PS4 Will Not Need To Be Always Online

Britishfan

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CriticalMiss said:
Britishfan said:
Sony: 1
Microsoft: 0
Surely Sony have more than one point? Adam Orth scored an own-goal remember.
If I was actually start keeping score it would be reminiscent of cricket, and I try to repress those high school memories as much as possible.
 

Covarr

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May 29, 2009
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He didn't outright say it like this, but you can tell Yoshida was thinking "Why the hell would we do that? Eliminating entire regions of potential sales is a terrible idea!"

Even if the next Xbox doesn't have an always-online requirement, it's painfully obvious that MS at least thought about it. The fact that it was never even considered for the PS4 gives me a fair bit of faith in the company.

P.S. Thanks
 

SSJBlastoise

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It really is amazing when people keep banging on about the xbox 720 is going to be always online despite the fact that it was leaked that it wouldn't require an always online connection to play games. Unfortunately, it appears the Escapist prefers to only mention the bad rumors but ignore the good ones like this http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/155121-microsoft-the-xbox-720-wont-require-an-always-on-connection-to-play-games
 

twaddle

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now if they tell us we won't be charged to hell for games on the new console we'll be golden
 

Genocidicles

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SSJBlastoise said:
It really is amazing when people keep banging on about the xbox 720 is going to be always online despite the fact that it was leaked that it wouldn't require an always online connection to play games. Unfortunately, it appears the Escapist prefers to only mention the bad rumors but ignore the good ones like this http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/155121-microsoft-the-xbox-720-wont-require-an-always-on-connection-to-play-games
The thing is that it had to be a leak, which is kind of fishy.

If it really wasn't going to be always online, why didn't Microsoft just come out and say it straight away?
 

HyenaThePirate

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Britishfan said:
HyenaThePirate said:
A rather big wrench in that, if people are forced to pay full price without being able to resell the games then sales will drop for the simple fact that most people can't afford many games at full price, so overall the amount of sales will drop. Weather the money lost will be more than gained from new sales is up for conjecture. This is ofcourse assuming people would follow said games, you forget that good game or not there are alot of people who literally cannot use an always online console so they would go for Sony regardless because it's all that would work for them.
I am not affected by the net issue nor do I have issues with money, but I wont get a nextbox if even half the rumors are true on principle alone, considering I didn't get the 360 till a few months ago I already know that ms has nothing worth the price of admission.
People aren't going to stop buying games full stop, and it's not quite clear what the profits would look like when the used games stores are unable to sell games at a lower price forcing all game adopters to pay full retail for popular titles. I'm reasonably certain people won't just STOP buying games, although I suspect that they will be more selective in their game purchasing experiences. Neither seems to be as concerning to game developers as figuring out ways to make larger profits on the IP's they currently have, which is why we have less and less original IP's and more and more "sequels" that are coming annually now for full price.

Consider Call of Duty...
By the time the price drops enough to make purchasing Black OPs (for example) cheap enough to avoid excuses, a new iteration is hitting shelves and most of the mainstream moves on. Like, right now, if I go to buy BLOPs II, I'll be lucky to get about maybe 6 months of good enjoyment out of it before people have moved on to the next. Most of those people aren't buying it used either, they are first day adopters running out to get their hands on it within days of release.
 

SSJBlastoise

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Genocidicles said:
The thing is that it had to be a leak, which is kind of fishy.

If it really wasn't going to be always online, why didn't Microsoft just come out and say it straight away?
I'm not denying that it may well have been a recent change but the fact that people are so willing to ignore it just so they can throw shit at a company. To address the not coming out previously, did Sony say anything before the reveal because I only remember a whole heap of rumors and nothing official from Sony? (but my memory is crap so I could be wrong.)

I mean, sure, it would have been good if they just came out and say it but I'd imagine any form of press release would be met with people whining about why didn't they announce more? It's just easier for them to announce it at the official reveal.
 

Jman1236

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Sony at the moment is winning me over for the next generation, still waiting to see on the 21st if microsoft can avoid shooting itself in the foot ether by online DRM, blocking second hand games, and/or whoring itself out to the kinect 2.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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The PS4 reveal was boring. Showing lots of features ive no interest in. Poor games shown. An yes i know they will show more officially on E3.Thing is all the crap im reading about MS next console will never happen. There wont be DRM, or always online and Kinect2 will be an extra and not needed to game.....unless its a kinect game. MS is not that stupid to destroy all the work and money to become a viable alternative to Playstation and a competitor to Sony.

So, yeah, for me its the games. An when E3 happens, thats all im interested in, not all the social media crap. Seriously, how many ways do people need to use FB? Why cant people just enjoy life without having to keep updating FB about it?

I had the the PSI/PS2 (greatest console ever) then Xbox/360 because PS3 sucked in my opinion. So now we shall see which console gets my attention at E3.
 

Pink Apocalypse

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There are 3 different 360 consoles in this house. All of us were outraged at the 'always online' or 'block used games' news (assuming it's true). From that point forward, we have been waiting to see the news from Sony.

Assuming nothing changes, Sony just pre-sold 3 new consoles, and gained three new converts.

Not much else to say, other than kudos to the rarity of a corporation for not having a developed, 'first-world' centric view.
 

RicoADF

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HyenaThePirate said:
People aren't going to stop buying games full stop, and it's not quite clear what the profits would look like when the used games stores are unable to sell games at a lower price forcing all game adopters to pay full retail for popular titles. I'm reasonably certain people won't just STOP buying games, although I suspect that they will be more selective in their game purchasing experiences. Neither seems to be as concerning to game developers as figuring out ways to make larger profits on the IP's they currently have, which is why we have less and less original IP's and more and more "sequels" that are coming annually now for full price.

Consider Call of Duty...
By the time the price drops enough to make purchasing Black OPs (for example) cheap enough to avoid excuses, a new iteration is hitting shelves and most of the mainstream moves on. Like, right now, if I go to buy BLOPs II, I'll be lucky to get about maybe 6 months of good enjoyment out of it before people have moved on to the next. Most of those people aren't buying it used either, they are first day adopters running out to get their hands on it within days of release.
Assuming you were quoting me (the wording was me but it had another persons name), you seem to have ignored the part where I said "This is ofcourse assuming people would follow said games, you forget that good game or not there are alot of people who literally cannot use an always online console so they would go for Sony regardless because it's all that would work for them." Are you saying people will buy games they cannot play due to always online? I don't think you realise how many people would be effected. Xbox alone is estimated to have around 50% never being connected online, that's a sizable chunk of the consumer base that for various reasons don't go online.
 

Nihlus2

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Feb 8, 2011
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Thank all that is holy for a voice of reason and a sane decision.

We are still waiting Microsoft, hopefully all of that silence is not an attempt to ackwardly backpedal and last-minute change the console.

The PS4 (despite its shortcommings) sounds more and more appealing compared to Microsoft's next construct, of which we know... well basicly little to nothing yet. We will see, but the bar has been raised quite a bit to begin with.
 

veloper

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What you should really want to hear is "no DRM". "Not always-online" also applies to some of the worst 5 limit-activation DRM ever conceived on the PC.
 

Th37thTrump3t

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Well, I guess we'll find out on the 21st whether or not the New Xbox will be always online. Hopefully they take the same approach as Sony.

Britishfan said:
Sony: 1
Microsoft: 0
I wouldn't start tallying scores until Microsoft has said something. They seem to be doing a really good job at keeping the specifics of their new console a secret. Though it does seem to be working in Sony's favor that they are getting their console out there first. But at the same time they may be picking up more momentum than they can sustain, like the Wii.
 

EHKOS

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Feb 28, 2010
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Good, because we all saw how Always Online worked out for U.S.R.

....I watched I, Robot last night. I thought I was clever.
 

COMaestro

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May 24, 2010
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I don't really care about Microsoft's reveal of the next Xbox. I've been buying Playstations ever since the original, and I don't see that changing unless the new Xbox can print money. The thing that has always sold the platforms for me has been the games. Give me good games, and you will get my money. There are so few Xbox exclusives and while the games are good, they are not the greatest games ever. The main franchises are Halo, Gears of War, and Fable. That's pretty much it. In my opinion, Playstation just has a better stable of exclusive franchises, end of story. Even if every game made from here on out was multiplatform, I'd still probably stick with the Playstation.
 

oldtaku

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"Did we consider it? No, we didn't consider it," says Shuhei Yoshida of Sony Worldwide Studios
Oh, you lyin'. Unless that's a translation error. I absolutely refuse to believe that nobody at Sony even looked at the idea of an always connected PS4 for even a second - and then correctly decided it was a bad idea. Even the rest of his statement supports that.
 

Shadow-Phoenix

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To be honest it frankly doesn't matter to me as long as both consoles have decent games then all shall be good.

Microsoft managed to win me over years back with Fable and Halo and Sony had me with Resistance and Killzone right up until my PS3 died and I stayed with MS this far.

Now I'll continue to watch closely and see just what the next generation in gaming has to offer since both sides have had their fair share of great games.
 

HalfTangible

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HyenaThePirate said:
I think people miss something important about Microsoft and their always on threat... we like to think that "well they'll lose big time money and Sony will dominate the console cycle."

But there is one caveat.
We buy these systems to play GAMES, and game developers care only about SELLING games to MAKE MONEY.

So here is how I see things going down:

Microsoft forces always on on it's consumer base. Some will balk, some will still say what's the big deal.
Resell value of Xbox games plummets, damaging used game companies and forcing people to pay full price for new titles.

(Here is where it gets interesting)

The Gaming industry sees a rise in PROFITS due to the larger sales of new titles and lack of the used resale loophole. Resale and piracy of PS4 titles makes that console less appealing to developers who only care about the bottomline.

Call of Duty is the first major title to move to exclusive Xbox due to this.
It will still sell MILLIONS of copies, since most of it's players already use internet to play multiplayer.

Other companies follow suit, preferring to roll the dice with the Xbox knowing that for all its sqawking and belly aching, gamers have an itch that needs scratching, and the dwindling PS4 titles worth playing won't be enough to keep people from giving in and buying Always on Xboxes because PC gaming is still too complicated/costly for the average consumer who doesn't want to deal with OS's and Drivers and Memory and graphics cards and other such potential issues.

3 or 4 years from now, most households will have some basic form of wifi or internet that is always on anyway (nobody cares about undeveloped nations since they don't contribute much to the gaming industry profits anyways.

People will eventually forget why they ever cared about always on because it becomes the norm.

Sony eventually moves to Always on to woo back third party developers to increase and revive their ailing stable of titles. After all, he said that the PS4 will not "NEED" to be always online... not that it CAN'T or WON'T.


That's one possible way things can go down, and I'm not quite confident it won't happen this way. Sure, us hardcore game loving types seem to care about always on, but there's an extremely large casual/mainstream audience of kids, ignorant parents, and people who just don't give a frak about this "controversy" that won't know or care or be deterred from having another Xbox (their current console of choice that is familiar to them) and those are the people Microsoft might be thinking of and who will make Always Online consoles par for the course.
An interesting idea. But you're not factoring in Gamestop and other retailers that take in used games and see massive profits from it. As Jimquisition pointed out, not only is the US' infrastructure a total joke, not only do many xbox users play offline (microsoft itself admits this) but it will also severely alienate entire store chains. Gamestop and other retailers will end up giving such a hypothetical console less shelf space, since it makes less profit on those items, which makes the console look less widespread and prominent.

And as SimCity and Diablo 3 proved, always-on DRM causes so much server strain that companies can't actually handle it. Now imagine those same scenarios, but instead of just being unable to get into a diablo 3 server, you can't open up Mass Effect for its story mode either. That console will drop fans like flies. Especially at the launch for a game like CoD, which has a fanbase just as massive as SimCity and Diablo (perhaps even moreso) if memory serves.