MS Confirms Online Connection, Game Borrowing and Used Game Details

[Jabberwock King]

I personally wouldn't run into any issues under this system, as I always have a good internet connection, never sell my games, nor do I know anyone who I lend games to. But I cannot condone it as I fear what it will lead to, more hassle, more intrusive systems, and more roadblocks between me and a good time.

I'm hoping that this system drives as much business away as possible, prompting the firing of the design team and management responsible for this mess. Afterwards, the next project should revolve around patching out this system or releasing an updated box that doesn't use it.

 

[Griffolion]

Polygon did a good opinion piece about the Xbox One. It's quite clear MS has thrown their lot in with the big corporations and left the consumer out in the cold.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/7/4406170/xbox-one-internet-trade-policy

 

[GonzoGamer]

Anyone - anyone - who buys this piss-poor excuse for a console is basically killing the industry.

I don't agree with that at all. 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.

So you're saying we should reward them anyway? It's that kind of attitude that's made it so easy for capitalism to mutate into looterism. There are plenty of companies that have been able to maximize profit this generation by just making quality games that people want to buy and not looking for every little way to squeeze a little more money out of their customers.

I had a big enough problem with the online pass bs but this whole thing is getting way too elaborate and we only have a vague idea of how it works.

 

[auron200004]

Didn't an analyst recently state that Microsoft should drop their XBox division? Because with that in mind, I'm starting to think that they're doing this on purpose. They're going to cause their share of the market to crash and burn and THEN sell it, to piss that one guy off. That must be it. Nobody would make such shitty backwards decisions otherwise.

 

[mbarker]

My Broadband limit was just dropped from 250GB to 100GB so I don't evrn have enough for school and typical everyday usage with out having to pay overages. The last thing I need is a gamming machine to suck up any of my precious bandwidth.

Who is MS trying to market to? Young males who don't really play videogames and send money on stupid gimmicky crap.

 

[frizzlebyte]

Looks like I'll be skipping the XBOne. I've always thought of my games library as being much like my book and music library. If I want to give something away to someone, or if I want to let someone borrow it, I should be able to do that as many times as I want, and my friend should still be able to give it back to me when he/she is done.

This just puts the power over my stuff into the hands of Microsoft and all the other companies who *will* follow suit, including Sony, unless there is a massive backlash that makes it unprofitable to do this.

I'm beginning to think this new-fangled "digital age" is actively trying to vomit me off this planet.

 

[MrWunderful]

Anyone - anyone - who buys this piss-poor excuse for a console is basically killing the industry.

I don't agree with that at all. 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.

So you're saying we should reward them anyway? It's that kind of attitude that's made it so easy for capitalism to mutate into looterism. There are plenty of companies that have been able to maximize profit this generation by just making quality games that people want to buy and not looking for every little way to squeeze a little more money out of their customers.

I had a big enough problem with the online pass bs but this whole thing is getting way too elaborate and we only have a vague idea of how it works.

Thats not what I said at all, but people are going to assume whatever they want. I just don't want to see small publishers fail at the hands of another company. It will just take more effort to support the smaller companies in other ways. That Is what I meant but I didnt convey it clearly, sorry.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Anyone - anyone - who buys this piss-poor excuse for a console is basically killing the industry.

I don't agree with that at all. 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.

So you're saying we should reward them anyway? It's that kind of attitude that's made it so easy for capitalism to mutate into looterism. There are plenty of companies that have been able to maximize profit this generation by just making quality games that people want to buy and not looking for every little way to squeeze a little more money out of their customers.

I had a big enough problem with the online pass bs but this whole thing is getting way too elaborate and we only have a vague idea of how it works.

Thats not what I said at all, but people are going to assume whatever they want. I just don't want to see small publishers fail at the hands of another company. It will just take more effort to support the smaller companies in other ways.

Well, if the shit really hits the fan, everyone is screwed, even us...for a little while.
But the fact remains that most of the people who work in games do actually do it "for the love of it." It's a career that involves a lot of work, usually without a lot of pay. So the good news is that if everything really does fall apart, we will see a lot of new smaller devs rise from the ashes. They'll have less money behind them but they'll also have less pressure from the people with money to do all the crazy things we've been complaining about.

 

[Sectan]

Reading about trading games and that it sounds like steam. Except without the modding, game deals, F2P games and basically any other advantage having a PC would entail.

OT: Consoles used to be the pick up and go machine. You wanted to play a game with no hassle you bought a console, you stuck the game in, you turned it on and you were at the main menu ticking your name into the game start. Got bored of the game, you traded it in and got a little money.

Where as with PC there was a bit more of the ticking boxes, changing your settings, possibly changing ini files and all that. Biggest time consumer out of the whole process is installing/downloading you game. If the game sucked you got stuck with your game and that was it.

That was a console's strength over PC and that isn't what the Xboner is providing anymore. Consoles will lose if they try to compete in the same categories as PC so I have no idea why Microsoft is trying.

 

[AT God]

I would love to believe that there is an invisible hand that forces companies to make stupid decisions to keep the balance of power between the consoles.

When the PS3 came out and was clearly the better console (HARDWARE WISE), some shadowy figure told Sony they had to sell it for 600 dollars, making the Xbox 360 the breakout console and getting more money out of the gate. Now the same figure is going to Microsoft to make them load down the Xbox 1 with a bunch of garbage so the PS4 can come out and get the initial big money. (Sony will probably add stupid stuff too and ruin this fantasy of mine)

I just hope that when I finally decide I want to buy a console to play all the exclusive games I have missed since 2005 (Ratchet and Clank and God of War only), I will be able to buy a PS3 cheap like I can buy a PS2 cheap now. Something tells me the next step of console devs is to control pricing of their previous, more independent systems.

Maybe Nvidia will ruin everything and make a high quality GFX card for like 100 bucks and make Microsoft and Sony suffer.

 

[RoBi3.0]

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."

What this really means is that if you don't have a broadband connection don't bother buying Xbox One.

 

[vallorn]

Mostly you just have to point out to people the following:

Jake: "Hey bob you know those 360 games you own?"
Bob: "Uh. yeah?"
Jake: "Well if you buy them on the Xbox One you don't actually own them. You cant sell them, trade them with friends or put them on Ebay without Microsoft saying so. Oh and it tracks whether you have or not by making you sign in once a day even if their servers go down or your internet connection goes out."
Bob: "THEFUCK!"

God forbid Mr and Mrs Doe buying an X1 for little Timmy only to find that. Oh. Microsoft servers are down because of reasons. THAT would cause a few headlines in the 24 hour press.

Believe me, I would love to inform every potential buyer of this nonsense, but try as you might, it can't be done. My money's on a post-release uproar from shocked buyers, with the potential added wrinkle of M$ taking initial high sales figures as official validation for the Xbone's array of bullshit features. Your 'littly Timmy' scenario is going to happen - a lot.

On a totally unrelated note, I feel I must congratulate you on your avatar. Chibi Alpha is boss.

The more we can spread the news by word of mouth the better. Tell friends and coworkers you know play games so they know that this console is a piece of shit they should avoid.

Also thank you! I would have preferred a Chibi Thousand Son but I couldn't find one

 

[Alex Baas]

The last time I connected my Xbox 360 to the internet was when I downloaded Banjo-Tooie, which is probably about two or three months ago now.

I have no wireless to speak of, and use a single Ethernet cable that I switch between what I want connected at any given time. If I have my PS3 or Xbox connected to download something, it means I can't access the internet on my PC. And I prefer the convenience of the PC, because it's easier to browse, post, or watch things. So Microsoft lost at least one sale adopting these practices. I'm not going to support a console manufacturer that decides you'll be locked out of playing games if you don't connect your console every 24 hours.

Same here. Like, word for word. Creepy

 

[RheynbowDash]

I cant wait to see all the sheep shun Microshit for their crappy business practices and come over to PS4. Better exclusives, and its actually a GAMING console. *gasp*

 

[M920CAIN]

Anyone want to organize a giant celebration of Microsoft's incompetence? We could all go to Best Buys on the release date and make signs and dance about how we aren't buying it. We can make popsicle stick masks of Microsoft high-ups! We might make the local news!

I wouldn't call it incompetence. I would call it greed. Think of it this way, a guy like Bill Gates is practically retired, has loads of bucks and feels like donating to charities. Well why not start charity with your customers by not overcharging them for bullshit consoles that work against the customer's desires? why should you have fun, when you could pay through your nose to have fun. What ever happened to you get what you pay for? Now it's more like, you get what you pay for if you pay for some more by paying to pay what you have to pay to us to play by paying and then playing after you paid us, did we mention pay? yup.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Jeah.. the last console i bought was a SNES, and i doubt the future generation is going to change that.

I just gonna continue to abuse the privilege of the glorious PC-Master-Race while the console peasants burn for my amusment.
Also while mentioning SNES i've to replay Rock n' Roll Racing one again.. for the umpthiest-time

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

Well fuck you too Microsoft.

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.

And seeing as they cant be bothered with backwards compatibility any more I guess any games bought for the xbone will be worthless too when they shut off the servers.

I hope this console crashes and burns, and if Sony does the same then I hope the PS4 tanks too. This is a fucking disgrace.

sony's already said they never considered banning or restricting used games.

 

[eels05]

I'm astounded by the greed based stupidity on display from MS here.

Guess what Microsoft..I don't want to always be connected to the internet to play a fucking game,ok?

Sonny would have to have a similar death wish to follow suit.

 

[Monster_user]

Also, there's a few items of interest from the source article that seem to have completely avoided discussion here that I'd like to point out to everyone:

Access your entire games library from any Xbox One, no discs required: After signing in and installing, you can play any of your games from any Xbox One because a digital copy of your game is stored on your console and in the cloud. So, for example, while you are logged in at your friend?s house, you can play your games.

Share access to your games with everyone inside your home: Your friends and family, your guests and acquaintances get unlimited access to all of your games. Anyone can play your games on your console--regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you.

Give your family access to your entire games library anytime, anywhere: Xbox One will enable new forms of access for families. Up to ten members of your family can log in and play from your shared games library on any Xbox One. Just like today, a family member can play your copy of Forza Motorsport at a friend?s house. Only now, they will see not just Forza, but all of your shared games. You can always play your games, and any one of your family members can be playing from your shared library at a given time.

No discs.

So they believe this feature is worth the restrictive connectivity requirements?

Given Steam offers games for such lower prices, we are led to assume that the X-Box will have lower prices than the Playstation 4.

 

[Cobalt180]

I cant believe the game lending policy either.

What is up with that? What if I want to share games with many and many of my friends? And what if they have not been on my friends list for more than 30 days? What then.

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

Only if you let them, that is exactly the attitude that's going to think they CAN get away with that, I'd say save your money! No exclusive is worth the price of this console, it's not worth the vague promises that are subject to change halfway through the console's life. Many people's reactions are still very much the same as the launch, that the xbox is now doing everything it can to alienate a gamer audience, and, even example can show you that some of the xbox's large titles won't remain exclusive for long if the xbox tanks in sales.

I would say that if you want a better console, then say that you want a better console by not buying this one. I've been a avid 360 gamer for a loooong time, and I've let Microsoft get away with quite a bit, from red-ringing in the 360's early years to the realization that I've paid $60 a year for features I barely use as part of the xbox gold subscription, if you want to get the most for your money, the smarter thing (in my opinion) is to wait, because two weeks in to what may be a fascinating spectacle akin to a slow motion replay of a train wreck, Microsoft with be back-pedaling, side-pedaling, up-pedaling, diagonal-pedaling, trying to find out why gamers won't buy a console that seems to have so many restriction that benefit not the owners and the subscription payers, but the publishers who, as we've seen with EA, are gunning more towards having you pay tribute to them every once in a while to play their game.

Long Story Short: Save your money until the console is re-worked, if it's not, then go for it, but, be smart about that investment.