Microsoft "360s" on its DRM policies. No more 24 hour check in, Used games ahoy

[Eri]

same comment as the other thread, but i thought i'd add if it hasn't been said yet, that if it pulled a 360, then nothing about it would change...

OT: failed suicide, tarnished rep, yadda yadda.

Actually this is a joke on multiple levels. One, because people constantly fall for the old joke of "Why do they call it a 360? Because when you see one, you'll do a 360 and walk away". And 2ndly, because it really did do a 360, it started off with xbox360 with our current DRM, was going xtreme for xbox1, and now come full circle back to normal DRM.

 

[Missingno03]

It's already been mentioned in this thread, but price is still an issue. If MS decides to make Kinect optional and lower
the price to match the ps4, I might be interested. But, I don't see that happening (anytime soon at least).
Good that they listened to the feedback they've been getting though (at least somewhat).

 

[Something Amyss]

If you lend a friend a disk only one person can play it anyway...

That's down to a limitation of the media. Playing this up as something ten people can play despite the restriction that they can't access a NON-PHYSICAL game at the same time is a joke, especially the way they tried to sell it to us.

Plus they said that they don't even have to be family members!

Which is a fairly minor point, as they still have to be one what was being called a family list.

It's funny to consider how this will screw over EA, considering how they said "no online passes" due to XBONE's DRM.

I still can't believe people think this, given they'd still have to market to the Ps4 crowd. No timed exclusive was going to change that, and EA wasn't going to cut its audience in half (or by a third, in this case) just to stick to DRM.

The fact is, online passes were losing them money. That's the only reason they needed to drop them. Drop the conspiracy theories, people.

 

[Nadia Castle]

"I live in South Australia and I have family in Queensland and England, it is a lot more convenient for them to download (a lot faster than travelling all that way) the game from our shared library than to post it, not to mention cheaper. If you lend a friend a disk only one person can play it anyway... Plus they said that they don't even have to be family members! I hope they bring this back because I actually like the idea."

If you have relatives or friends abroad then yes, its a good idea (not that I would trust Microsoft not to ruin it in execution). In any other circumstance all its doing is limiting the amount of people who can borrow it. If you can't play the game when someone else is doing so then what exactly is the benefit of it other than not having to pass on a plastic disk?

Right now I'm visiting my parents and I can 'Family Share' my entire xbox library with my brother by giving him my games when I'm not playing them. If I wanted to, I could share all of my game with every xbox owner in the entire city. The whole thing was basically a way of saying 'We are restricting what you can do with the games you have paid for, but because we've given it a nice name it's now a 'revolutionary feature'.

 

[MetalDooley]

Not true, if you are having this issue you need to transfer the licenses to your current Xbox. If the licenses are tied to the xbox you are on, you can play your games offline with no issues.

That was one of the first things I did when I replaced my Xbox a few months ago.The games on demand titles I own still don't work offline for me

 

[kypsilon]

These guys can backpedal as much as they like to make this attractive to impulse purchases at the beginning, but let's be honest: Microsoft will turn this around once everyone is comfortable with their digital-only content. They want their DRM model and they'll get it...just later down the road.

And they still require that damned camera which apparently even the US Navy isn't too hot about. Go Microsoft.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I hated the Xbox One beforehand, now that they've done a 180 on the policies, the only thing truly holding me away is the price.

5 months microsoft, do what you will with it.

They better decide to take a loss and add a game and a year of Live to it, because:

Right now, Xbox One is sitting at 500 dollars for just the system, while if you pay the same amount for the PS4, you will also get a game(choice of Battlefield 4 or Killzone: Shadow Fall), plus a year's worth of PS Plus.

I'm glad that Microsoft changed their tune, but at this point, the Xbox One won't be my first console purchase during this new generation(Wii, and 360 were mine for last gen). Though, I'm glad now that I don't have to abandon Halo because of Microsoft's stupidity(Yes, I'm one of those people that couldn't care less that the thing has Kinect or that I might have to use it on occasion).

 

[AuronFtw]

The PS4 is still markedly more powerful, still has a superior online service, is $100 cheaper, and doesn't require constant video/sound recording of your living room.

Microsoft is backpedaling hard to attempt to stay relevant, but they have a ways to go yet. And this is without even getting into the fact that Microsoft still does not give a fuck about its consumers; it's only backpedaling now so it doesn't bomb and lose the console war early. The fact that they even ANNOUNCED such bullshit is a clear sign they are still self-serving and will use every opportunity it can to fuck players over.

Sony got a lot of praise for not intentionally dicking users over by basically not changing their policy - but we need to make sure that we aren't giving Microsoft praise for backpedaling from their profit-mongering consumer-hating policies that earned them so much ire. They tried to implement those because they honestly thought they could get away with it - they felt so little for their consumers that they figured they could completely fuck them in the ass with no lube and it would be fine. The fact that they're now pulling out jars of KY jelly shouldn't make anyone jump for joy; you're still gon get bumraped.

 

[MercurySteam]

It's good to see that MS still has a semblance of common decency, so I may eventually buy and Xbox One down the road, but definitely not on release. And I still don't understand why people are still going on about the $100 price difference; when you take into account that Kinect 2.0 is included the it does make more sense, though I don't disagree that they should release a bundle without it. Something tells me that Kinect will be highly integrated with the Xbone anyway.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I'm saddened at how many people in this thread, including the TC, think doing a 360 means to reverse direction or abandon something and walk away.

That would be a 180, which the majority seem to realize. Because of geometry, and because the "XB One Eighty" is a more accurate pun.

That being said, with this decision they have taken their already ZERO integrity, and then tried to divide it by itself.

When you act like its gotta be your way or not at all, and that all your decisions and policies are infallible, necessary, and for your customers own good (whether they asked for it or not) you had better be damn sure of those theorem proving positive.

They are essentially going "oh, wait, we suddenly had a revelation and we shall magnanimously....reverse every one of our policies that we just spent countless dollars and numerous wince-inducing press statements trying to shove down all your throats. Our decision was based purely upon listening to our fans, and not at all influenced by all of you telling us to go fuck ourselves. Stay tuned for exciting changes to Windows 8 as well."

And not a fuck should be given. I was eagerly awaiting a generation where Sony and Nintendo were once again the only ones in it to win it. It would have been nice to see someone other than Nintendo under the "wtf were they thinking?" umbrella.

The reason being, M$ can and will amend their policies as soon as they think they can safely get away with it. That is true of any entity that has an agenda that the masses don't immediately accept, obviously. And when it stands (at least in their deluded mindset) of making them more money by having these policies in place they are merely patronizing you in order to get that kinect into your home.

Personally, I have never wanted any M$ console. I hate the controllers, and they have ZERO exclusives that I wanted to play aside from Fable and Doom 3. And having played them on a borrowed rig, I was greatly disappointed.

Like I am with EVERY M$ offering. Bing? Um no. IE? Fuck no. Windows 8? NO MEANS NO!

And the phones, and tablets, and consoles. Seriously, stop trying to be Apple, because you really suck at it...

Of course Sony routinely has to pull their firmware updates because they keep bricking their own consoles so its not like you have THAT big a competitor there.

 

[Black Reaper]

The xbone may have improved,but it still has one fatal flaw(at least for me)
You have to pay for the fucking internet
That was why i liked the ps3 more last gen(apart from the controller)
I want a pc,but the internet is saying "Those aren't as good as they look",and "Pcs are the shit" at the same time

Fuck my life

 

[KefkaCultist]

Yeah, I've seen what they want to do as soon as they get the chance, they can still fuck right off. Nothing interesting so far anyway so no biggie there.

Yep, that's my thoughts as well. Was out with friends when I heard this news and laughed hysterically, but was then disappointed when a couple of my friends said they're probably gonna get one now. Like, really??!? We've now seen how easily they can flip their decision, what's to stop them from doing it again. That "fool me once, etc." phrase comes to mind.

 

[Black Reaper]

The xbone may have improved,but it still has one fatal flaw(at least for me)
You have to pay for the fucking internet
That was why i liked the ps3 more last gen(apart from the controller)
I want a pc,but the internet is saying "Those aren't as good as they look",and "Pcs are the shit" at the same time

Fuck my life

I hate to crush you bromigo, but you know PS4 is doing the same thing right?

You cant play any online games on PS4 unless you have a Playstation Plus account, which is the same as Xbox Live.

And the people who are saying PCs arent as good as they look dont have the first idea about what they are saying.

I was afraid this might happen when i was typing that post
Yes,i know the Ps4 is doing the same thing,that is why i said fuck my life,i would have said something like "thank god we have the Ps4" if i thought the Ps4 didn't have paid internet

 

[FoolKiller]

And there is still the fact that they could re-reverse their decision if they really wanted to,

Especially because this functionality is a day one patch. The system still has all these things built into it that could be reinstated with a later patch. I'll hold off and see if they're genuine or not.

 

[Terminate421]

I hated the Xbox One beforehand, now that they've done a 180 on the policies, the only thing truly holding me away is the price.

5 months microsoft, do what you will with it.

They better decide to take a loss and add a game and a year of Live to it, because:

Right now, Xbox One is sitting at 500 dollars for just the system, while if you pay the same amount for the PS4, you will also get a game(choice of Battlefield 4 or Killzone: Shadow Fall), plus a year's worth of PS Plus.

I'm glad that Microsoft changed their tune, but at this point, the Xbox One won't be my first console purchase during this new generation(Wii, and 360 were mine for last gen). Though, I'm glad now that I don't have to abandon Halo because of Microsoft's stupidity(Yes, I'm one of those people that couldn't care less that the thing has Kinect or that I might have to use it on occasion).

Actually I am a huge Halo nut so this is good news considering I love Halo. Now I won't have to feel ashamed about owning a shit console (Wasn't going to get it, now considering it since they removed the DRM)

It just takes the price and that'll alter what I feel.

 

[Windcaler]

While Im happy about these supposed changes to Microsofts anti-consumer practices I am also extremely wary about them. You see the kind of sweeping changes they mention requires significant hardware and software changes so I question the legitimacy of their claims about these drastic changes.

To be fair, some of their ideas like the family and friend sharing a digital library were pretty cool and are even ideas I hope steam adopts one day. So I wonder whats going on with this stuff with these changes?

Perhaps this is just my conspiranoia talking but I really wonder if Microsoft is saying they'll make these changes to get us to stop talking about their system like its one of the signs of the anti-christs coming only to go back to the original plans when the console is out or after release.

I guess what Im saying is while I like these changes I think we still need to remain vigilant. Without a tech demo or something like it detailing how the console works Im not sure we can trust what theyre saying

 

[Seracen]

If you lend a friend a disk only one person can play it anyway...

That's down to a limitation of the media. Playing this up as something ten people can play despite the restriction that they can't access a NON-PHYSICAL game at the same time is a joke, especially the way they tried to sell it to us.

Plus they said that they don't even have to be family members!

Which is a fairly minor point, as they still have to be one what was being called a family list.

It's funny to consider how this will screw over EA, considering how they said "no online passes" due to XBONE's DRM.

I still can't believe people think this, given they'd still have to market to the Ps4 crowd. No timed exclusive was going to change that, and EA wasn't going to cut its audience in half (or by a third, in this case) just to stick to DRM.

The fact is, online passes were losing them money. That's the only reason they needed to drop them. Drop the conspiracy theories, people.

I'll own the fact that this may have been conspiracy theory. I'll even own that EA caved to bad PR and consumer hate (like the ME3 ending) from the "vocal minority."

However, until EA can prove itself back into my good graces, I won't stop considering it. The fact that EA has consistently hopped on the worst of anti-consumer policies does not help their case.

As far as the shared library is concerned, I totally figured that we'd have groups of people doing shared libraries across the nation that WEREN'T family. As it would be difficult to police such a system, it's probably just as well anyways.

The point is moot for me in either event, as I'll likely wait a year before buying either platform. However, the statement stands that for the first time ever, I am actually considering buying a console at launch, and that system is PS4.

 

[Windcaler]

So, what, in this case, is the bloody point of even releasing a new console, then, if they're not changing a bloody thing? Is it just to jam in more pointless non-game bullshit and to make it so you can only play games released after this year if you dont happen to own an xbox 360?

The problem with the current console generation is its lacking the hardware and processing power needed by developers to do more complex games or ones with a tighter theme. For example theres no way the devs of warframe could get their game to function as is on the PS3 and Xbox 360. The hardware is just not up to specs so you couldnt have the smooth slidy, jumpy, slashy, shoot them in the face fun that the game has right now on PC. With the PS4's hardware they can achieve similar (maybe identical since we dont know the exact specs for the PS4) smooth gameplay with equal graphical fidelity

That said there are some changes coming out like a move toward digital distribution. Even though Im mostly a PC gamer Im not a big fan of DD services for a variety of reasons and I dont believe that console players are ready to move to that format either. However whats good about the move is its not relying solely on DD. Unlike PC where we basicly have no option outside of DD. Even if I buy a physical copy in a store its usually tied to steam for someidiotic reason.

 

[spartandude]

Why is it that anyone who makes jokes about the Xbox forgets basic maths.

360 means they face in the same direction, they spin all the way around. a 180 means the face in the opposite direction. god this annoys me so much


capcha Gathers Moss

So, what, in this case, is the bloody point of even releasing a new console, then, if they're not changing a bloody thing? Is it just to jam in more pointless non-game bullshit and to make it so you can only play games released after this year if you dont happen to own an xbox 360?

so you would rather have the drm? and the reason to release a new console is new hardware

 

[CaptQuakers]

Did this many complain about the PS3 price ? I don't remember this sort of backlash over a price.

Also if you're buying a console because it's cheaper I think you're making a mistake,Choose the console you want because you will be getting your monies worth from either over time.