MS Confirms Online Connection, Game Borrowing and Used Game Details

[Hawkeye 131]

Wow... What hubris, go fuck yourself Micro$oft! I will not support such sloppy anti-consumer business practices. Almost all the negative attributes of PC gaming (and then some), with literally none of the positives aspects.

 

[MrWunderful]

...So what happens if all the sudden nobody buys any games, because we are all standing up for what is holy (in your opinion)? Its not like these huge publishers are going to go away and all these small publishers are going to rise up and take their place and NOT implement something similar. It would be a wonderful world if everything was done for the "love of it" but that is just not reality...

What is this? Did I say "boycott" every developer, publisher, indie, TV content producer, musician, director, film studio and accessory manufacturer who worked on Microsoft's "console"?

If the public accepts Microsoft's new console, then that's it. Publishers will have won their war against the consumer. Do you think, with absolute control over the entire industry, that this will somehow be of benefit to you?
Cheaper games? Why? They've killed off the second hand market. They never have to compete or lower sale prices. Ever.
Better games? Why? Their wonderful new system prevents you from getting rid of them. Review embargoes prevent you from knowing it's terrible until you've bought it, and then you're stuck with it. Forever.
More games? Why? Their brand new revenue stream ensures more money from less sales - which they'll simply pocket, as has been their stated intention for the past entire console generation.

Microsoft have created a console that makes the end user irrelevant. It's a Publisher's wet dream, and a consumer's nightmare. If you buy it, you're telling them "I don't want my rights! I don't want to own anything! I want DRM! More DRM on everything!"
The problem is Microsoft and their console. Anyone who buys it, is killing the industry. If you fail to understand that, then they're clearing selling to the right crowd.

I While I disagree with the line about killing the industry, I still see your point and it makes sense.

The more info I am reading tonight the more I am not starting to like the way things are looking. I am still going to wait until after it is released to make my decision though.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

God damn, I'm still going to get one. These publishers can do literally anything to us.

Hey, if you want to bend over and take it in the ass then be my guest.

Just don't lump everyone else in the same boat as you.

 

[balladbird]

Their game loaning policy is actually rather fair, if completely unnecessary.

Everything else is garbage, though. Sony reps have denied accusations over twitter when fans have asked about similar practices, so for now I'll have faith that at least one powerful console will stay reasonable this year. if not, I'm not sure what I'll do for my JRPG fix.

 

[Agayek]

Oh okay, so Microsoft pretty much confirmed exactly what people didn't want with the whole lending games to a friend bit. That's just brilliant: how exactly do they tell if the person has been lent the game only once? Because he played the game only once? I'm getting the feeling the second the person plugs in another game and tries to go back and play the game he was lent, he is screwed.

See, that's the thing. The wording there is very specifically chosen to make it seem like they mean lending a game, but what they mean is giving. You are allowed to give away a game you bought, but you are by no means allowed to hand someone a game and let them play it for a weekend. Once they take it, it's theirs forever.

 

[9thRequiem]

Well to be fair, this is a whole lot better than people were assuming... I'd feel a bit of a hypocrite to dish out total hatred for a system that essentially employs the same tactics as a service that I heartily embrace on PC. I know the arguments, that MS is removing a service for the Xbone that was available on the 360, Steam has had years of great service to build trust with consumers, and while I think that they are very valid arguments, it doesn't mean that I suddenly think the MS is the devil...

I'm in exactly the same boat. I think people forget that Steam limits your offline time as well (It's a longer limit sure, but it's still there).
The only difference is that with the Xbox One, you CAN sell games, albeit with some restrictions. With Steam, you're stuck with them forever. But no, people are up in arms over this because of ... Reasons? I'm still not sure why.

And I'm positively excited about not needing to change discs.

 

[Terminate421]

The answer to getting an entire fucking state's population worth of sales is staring them in the face and they don't even see it.

I could handle this shit but they have yet to convince me to buy it still.

 

[spartandude]

Im not gonna lie i can really understand their logic here

 

[Azwrath]

My favorite part of Microsoft's epitaph so far is this:

"Because every Xbox One owner has a broadband connection, developers can create massive, persistent worlds that evolve even when you?re not playing."


Ummmmm What!?

Since it requires daily online validation you need a constant broadband connection to run an Xbone. If you don't have a broadband connection you won't buy one. If you won't buy one you are not an Xbox One owner. Ergo every Xbox One owner has a broadband connection. Of course it is still a "full retard" statement, i'm just trying to get to the logic behind it.

 

[Able Seacat]

Terrible.

You may want to add a little more to avoid a low content warning.

I wonder if the PS4 will do this also?

This just seems to be a silly move from microsoft.

Sony has confirmed multiple times that there is no always on, no periodic requirements, none at all.

Oh cool, do you have a source out of interest?

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Well to be fair, this is a whole lot better than people were assuming... I'd feel a bit of a hypocrite to dish out total hatred for a system that essentially employs the same tactics as a service that I heartily embrace on PC. I know the arguments, that MS is removing a service for the Xbone that was available on the 360, Steam has had years of great service to build trust with consumers, and while I think that they are very valid arguments, it doesn't mean that I suddenly think the MS is the devil...

I'm in exactly the same boat. I think people forget that Steam limits your offline time as well (It's a longer limit sure, but it's still there).
The only difference is that with the Xbox One, you CAN sell games, albeit with some restrictions. With Steam, you're stuck with them forever. But no, people are up in arms over this because of ... Reasons? I'm still not sure why.

And I'm positively excited about not needing to change discs.

The minimum time for Steam's offline mode I read about is one month (up to always, so that's a wide margin), which is incredibly longer than 24 hours. As for the used games things, we don't need them on Steam, as you can uninstall anything you don't want, yet still have a possibility to download it at any time should you fancy playing it again. And I really don't see that as a problem... Why is it bad that once you pay for something, it's yours? Also, just how much are you getting for every game you sell right now? You usually get about 10% of the original price, which is a joke. And unless you buy everything when it comes out or as per-orders, you'll hardly ever pay the full price, basically making every game a used one without screwing the developers over. Win-Win situation for everyone.

So yes, people are bitching about the XBone for good reasons.

 

[Zeh Don]

Oh cool, do you have a source out of interest?

This has been reported on dozens of news sites.

NowGamer:
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1949419/ps4_wont_require_an_internet_connection_confirms_mark_cerny.html

EuroGamer:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-21-playstation-4-does-not-require-an-internet-connection

Hell, it's on the Wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4

 

[Colt47]

Well to be fair, this is a whole lot better than people were assuming... I'd feel a bit of a hypocrite to dish out total hatred for a system that essentially employs the same tactics as a service that I heartily embrace on PC. I know the arguments, that MS is removing a service for the Xbone that was available on the 360, Steam has had years of great service to build trust with consumers, and while I think that they are very valid arguments, it doesn't mean that I suddenly think the MS is the devil...

I'm in exactly the same boat. I think people forget that Steam limits your offline time as well (It's a longer limit sure, but it's still there).
The only difference is that with the Xbox One, you CAN sell games, albeit with some restrictions. With Steam, you're stuck with them forever. But no, people are up in arms over this because of ... Reasons? I'm still not sure why.

And I'm positively excited about not needing to change discs.

The difference between the PC and consoles is that a console is a closed system (well, is supposed to be anyway). On a PC, if DRM didn't exist to some extent a lot of games would become freeware the second they hit the net. Heck, even with DRM games are still pirated on the PC fairly consistently by FairLight, SKIDROW, and other individuals/groups. The loss of the second hand PC market was a side effect of combating piracy, since the anti-piracy measures that had to be used involved checks on the users end, or as it now stands must get launched through a client program.

Consoles on the other hand, don't really have the open platform excuse to put in such heavy handed DRM, and this is purely a marketing ploy to attract publishers and developers scared to death by used game retailer boogie-men. The problem is that they are inadvertently attacking the consumer benefits of owning a game console over a PC. They are taking away the freedom to swap games with friends on a whim and even video-game rentals, which are two of the methods people use to determine if they even want to buy a specific game for a system.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Yeaaaah...
I'll just be over here, not buying any new consoles from Microsoft, like a sane person.
And they seemed to be doing so well... well, until the whole Kinect thing, and them owning any data it records.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

This means I won't be able to whip out my xbone (huehue) in ten years and play all the classics like I regularly do with my old consoles because Microsoft's crappy online service has been taken down so they can focus on the one for xbox two or whatever.

It actually doesn't. They're likely to simply deactivate this DRM after they stop supporting the console.

 

[Genocidicles]

It actually doesn't. They're likely to simply deactivate this DRM after they stop supporting the console.

Why would they? I don't see them removing the DRM out of the goodness of their heart, I mean we are talking about Microsoft here... You know, the same company that made developers stop adding XP compatibility to their software to encourage people to switch to a newer OS?

It's in their best interests to get everyone onto the next console after the xbone, and that's even assuming they can easily remove the DRM. A lot of it is tied up with all this cloud bullshit, meaning a lot of games will need the power of the cloud to simply function.