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Microsoft Reputation Manager's Guide To Xbox One

symbolset writes "In the wake of a disastrous E3 product reveal Microsoft has purportedly distributed a confidential internal 100-point 'FAQ' for the Xbox One that reads like it's from the Ministry of Truth. It was of course immediately leaked on pastebin. Kotaku has the story and an amusing online poll. In the discussion below make sure to line up the FAQ entries with the AC comments for extra 'Informative' moderation."

37 of 611 comments (clear)

  1. Damage control by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This just in: The XBone One has managed to achieve what the Dreamcast couldn't... blowing up prior to launch. The Dreamcast at least fired the engines before exploding in a firey storm of shit. Which, given that their customers seem to be EA games and other publishers, and not, you know, people who are going to buy the console... seems about right.

    There are Kickstarter consoles still on the drawing board, I mean, not even prototypes available yet, that have more pre-orders than the XBone. I don't think they could fail harder. Unless (dramatic pause) ... they bring Square Enix to headline this collossal cluster f*ck.

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    1. Re:Damage control by recoiledsnake · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are Kickstarter consoles still on the drawing board, I mean, not even prototypes available yet, that have more pre-orders than the XBone. I don't think they could fail harder. Unless (dramatic pause) ... they bring Square Enix to headline this collossal cluster f*ck.

      \

      Citation badly needed.

      --
      This space for rent.
    2. Re:Damage control by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Informative

      Must connect to the internet once a day or locks you out, extreme limitations on lending or buying used games, etc. An excellent reason to play Steam games under Linux overall.

    3. Re:Damage control by Noland150 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I care about the broadband internet requirement since I live where none is available. I know we are a minority, but there are millions of us.

    4. Re:Damage control by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Must connect to the internet once a day or locks you out, extreme limitations on lending or buying used games, etc. An excellent reason to play Steam games under Linux overall.

      Normally I'd snark this, but I got nothing. I mean, I'm just bone dry here. It's so stupidifying that I think it may have temporarily caused my brain to seize up like an old VW bug.

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    5. Re:Damage control by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      do you really think anybody cares about the limitations? i just want to play fun, good quality games. shit games are shit even if i buy them used. i have xbox online anyway so there's no difference it if phones home. in short, mountians out of molehills, you know what that means?

      A couple million military members and contractors do care about that. Phone home once a day? Hardcore region locked? Always on microphone? Not happening.

    6. Re:Damage control by symbolset · · Score: 5, Insightful

      do you really think anybody cares about the limitations?

      Yes. If it was so different and awesome in architecture that it delivered really innovative stuff then this might be OK. But it uses the same processor, slower RAM, more RAM reserved for OS, slower GPU. The hardware is in every way equal or worse - so the software and terms must be better to compensate - and they aren't.

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    7. Re:Damage control by Clsid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The reason why he said that is because Steam is far from a good thing. It is cool it provides a digital library with downloadable games. It is bad that you have to run Steam in order to play the game that you have already paid. It is bad that games are ridden with DRM. Sure, that might be a sign of times to come but for people that grew up playing games the old fashioned way, we clearly see that as a disadvantage instead of some revolutionary system.

    8. Re:Damage control by Seumas · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Amazon put up a poll for XBOX ONE versus PLAYSTATION 4 and they quickly canceled the poll, because with about 45,000 votes, 95% of them were for the PS4. It was a slaughter.

      http://gengame.net/2013/06/amazon-prematurely-ends-ps4-vs-xbox-one-poll-when-ps4-takes-95-of-the-vote/

    9. Re:Damage control by fredgiblet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And Taylor Swift was sent to a school for the deaf when they put up a poll asking where she should perform. Popular internet polls are as reliable as astrology. I'll wait for the launch before declaring a winner, and even then the PS3 staged a comeback in the last few years, so an early lead isn't a permadeath sentence.

    10. Re: Damage control by Therad · · Score: 5, Funny

      More like you have to drive the car one only on asphalt. And once a day you must drive at least a mile on asphalt otherwise you can't open the the backseat and the trunk. But you get tv in the car!

    11. Re:Damage control by antdude · · Score: 4, Informative

      Uh huh. Steam is DRM and requires Internet too. If your Steam gets closed down or whatever, then you lose all your games. Also, you can't sell/transfer your games too.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    12. Re:Damage control by ShakaUVM · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Running Steam isn't much of a hassle now. It used to be a bit of a resource hog, but not any more - it's currently using 74MB of RAM. Whoopdie shit. Other than an OCD obsession from the 90s about not having any background apps left open, it doesn't make any significant difference.

      Most games on Steam don't have additional DRM, and I don't buy those that do.

      And if you don't like Steam, go with GOG.com games. All of 'em are DRM free.

    13. Re: Damage control by cgenman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The big problem problem that new consoles are fighting for is: a reason to exist. Most games demo-ed so far look possible on the current generation of hardware. Crowd sources AI is an interesting twist, but possible on current consoles. Killer Instinct is an odd thing to revive, but it would play just as well on a PS3.

      Suddenly Microsoft comes out with a console that:
      1. Phones home every day.
      2. Bans game lending.
      3. Possibly cripples the used game market, or maybe not, nobody is really sure.
      4. Requires Kinect to be always on, because that wasn't a disaapointment.

      Their sales pitch of "You can play games that are basically last-gen games, but with fewer rights" has had shocking trouble resonating with consumers.

  2. Spin it all you like guys ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For some of us, you've already lost the sale. Always on internet is a killer for many of us, since it's mostly taking away our freedom.

    Fuck Xbox One.

    1. Re:Spin it all you like guys ... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Fuck Xbox One.

      And what a great time, coincidentally, for there to be a renaissance in PC gaming.

      Now having had a peek at the next-gen consoles, I realize I've never been happier about being a PC gamer.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Spin it all you like guys ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      PlaysForSure

    3. Re:Spin it all you like guys ... by readingaccount · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You pretty much make the point why the XBone should be avoided when you said "It won't prevent me from playing as often as I like as long as the servers are always working..."

      This, THIS, THIS is why I have a problem with Internet-based DRM. It creates an artificial lifetime on a product where there doesn't need to be one. The ability to run the product is tied to the ability to authenticate against a server somewhere, which introduces so many points of failure (your net connection, the state of the remote server, the state of your account, etc).

      If the product is considered out of maintenance and the authentication servers are taken offline, you're fucked. The vendor MIGHT patch out the requirement for authentication later (if they haven't disappeared entirely), but there's no guarantee they will, compared to something without DRM in which you don't have any need for stress in the first place.

      Going towards an increasing level of restriction of consumer rights and a locking-up of software is not something we should be supporting. But a lot of people do, either because they're ignorant of the long term ramifications or simply because they don't give a shit.

      The biggest problem I have is that there are a LOT of people who are defending these restrictions with the Xbone for some reason, and I doubt they're all Microsoft shills. Some are fanboys, while others don't see the point of pushing back against aggressive companies. Heck, there's an editorial on Neowin where the author suggests we shouldn't be worried about the privacy issues with the always-on Kinect as we don't have any expectation of privacy anymore. In his words we should just "suck it up and get used to it". How fucked up is that?

    4. Re:Spin it all you like guys ... by erroneus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hilarious. Yeah, sounds good at first glance. But check other news stories -- Microsoft shares data and access with government. A 24h license thing is there to encourage people to leave their machines always on and always connected. I wonder what the motivation for that could possibly be? What is the practical rationale behind that if it is something completely unrelated to spying? Freedom to push updates with their constantly changing ToS?

      Look, if you're willing to give up so much, could you help a brother out? Throw a bit of what you're throwing out the window in my direction.

  3. Beware Internet Echo Chambers by blarkon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Remember the rage around here a few years back when Sony nixed Linux on PS3. Or the whole "rootkit fiasco"? Amazing how quickly past outrage is forgotten.

    1. Re:Beware Internet Echo Chambers by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Remember the rage around here a few years back when Sony nixed Linux on PS3. Or the whole "rootkit fiasco"? Amazing how quickly past outrage is forgotten.

      There's incompetence, and then there's monumental epic cluster fuck moments of total and abject negligence like this. Sony throwing root kits onto CDs and nixing Linux on the PS3 were just bad decisions. Dumb decisions. The development of the XBone makes that look like someone flushing a cherry bomb down the toilet compared to a FAE.

      This isn't normal stupid... this is weapons grade stupid.

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    2. Re:Beware Internet Echo Chambers by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I still won't buy a PS4. Microsoft may have screwed themselves over, but Sony can't be trusted. As I said above, play games on a PC, in Linux ideally.

    3. Re:Beware Internet Echo Chambers by marcosdumay · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Let me see it I got that right: Sonny p0wing your computer is just stupid, but MS making an always online console is weapons grade stupid? I got that right?

      Also, why does nobody remember the "always on" feature of the MS Teleprompt?

    4. Re:Beware Internet Echo Chambers by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Let me see it I got that right: Sonny p0wing your computer is just stupid, but MS making an always online console is weapons grade stupid? I got that right?

      Sony got found out pretty early on there, bud. See, that's the awesome part about even the partly open systems of the Windows world. You can't hide your dirty laundry for long.. and let's be honest: There's people out there far better than Sony at this. It was amateur hour, okay? This was a middle manager telling his engineers to make this happen "or else", and not much more thought put into it than that, because he read in a trade show mag somewhere it was his duty to defend the company from the evil pirates by any means necessary, ethics be damned. And the poor bastard fell into that pit trap and took the whole company's public reputation with him.

      It was stupid, ill-thought out, and poorly executed.

      Now on the other side, we have the XBone... it's watching you like some creepy stalker, while you undress, while you watch TV.. recording everything you do... it makes the NSA's capturing of your phone's "meta data" look positively germane. I mean, they're making no bones about the XBone's objective here: It's to hoover-vac every last shred of privacy you ever had and sell it to the highest bidder.

      This was deliberate, well thought out, well-funded, and the only thing that was poorly executed here was the public relations. They've come out looking like some lovecraftian horror beast about to be sent back into the deep by Johnny Depp wearing a pirate hat... They served their asses on a silver platter. But no... there is no contest here man. Not. Even. Fucking. Close.

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  4. Herp Derp Derp by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Q: What exclusive first-party games are in development, and when will we see them?

    A: None. Despite bending our customers over a barrel and raping them until they bled and screamed for mercy with our new DRM, we don't have a single exclusive to show for it.

    Q: How many games do you plan to ship at launch?

    A: We got a lot of promises, but the warehouse is presently, uhh, a bit vacant.

    Q: What is the new Xbox Live?

    A: For game publishers, it's the second coming of Christ, the ressurection, the moment we've been waiting for, beating ourselves off to in private fantasizing over. For game players, it's an unholy cluster fuck that makes Square Enix scorched Earth policy on every franchise you ever loved look positively humane.

    Q: What new benefits does Xbox Live offer?

    A: The new generation of Xbox Live gets to know you and your preferences, by watching you 24/7 through a webcam that cannot be turned off, and puts you at the center of all your games and entertainment, and then builds a giant 20 foot thick concrete wall between you and all your friends who you can't share any of it with without an extra fee. It will make sure your Xbox is always up to date and ready for you, like meeting every ex you ever had at a party, who then stalk you for the next year, posting comments on your Facebook about what a whore you were, and a cheater -- that gaming is better with smart, quick and intuitive multiplayer, unlike everything else on the market which can accomplish this basic feat without spying on you, whoring away your personal viewing habits, and knowing exactly when you're about to climax on the couch to post that new advertisement for Buxom Babes 7, backed by the new Smart Match system -- which is just like online dating, only creepier. It adds even more personalization to your TV and entertainment, because what's more entertaining and personal than sitting alone, in your basement, your friends unable to join you to play without paying an extra fee? Nothing, that's what! With the evolved Xbox Live, your games and profile are stored in the cloud, so you can access them from any Xbox One console, and we'd appreciate it a lot if you'd forget about what we've done with Sidekick, and every other Cloud platform we've absorbed like some Doctor Who alien, only with less wit and British charm.... this time will be different. We Promise(tm).

    Q: I saw reports stating friends will be unlimited and reports saying the cap is 1,000. Which is correct?

    A: We're excited to report it's the lower of the two, which shouldn't discourage you in any way... because we've tried very hard to match the same low standards that are already present in the industry with our next generation console!

    Q: Do I have to pay to access Xbox Live?

    A: No. We'll just be collecting your personal viewing habits and selling them to the lowest bidder.

    --
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  5. Missing question by alantus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    101. Since I would have to pay 500$ for it, will I be able to run my own software on the Xbox One?

    1. Re:Missing question by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      101. Since I would have to pay 500$ for it, will I be able to run my own software on the Xbox One?

      Today Microsoft Studios and the world's biggest and most renowned publishers, including 343 Industries, Crytek, Turn 10 Studios, Capcom and Insomniac Games, unveiled their blockbuster games lineup for Xbox One, with more exclusive titles than at any time in the history of Xbox. We're excited to share more about our complete launch portfolio over the coming weeks and months.

      101. Since I would have to pay 500$ for it, will I be able to run my own software on the Xbox One?

      Similar to Xbox 360, Xbox Live on Xbox One is free to any system owner with a broadband Internet connection and includes access to a robust catalog of gaming content on Xbox Marketplace and personal profiles.

      101. Since I would have to pay 500$ for it, will I be able to run my own software on the Xbox One?

      We're in continued discussions with a broad set of content providers and owners but we don't have anything to announce at this time.

      101. Since I would have to pay 500$ for it, will I be able to run my own software on the Xbox One?

      I exorcise thee, every unclean spirit, in the name of Ballmer the Father, and in the name of Microsoft, our lord and judge, and in the power of the Holy Console, that thou depart from this creature of Consumer which our Lord has designed to call unto his Holy temple. I cast out you noxious vermin, through the same Christ our Lord, who shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.

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  6. Re:Ignore the FUD, here's the truth by rrohbeck · · Score: 4, Informative

    3-4=-1.

  7. Re:XBone Fake FAQ by Luckyo · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's a bit too long for a troll document, and a just sufficiently corporate-speakish to be real. Teen trolls don't have the language skills to produce a document like that, while adult trolls don't have the time and patience to get over that many points.

    It also doesn't look like a collaboration because the writing style stays the same throughout the document.

    All in all, it has a very good chance of being a real thing.

  8. Re:Economies of scale by GigaplexNZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sure knowing that is going to make the millions of ruralites feel much better about the situation knowing they're taking one for the team.

  9. Re:Economies of scale by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Tens of millions of urbanites are more profitable than millions of ruralites.

    But without the phoning home requirement, you'd get some of those millions of "ruralites" to buy an XBox One.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  10. Re:Which $400 gaming PC? by JDeane · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can get a gaming PC for about $400 but it will be entry level, when it comes to PC's better to spend at least a little bit more and get something that will last a while.

    This one is $529 and is more than a match for the new generation of consoles.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229285

    The biggest thing about investing in the price difference on a gaming PC is that when your not playing games, you can do a LOT of other things on a PC. So the price difference is more than made up for.

    All this being said, I am lucky and have enough money to do both, I tend to buy 2 consoles from each gen and keep a gaming PC around. This will be the first gen I do not buy at least 2 of the consoles at launch. I own a Wii-U and I don't plan on getting a Xbox One, I also do not trust Sony enough to pick up a PS4 at launch my PS3 was not a good experience for me... Always seems like I spend more time updating the firmware than actually playing it.

  11. Re:Which $400 gaming PC? by Khyber · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Which $400 gaming PC that can play games with comparable graphics to forthcoming PS4 games would you recommend?"

    One built yourself.

    A10-5800K with 8GB RAM costs me.... $247.90 free shipping and before taxes.

    Barebones System
    8GB RAM

    If I decided to drop the extra $150 on a better GPU than the 7660D included in the A10, then you could get a GTX560 and be set to go. Or snag dual GTX460s for the same price.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  12. Re: Economies of scale by symbolset · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, it's not. Buy the PS4 and it's all sorted.

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  13. Re:Economies of scale by symbolset · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You don't get the point of his message: if you aren't urban, fuck off.

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  14. 56k modem by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 4, Informative

    Before broadband there was a thing known as a modem which hooked up to a telephone line. I realise that you may not have heard of these existing, as they did, in that uninteresting bit of history between the late Cretaceous and yesterday. However posting on Slashdot is entirely possible through such a device. Some are still rumoured to exist out in the wilds, far beyond the sight of the last suburb, where the 3G reception icon on your phone starts to flicker.

  15. More realistically... by RogueyWon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Xbone will do ok in the US. That's its home market, there's always a degree of "patriotic" buying (though not to the same extent as in Japan) and, like them or not, some of the 360's exclusive franchises still have a lot of market power. There are people who will buy an Xbone for Halo. The overlap between those people and "people who read slashdot" is probably quite small.

    Will the Xbone do as well in the US as the 360 has (where the sales data shows it's the dominant console)? Probably not, at least on the basis of what we've seen so far. Sony's given the "floating voters" with no strong attachment to either camp a lot of reasons to go in the PS4 direction this time. But the Xbox series has a lot of loyal fans in the US and most of them will still be hanging on.

    The danger for MS lies outside of the US. Ok, it's never managed to get the Xbox to succeed in Japan. So it's probably fair that it doesn't put too many resources into trying this time around (you'll never get away from the fact that the demographic profile of gamers looks very, very different in Japan and is much less interested in those games we consider "mainstream" in the West).

    But Europe? Europe was in many ways the key swing battleground of the 360/PS3 generation and didn't really commit strongly to either camp. There's no "domestic" console, so no "patriotic buying" effect; in short, there's everything to play for. But MS seem to have decided not to play.

    The TV offerings (which won't even be available in many territories to start with) aren't exactly tempting in Europe. I've had to sort out phone/tv/broadband packages in the UK, Belgium and the US in the last couple of years and can hand-on-heart say that you can get a decent TV package much more cheaply and easily in Europe these days. Sky or Virgin Media vs Comcast? It's not even close. MS is facing much tougher competition to take over from the existing TV providers.

    The competition in Europe is, therefore, much more likely to be about being the better machine for games. Sony's messaging so far has been "games, games, games". I'm not really sure that Halo has more potency as a brand than Resistance, or that Gears of War is more potent than Killzone in Europe.

    Then there are the emerging markets. The parts of the world that don't buy many consoles right now, but which might conceivably start to buy a lot more over the course of the next few years. These are also places where the 24-hour-dial-home restriction is likely to be a serious deterrent.

    If MS doesn't do some urgent damage limitation, the Xbone runs a serious risk of ending up as a single-territory console.