Next Xbox Practically Confirmed "Always-Online"

[veloper]

Too much wishful thinking going on here.
M$ will probably succeed, because outside some small savvy audiences here and there, not nearly enough gamers care about consumer rights. The rise of DRM on the PC is enough indication.

Now if you quit to become a PC gamer, you'll likely buy more PC hardware and run windows on it. The upgrade cycle in PC land is what allows M$ to keep selling new versions of their core product, so M$ wins.

Consoles are sold at a loss and the markup on games have to make up for it, so when the people who only(or mostly) buy used, ignore the xbox and go to a competitor, M$ still wins.

You know you won't migrate to the WiiU, if you weren't interested on it already, so that only leaves Sony and they aren't too keen on used sales either, so don't get your hopes up.
Expect massive corporate dick to penetrate your hobby, so that way atleast you won't be disappointed in the next gen.

 

[Spygon]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/25/next-xbox-functionality-pricing-reportedly-outed

Welp, guess I was right to jump the console ship when I did. This is just infuriating, because they're alienating the majority of the current xbox fanbase which probably doesn't have fiber optic or comcast internet. I myself have to work on an internet with a 128 kb/s bandwith cap, and can't afford to have ANYTHING taking up bandwith if the rest of the household wants to even use the internet (especially my mother, who works from home a lot).

Yet they also say it's up to the publisher... so I wonder if the only games requiring always-online are going to be Activision games and EA games...

Anyways, I REALLY wish that the gaming press, upon Microsoft OFFICIALLY declaring it is always-online, would just boo the speaker off the stage, but I know that will never happen

Really IGN picking up a story from a tech blogger that has nothing to do with microsoft or then gaming industry is practially confirmation for you?.The guy must be loving the traffic to his blog because of these rumors it is like he saw something that would do that for him and just wrote that oh wait.

I am fed up with everybody jumping on the rumor express at the moment and wont even humour any information until it comes out of microsoft mouth now.As i heard so many things ranging from always online,no disk drive and wont play used games that it is getting stupid.

 

[Gunner 51]

I'm still going to wait until the big unveiling of the new console before passing judgement. But if the rumours are true, I do not truly know whether I shall return to my PC gaming roots or stay with consoles. Either way, you get short-changed by publishers whose greed knows no bounds. Hell, they're both as bad as each other sometimes - and that's not including the vocal gamers within those two cames.

But as an interesting footnote, an exodus of former 10 year old racist, sexist idiotic gamers from X-box Live headed toward the crowds of PC gamers, should if nothing else - make things a little more interesting. The question which begs to be asked is "Who is stuck with who?"

 

[Cowabungaa]

What's so bad about Win8? Other then the "I'm old and It's different" rhetoric?

On that subject you might find this enlightening:
Whether it's actually literally unuseable is to be disputed seeing as how plenty of my classmates use it, but he raises plenty of valid points especially when you talk about usability.

Hence why I don't really trust Microsoft if they really decide to go through with an always-online Xbox. Windows 7 was good enough but they're so on-and-off that I doubt their infrastructure is good enough to not have more than enough problems with an always-online system.

 

[McFazzer]

My console of choice will be the Wii with the iPad peripheral if things continue as they are.

 

[Colt47]

My console of choice will be the Wii with the iPad peripheral if things continue as they are.

I've already blown my console budget on a radeon 7970 graphics card since they were offering three free games with it. Not even going to try to get into the next console gen until I see what the libraries look like 1 year post release.

 

[Something Amyss]

Really IGN picking up a story from a tech blogger that has nothing to do with microsoft or then gaming industry is practially confirmation for you?

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Paul Thurrot is not just a blogger posting unofficial stuff, he's a blogger posting unofficial stuff that undercuts his previous unofficial stuff and appears to be the sole origin about many of these rumours. People are treating this as fact when it looks like it's a complete asspull.

The problem is that the people who develop things like this are obviously people who live in worlds with a decent, always active internet connection...

Regardless of whether or not the rumour is true, this is a fairly decent point in general. How does patching things go on your console? It's an oft-slow thing on my broadband, which is much better than what you've got (Not that you can help it or anything, just saying).

And Sony's slow as shiiiiiiit. I'm glad I have PS+, because it downloads the updates in the middle of the night.

Anyway, the problem of the executives being out of touch is a real one. The problem of an always-online console? Not so certain.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

The problem is that the people who develop things like this are obviously people who live in worlds with a decent, always active internet connection...

Regardless of whether or not the rumour is true, this is a fairly decent point in general. How does patching things go on your console? It's an oft-slow thing on my broadband, which is much better than what you've got (Not that you can help it or anything, just saying).

And Sony's slow as shiiiiiiit. I'm glad I have PS+, because it downloads the updates in the middle of the night.

Anyway, the problem of the executives being out of touch is a real one. The problem of an always-online console? Not so certain.

Oh god... What I tend to do is take it with me to my parents if I visit on the weekend and use their 50mb/s speed broadband instead...

To get the internet on my xbox in the forces I have to route it through my laptop... which makes things unbearable! :/

 

[Wolfhowl the shadow lurker]

Still going to stay with pc gameing anyway so does not matter to me, i kind of hope they do do it so they can show off how badly it works

 

[Innegativeion]

I don't think "practically confirmed" actually means anything... at all. By it's very nature this term doesn't carry any weight. Can't we just wait the couple weeks for Microsoft to announce the damned thing?

Anyway... I'm kind of ambivalent about this. If it is true, then that'll be horrible and disgusting etc. etc... but I'm optimistic that people aren't SO stupid that they'll lap that shit up. I predict a lot of people trying to use it at once, a Microsoft server crash, and a lot of returns. Thus resulting in a HUGE precedent for Sony, Nintendo, and any other future consoles/software platforms to NEVER do something like that.

If it's not true, then thank god Microsoft has some sense.

 

[Seydaman]

Yet they also say it's up to the publisher... so I wonder if the only games requiring always-online are going to be Activision games and EA games...

Wait, how can you have offline games on an always-online console? The reason an always-online console is such a disgrace is that it requires an internet connection to do anything on.
If it's capable of running games offline then it's not always online, it just happens to have some games that require an always on connection to play... which is exactly what we have now.

Also I like that it runs on what is basically windows 8. That isn't a console, it's a crap computer. I really hate how the companies now are killing the major advantage of a console running a bare bones OS and virtually no other software so all the processing power could go straight into the games. Now they are sticking computer OS's in the consoles and giving them constant social media connectivity and a bunch of other crap. That advantage has been shot in the head. Well done.

So what you're saying is, better off playing pure PC?

I can drink to that.

OT: Bad marketing and press move. And the bad sales won't just come from the hardcore crowds either, it will be Bob that says to Laura "Oh yea, don't get that next Xbox, I couldn't get it working for my son/daughter and it crashes/breaks all the time! Complete waste of money"

 

[Auron225]

AAhahahahahaha!!! XD

Maybe I find this funnier than I should. I've never owned an Xbox and don't really have any particular grievance with it but my brother has been, for years now, insisting that Microsoft would eventually win the "console war" and before long nobody would remember what a Playstation was.

Then they go and do this =P

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

Yeah not even bothering with the new consoles anymore. Been hearing nothing but shit news, and we don't need new consoles anyway. They should wait at least a few years for the processing power upgrade to be relevant. If people want extremely good top of the line bleeding edge graphics they're always gonna have to use a good PC anyway.