The X-box One is for Publishers, not You.

[Tortilla the Hun]

Actually the X-box gold fee wasn't bad at all... until they turned the entire dashboard into an advertisement board from the pits of Hades and put in anti-class action lawsuit clauses in their EULA. I'm not against paying a monthly fee if it is actually going towards better services, like VOIP and server maintenance, but if I got to sit through advertisements that advertising revenue better be footing the bill. On the Xbox 360 it clearly wasn't.

Actually, you really don't have to "sit through" any advertisements, if we're looking at the same dashboard. The ads are present, yes, but not, as people of the ghetto may put it, "all up in yo bih'ness". They have their own quaint tiles to sit in, and if you choose to view them you can, or if you'd rather not you most certainly don't have to. And if you're talking about the larger adverts, well I've found them kinda helpful. They've allowed me to discover XBLA games I probably would've never even seen just because of how much I hate slogging through the marketplace most times. If it was on the same scale of YouTube, where you would need to hear about how much Allstate can save you before playing your game, then yes, that would be an understandable level of frustration and concern, but now it's like complaining about the ads that appear on web pages. Don't like 'em? Don't click 'em.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Xbox1 is now the posterboy of wanting to enslave it's consumer base due to fear.

and i thought RRoD had that title
bad times for consumerism

nope. just dont buy their shit.

lets see how good the industry will be when the only consumers are the publishers and devs. no one else.

big fan of voting with my wallet

need to get the masses onboard

 

[Dryk]

Since 2010, Steam has NEVER, EVER, let me start Offline Mode from a cold boot. Not once.
I'd love to learn how it works for you, since Steam has bit me in the ass more than a few times on account of this.

Are you shutting your computer down while Steam is still open? The prompt to go into offline mode straight away only works if you properly close it the last time it was used.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Are you shutting your computer down while Steam is still open? The prompt to go into offline mode straight away only works if you properly close it the last time it was used.

I've closed Steam manually before shutting down, left Steam running before shutting down, and tried telling it to go into Offline Mode before shutting down.

Same result. :\
It just doesn't retain the login info after the windows session ends.

 

[Lunar Templar]

So like.....the existing system?

You know, online passes. Implemented by publishers, in order to get in on that used game market?

Whoops sorry, did I interrupt everyone's MS Xbox One hate boner with some logic?

Except the part about how not every game uses online passes, or that online passes don't prevent you from playing the game on the whole, just what ever tacked on online component?

Not at all.

Even if what you suggested was the case, it doesn't excuse the online requirement in the least. They are still cutting out a large chunk of people from the equation, cause believe it or not, not every one has a stable connection still Then there's the legality of it, sure, state side its totally legal, but what about other country's? Pretty sure it's breaking laws some where.

Not to mention, after the RRoD debacle, who really trusts the hardware on this thing to fucking WORK.

 

[QUINTIX]

If they really think that gently caressing tv will make the xbone sell again, they're GENTLY CARESSING INSANE!

Personally, I use Comcast/Xfinity. Their user experience is like something from communist Russia in 1967.

It is horrible; it is cold and not very welcoming. Hence I drop dollars every month with TiVo even though I don't need to. I just want to [not] look at that disgusting user Interface.

source: https://kevin-dent.squarespace.com/blog/2013/5/22/xbox-one

I can say the same about Verizon FiOS. Navigating their laggy Java Virtual Machine based mess is a pain. Text entry from a number pad or a digital cursor is never fun. Scrolling by repeating bashing an arrow button was out of phase on just about every platform with the exception of televisions & set top boxes by the late 90's.

Though it might not push comparable volumes to phones and midrange laptops, I'll still assert their DVR/Set Top Box control will be even more of a killer app than the PlayStation 2's builtin DVD player.

 

[QUINTIX]

Back on topic, if the choice is between being able to play without discs but needing to check in every 24 hours (xBone), and having a console that will copy much of the contents to hard disc but will still require the disc to be present (likey PS4), I believe more consumers will choose the platform that will let them play despite having a (maybe permanently) lost/damaged disc over letting them play with a (likely temporarily) lost/finicky internet connection.

Let's not forget where much of these issues stem from: Bluray still does not have the throughput and seek times needed to run content that is not strictly linear (like movies, even for chapter selection nobody minds a 100ms+ delay). Only Nintendo managed to get away with using bluray-like discs and not have partial or complete installs.

Edit: Full Disclosure, as of Sony's David Manning [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Manning_%28fictitious_writer%29], Sam Raimi shafting, Smurfs reauthorizing, rootkit blackmailing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Copy_Protection#Sony.27s_response], SecuROM developing... I'm a bit of an anti-Sony partisan.

Further edit/slightly off topic: I fully expect the Jimquisition from-the-gut skewering of daily checkins and Microsoft's cop out to publishers in regard to used games to be absolutely glorious. Since my religious views are quite the opposite of Jim Sterling, I literally thank God for him.

 

[Rheinmetall]

I find this theory very logical. Unfortunately. I mean it doesn't make sense that Microsoft want to self-destruct. Obviously they have a business plan in mind, and that theory might be pretty much that.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Great! appeal to the publishers.

You still need consumers to buy your product.

Publishers already have so little patience for people who like playing games, we don't need the guys making the hardware to stop giving a shit about us too.

 

[Saika Renegade]

So what happens when Microsoft stops support for the Xbox One? Are all of the games you purchased over the years instantly worthless?

Unless they go the Steam route and make it so the console doesn't need the once a day check-up, then yes, they'll be worthless within 24 hours. Unless the next Xbox is backwards compatible, but then, that'd be backwards.

This is, in effect, why I refuse to buy any game where any of my efforts may be invalidated overnight. A consumer should be able to play their game as long as they own their copy, not as long as the publisher wants to support it, especially in single player. (I'm aware that statement doesn't exactly fly for MMOs with only publisher-run servers, but that's another setting entirely.) There's offering publisher support, and then there is pandering--given how many publishers prefer to pin the blame on secondhand markets rather than their own product's shortcomings (re: Heavy Rain), I don't foresee many games not being locked out of the resale market either.

 

[Madman123456]

I dunno, if i where a publisher then i'd be very skeptical still about the online crap. Half of my potential customer base can't play my games because they didn't buy the xbone because of shitty connections where they live or one of the many other perfectly valid reasons to not buy the xbone.