

Anonymous said:

I have never connected more than 2. I can imagine your screen split 8 times for 8 controllers . . .

All I can think of is a game that would require two controllers per player, but these would be different controllers such as a freehand mouse + light gun. It could also be used for complex motion tracking.

I believe I told myself that I would only get an Xbox One if it had support for 9 controllers... this is bad news.

Either way, I can see some pretty crazy routes Microsoft can take with this, especially with party games.

If you could attach 8 displays, each one with its own controller, so you could have a local LAN party, this would be great - otherwise you would need a MASSIVE screen to have split screen be useful, like a projector or a cinema

This is because of the specifications of BlueTooth. Up to 8 devices can be utilized. 1 master device and 7 slave devices. The master device being the console itself.

The Wii, Wii U, PS3 and PS4 are the same though only MS is silly enough to actually claim 8 controllers at once.

@stevejnb

i was wondering the same about the PS4... maybe if we were in Japan things would be the opposite, or maybe MSFT is just more open lip about their system

all these articles are really just fluff thou and really mean much
Sony has already sold all its pre orders so they dont need any fluff articles

Great for Bomberman, top-down shooters, and major sports titles Hockey, Basketball etc.

Anonymous said:

This is because of the specifications of BlueTooth. Up to 8 devices can be utilized. 1 master device and 7 slave devices. The master device being the console itself.

The Wii, Wii U, PS3 and PS4 are the same though only MS is silly enough to actually claim 8 controllers at once.

Are you sure about that?

http://www.shacknews.com/article/80967/xbox-one-supports-eight-controllers-ps4-only-four

Several other articles more or less confirmed the sentiment of this one. With the quality of journalism these days I'm not saying this is accurate, but... Are you sure that both the PS4, Wii, and Wii U are all the same?

Single screen use games (maybe fighters or something) could be insane with 8 players at once. 4v4 would be great fun, shame they cost the same as a game.

Anonymous said:

I have never connected more than 2. I can imagine your screen split 8 times for 8 controllers . . .

First of all not all games have to go in split screen to work with multiple controllers (take SSB and Trine for example) and second I can, you just need 4 displays each split in 2 XD.

On a more serious note I am seeing less and less games supporting split screen so I doubt it will be useful. On the other hand if the wireless communication supports it I also see no reason to limit the amount of controllers. Even when its not useful it's certainly not harmful.

Lol 8 player splitscreen would probably suck. Besides PS3 Already supports 12 controllers... or is it 16?

Anonymous said:

Lol 8 player splitscreen would probably suck. Besides PS3 Already supports 12 controllers... or is it 16?

Seven, according to the article I posted three above you. Admittedly, I've never had more than 2 hooked up to my PS3... The Tales games are great for two players if you like JRPGs.

"I have never connected more than 2. I can imagine your screen split 8 times for 8 controllers . . ."

No, your screen splits 4 times. Not 8.