The Xbox One

And you know... society should have some freaking standards, like be rational at all times... There is no rational justification for this rule, hence what BlueLogic said. It's an established norm because it's the logical conclusion, or at least SHOULD be, because it's the logical conclusion.

I mean individuals can be irrational if they want to as long as it's trivial, but a company being irrational is in no way trivial.

Oh SNAP!  It seems as though MS can read polls as they are apparently changing course on the most controversial of their policies according to Game Informer:

Report: Microsoft To Drop Used Game Restrictions, Online Requirements

Content of article follows:

In what might be the most dramatic reversal in the gaming industry, Microsoft is reportedly changing course on many of the concerns related to the Xbox One. These include a 180 degree shift on used games and online requirements.
According to a report published on Giant Bomb, Microsoft will be dropping the 24 hour license renewal "check ins" we were told the system requires. Additionally, retail discs will be handled identically to what we experience now on the Xbox 360. This includes trading in and loaning to friends. An internet connection will only be required when setting up the console, and region locks will be disabled. 
This news follows our interview with Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer, who assured us that Microsoft is listening to community feedback. We've reached out to the company for comment.


Exciting news that, I'd argue, benefits gamers regardless of system allegiance.

Not good enough!That Kinect thing...It's still watching. Like some kind of evil kid, staring at you behind your back. And you wanna punch him, but you can't coz he will burn you alive or something...

Huge news. Glad to hear it. I still won't be buying one, but this is a victory for the industry as a whole and gamers especially.

Sports people get payed to do sports. We pay for games. It's not the same.

The kinect watching you thing is generally a joke. The real issue is devs are probably gonna have to shoehorn kinect functionality into every xbone game to justify the price increase for forcing it on everyone.

BlueLogic wrote:Oh SNAP!  It seems as though MS can read polls as they are apparently changing course on the most controversial of their policies according to Game Informer:

Report: Microsoft To Drop Used Game Restrictions, Online Requirements
*snip*

I say, well done MS! You are not as stubborn as certain other companies in the gaming business after all.

Cool. Very cool.

inb4 caved in

In a way, I respected Microsoft for taking the stance they did, but I also think their PR department HORRIBLY botched the handling of this.  The future is connected.  That's not opinion, that's fact.  Whether we like it or not, we're heading for a future where always online is the norm.  However, I feel the issue here is that we have not reached the point where we're ready for it.  Until everyone who has the ability to use this system either has a stable internet connection or has a guarantee from Microsoft that there will be a way for them specifically to use it without one, they cannot do this without alienating (as we've seen) a large part of their fan base.  The biggest group here that they should have been more careful with was the military.  They completely botched their handling of the military.  Additionally, as awesome as the benefits of an always online system may be, not everyone has the capability of being always online.  The real issue, to me, anyway, is not the always online system but the lack of always online people.  Once they can fix that, an always online system won't be an issue.  Until that time, however, as many benefits as an always online system provides, it won't be accepted because people won't always be able to receive those benefits.  Ultimately, I think this decision a wise business move, though it makes me sad that we're still not to the point where an always online system can survive.

Edit: Also, I think Microsoft missed a huge opportunity to become an internet provider.  They could have made a mint while also serving their customers with internet connections that would have been Xbox One ready.

Well, well. People power can work after all.

I'm still planning on getting a PS4, as it's more powerful, cheaper, has inFamous and is considerably less eye-bleedingly hideous to look at. But if I ever win the lottery I'll be able to treat myself to an Xbone as well without feeling like a corporate serf.

BleedingUranium wrote:Huh, that's pretty awesome. I mean, I personally didn't think those were big deals, but hey, it's good for all those that did care.

And Rif, really, is it possible for you to actually have a debate where 90% of what you say is actually about the topic instead of personal attacks?

Don't hate me 'cuz I'm beautiful.

Also, save editing is not cheating, as it is allowed by Bioware.

I did it by hacking the coalesced and using console commands. Anyway, "allowed" seems to imply you think they have any say over what people do with single player games they legally own. That's cute.

Are you saying that because cheating in a video game is relatively unimportant, we shouldn't bother enforcing it? The best comparison to games is sports, as they're essentially the same thing. I'm not sure what the real policy is, but if an athlete is caught cheating (like using a performance enhancing drug), they should be banned for life from that sport, and probably others. The kind of person who would do that should never be welcome there.

No, I'm not saying we shouldn't bother enforcing any rules. Are you saying that you hate Chinese people?

^About the Kinect, that's less of a privacy issue that the smartphones everyone carries with them everywhere, or the webcams on your laptops/PCs, but no one complains about those at all. It's an irrational fear.

Yeah, it's not like Microsoft was recently caught spying for the US government or anything.

Rifneno wrote:

^About the Kinect, that's less of a privacy issue that the smartphones everyone carries with them everywhere, or the webcams on your laptops/PCs, but no one complains about those at all. It's an irrational fear.

Yeah, it's not like Microsoft was recently caught spying for the US government or anything.

Edit: Never mind, a quick trip to the Wikipedia just confirmed what you said.

Something just occurred to me. Now that the Xbone is an "offline" device, does that mean MS will have to backtrack on their plans to use cloud servers to boost it's graphics capabilities?

After all, it won't be worth so much of the game developers' time to enable these features when they can't be sure the consoles will even be connected to use it. So they can no longer claim to be wielding the "power of 3 XBox Ones" as a response to Sony's machine which seems to have more powerful components in the box.

BleedingUranium wrote:Sure the PS4 is superior (from what we know so far), but the complaints about the Xbox One are blown way out of proportion, that's my issue with all the complaining.

And NOTHING would have changed.

Eryri wrote:Something just occurred to me. Now that the Xbone is an "offline" device, does that mean MS will have to backtrack on their plans to use cloud servers to boost it's graphics capabilities?

After all, it won't be worth so much of the game developers' time to enable these features when they can't be sure the consoles will even be connected to use it. So they can no longer claim to be wielding the "power of 3 XBox Ones" as a response to Sony's machine which seems to have more powerful components in the box.

There is a catch right here. In the statement they say that it will only work in the offline mode for the games that don't use online features. since all the games potentially use cloud processing - go figure.

Hrothdane wrote:Huge news. Glad to hear it. I still won't be buying one, but this is a victory for the industry as a whole and gamers especially.

QFT

SwobyJ wrote:

BleedingUranium wrote:Sure the PS4 is superior (from what we know so far), but the complaints about the Xbox One are blown way out of proportion, that's my issue with all the complaining.

And NOTHING would have changed.

QFT

Don't be all so quick to jump on the microsoft praising wagon. It is just damage control. For all we know - it might have been PLANNED damage. After all - there is no such thing as bad press. THey sure got everyone talking about their product. And as for the announced changes - so what? We don;t really know how things are going to work until we get the final product.

I always planned to buy an XB1, and these new changes will make me feel less dirty when I buy one, so thats good.

Byne wrote:I always planned to buy an XB1, and these new changes will make me feel less dirty when I buy one, so thats good.

Same here...didn't feel dirty so much, but way out numbered and almost scared to voice the opinion that I thought that the XB1 (nice term Byne) was worth it before this announcement, now more so.

Also did anyone see that Major Nelson said you will be able to plug your 360 into the XB1?  Here's hoping that it will work as peripheral device through the new console and bring an indirect way of having "backwards compatability".

Byne wrote:I always planned to buy an XB1, and these new changes will make me feel less dirty when I buy one, so thats good.

"If half a Byne is covered in dirt, it is still a dirty Byne. A man is dirty or he is clean."--Melisandre of Asshai

:D

This is why every industry needs competition. Good news indeed. Remember how we did the same with Mass Effect and how that worked? Oh. Wait.

The damage will not go away completely, but still.

You all might want to see this :P  http://kotaku.com/microsoft-is-removing-xbox-one-drm-514390310

Eryri wrote:Something just occurred to me. Now that the Xbone is an "offline" device, does that mean MS will have to backtrack on their plans to use cloud servers to boost it's graphics capabilities?

After all, it won't be worth so much of the game developers' time to enable these features when they can't be sure the consoles will even be connected to use it. So they can no longer claim to be wielding the "power of 3 XBox Ones" as a response to Sony's machine which seems to have more powerful components in the box.

I don't think that will change. If what they said about the cloud is true and not just horseshit it won't be a problem. If this would lead to devs seeing it as a waste of time then the same could've been said about added "mandatory" multiplayer for last gen.

Such a feature doesn't have to be "hardcoded" to the game. I guess it will be as simple as checking a box in the options menu of a PC game. And as far as I know, the features processed off site are not essential to the game. They are more like enhanced versions, right? Better AI. Higher texture resolution and such things. Just like a PC game setting of medium and high.

Arashi08 wrote:You all might want to see this :P  http://kotaku.com/microsoft-is-removing-xbox-one-drm-514390310

Definitely good news. I will most likely get an Xbox One-Eighty now, albeit mostly because I just love Halo (look at my name) and I want to keep my profile.