Xbox One

Well, to their defense, PC gaming has been like that since steam became the norm.

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• You do not own the games you buy. You license them.
• Discs are only used to install and then license games and do not imply ownership.
• People can play games installed on your console whether you're logged in or not.
• 10 people can be authorised to play these games on a different Xbox One via the cloud, but not at the same time, similar to iTunes authorised devices.
• Publishers decide whether you can trade in your games and may charge for this.
• Publishers decide whether you can give a game you own to someone for free, and this only works if they have been on your friends list for 30 days.
• Your account allows you to play the games you license on any console.
• Your Xbox One must connect to the internet every 24 hours to keep playing games.
• When playing on another Xbox One with your account, this is reduced to one hour.
• Live TV, Blu-ray and DVD movies are exempt from these internet requirements.
• Loaning and renting games will not be possible at launch, but Microsoft is "exploring the possibilities".
• Microsoft may change these policies or discontinue them at any point.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-…cts-us-to-smile

Well, most of this is how it always has been, at least legally... There was just no way to enforce it. I actually kinda endorse this, it's a big step forward from grey-zone piracy like sharing games or buying 2nd hand... Less money to retailers, more money to people actually creating the game, it's only fair?

Not saying I didn't sin against this, I did share some games with friends

PC gaming has been like this for a while so I don't really see the problem. It's not like a disc and the booklet actually warrant the $60 pricetag and ownership, it was always the license that set the price of a game, the disc was just the medium to get it to your console. Why should you have different rights if you paid the same for a download title or bought the disc-version, doesn't make sense. Just because you have a disc doesn't give you the right of being a distributor. Compare it to DVD's and the more expensive rental copy of DVD's. Perhaps they should do the same for games?

Really interesting how PS4 is gonna respond, I doubt publishers will allow 2 different kind of policies?

The whole thing just comes off creepy, and combine that with the stupid camera that never stops watching you, this whole device is pretty much an unmerited middle finger to consumers. So all this liscensing shit benefits Microsoft and game devs more, but what exactly is the benefit to consumers?

Steam created a ton of value, not the case here. People will still buy it, but this whole system has simply become a really effective marketing tool for the Playstation 4 by this point

There is no benefit to customers. Steam was a pain in the ass at launch as well, it was only DRM and not the indie-fest it is now I do think it's a bad strategy of them of not giving us anything in return for this, people are used to it now and we don't always have to go back to shit before things turn beneficial again (if ever).

A lot of misinformation apparently, understandable seeing how Microsoft handled this

http://kotaku.com/xb...t-off-511759241

You can turn the Kinect off entirely if you want. But I suppose if your xbox is hacked (tough chance?) then it could be on since your Xbox One is always on (well, more like in standby mode).

I just don't care really, all I care about is games. I'm pretty sure I will end up with an Xbone anyhow just for the exclusives. I'm still undecided which console I'm gonna use for multiplatform titles, e.g. the "main console" in my living room. We'll find out in a couple of months I suppose.

Am I the only one that is thoroughly expecting a SimCity-esque fuck up of epic proportions to happen with this 24-hour connection thing? What happens if Microsoft experience downtime (it can and has happened)? Or if someone's internet connection stops working for a little while when the check is done? Or what if someone's moving home or internet provider and they have no internet for a week or so? These are all things I've experienced when using my 360, UK internet connectivity ain't all that.

This just seems so anti-consumer that it pisses me off regardless of what justifications Microsoft use. The only reason that services like Steam are accepted is because they deliver overwhelming value in addition to any negatives they might bring. What Microsoft's doing is purely shit and offers no benefits to consumers whatsoever.

I don't think it'll do a check every 24 hours, I think it'll just say 24 hours after your live connection goes down you can't use your console.

Oops, I mean can't use your console for games.

I don't think it's valid to compare this to Steam. Steam took the messing-about that was playing video games on PC and turned it into something a lot more elegant (ex: patching, driver updates, friend lists). Whereas this is taking something that is elegant already (put disc in, job done) and adding in a layer of messing-about.

Yeah the need to connect to Xbox Live at least once every 24 hours is really off putting. There are times in peoples life where they have no internet at all. If one of these times roll around your XBone will be useless for gaming. I predict a lot of rage from people with bad/no connections once this is released.

Francis also made a good point. What about military personnel who are fighting abroad. They don't have internet connections most of the time, so they won't be able to game.

Also, you can probably guarantee the prices of digital games will still be full (console) price rather than matching PC/Steam prices. Even though they haven't had to create a disk, packaging, ship it and house it in a store...

Yep. It was only a month or so ago that I moved, and lo and behold for about a week I had no internet because that's often how it is when you're moving home and internet companies take weeks to arrange an installation. During that period I probably gamed more than I had done in months, precisely because I had fuck all to do other than watch TV.

In that exact situation, I'd have been fucked if I had an Xbox One.

Chimeray: i'm about of the same opinion. One thing I was thinking since the beginning: if MS has gone into all the trouble to make such an infrastructure, I guess it's the publishers that asked for it(?).

Quote from Beck

Also, you can probably guarantee the prices of digital games will still be full (console) price rather than matching PC/Steam prices. Even though they haven't had to create a disk, packaging, ship it and house it in a store...

Steam prices are full-retail price for new PC games, they don't sell it cheaper because it's digital.

They have that 10% off on preorders (depending on the publisher), then I could most of the time buy a PC game on Amazon at lesser price than on Steam.

Except if there's some promotion going on. Which it's very often, to be fair, but nonetheless.

Quote from blackdog

Chimeray: i'm about of the same opinion. One thing I was thinking since the beginning: if MS has gone into all the trouble to make such an infrastructure, I guess it's the publishers that asked for it(?).

Steam prices are full-retail price for new PC games, they don't sell it cheaper because it's digital.

They have that 10% off on preorders (depending on the publisher), then I could most of the time buy a PC game on Amazon at lesser price than on Steam.

Except if there's some promotion going on. Which it's very often, to be fair, but nonetheless.

I think he meant PC games in general. I don't know about other countries but in the UK virtually any new PC game is released for ~£35, whereas console games are at ~£50.

Quote from Thrik

Steam prices are full-retail price for new PC games, they don't sell it cheaper because it's digital.

They have that 10% off on preorders (depending on the publisher), then I could most of the time buy a PC game on Amazon at lesser price than on Steam.

Except if there's some promotion going on. Which it's very often, to be fair, but nonetheless.

I think he meant PC games in general. I don't know about other countries but in the UK virtually any new PC game is released for ~£35, whereas console games are at ~£50.

Yeah I just meant PC games in general. Especially the digital market.

I can't see the Xbox or PS4 matching the PC prices for digital titles that are multi-platform.

Take the new Assassins Creed for example. That will be released across all platforms at the same time, both in retail and in digital.

If we look at just digital only (Steam, Xbox Live and PSN Store) the PC version will be probably £26.99 (with 10% discount before release) and the console versions will probably be £45.99 or something similar.

They're all the same game delivered by the same method (The internet) but for some reason the console versions cost more?

I know this is good for the publishers and developers. But I feel it's really cheeky to ask more of the consumers?

Am I in the wrong here? D:

Ok, now I get what you mean.

That's a really intersting point, yeah, you can put your money on it that pricing will be different... and they'll say it's because of the royalties.

Quote from Al Anselmo~Intelect0

Don't forget that you can download some games on Steam and play them completely offline. So it's not that DRM bullcrap.

Sorry for the OT, but is the Offline mode on Steam working better now? I always had problems with that function, when I needed it.

I gotta say, I wouldn't be too worried if Xbox One actually went ahead and did this, as long as in fact it did have a Offline mode like steam.

Yeah they fixed that last year sometime.

It works like a charm in Steam now, everytime it can't connect to the steam servers it gives you the option to go into offline mode!

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