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Xbox One Launch Woes Were Preventable, Next Console Likely Digital Download Only
MojoKid writes: Microsoft's Xbox One launch didn't go off exactly as planned in late 2013. Before the console's release, the company was dogged over DRM restrictions with the console and concerns over its high price tag compared to its counterpart, the Sony PlayStation 4. Microsoft would attribute the higher price tag to the included Kinect camera — a peripheral that many gamers didn't particularly care for. Former Xbox Chief Robbie Bach offered his two cents recently on the Xbox One — a console that launched years after he announced he retired from the company in 2010. Bach noted, regarding the Xbox One's rocky launch, "...gosh, I think some of that was predictable and preventable." As for the future of physical game media, Bach doesn't think that the future will be so bright when it comes to DRM and always-connected requirements in the next generation of gaming consoles. He said that the next Xbox would "probably not" have physical media to speak of, with consoles adopting digital-only distribution.
Then M$ can go choke on a bucket of dicks. Shove the cloud/DRM bullshit up your ass.
So long as they offer an experience comparable to Steam, including weekly sales and the deeper discounts around Summer/Winter. I've got no issues with always-on, since I'm always connected anyway. Just give users a sane amount of offline time and it's all good.
The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
no you didn't. no one did.
To them the "woes" were the customer revolt that forced them to backpedal on always-on connectivity, the invasive 24/7 HD spy camera and microphone, and disabling of second-hand games. And they think "preventing" that is merely a matter of tightening the lockdown.
like the highly successful PSP Go and Ouya
Am I the only one who gets annoyed with past future tense used like,
Microsoft would attribute the higher price tag to the included Kinect camera
I see this tense a lot, especially in online RP and it just feels off, every time I read something like this. Why not just "Microsoft attributed the higher price tag to the included kinect camera..."
I'm no englishologist, I just know when it feels wrong, and that feels wrong. Saying, "I knew microsoft would..." works out, but not "Microsoft would attribute..."
with perfect future foreskin even I can pick a winner the day after the race.
In technology it's pretty simple.
Any technological conservatism is wrong. ;D
you get a disc that tells it to download a 20gb "update" that is actually the whole freaking game.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
And yes, Steam has a contingency for how you can play your games if they go out of business. It's called, "offline mode".
How will offline mode survive a backup of user data and game binaries, reinstallation of the operating system, and restoration of user data and game binaries? And over the years, the Steam client has had plenty of bugs causing it to lose the "receipt" that allows a user to play a purchased a game in offline mode.
What pushed me towards a PS3, after decades of PC gaming, was the large "lending library" of PS3 games offered by a co-worker.
Steam on PC now allows your co-worker to lend you her entire library.
Pay $60 for PS3 game
Run into a game design flaw that ruins your enjoyment, can't lawfully mod PS3 games. Use value $0, though it has resale value.
Pay $60 for a PC game that isn't online-only, run into a game design flaw that ruins your enjoyment, mod it out. After completing the game, add mods that increase replay value. Use value more than $0.
of the country that can't get fast Internet connections. I live in Seattle, and the fastest we can get in our building is dialup. I'll probably still get a new XBox since several family members work at Microsoft and the discount on price is nice, but apparently I'll have to take it elsewhere like work to temporarily get a faster connection in order to buy games.
The guy who was in charge of the Xbox team for these 'woes' was a guy named Don Mattrick.
During the run up to the horrible E3 where most of these poor decisions were revealed, he had been negotiating and then accepted a job running Zynga.
To put it mildly, he had completely checked out and didn't appear to care about what happened to the Xbox at that E3, as he knew he was going to be out the door a few weeks later.
This is one of the larger straight mistakes that Ballmer (as opposed to reasonable but poor decisions) made during his role as CEO of Microsoft - leaving a guy who just didn't give a shit in charge of a major project.
"Free software as in beer, copy protection as in racket" - Telsa Gwynne
Please drink a verification can to continue.
It was pretty obvious they weren't exactly the brightest when they thought it was a good idea to name the THIRD iteration of their console ONE.
What pushed me towards a PS3, after decades of PC gaming, was the large "lending library" of PS3 games offered by a co-worker. I could try full games before I purchased them.
My going forward with the PS3 was it's backwards compatibility, it plays all my old PS and PS2 games. Mine is at least, I've met very few others with one of the first versions.
Buying cheap used games one finds gems like Beyond Good and Evil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
You don't own your games. You own the packaging and a plastic disc, but nothing that's written on any of it.
Your ownership is an illusion. Get past it and you'll be happier.
Okay, that is fine with me me if all I own is the packaging and a plastic disc, as long as I can install it and it works on my computer and I don't have to be online and I can resell it if I feel like it. Maybe that is not ownership but it is a world and a half better than this download/only works online and while the company is in business crap.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
I have personally tried to restore Steam backups, so I know the drill. You cannot play the backups without being online. And last time I checked, the Steam installer would refuse to install if it was old, and the download for the new one still won't resume. You either get the file all at once, or not at all.
It's really pathetic that someone is actually shilling for Valve here on Slashdot by modding down my factual comments. It's sad if they pay for it, and it's even sadder if they don't.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Have a user swappable main hdd + moving of games to an ext hdd / usb stick.
PS3 and PS4 make it easy Xbox it's a lot harder and you may get banned for doing it.
with the Xbox 360 people got banned for use there own and much cheaper HDD's in the xbox 360 hdd caddy.
Welcome to the future. You live somewhere without reliable internet access, and want to play a game on the Xbox Two. You take your hard-earned bitcoins to a Gamestop as well as a flash drive/external HDD that's been prepared by the console. You plug it in to a kiosk at the store, which lets you download game data for ANY game available for the system (a single HDD can hold every game released in the past several months). Of course, you won't just be able to play it. You scratch off a prepaid bitcoin card and input the code into the kiosk, and choose which games to buy a license for. The kiosk connects to the internet, sending a file containing your console's hardware ID, and your Xbox Live login info. Microsoft cryptographically signs a certificate containing the console's ID, and the game's unique title ID, and sends that back to the kiosk, which is then saved back to the flash drive. You yank the flash drive, go home, and plug it into the Xbox Two, which validates the signed certificate, and lets you play the game whose data is present. No home internet access required, much less an always-on connection.
The certificates for all games are in one file which is signed by Microsoft. While in theory you could sell a game license, keep your console disconnected from the net and use an outdated certificate file in order to continue playing it, you'd never be able to use Xbox Live or run any additional games, so that's unlikely. Thanks to asynchronous keys, the master key wouldn't be anywhere in the console and thus need to be hacked from Microsoft's servers, which AFAIK has never happened to a console maker. Rentals will work by containing a time limit in the certificate file, and of course rolling back the clock in the settings menu won't work around that; perhaps it'll just allow X hours of runtime, rather than X hours of access (although both wouldn't surprise me, a la Steam returns). You may also be allowed to sell your licenses, although they'll have to get this up and running before anyone believes it. The process will have to resemble "here ya go" more than "list of restrictions a mile long" or else they'll be handing another win to Sony. In order for the process to not suck, they're probably going to have to bite the bullet and accept that someone, somewhere, may be playing a game they 'sold', but it's ok because few people will accept the tradeoffs.
Consoles may also lose their internal hard drives, and just get an external accessory instead; USB 3.1 is faster than SATA 3 so it's not totally nuts (cache will help latency problems). The console will be ostensibly cheaper since they have one less component, they can say "supports bajillionty terabyte drives!" in marketing, and simultaneously sell their own branded overpriced drives which are "officially supported."
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Like World of Warcraft CDs that I bought on its release day! :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
tired of these news story's the same crap is flying around with the nx. there likely going to ditch the blue rays and go back to flash media aka carts as optical drives are the bottlenecks for these systems.
There's some circumstantial evidence from a recent patent filing that the Nintendo NX may ditch the disk drive (and possibly all physical media). A patent-filing is by no means indicative of final intent. After all, Sony filed quite a few "always-online" type patents during the PS4's development but ended up not going down that direction. But it's a sign that Nintendo is at least considering it.
This is an area where there's a huge disadvantage to being the first mover. As MS learned in the run up to the Xbox One's launch, having an always-online download-focussed/only console when your competitor is advancing a more traditional offering can look fairly suicidal. But once one of the major parties has made the move, don't be surprised if the others follow.
You're deliberately conflating ownership of a creative work's copyright with ownership of an individual copy of that work (which was made by the party who did own the copyright). The only right the granted by copyright is the right to a monopoly on who can create new instances (copies) of a given work, and that right absolutely does not extend beyond that.
This is called the first-sale doctrine, which recognizes that reproduction rights are distinct form distribution rights, with copyright only granting the former and their distribution rights end at the first sale. If a retailer buys a copyright-protected work at wholesale, they can sell it however they like as long as they do not create any more copies. Likewise, if you buy such a work, you can use it for whatever you like, provided you don't make additional copies. If the party that owns the copyright wants more control over what happens after the first sale, they can always negotiate a contract with additional restrictions. This happens often when publishers sell wholesale to retailers. Just remember that an EULA is not a contract, and anybody that buys something in a simple retail transaction ("I pay you money, you hand me $GAME" only) has not agreed to any extra restrictions.
A lot of publishers really wish they could control their product after the first sale so they can eliminate the resale market. They can dream all they want, but that doesn't change the law.
Ce n'est pas une signature automatique.
I've got an XBox One and currently a really shit internet connection (digital nomad in Spain sharing wifi across 3 different flats).
When the internet goes dodgy and the XBox One loses access, I can't save my game and the games start missing features.
Sure my predicament is a bit odd, but I can't be the only person with flakey Internet. Not being able to save a single player game just because you aren't online is a bit off imo.
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
And you really think that circular piece of plastic you have there can ward off this fate? Especially if the only thing contained on it is the installer that sucks 20 gigs through the pipes?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
"Have a user swappable main hdd + moving of games to an ext hdd / usb stick."
You already can move games to an external HDD on the X1, given that it supports USB3 there's not really any point changing the internal drive when you can get a perfectly fast external drive and just plug it straight in anyway. Of course you wont get banned for using external storage on an X1, that's complete nonsense, it's a standard function of the console, well advertised, and fully supported within the UI.
"with the Xbox 360 people got banned for use there own and much cheaper HDD's in the xbox 360 hdd caddy."
Again, complete nonsense, I did this on two consoles and never had an issue. The only people who got banned were those who also manipulated the data on those drives to cheat, and thank god those people did get banned, they deserved it.
But the only way digital only will work is if Sony goes along too. If not, then all the people who hate digital only will start choosing the competition and they'll have to backpeddle again.
I own an Xbox One. I've picked up several games through Amazon, Best Buy, Target, etc. that were on sale for $20, while the digital versions were still full price. Then, I played them through and sold them on eBay for what I paid for them or, at most, a $5 loss. I don't like multiplayer and don't like playing games I've already finished. So, a physical disc is a perfect medium for me. Taking the ability to sell it after I play it away from me is a huge price gouge.
Mine is at least, I've met very few others with one of the first versions.
CECHA/CECHB?
I have a not quite as compatible CECHE model, I had to send it in for fixing earlier this year. Graphical glitches, freezes and whatnot (probably solder gone bad). It's perfectly fine now.
Buying cheap used games one finds gems like Beyond Good and Evil
Which I own, and haven't finished. Did you know it has progressive scan support? There's a remastered HD version for the PS4.
Digital-only is tunnelvision, unless they're fine making multiple versions of the system and still having to produce discs in some markets. The sheer volume of consoles in soldier deployments and countries with limited internet will see to it.
I think it's good that they're moving toward digital. Analog downloads didn't seem to have enough fidelity. Sure, it was nice that if someone picked up the phone in the middle of your download, it'd still work and you would just have a noisy blur in the texture on some wall, but video games these days are more about art, so we need to protect the artists' vision.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
And you really think that circular piece of plastic you have there can ward off this fate? Especially if the only thing contained on it is the installer that sucks 20 gigs through the pipes?
No, but perhaps we can help spell the fate of those wasteful companies who feel like pressing millions of pieces of plastic for zero fucking reason.
They went after Capone for tax evasion, and succeeded. Perhaps we should go after these companies for no other reason than green initiatives. Stop destroying the planet with pointless plastic and cardboard if you're not going to actually give the consumers anything viable in return. And we'll look to punish you in kind if you continue to do so. Enough is enough.
But next time they'll double down on always-on and no media, which were two huge parts of the bad press of Xbone.
Though for all that public bitching about that, and the fact that PS4 is faster, the key factor was probably pricing, with all the controversy not even visible to the person looking at the two boxes on a retailer shelf or on amazon web pages and just seeing the price tags.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Well, there's the interesting part. Most of the console releases come to PC too nowadays. If I buy a PS4 game, in 10 years I might not be able to play it easily. On PC, I almost certainly will be able to if I want.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Why would any retailer sell a digital download only system? The game systems have very little margin. The retailer is counting on the game sales to make up for that.
Console game disks on the other hand are still required to serve their basic function out of the box, without ever having been connected to the internet at any point. At least I know this is the case for PS4 and Wii U.
I'm skeptical. I know some games are getting bigger than the discs they ship on. For example, Halo MCC came with my XBONE as a download and is installed at about 75 GB (and wasn't too much smaller, maybe 65 GB before the ODST DLC). There's no way that could've all compressed onto a 50GB dual-layer blu-ray. Then again, it might have, but I don't know because I don't have a disc.
And I always thought optical storage was digital.
Trevor. He's my main. We have similar taste in clothes.
Trevor Howard, I mean.
http://media.liveauctiongroup....
You are welcome on my lawn.
Mine is at least, I've met very few others with one of the first versions.
CECHA/CECHB?
I have a not quite as compatible CECHE model, I had to send it in for fixing earlier this year. Graphical glitches, freezes and whatnot (probably solder gone bad). It's perfectly fine now.
CECHEO1 It quit working so I baked the motherboard, working on it outside found I was missing the very last piece -the ribbon cable to the start button; so put on hold.
And I miss it, using Win 8.1 and VLC to take it's place in the interim, but no comparison.
(Can't access it's UEFI, so no Linux either).
Buying cheap used games one finds gems like Beyond Good and Evil
Which I own, and haven't finished... There's a remastered HD version for the PS4.
There is one puzzle of getting past predictable guards; while it took forever it remained enjoyable. I lost the backup of my first game which I managed to get a picture of the seagull first time, I could never get that picture again. Finished all but the mini games.
Ratchet and clank for the PS2 were my favs.
If you like stuff hanging out, sure. IMO it makes more sense to put the new 2000GB disk in the console and have the original, less precious 500GB one as external. That may a be a small detail though.