Slashdot Mirror

Bendy phones, walled gardens, holding it wrong.... it's only a problem when it's from Cupertino. So this will be a two day news story, like when Samsung had to recall an entire phone model because the batteries were blowing up and starting on fire.

*Except when Sony doesn't want it to be. Speaking of Sony and Nintendo, hopefully they jump on the accessibility bandwagon now that Microsoft has set the bar with their Adaptive Controller.

Saw on Facebook that a friends son is using one now. Great that he can more easily play games with family and friends. :)
https://www.xbox.com/en-CA/xbo...

They don't make Gears anymore as they sold the IP to Microsoft in 2014. :) Glad they did otherwise the series would most likely still be dead.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/20...

Xbox One X. Now with Kodi.

Kodi is a great solution for streaming "open" channels and stuff from your local media library, but it doesn't really do Netflix

The Xbox One X does both Kodi and Netflix.

Why would it be any different than the process from moving from an Xbox One to an Xbox One S?

Kind of old news by now how to do this, and already pops up on a new console with instructions on moving from another system...

The US requirement is from Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
However, Microsoft charges $0.50 for child accounts, not adult, and donates it to charity.

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/...

Microsoft does have quite a bit of hardware.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox...
https://www.microsoft.com/acce...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

Facebook also own Occulus.

My understanding is that it has a gaming mode that throttles all of the background services to give maximum performance to the foreground app. It also has Beam streaming built in, if you like to broadcast your play.

http://news.xbox.com/2017/01/1...

Full disclosure, I work for Microsoft. This isn't paid shilling though, this is me sitting on my couch reading slashdot when I should be getting ready for bed.

"Thanks for spreading more FUD. Resell was always an option, almost exactly how you describe how it "should be" as it was announced on day 1."

Thanks for showing your ignorance. In their original plan it states this:

"Trade-in and resell your disc-based games: Today, some gamers choose to sell their old disc-based games back for cash and credit. We designed Xbox One so game publishers can enable you to trade in your games

• at participating retailers

. Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers, or consumers for enabling transfer of these games."

IE: based on this terminology, directly from xbox.com, by default the trading/reselling of disc based games is turned OFF. A publisher had to ENABLE it. You know damned well what would have happened in that scenario. And also note that even if the publisher enabled it, you could only sell it to approved retailers. You couldn't sell it yourself, sell it to a pawn shop, give it away permanently to a friend, etc.

ALSO SEE THE FOLLOWING POINT about LENDING disc based games to friends (From the same page)

"Give your games to friends: Xbox One is designed so game publishers can enable you to give your

• disc-based

games to your friends. There are no fees charged as part of these transfers. There are two requirements: you can only give them to people who have been on your friends list for at least 30 days and each game can only be given once."

Notice that lending your PHYSICAL games, even if enabled by the publisher, has limitations on who could receive it and a limit of letting them have it a single time. Basically it was a timed demo, and people were crying about the loss of this when instead they can now just lend their disc based games to whoever the fuck they want, whenever they want.

These are the things people were pissed off about. It was DRM. Restricting what you could do with your physical goods. It was set up from the get go on day 1 to treat your physical discs like downloaded digital games. And intelligent people rightly hated that.

The link comes up for me, but it's a generic page that isn't about indie games specifically. It just has "Explore games", "Shop bundles & editions" and "Get help".

In fact when I change:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/indi...
to
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/shit...

It's the exact same page.

The link comes up for me, but it's a generic page that isn't about indie games specifically. It just has "Explore games", "Shop bundles & editions" and "Get help".

In fact when I change:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/indi...
to
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/shit...

It's the exact same page.

I can't speak for the original Xbox, but the Xbox 360 has a pretty respectable library of indie third-party games that can be installed through Xbox Live. In fact, the third-party indie games on my 360 outnumber the retail-boxed games about 3 to 1.

Unholy Heights is a riot.

http://xbox.com/indiegames

Buy a computer that only some people (those who pay extra) are allowed to program? That's totally absurd.

The standard answer is that developer qualifications improve the median quality of games. The last time everybody was allowed to program a console was the Atari 2600. The flood of crap during 1983, led by rushed licenses such as E.T. and Pac-Man as well as blatant cash-ins such as Chase the Chuck Wagon, almost brought down the North American video game industry. (Distributors going bankrupt to avoid honoring their return policies didn't help either.) It took the NES's lockout chip to revive retailers' and users' interest in video games.

But both Microsoft and Nintendo have opened their developer programs dramatically during this console generation. Xbox One runs UWP apps with an developer mode enabler app available at no additional charge to Dev Center members, and Nintendo recently allowed individuals to become developers regardless of "industry experience". I'm guessing it's a response to the comparative openness of Apple's App Store and Google Play Store, along with the realization that reviews by third parties can filter out the crap.

You can play "Some" 360 games on it. Basically companies need to give permission to let their game play on the xbone. List is here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox...

But it does. The whole thing is tied to Windows 10, and they are going to start offering XBOX game compatibility on PCs running Win 10

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/wind...

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/...

But it does. The whole thing is tied to Windows 10, and they are going to start offering XBOX game compatibility on PCs running Win 10

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/wind...

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/...

Most people trust brands like Sony. They probably had a Sony TV that worked well enough, and maybe a Playstation.

Well, Sony TVs were long the best in the industry, and last I checked they were still pretty good, if overpriced. But Playstations? I have had several Playstation devices go into failure modes. Who hasn't had a PSX (original PS, that is) or PSOne refuse to read discs when not inverted?

Even so, they are winning the current generation console war.

Microsoft basically forfeited with their attempts to put gamers on lockdown. By the time they backpedaled, earning their console's alternate 180 degree-related moniker, the damage had been done. It's not like they have a good name either, but if they had gone the other direction and embraced more open idea slike cross-network play at the beginning then I suspect that they would have carried this generation. The more they tighten their grasp, the more their competitors will be able to print money. Idiots.

I haven't read the HDCP agreement myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if it forbade modification of the video signal.

You can definitely modify the video signal - http://support.xbox.com/en-US/...

Looks like there are HDCP certification services that will test your device for under $5000 (Simplay Labs). I assume they would be liable if the device was actually non-compliant.

So they make phones, tablets, consoles, their own laptop, fitness bands and keyboards and mice but they aren't in the hardware business?

Loss leaders to generate service revenue. Direct revenue from hardware sales is a drop in the bucket. That bucket is growing quarter over quarter, but so too is cost of revenue. Profit margins are low in hardware. But more importantly, and far more relevant to the "forced upgrade" argument: they do not sell PC's or server hardware that would be affected by killing SHA-1.

Windows 10 was free,

For one year and only for consumers.

When MS shuts off SHA-1 on July 1st, Windows 10 will still be free.

and MS is betting its future revenue on cloud services instead of Windows Server licenses.

And yet those licenses are still a big portion of their revenue and revenue from that grew 6% just their last quarter.

But with $15 billion invested in PaaS, there is nowhere to expand except by cannibalizing existing Windows Server revenue.

Considering MS is not in the hardware business

So they make phones, tablets, consoles, their own laptop, fitness bands and keyboards and mice but they aren't in the hardware business?

Windows 10 was free,

For one year and only for consumers.

and MS is betting its future revenue on cloud services instead of Windows Server licenses.

And yet those licenses are still a big portion of their revenue and revenue from that grew 6% just their last quarter.

Yes, if you fucking need Elite Dangerous, you need a goddamned PC. No console will ever do that.

Ahem! From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Future updates

A native Mac OS X version was released in May 2015.[53] Although there are no plans for a Linux version of the game, Braben has stated, "There is no reason why COBRA cannot run on Linux, running through OpenGL."[54] On 5 March 2015, Frontier confirmed at GDC that work was underway on bringing the game to Xbox One consoles, with David Braben later confirming via Twitter that the Xbox One version would be a timed exclusive and that game would eventually also be released on PlayStation 4.[55] A "preview" version of the game for Xbox One was later released via the Xbox Game Preview Program on 15 June 2015 during Microsoft's briefing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015.[9][10]

The XBox One version got it's actual release in October:

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

Toy Soldiers: War Chest - $19.99 on PC, $25.75 on Xbox One.

Actually the game is the same price on all platforms. If you double check, you will see that the more expensive version you saw is the "Hall of fame edition" (which probably was on sale at the time, it was on sale on PSN), Which is $29.99 on Steam, Xbox store AND PSN.

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

http://store.steampowered.com/...

The base "war chest" version is $14.99 on Steam, PSN and the Xbox store.

http://store.steampowered.com/...

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

Toy Soldiers: War Chest - $19.99 on PC, $25.75 on Xbox One.

Actually the game is the same price on all platforms. If you double check, you will see that the more expensive version you saw is the "Hall of fame edition" (which probably was on sale at the time, it was on sale on PSN), Which is $29.99 on Steam, Xbox store AND PSN.

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

http://store.steampowered.com/...

The base "war chest" version is $14.99 on Steam, PSN and the Xbox store.

http://store.steampowered.com/...

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

People aren't making game pads for Android phones. The same ones that people use on the PCs

Then let me rephrase: How many people own generic Bluetooth HID gamepads designed for PCs? Do makers of those divulge sales figures? Besides, it's hard to carry a phone in one hand and a gamepad in the other, which is what you have to do if the gamepad doesn't come with a way of clipping it to the phone.

and (some) consoles

Consoles, plural?

• Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers use proprietary RF, not Bluetooth. The wired ones work through a USB OTG cable though. Xbox One controllers also work wired with a PC running Windows 7 or later, but I haven't owned one with which to test on an Android device or GNU/Linux PC.
• A change to the Bluetooth stack in Android 4.2 broke the Wiimote Controller app. It hasn't been fixed since.
• If someone buys a DualShock 3 controller only to find that his particular phone is incompatible, that's a poor user experience.

Bollocks. What the fuck Microsoft? At least it's controllable over USB now.

Yes. That's a dramatic change over the last controller that they made.

Or the one before that.

Or the one before that.

Microsoft advertises windows support for their xbone controllers. They sell a cable for the explicit purpose of using with your Windows PC.

And when it breaks after just a couple days, you're screwed.

They refuse to honor the warranty if you don't also own an xbone.

"Note You must register your Xbox One console to replace a wireless controller thatâ(TM)s under warranty."

Seems like a flagrant violation of Magnuson-Moss to me.

Found the video online. You can see it here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox...

No, I believe this is actual backwards compatibility. From Engadget:

All developers need to do is approve a game for backward compatibility for it to work

Microsoft may not be able to automatically put these games on Xbox One due to legal or contractual issues. It seems the only reason 100% of games will not be available is if a publisher deems backwards compatibility to be undesirable for their business.

Also to quote Microsoft's announcement website:

The digital titles that you own and are part of the Back Compat game catalog will automatically show up in the “Ready to Install” section on your Xbox One. For disc-based games that are a part of the Back Compat game catalog, simply insert the disc and the console will begin downloading the game to your hard drive. After the game has finished downloading, you will still need to keep the game disc in the drive to play.

I would have guessed that "downloading" here means disc-to-hard drive. To your credit, it is unclear.

Straight from the horse's mouth:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox...

From: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox...

Banjo Kazooie: N n B

Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Tooie

BattleBlock Theater

Defense Grid

Geometry Wars Evolved

Hexic HD

Jetpac Refuelled

Kameo

Mass Effect

Perfect Dark

Perfect Dark Zero

Small Arms

Super Meat Boy

Toy Soldiers

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata: TIP

I stopped reading after it labelled the Christmas DDoS as a "major hack". As for the "leaking": I assume you can already get most stuff just by registering as an indipendent developer (I think it's even free http://www.xbox.com/developers/id) and all stuff by registering as a professional developer.

Why do these systems need network access to play a game bought on a disk? That is the bigger question, sure I can understand only supporting multiplayer through a centralized service, my issue is with the activation and phone home crap.

Consoles have long since ceased to be video game players alone.

That is why Xbox Live Status posts a breakdown by services and apps.

It is perfectly possible for activation and content management services to be up while multiplayer gaming is down.

That way the scope of these little disasters would be limited.

The geek needs to remember that he pays a high price for these attacks.

"The Lizard Squad" is a perfect fit for the popular stereotype of the eternally-adolescent-and-irresponsible geek, aka the malicious practical joker, the hacker. Each hack chips away at the geek's credibility and political effectiveness where he needs it the most.

Ever since the original Playstation back in 1995 which allowed you to play audio CDs on it, before then it was pure games console as I don't remember the SNES doing anything outside og games with the exception of Mario Paint.

Why do these systems need network access to play a game bought on a disk? That is the bigger question, sure I can understand only supporting multiplayer through a centralized service, my issue is with the activation and phone home crap.

Consoles have long since ceased to be video game players alone.

That is why Xbox Live Status posts a breakdown by services and apps.

It is perfectly possible for activation and content management services to be up while multiplayer gaming is down.

That way the scope of these little disasters would be limited.

The geek needs to remember that he pays a high price for these attacks.

"The Lizard Squad" is a perfect fit for the popular stereotype of the eternally-adolescent-and-irresponsible geek, aka the malicious practical joker, the hacker. Each hack chips away at the geek's credibility and political effectiveness where he needs it the most.

Xbox One Controller + Cable for Windows Brings the Console Experience to PC.

That was announced nearly 3 weeks ago.

Well, Netflix has produced a few of their own show. I particularly like House of Cards. Microsoft has their own video rental/purchase service, XBox Video. I see no reason why they shouldn't be producing their own content. If they can make money by selling or renting content, then more power to them.

The system is not about cheating. The system is primarily about profanity and abuse.

They have been tinkering with it since it came out.

Also they haven't released what specific metrics they are using, but they have already mentioned factors: account playing statistics, complaints per hour played, positive feedback messages, friend requests, negative feedback messages, "Avoid This Player" marks, gamercard mutes, gamercard blocked communications, and filed complaints and reports. Couple all of them together and you will likely see some patterns quickly. They also mention that it will have human involvement and you will not be dinged for being skilled, nor will you be dinged for people targeting you. The last two seem to imply some human involvement.

My guess is that they start with simple statistical analysis to identify players trending downward with a steady stream of "block communications", "avoid this player", and "mute" flags. All of these are specifically mentioned on their site. After algorithmic identification, I'm guessing one of their army of community managers (real live human beings who are employed to listen to the vitriol and enforce the rules) would probably get a notice to monitor the chat when the player starts play. If they hear a profanity stream click the check box marked "profanity". If they hear taunting, harassment, or other abuse, pick the check box that corresponds. With a real live human involved they can nicely handle people who were wrongly accused.

You can transfer them over to another 360 but without either the license key, or having the purchaser's account actively signed into XBL, they will run in demo mode. The 360 will treat them as if they are unlicensed copies of the game. If you've ever purchased a game after playing it in demo mode and it downloads the "full game" practically instantly, it's because it was just downloading the license key.

You can perform a license transfer to a new system which will let you then manually download individual license keys to the new console. The license transfer can only be performed once per four months.

Once Microsoft stops supporting XBL for the 360 then your games will only work on the system with the license keys, and when the console dies (or HDD as the license key cannot be copied to other media), the games will be gone.

You can transfer them over to another 360 but without either the license key, or having the purchaser's account actively signed into XBL, they will run in demo mode. The 360 will treat them as if they are unlicensed copies of the game. If you've ever purchased a game after playing it in demo mode and it downloads the "full game" practically instantly, it's because it was just downloading the license key.

You can perform a license transfer to a new system which will let you then manually download individual license keys to the new console. The license transfer can only be performed once per four months.

Once Microsoft stops supporting XBL for the 360 then your games will only work on the system with the license keys, and when the console dies (or HDD as the license key cannot be copied to other media), the games will be gone.

--I do see what you're saying, but pretty sure if I buy another 360 I can transfer the thumbdrive over. Might be mistaken tho. Anyone know for sure?

Hell, if you buy another 360 you can redownload the game... for as long as Microsoft supports your 360. When they stop supporting the 360 on Live, as they have done with the original Xbox, you will be able neither to redownload nor to transfer the game to another console. You can transfer the game files, but you won't be able to transfer the license.

why do you put up with this kind of crap?

Games haven't been owned by anyone for a long time now. Even buying a physical disc is just buying a license to play the game, which can and does get revoked in cases of abuse (see: Halo 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Diablo III). Of the companies out there that are licensing games to customers, Steam is relatively permissive, and it's rare that a typical gamer will run into issues with them.

Nintendo can have their NES, SNES, and Gamecube games back when they pry the cartridges and/or discs from my cold, dead fingers!

why do you put up with this kind of crap?

Cost, convenience, and a lack of alternatives.

I license the right to play a game from Steam, usually for dirt cheap prices, and in exchange, it's available on any Internet-connected computer I own. Should I lack an Internet connection, it's possible to enable an offline mode as well, allowing me to continue playing regardless of my lack of a connection.

Games haven't been owned by anyone for a long time now. Even buying a physical disc is just buying a license to play the game, which can and does get revoked in cases of abuse (see: Halo 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Diablo III). Of the companies out there that are licensing games to customers, Steam is relatively permissive, and it's rare that a typical gamer will run into issues with them.

The XBox 360 has a 3.5mm jack on the controller, for headsets to plug into.

You mean 2.5mm. The original Xbox had one of these too, but you had to use a doodad that connected through the memory card port in the controller. Kind of like how they forced you to purchase a remote control in order to watch DVDs. Also the original headset for the 360 was designed in such a way that it utilized a connector that prevented its use with anything other than a first party (or similarly designed third party) Xbox 360 controller.

The PS3 did not.

The PS3 instead supported standard USB headsets and Bluetooth headsets which are just as prevalent (if not more so, combined) than 2.5mm headsets. Also, this is in stark contrast to the Xbox 360's wireless headset, which used a proprietary RF interface. The only time, to my knowledge, that the Xbox 360 supported a USB microphone was in Rock Band and its sequels.

Then there's the storage drives. For the PS3 it was a 2.5" SATA drive hidden behind a little door, and could be easily removed and replaced. The Xbox 360 utilized 2.5" SATA drives as well, but hidden inside a proprietary case with a proprietary connector that was only to be replaced with other Microsoft manufactured drives. The 360 S *also* used 2.5" SATA drives, but in a different casing that made it entirely incompatible with the original 360 drives (both of which are sold at an exorbitant markup versus standard SATA drives), and to transfer data between drives you had to have a proprietary cable.

Then there was the proprietary Wifi adapter for the 360, and Xbox Live, which is necessary to play games online, be involved in party chats, use the web browser, and watch videos through other services you may already be paying for (including YouTube, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and Comcast's Xfinity among many others) which went from $45 per year to $60 per year (or from $8/mo to $10/mo).

So let's not get all high and mighty about which console manufacturer is better than the other. They all do it. That's what console gaming has become. And if you don't like it, your option is to either wait for Steam Machines or build yourself a PC, because that's the alternative.

The XBox 360 has a 3.5mm jack on the controller, for headsets to plug into.

You mean 2.5mm. The original Xbox had one of these too, but you had to use a doodad that connected through the memory card port in the controller. Kind of like how they forced you to purchase a remote control in order to watch DVDs. Also the original headset for the 360 was designed in such a way that it utilized a connector that prevented its use with anything other than a first party (or similarly designed third party) Xbox 360 controller.

The PS3 did not.

The PS3 instead supported standard USB headsets and Bluetooth headsets which are just as prevalent (if not more so, combined) than 2.5mm headsets. Also, this is in stark contrast to the Xbox 360's wireless headset, which used a proprietary RF interface. The only time, to my knowledge, that the Xbox 360 supported a USB microphone was in Rock Band and its sequels.

Then there's the storage drives. For the PS3 it was a 2.5" SATA drive hidden behind a little door, and could be easily removed and replaced. The Xbox 360 utilized 2.5" SATA drives as well, but hidden inside a proprietary case with a proprietary connector that was only to be replaced with other Microsoft manufactured drives. The 360 S *also* used 2.5" SATA drives, but in a different casing that made it entirely incompatible with the original 360 drives (both of which are sold at an exorbitant markup versus standard SATA drives), and to transfer data between drives you had to have a proprietary cable.

Then there was the proprietary Wifi adapter for the 360, and Xbox Live, which is necessary to play games online, be involved in party chats, use the web browser, and watch videos through other services you may already be paying for (including YouTube, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and Comcast's Xfinity among many others) which went from $45 per year to $60 per year (or from $8/mo to $10/mo).

So let's not get all high and mighty about which console manufacturer is better than the other. They all do it. That's what console gaming has become. And if you don't like it, your option is to either wait for Steam Machines or build yourself a PC, because that's the alternative.

Seems like the implication is that it can do more than just pass through. I suspect it can manipulate the video stream as well. Imagine having live tv you can watch in a game. Locations like apartments, in front of electronic stores, up on a giant screen in times square! I think they've already kind of shown the idea of watching a football game overlaid with your fantasy football league app. Examples Here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/entertainment The xbox can also presumably talk to your cable box, or an alternate media player (xbmc?) through HDMI using CEC. A scenario might be that you're playing a game and your girlfriend comes in and is like "Yo babe my show is on in 5 minutes!" So you can finish up your game and change your video sources' channel and later switch to it. All while hanging onto your xbox controller, no changing remotes or paying for expensive programmable ones. The "snap" verb refers to the windows RT/8 "metro" style. You're not using windows on the system, you're allocating a variable width vertical slice of screen real estate the the other interface. Sounds like it could be pretty cool. I'd want my steambox to be able to do that too.

Are you high or stupid? or maybe a troll?
Hulu is supported on Roku:
http://www.hulu.com/support/article/332610
and Xbox:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/partners/hulu-plus

or do you mean you don't like them becasue they cost money to bring entertainment to you?

As has been pointed out before, you cannot arbitrarily change what constitutes a season to a reasonable person after the purchase.

As been pointed out before, sometimes not even the content producer knows how many episodes are in a season. This is the price for quick production times. Ten years everyone had to wait at least six months until the DVD box sets came out so everyone knew at purchase how many episodes. Are you going to tell The Guild how many episodes they should make in a season. Are you going to tell some shows, that they can't combine two-part episodes into one big one for continuity reasons.

And besides, go check out AMCs website before making claims about "AMC gets to decide on the definition of a season." THEY SAY THERE ARE 16 EPISODES THEMSELVES. How about the "whats next" link: "Episode 515". Or click on the episode 14 photos link. The header says "Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode Photos." Duuuuuuuhhhhh.

Check out Amazon's website or Microsoft's Xbox Live. Even the DVD box set for Season 5 (which has been out) has 8 episodes. 1) Apple did all of this or 2) AMC isn't being clear.

As I said. AMC screwed Apple who then decided to screw their customers. Apple decided to offer a "SEASON" pass and then redefined the season after AMC got greedy. I don't care if it came out as two halves, Apple sold the season, not a half season.

Again, Apple does not define nor tell copyright holders what is in their content. They don't tell New Line that Hobbit should be one film. Apple provides a store for AMC to sell their wares. AMC provides content including descriptions. Apple handles the infrastructure and billing. You keep saying it's one season; again you are not the copyright holder. Also if you have a problem with a product in how it was manufactured, take it up with the manufacturer.

If you went to your local grocer to buy a 12 pack of Coke they advertised and put down your money only to be served a six pack at the same cost you would be reasonably upset that they screwed you.

The problem with you analogy was that the store advertised that it was a 12 pack. A better analogy is that the store advertised a box of coke (without saying how many) and that you read on Coke's website that they sell 12 packs in that style of box and made the assumption the store was selling a 12 pack. The store wasn't clear; but you put 1 and 2 together and thought it was 4.

You are a nitwit if you cannot see that. I don't give a shit about your lame copyright excuse.

Apple does not get to tell Peter Jackson that The Hobbit should be one movie. Not too long ago Apple had to sell DRM music because of copyright. They couldn't remove the DRM merely because they wanted; they had to negotiate that with the copyright holders. If Apple breached copyright: 1) they'd lose and 2) no one would allow them to sell anything == no store. Good thing you are not Apple's lawyer or have thought things through.

I'm not asking them to pirate or media shift or whatever the hell you were trying to obfuscate with.

As a reseller you don't get to change someone else's manufactured product on a whim. Especially if it is copyright protected. You are creating a derivative which only the copyright holder can allow. And Congress ensured that copyright holders have a great deal of power when it comes to ability to control distribution.

Apple should have eaten the cost of the second half or not offered a "season pass" to begin with. Don't sell shit if you can't deliver the goods.

Your entire premise is based on your opinion. Not what the law says. Not what contracts say.

Oh, but you're fine with blocking Google's ads and then playing the martyr when they ban your app just like you banned my xbox.

I looked at the EULA and yep: "Microsoft may block or otherwise prevent delivery of any type of email, instant message, or other communication to or from the Services as part of our effort to protect the Services or our customers, or otherwise enforce this Agreement." http://www.xbox.com/en-US/legal/livetou

Not that I didn't believe you, just want to add something antiMS, due an OS I have to prevent the "required" Internet Explorer from operating.

and to my knowledge, Microsoft never licensed a third-party wireless controller for the Xbox 360.

Then your knowledge is quite limited. 3rd party 360 controllers have been around for years. They even list 3rd party controllers on the Xbox site.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Xbox360/Accessories/ThirdPartyAccessories

But, hey, it was easier to bash Microsoft than actually verify your claims, right?

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/privacy

If kinect is optional and only needed for games that require then wake me up when xbox one can be played with the goddamn thing unplugged.

Apparently actions speak louder than PR bullshit.

This is the same reason I will never own a windows phone. It uploads your location to Microsoft and there is no way to turn it off... unless you never use the appstore...the one and only way to install anything on your device.

It is the same shit the same tactics...ringing every penny out of your wallet and rewarding you by throwing ads at you, spying on you, nickle and diming you. These things are designed intentionally this way.

When our own government can make secret laws and spy on everyone. When they issue secret orders and when either tech companies lie to our faces and plead ignorance or NSA lies to its own people in training material how do we know MS can't be compelled to turn on all the cameras and all the mics upon receipt of a "secret order"?

On what basis do we have any reason to trust either Microsoft or our own government when they continually lie to our faces without any repercussion?

LMAO -- Did you actually just quote an editorial as a factual citation?

Let me educate you: An actual citation would be one where the article actually states specifically that the xbox one camera IS always on, even when it's turned off,

Make no mistake that Xbone will know who and where you are the living room with the Xbone
and adjacent areas. Being available to change the channel by you telling it to. Or if disadvantaged
a gesture such as a hand wave in a circle. It can't do this without a microphone and camera on all the time.

If you can't get that from Xbone's published abilities, no amount of links will convince you.

"The Kinect for Windows sensor and SDK give you the tools you need to develop
innovative applications that harness speech and human tracking."

Kinect Game Development on Windows
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/developers?xr=footnav

Doesn't get much more open ended than that, it's uses are only limited to your imagination
and needs. So you need to ask the question:
Is it watching me like some creepy stalker, while I undress, while I watch TV. recording everything I do?
to every programmer/hacker that writes a program for the Zbone, cause yes it's already set up for it.

AND that it actually does record everything all the time and reports it to the NSA/CIA/FBI. Come back when you find one of THOSE to cite...

Did Prism not teach you anything?