Jimquisition: Why An Always-On DRM Console Would Be Dumb Dumb Dumb

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

How long until there's a shiny new jim sterling 'deal with it' gif? XD

I need this immediately.

OT:
One of the best episodes yet, Jim.

I hope at least one executive watches your show.

 

[Cameron Everett]

And this is why I'm pretty much done with the Console market, what games I do want to play are 99% of the time out on PC or for my Tablet, I don't care about the Madden X Year games or the FPS CODBFOMGWFTBBQ that's released every year. The 3 most anticipated games for me coming out within the next year and a half are all games I backed on Kickstarter. Also, I'd rather spend 500.00 on a middle range Mobo/CPU/RAM then I would on a console, because chances are that will be as powerful as the next gen console, case in point Nov 2011 I have to replace my mobo/cpu/ram and it cost me just over 500.00 and I can run pretty much any game at high/very high graphics settings, as it is my PS3 is basically a media streaming box.

So TL;DR I agree Consoles are dying and indie/mobile-tablet/computer are still going strong, and I couldn't be happier.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm glad Jim's brought up the Gamestop point I've been making for like four years now. Maybe people will actually stop fighting it around these parts.

Not to mention the point about the infrastructure in the US.

In fact...Jim, are you stalking me?

Captcha: I love you.

Yes, I do, but I suspect we will never be more than just friends.

 

[Azriel Nightshade]

Why is always on-line for consols detrimental, but always online via Steam exempt from scrutiny?

I'm not asking this to be contrarian or witty, I'm generally curious. Mainly because the only two PC games I play are WoW and LoL, both on an 5 year old iMac. So I'm a bit out of the loop.

 

[linkmastr001]

I agree. I know for the past month and a half I haven't been able to fully enjoy my always online games since my ISP has been having issues outside of my control (and perhaps theirs, IDK), but it has been severely hampering my experience.

I can tell you if they do make an always online console, I won't touch it. Most of the games I play now that require it have valid reasons, but if a console were too... screw that...

 

[kajinking]

I still remember I had my console for two years before I finally got it online, I wouldn't have ever bought it if I couldn't play Fallout 3 offline.

The reason I played with the console offline for so long was because online play was considered a secondary feature to me and as long as I could rent and play my games why bother?

I truly enjoyed Halo 3 singleplayer and never even touched gears of war 2's multiplayer.

So Microsoft what about me?

 

[Gene O]

This is why I don't worry about my refusal to buy anything with always on drm. AAA gaming may be collapsing (I honestly have no idea) but my options have never been better. I could spend years playing catch up with all of the games from this console generation I haven't gotten to yet. And, as Jim points out, mobile gaming will always have something for me and GOG.com has attached a slow drip tap to my wallet which ensures that I won't run out of games that I know my computer can run.

I remember the video game crash of the 80's. Simlarly, consoles (Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, etc.) were having a hard time of it. Historically, it's treated as a huge catastrophy but between arcades and computer games I never had a lack of video games to play at the time. The AAA game industry has told me time and time again that they don't care about me or what I think to which I say, "Same to you."

 

[Lightknight]

Great and timely video. The rumors, while hopefully false, are a scary thing indeed.

I really hope these companies get their act together. The consoles failing mean even good development companies get screwed out of deserved profit.

 

[GAunderrated]

Nicely done video Jim.

I almost find it sad that I enjoy watching these companies not to spiral down to a horrible crash equally as much as I enjoy playing their products. If that isn't a sign of You're doing it wrong I don't know what is.

 

[linkmastr001]

Why is always on-line for consols detrimental, but always online via Steam exempt from scrutiny?

I'm not asking this to be contrarian or witty, I'm generally curious. Mainly because the only two PC games I play are WoW and LoL, both on an 5 year old iMac. So I'm a bit out of the loop.

Steam has an offline mode, which usually works (I know I've had issues with it on occasion) and lets you play your games without the connection. If it didn't, I don't think people would be happy with it at all.

 

[Something Amyss]

I think the reason they have that kind of attitude is because they are banking on sales from the kind of people who will buy the console because it's all shiny and new rather than for any other reason.

If you're talking about douchetagdealwithit, I think it's more the fact that people don't understand the repercussions of social media. As Nash said, there will come a time where we are intimately familiar with the size, shape and colour of our President's genitals (because they tweeted them 30 years ago).

Then again, the gaming industry seems to be behind the ball on a lot of things, too.

 

[Latinidiot]

BOOM! And that was the big picture.

It was, though. Very informed, very interesting, and most of all, completely logical. I have no desire to buy any console that requires me to be online constantly, even though I have pretty damn good internet.

 

[themilo504]

You know I?m curious what Jim will do when the industry really does crash.

 

[Something Amyss]

Why is always on-line for consols detrimental, but always online via Steam exempt from scrutiny?

I'm not asking this to be contrarian or witty, I'm generally curious. Mainly because the only two PC games I play are WoW and LoL, both on an 5 year old iMac. So I'm a bit out of the loop.

Because, loathe as I am to defend Steam, it's not actually "always online."

When my internet was cut about a month ago (because Comcast is stupid and can't process checks on time for some reason), I was still able to access and play my games. It didn't kick me out of Magic 2013 when my internet went down and it didn't stop me from launching other titles for the two days it took me to get my internet back.

The rumours here are that it'll kick you for three minutes of inactivity.

Do you honestly feel those two are comparable scenarios?

 

[Something Amyss]

And that's how the Ouya will outsell the next Xbox. Deal with it.

Except it won't. At all. The Ouya is already failing as is with the few consoles that have been released due to its horrendous menu system and constant pop-ups telling you to pay for something.

It's also going to be annual, isn't it? I'm pretty sure that a new Ouya every year will be a problem.

 

[ImProvGamr]

Well, damn.

That closing statement was REALLY impressive.

 

[Slash2x]

Agreed. On every level.

I have a pretty poor internet connection where I am and I'm not exactly in the middle of nowhere, I'm in the south of England, not much more than 70 miles from London itself. Yet my internet probably wouldn't sustain a strong connection all the time. It drops considerably low between 5pm and midnight, which is my normal gaming time.

Needless to say, PS3 updates take FOREVER and most times I'll avoid using that particular console simply for that reason. If there's an always on DRM console released, you can be sure I won't buy it based simply on those grounds.

^ I have two kinds of internet from the same provider. "WOW THIS IS FAST AND GREAT!" Or I get "DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN WHY DOES IT KEEP BOOTING ME OFF EVERY 5 MINUTES!!!!??!?!?!"


Also Jim

by Peter Moore, EA chief operating officer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123116-EA-Really-Doesnt-Want-to-be-The-Worst-Company-In-America?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news]
Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It's not. People still want to argue about it. We can't be any clearer - it's not. Period.

That was an order not a request we need to listen to his commands lest he smite us and take away our Origin games.

 

[Legion]

I think the reason they have that kind of attitude is because they are banking on sales from the kind of people who will buy the console because it's all shiny and new rather than for any other reason.

If you're talking about douchetagdealwithit, I think it's more the fact that people don't understand the repercussions of social media. As Nash said, there will come a time where we are intimately familiar with the size, shape and colour of our President's genitals (because they tweeted them 30 years ago).

Then again, the gaming industry seems to be behind the ball on a lot of things, too.

I mean the "Who gives a crap what the customers think?" attitude. Most places such as shops and restaurants will go too far to please their customers, apologising and offering refunds/replacements even when it isn't their fault.

The games industry seems more like our banks, water, gas and electricity suppliers. Constantly screwing us over because they know they can get away with it. They show very little desire to actually keep us happy as consumers.

Obviously I don't mean all companies, it also seems to be more common among the publishers than the developers.

Almost the only people who are not affected by this kind of attitude are the kind who don't spend a lot of time discussing games like we do. People who will see it advertised on the television and "have to get the latest thing", and will buy it without looking at the problems.

 

[Casual Shinji]

MS needs to realise that it produces a luxury item. As much as gamers are willing to put up with shit to play their favourite games, we all realise that we don't really need to play them. These are things we fill our time with to entertain us. Comparing it to things like phones and vacuum cleaners is ridiculous. Those things are necessary items. We put up with problems with them because the need for them will not go away. If the electricity goes out or the mobile network doesn't cover wherever we happen to be, we wait until those services return and attempt again.

It's not just a luxery item, it's one luxery item among many others that don't require a constant online connection and that provide more or less the same kind of entertainment.

If Microsoft is putting DRM on their console they're not just shooting themselves in the foot, they're blowing their own legs clean off. And the fact that we haven't heard anyone from their side dismissing these rumors is only making them more concrete.

 

[DRTJR]

Nintendo is the only one I see that will still be around if there is another crash.