Microsoft Officially Denies "Always On" For Xbox One

[Atmos Duality]

MICROSOFT: "Oh, we don't mean to hold our user's experience hostage with the DRM revolver...

...but we left it on the table in case they want to."
*pans over to the AAA publishers, cue dramatic thunderbolt and orchestra sting*

Yeah, you aren't fooling me Microsoft. You either keep the DRM off the table, or I ain't dealing.

 

[Whytewulf]

I don't get it. What is this obsession with everything being online and social. Don't they know gamers are inherently anti-social. Or when I play a game, I don't need others to see me. What if my internet goes down (a common occurrence) my consule is my best bet.. UGH.. I am getting tired of streaming and electronics, especially when the infrastructure doesn't really support it yet.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Looking at all the comments I had this crazy idea for the perfect next gen console! One that is not always online, has backwards compatibility, and lets you play used games, and is a big enough hardware upgrade to justify its existance. In other words; None of the current gen consoles.

*Cough Cough* Ehem, A Certain Japanese Console would like a word with you... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U]

So.....anyone know if there is any issues with the PS4? If so I will just have to figure out what I am going to do about buying/build a good gaming pc....

PS4 allows game developers to have Always On and Block Used Games; the difference though, is that Sony is not actively wanting companies to do this, while Microsoft is. The only console that is not always on and does allow used games is the WiiU.

OT: I saw this coming, when Adam Orth made his infamous comments about always on. A lot of people thought he wasn't speaking for Microsoft, and some thought he was joking... They were all wrong... They were ALL WRONG! Most of us, however, thought he was serious, so that's a good thing. Now we can avoid this, thing, like the plague.

 

[unstabLized]

I love you guys. I really do. All these comments are just making me teary-eyed out of laughter. Microsoft too. I love them for making this hysterical comedy. "Its called Xbox One because its 359 steps back from 360". Had me on the floor... *sigh* My god, all this crashing and burning is just too entertaining not to track. Made my day...

 

[Canadish]

Bad news everyone. The system does REQUIRES Internet connection. Can not play off line forever.
http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-509164109

So they lied as well? They couldn't even give the consumer the courtesy of honesty?

I suppose we should give it more time, Kotaku is about as integral as bathroom wall graffiti when it comes to journalism. But after all the leaks and rumors, I truly would not be surprised.

Microsoft needs to get their collective shit together and strike a homerun at E3 if they every hope to recover from today.

 

[SamTheNewb]

So there is nothing inherent in the hardware itself that makes it always online. However software packages and internet based services that Microsoft is providing for developers may cause degraded feature sets or even disabled operation of some parts, if the console is not connected to the internet... Sounds normal if you compare it to the PC...

Of course developers on the PC don't have to pay to have a big corporation to tell them what they can do.

 

[Syzygy23]

I cannot imagine what compelled microsoft to drive their boat into an iceberg with such pure conviction and bull-headed passion. It's like they have a death wish.

Ever since Gates retired his company has been tilting increasingly into a nose dive. Just a bunch of parasitic suits that moved in to Bills old shell, simply being there because they wanna make money, not for any love of technology or software engineering like Bill Gates had.

 

[Yabba]

So let me get this straight here. No backwards compatibility? Eh annoying but not a deal breaker. Additional fees for used games? Ok, that's a big red flag but I will see how it plays out. Actively encouraging devs to go awlays online? Aaaaand that's strike three! At this point I would like to encourage Microsoft to take their consoles to a centralized area, pile them up, gather all the people who were in charge of making these horrible decisions in the same centralized area and then proceed to have said people actually shove one of these consoles up their ass, controller, cords and all. If they can live stream it all the better.

I approve of this idea.

OT wait so let me get this straight you expect me to buy a console thats AAA games are pretty much guarenteed always online, no backwards compatibility, and hurts the used sales market that even helps games become popular?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n5E7feJHw0

 

[Boogie Knight]

I swear to God, everything I hear from Microsoft's people reminds me of the 1984 newspeak. It's like they are trying to trick consumers without outright lying to them. Statistically, it was inevitable for one of the console developers to screw up royally, but as I recall Sega at least went down swinging with a half decent console. I literally cannot imagine who on Earth this console would appeal to as a consumer. It's a blind idiot executives wet dream, but you'd think there would be at least one person in a position of influence to pull a flag on this process and penalize the team for abject stupidity.

How I fear that Sony will end up on top not by making good choices but by screwing up the least, and no lessons will be learned in the generation to follow.

 

[Demolition_Human]

Microsoft is Playing Russian Roulette by themselves with every chamber in the gun full. If they seriously push the online cloud features on Developers and it blocks offline gameplay to a severe degree, and with the No backwards combatibility, preowned fees, Stupid name, Horrible look, and butchered looking controller.... They will not succeed with the next genertion.

I will probably be buying a WiiU as my only Console for the next gen unless Sony actually makes themselves look good after this. Which should be really easy to do.

haha oh my god, what is your avatar from? that is the first time in a while i've laughed at a gif

I actually do not know where it is from. I just found it from the interwebs.

But here have the full Gif.

that is hilarious/amazing, if ANYONE can tell me what anime that is, i'd be most appreciative

Apparently its from an anime called Plastic Nee-San. I hope I helped you with your problem!

OT: Yeah.....I'm not really happy about this....not one bit.

 

[lunavixen]

Microsoft are playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun on this one, I've never owned an Xbox and this has not endeared me to them at all. Looks like i'm not getting any of the new generation consoles this time, ah well, maybe the PS4 will endear itself to me in coming years like the PS3 did, though it's not likely.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Microsoft is Playing Russian Roulette by themselves with every chamber in the gun full. If they seriously push the online cloud features on Developers and it blocks offline gameplay to a severe degree, and with the No backwards combatibility, preowned fees, Stupid name, Horrible look, and butchered looking controller.... They will not succeed with the next genertion.

I will probably be buying a WiiU as my only Console for the next gen unless Sony actually makes themselves look good after this. Which should be really easy to do.

haha oh my god, what is your avatar from? that is the first time in a while i've laughed at a gif

I actually do not know where it is from. I just found it from the interwebs.

But here have the full Gif.

that is hilarious/amazing, if ANYONE can tell me what anime that is, i'd be most appreciative

Apparently its from an anime called Plastic Nee-San. I hope I helped you with your problem!

OT: Yeah.....I'm not really happy about this....not one bit.

curious, how did you come across such an answer? since obviously you haven't watched it yourself but thank you very much! will favorite that so i can watch it later

 

[The AmeriCanadian Gamer]

My thoughts on the whole Xbox One situation atm...

 

[Demolition_Human]

Microsoft is Playing Russian Roulette by themselves with every chamber in the gun full. If they seriously push the online cloud features on Developers and it blocks offline gameplay to a severe degree, and with the No backwards combatibility, preowned fees, Stupid name, Horrible look, and butchered looking controller.... They will not succeed with the next genertion.

I will probably be buying a WiiU as my only Console for the next gen unless Sony actually makes themselves look good after this. Which should be really easy to do.

haha oh my god, what is your avatar from? that is the first time in a while i've laughed at a gif

I actually do not know where it is from. I just found it from the interwebs.

But here have the full Gif.

that is hilarious/amazing, if ANYONE can tell me what anime that is, i'd be most appreciative

Apparently its from an anime called Plastic Nee-San. I hope I helped you with your problem!

OT: Yeah.....I'm not really happy about this....not one bit.

curious, how did you come across such an answer? since obviously you haven't watched it yourself but thank you very much! will favorite that so i can watch it later

Well you can thank the wonders of Reddit for your solution!! And I'm very glad that I could help!!

 

[fozzy360]

The "always online" requirement is a point of major contention, as gamers in well-serviced areas tend to applaud the idea

Says who, exactly? Because, considering all that's happened in the past couple of years involving this, this is one hell of a thing to say with all of the justified outrage at the concept of it.

I mean, outside of shills, who actually thinks this? No, really, I'd like to know, because this seems like it was completely made-up.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

So Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten says that it isn't going to happen, Microsoft vice president Phil Harrison says a 24 hour timer is going to happen...

seehttp://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-509164109

Now a random rep is saying it was a 'potential scenario,' who should I believe?

The General Manager?

The VP of the company?

Or a random Xbox scrub?

Either way you hedge your bets (highest level speaker, worst case scenario) the Xbone's offline mode is running a 24 hour timer.

 

[Strazdas]

Personally I'm looking forward to seeing tonnes of games from Sony and Nintendo at E3...

Nintendo is not participating in this years E3

The "always online" requirement is a point of major contention, as gamers in well-serviced areas tend to applaud the idea while those stuck with narrower pipes see it as a portent of the end-times.

I have a 300mbit conenction that is 100% stable (internet goes out like 2 times per year and even then for 5 seconds or so, probably them restarting servers). being abel to be always online is no problem - i already am. this however is a completely awful idea and it alone would be enough for me to stop using your product. always online is not bad because people dont have internet, its bad because its a control scheme.

 

[A'tuin]

There are so many groups who may have problems with internet connection, what if you:
-live outside major cities
-live in (one of several) countries where stable connections are rare
-live in campus areas
-don't want to pay the subscription fees
-want to play the next blockbuster game as soon as it's published (looking at you Simcity & Diablo 3)
-want to take your console anywhere outside your home on long holidays
-move into a new apartment and can't establish internet connection for 2 months (happened to me, thank Gaben for Steam offline)

The list could go on and on, but the main point is that there are practically no advantages (really sceptic about the "cloud gaming will improve game graphics" statement) in this DRM to counter all these huge setbacks. Only reason for this always-on requirement seems to be lods of emone to Microsoft.