Xbox One

[Folenfant]

I was already kind of skeptical of the new generation, but two aspects of the Xbox One's announcements have all but sunk the idea of me ever considering a purchase:

Blocking of Used Games

What is this now? It's one thing to put a restriction on digital purchases because by their very nature they have to be one purchase one license otherwise people would take advantage, but putting restrictions on full retail physical media? That's a joke to me and I'm a pretty considerate guy when it comes to what concessions I'm willing to make on consumer rights when it seems reasonable enough. When I was a kid part of the fun of gaming was bringing that new game you enjoyed over to a friends house to play together after school or on the weekend to play on their console. Remember all those old Nintendo commercials that would have the set up of some dude bro kid with his backwards baseball cap bringing that epic new game over to his other dude bro's house where they would lose their minds over it? That trans-portability of physical media sounds like it's going to be an experience that is the thing of the past, because it would seem like designers now want to hard lock one physical copy to one machine making used games and trans-portability between consoles a thing of the past. Why if I own a physical copy of a game should I not be able to decide how and when I use it? It's one copy, I can't clone it so it's always going to be one copy being used on one machine at a time. I'm not trying to steal games, I know it's probably a counter-piracy measure but it strikes me as more designers punishing the honest consumers by taking away features that used to be considered basic.

No backwards compatibility of any kind planned

Again I could understand if it's a cost cutting measure like with the PS3, but they found ways to get around that with good solid features like the PS Classics line in the PS Store that gave gamers the opportunity to replay old games sometimes with the benefit of added features via the built in emulator. For Microsoft to have no plans for even that much, a feature already widely used by the current generation just seems like poor planning to me.

This current generation so far has all the signs of being a total conversion away from providing quality service, products and entertainment towards gamers to Hollywood style money grubbing and draconian control measures that only serve to sap away from the positive will and social gaming environment that big designers and developers claim to be trying to build. It really does make it all seem to be a shameless marketing scheme that is about control and profit maximization but thinly disguised a "newer and broader social gaming experience".

Maybe Sony can do better with it's PS4, but having cancelled all my Xbox services a year ago thanks to Microsoft's random price hike and continued lack of features the PS3 has for free it looks almost impossible for Microsoft to recapture my interest in their console gaming brand at this stage.

[Alchemist007]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Yhep: disks serve as install medium only. You pop the disk in, tie it to your console and live account and toss it away. If you want to lend that disk to a friend he'll have to fork over an undisclosed fee to play the game. Good going Microsoft, you just made sure to lose me as a customer.

Did they confirm that during the stream? What a load of shit.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

Did they confirm that during the stream? What a load of shit.

Official interview with wired.

[Newprimus]

If Sony keeps to their word of not restricting used games (we'll have to see for sure), then they might have the next-gen in a bag.

EDIT: Actually looks like they might leave it up to devs. Which we all know how it's going to go. But we'll have to see for sure at e3.

[Sides]

So basically like how PC retail games have work in the last few years. Hmm I know a lot of people who prefer console because it doesn't have this limitation. To be honest you might as well just join the master race now instead of getting a XBone

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

The anti-used game is just a trend to get more money from the customer while offering less. I don't want gaming as a service; I don't want to rent games, I want to own them. Microsoft has officially placed their bet that they can get away with it.

Sony, your move.

So basically like how PC retail games have work in the last few years. Hmm I know a lot of people who prefer console because it doesn't have this limitation. To be honest you might as well just join the master race now instead of getting a XBone

Yep. By turning Xbox into Steam, Microsoft abandoned the reason to play console; how easy it is to just put the disc in the machine and press play.

[Tyabann]

At least 360s will be cheaper now. I can finally get one!

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

At least 360s will be cheaper now. I can finally get one!

Don't bother. There are a few interesting games but most were eventually ported to either the PC or the PS3.

Out of the top of my head I can think of Fable 2, Project Gotham Racing, Forza, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and maybe the Gears of War series... Sure there's Halo as well but I never did get what people saw in that series.

[T-6000]

To be honest, I have been expecting this kind of DRM on consoles for years, and others have theorized that console manufacturers would likely incorporate a Steam like DRM scheme in the future. At the second half of this current generation, some developers have been quite vocal against used games sales. And I have come across many people online who are siding with developers who want to incorporate methods to combat used games sales. "Used games sales are worse than piracy" is what I have heard numerous times (especially in the Kotaku and Shacknews community). And from what I am reading now, it looks like Microsoft has taken the first plunge to incorporate this kind of console DRM with the next XBox. How console gamers will react when the console finally gets released, it will be interesting to say. But it seems to be a mixed bag at the moment, as I am coming across just as many people in favor of this move as they are against.

As a PC Gamer, I've had to put up with this for a good number of years now. Especially with Steam's style of DRM. But I think the PC can get away with this because of numerous specials and sales that tend to take place (*especially* through Steam). I've also adjusted by saving my money for the best games (or those that interest me), and I imagine those that buy the new XBox console will be doing the same.

What I think will really annoy me is the XBox One (Seriously? This is the name?) exclusives will be aggressively pushed, from timed exclusive DLCs to games exclusive to the console.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by T-6000

As a PC Gamer, I've had to put up with this for a good number of years now. Especially with Steam's style of DRM. But I think the PC can get away with this because of numerous specials and sales that tend to take place (*especially* through Steam). I've also adjusted by saving my money for the best games (or those that interest me), and I imagine those that buy the new XBox console will be doing the same.

Exactly: the model is working for the PC due to insanely low prices. It's insane how fast some games drop in price lately. I've seen full 60 bucks releases going for less than 20 bucks 2 to 3 months after release. People will tolerate that on the PC because most games are single player and insanely cheap.

On consoles local multiplayer is still a big factor in some peoples minds and being able to pick up the disk and go to a mates house for a night of pizza and gaming is an important part of console gaming. I think MS is too focused on both extremes of the spectrum (waggle stuff for the ultra casuals and the call of dutys for the hardcore gamers).

[Newprimus]

I've been reading more on the xbox one and I'm not sure about using voice to turn the thing on. Someone could accidentally say something that sounds like "xbox on" or say a sentence that includes the phrase and suddenly your xbox turns on without permission. That and I'm not sure about requiring kinect for navigation.

[Vajra]

Looks like I will not be purchasing an Xbox One.

[Chase]

Theirs a possibility the whole pre-owned fee thing could be false.

[Alchemist007]

Looks like the bloody thing won't even work without the kinect.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Chase

Theirs a possibility the whole pre-owned fee thing could be false.

Unless the folks at Microsoft lied to Wired I pretty much doubt it.

Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc.

How Xbox One Plans to Fight Sony, Steam, and Everything Else @ Wired

PS: btw remember that Sony dodged the question regarding used game sales. I for one am very fearful for the next console generation. I may just have to skip it all together

[Newprimus]

The more and more I look at the xbox one the more it offends my visual senses.

It reminds me of the old NES, but at least back then everything was squared and simplistic looking.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Don't bother. There are a few interesting games but most were eventually ported to either the PC or the PS3.

Lost Odyssey wasn't, and I don't have a gaming PC, so...

Originally Posted by Dextro

Unless the folks at Microsoft lied to Wired I pretty much doubt it.

There's an Xbox Support twitter account that's going around claiming that the used games restriction is "misinformation".

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

The anti-used game is just a trend to get more money from the customer while offering less. I don't want gaming as a service; I don't want to rent games, I want to own them. Microsoft has officially placed their bet that they can get away with it.

Sony, your move.


Yep. By turning Xbox into Steam, Microsoft abandoned the reason to play console; how easy it is to just put the disc in the machine and press play.

See I like Steam though because it's digital media locked to the account not the machine meaning you can still easily take the game with you to a new machine as long as you maintain your account credentials. It's puts the power in the hands of the gamer in the case of Steam not the game designer and one purchase one copy doesn't seem all that unfair to me. It doesn't put up barriers towards gamers being able to keep their games if their hardware should fail unlike the Xbox One apparently. Again what gets me is that it's for hard copies too apparently. I was willing to swallow the 3DS unit locked games for digital purchase as an anti-piracy measure that I could at least meet halfway but hard locking physical media is a new one by me.

[felix]

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/21/xb...pecs-compared/

[Chase]

Originally Posted by felix

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/21/xb...pecs-compared/

So they built their own cpu(MS). Also they coming flatout and saying they support 4k huh. Didn't Sony say they would support that too?(non gaming wise). I can't get a read on either's graphics processor. Having 500gb of space right out of the gate is good.