Next Xbox Practically Confirmed "Always-Online"

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I'll just wait for the actual reveal that's happening next month

I'll just have to keep telling myself even Microsoft wouldn't be THAT stupid. If it is, simply put: I won't buy it.

You've obviously never dealt with Microsoft before, yes they can be that stupid. One just has to look at Windows 8.

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

Windows biggest draw (especially for businesses which make up a large portion of the current install base) was it's open nature as well as its (relatively) simple layout that required little training for basic use.

Windows 8 shits on both of those aspects like there is no tomorrow.

The interface (while possibly halfway decent on a tablet) is what could nicely be described as the vomit of four colours and uncharitably called "a fucking disaster area" on desktops.

The actual OS itself is worse. Between the closed nature, yearly fees for basics like Microsoft Office, and lack of support for various programs and services (especially third party programs) led to the Company I work for not even bothering to test the OS at all (something that even Vista achieved).

In all it brings nothing to the table for businesses, which Microsoft should be courting with all its might having already lost most of the 'casual' audience to Apple.

 

[Haakmed]

Yes so lets believe something that is stated as a rumor and call it fact cause well we can. I would love to give some credit to Microsoft here and say they can't be that stupid. Loosing that much of your market for no practical gain does not seem like something they would be stupid enough to do. And as for the pricing....Ya ok with Microsoft's latest deal on Xboxes I can kinda see that being somewhat close to what they will charge. But 300 bucks then adding another 240 bucks over the next 2 years? What are the terms and conditions? Early termination? what?

Still seems better to wait until they actually do the reveal before any of this is even close to being credible.

 

[OpticalJunction]

I bet a lot of people in this thread have lots of Steam games which require an internet connection.

Actually steam has an offline mode. You only need an internet connection when you first download/register the game, or are downloading patches. (To be fair, though, steam's offline mode doesn't always work)

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Meh...

Quite honestly, as a Playstation gamer, the upcoming news about the next Xbox doesn't really have me on the edge of my seat, I'll be interested to see how severe the whole "Always online DRM" thing will be, but I'll remain unaffected.

As Playstation gamers I believe we are to sit back with white fluffy cats and laugh menacingly.

At last with the failing Wii-U and next Xbox turning off all consumers, the PS4 will rise to cultural dominance, MWHAHAHA, MWHAHAHA. Come now Mister Bigglesworth.

 

[Berithil]

Meh...

Quite honestly, as a Playstation gamer, the upcoming news about the next Xbox doesn't really have me on the edge of my seat, I'll be interested to see how severe the whole "Always online DRM" thing will be, but I'll remain unaffected.

As Playstation gamers I believe we are to sit back with white fluffy cats and laugh menacingly.

At last with the failing Wii-U and next Xbox turning off all consumers, the PS4 will rise to cultural dominance, MWHAHAHA, MWHAHAHA. Come now Mister Bigglesworth.

Yes! Yes! It is all going according to plan!

 

[TheCommanders]

Always online means nothing to me, I am blessed with with stable internet and I don't think I've been "offline" for over ten years now.

See, I originally thought, like you, that this wouldn't effect me, even if I did acknolewge that many people don't have stable internet. But there are two huge problems that have nothing to do with your personal internet and are out of your control.

1. Downtime. All game servers have downtime, most of it unscheduled. It's mostly unnoticeable for new games, but for games that are even only a few years old it can be a real problem if the game or console is forced to be always online. For example, the other day I was playing Dragon Age 2, and was notified while playing that I was disconnected from the server. I had my laptop online right next to me, so I know it wasn't my Internet, and I was still logged into xbox live, so it wasn't my console. This was no problem right now, but with an always online console, you would be kicked immediately from the game if like Sim City, the game itself was always online, or in between 0 and 3 minutes if it wasn't. Considering this happens pretty much every time I play a game that requires me to log in to play it, this could become a real problem really fast.

2. This is the much bigger issue. Your games, the ones you purchased with your own money and have sitting on your shelf, will now have an expiration date. In 10, maybe 20, or if we're really lucky 30+ years, microsoft will shut down their nextbox servers for good, and all your games are now small shiny Frisbees. Most developers will have shut down servers for their individual games long before this to make room for new titles (servers are expensive). You might say, "Ah, but by that time they'll probably have built in the ability to play offline and allow that after they shut down their service." They will not. Why? They have no incentive to. In fact, they have incentive not to. If you can't play your old games, that means you'll have to buy their new games. Why do you think consoles avoid backward comparability like the plague (besides an excuse for HD re-releases)? They want you to keep buying their stuff, and if you are content with your current stuff, omg, you might not buy their new stuff!

For these reasons, even though my Internet is pretty much on 24/7 anyway, I am firmly against alway online, and you might not be as unaffected as you think.

 

[Sarge034]

If, and I stress IF the "720" is always online I'm not buying. Cus always online has worked sooo well for Diablo 3 and SimCity... I am curious to see if it is though, and how that will affect Microsoft's profit margin. Just have to wait and see I guess. :/

EDIT-

Meh...

Quite honestly, as a Playstation gamer, the upcoming news about the next Xbox doesn't really have me on the edge of my seat, I'll be interested to see how severe the whole "Always online DRM" thing will be, but I'll remain unaffected.

As Playstation gamers I believe we are to sit back with white fluffy cats and laugh menacingly.

At last with the failing Wii-U and next Xbox turning off all consumers, the PS4 will rise to cultural dominance, MWHAHAHA, MWHAHAHA. Come now Mister Bigglesworth.

I guess you earned the right to. Not even gonna lie I was sitting back with my white fluffy cat and laughing menacingly when Sony got hacked and live was running fine...

 

[triggrhappy94]

So my internet likes to cut out around noon or so every day, which makes playing over the weekend annoying. I don't think there's anything wrong with it and it comes back about half an hour later. Who should I blame when I lose progress because my 720 tells me to fuck off without a connection?


I can't afford it anyways, I'm planning on raking in all the good 360 games that Gamestop's going to deem useless as soon as the 720 comes out. It's going to be awesome.

 

[Requia]

Hrm, I might posit a way for this to not be as bad as people think.

?the next Xbox must be Internet-connected to use. This is the source of the ?always on?/?always online? rumors and isn?t as Draconian as many seem to believe.?

This could be interpreted as needing an internet connection in order to get any updates (at present games come with enough updates to let them run if the console is out of date), instead of needing to be online every second of play.

This may still be fucking stupid from a high sales numbers perspective, though MSs business model (IE, they lose money when you buy a console, and rather a lot of it) means selling to people who don't buy Xbox Live is a waste of their time and money anyway.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't take "practically confirmed" news very seriously but yes, an always-online console would put the suck in sucky.

So what puts in the y?

The WHY from why do you ask?

 

[WoW Killer]

So what if, Microsoft confirm always online, then soon afterwards Sony do a U-turn and quickly shovel always-online into their own console? If they both have it, then there's no competitive loss, which is just how Sony and Microsoft seem to like doing business.

 

[Ace Morologist]

Is it possible Microsoft is actually brilliant? Could the PR dudes have concocted this whole always-online brouhaha out of whole cloth when the new console actually has no such requirement? Because seriously, think of how happy every complainer and professed abstainer will be if it's revealed that the new Xbox is basically just a faster, less-overheaty Xbox 360 with an integrated Kinect which you don't have to have constantly online to play your games. ("Always online? Who said it was always online? We never said that. Weird how this rumor spread so fast. Aren't you happy it's false, though?")

Hell, if this has been a misdirect this whole time, I'll start the Slow Clap Heard 'Round the World myself.

--Morology!

 

[Vetta E-dom]

I think what confirms it more is not that there have been constant rumours that it will always be online, but the fact that I can't think of a single rumour that it won't be online.

Also, I feel this is relevant:

EDIT:

I bet a lot of people in this thread have lots of Steam games which require an internet connection.

1. Download steam.
2. Buy any single-player game.
3. Click on the tab at the top-left hand of the Steam UI that says "Steam".
4. Click on "go offline".
5. Still be able to play that game.
6. ???
7. Cry bitter, bitter tears, as only an over-apologetic fanboy proved wrong can.

http://gengame.net/2013/04/rumor-next-xbox-always-online-never-considered-has-backward-compatibility-with-360-games/


7. Cry bitter, bitter tears, as only an over-apologetic fanboy proved wrong can. <- would you mind???

 

[Maximum Bert]

Still waiting for official confirmation but if its true I wont be buying one I am online mostly anyway but its not exactly fast and I still get regular downtime but really its just another hassle which has been put in for absolutely no benefit to the consumer. People like choice not ultimatums, It will be interesting to see how many people do still buy it if the rumours prove true because it sounds disastrous from a business perspective.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Harness it and direct it towards building a gaming PC.

I too was like you once; innocent and mislead by the Console Order. It was only when, against their wishes, I ventured beyond the ivory walls to dabble in things they considered forbidden. Mods, third-party servers, and even the emulation of dead consoles; they make outcasts of those who practice these liberating arts. I drank from the blasphemous pools and found myself unable to return to the order. For I had gained knowledge, knowledge that those fools would rather ignore than acknowledge their own inadequacies.

Accept what you know deep down to be true. The time of the Console Order is ending, and from its ashes shall arise the new PC Empire!!

 

[Vetta E-dom]

Great, so that's one rumour to counter the roughly 15 billion others that it will be. Case closed, detective! Good job!

Don't get so pissy when proved wrong it looks bad. I'll consider your crying quota met though, if that cheers you up.

>Have one piece of evidence.
>Immediately declare victory, no matter what anyone else says.

I wish my life was a simple as yours. Have you considered a career at Fox?

You post that there is not ONE piece of evidence to suggest that the next Xbox will be always online.

"but the fact that I can't think of a ___"single rumour"____ that it won't be online." I then give you evidence that it may possibly not be always online. And you proceed to flip your shit.

Immediately declare victory, no matter what anyone else says.--- Where the hell did you pull this? Because I posted this ,"7. Cry bitter, bitter tears, as only an over-apologetic fanboy proved wrong can" because you were literally Proved "Proved" wrong?

Try coming down off your high horse, I posted an effing link that you didn't like because it contradicted your stance.. .. Yeah I really look like I'm the one that should work at fox.

 

[Xanex]

Glad I switched back to PC gaming.

And as far as some of the "features" so far released. Why would I want social media crap stuffed into a 5 to 6 hundred dollar console when my 2 two hundred dollar smart phone and Ipad already do that and probably better.

 

[Something Amyss]

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

LOL.

Allow me to rephrase this article for you.

"Thurrot, who previously claimed these rumours to be fact, now insist those rumours are false but these new rumours are totally true because ponies."

The guy's been consistently wrong. Don't know why anyone would take him at his word. Are you simply looking for justifications for "jumping ship?"

I figure with the huge amount of rumors surrounding the always-online functionality it's almost 100% confirmed at this point.

They're the same rumours from the same "sources."

So Microsoft is that stupid after all. Not surprised. At this point there is absolutely nothing that I'd expect a company not to be too stupid to try.

They're stupid because a blogger who has been consistently wrong has made a new version of his dubious predictions?

 

[Something Amyss]

Is it possible Microsoft is actually brilliant? Could the PR dudes have concocted this whole always-online brouhaha out of whole cloth when the new console actually has no such requirement?

Possibly, but remember this rumour and others like it persisted for the PS3 and PS4.

I don't think it's a conspiracy by Microsoft so much as a bunch of conspiracy theorists being reblogged by people without pattern recognition.

 

[Rattja]

Anonymous should do to MS what they did to Sony when it comes out, that would be hilarious.

This! With all the online stuff flying around, I am just waiting for a wave of hackers to mess it up. Maybe that would wake people up =D