Moore
1786
combined with shittier hardware and the other concerns, minor and major, it is ‘enough’ to be a no buy.
They seem to be assuming that on a scale of 1-10 ‘will I buy this’ they start at 10 and can take a few hits with these shitty policies. ‘We are at -4, so he’s a 6 on the 1-10 ‘buy it’ scale, he will likely buy it’ Problem for me is, new consoles start at 0 on that scale, and I expect to be given reasons to buy it until it sounds like something I’d want to own. They are at negative 4. the only way to start at 10 would be to have backwards compatability plus enhancement (upscaled xbox 1 titles on 360 - for example) if this thing could play 360 games with added effects, like something similar ENB shader mods for Pc titles, I’d maybe bite even with all this bullshit.
But they give nothing beneficial over ps4, and many negatives over their current machine.
No reason at all to even be interested (halo? they sent me halo 4 for free and I still havent even tried it). the standard reason for a new console gen is MORE POWER. They offer less power than their competition, and more restrictions (I know sony has not been talking much but they did say internet is not required at all, so even if they have every other restriction, they have more power and no online required, and a ‘buy it again, only a few games available’ faux backwards compatibility, which gets them way clsoer to ‘buy’ for me)
Teiman
1787
I am not a smart person. And read your post as “please write a list of places where you can acquire new games that are not steam”. Such list can be: Gamersgate, Amazon Download, Direct Download, directly from the game studio, Impulse, you can buy used games that don’t have too much DRM. Used games that only have a CD-Key, and comes with the cd-key on the dvd will work. You can also pirate games, if you have no moral compass and are pretty poor. Theres also a fast growing list of games that are free on the PC. Not only mmos, but of any type of game, including simple casual flash games. If you ask nicelly, I can give you a copy of X-COM, I have a extra copy that I don’t need (PM for details). I heard Leage of Legends is a pretty awesome game. We even have some “Pay what you want” sales here on the PC.
flyinj
1788
That’s basically saying that you can only play the game on the console it is purchased on, but double talking to make it sound less bad.
GME is up over 7% right now because apparently investors are unable to read beyond “you can play used games” to “if the publishers permit it.” I took the opportunity to dump the rest of my stock. I’d been selling it off in smaller blocks because I prefer to make investments decisions slowly, but this seemed like too good an opportunity to get a decent price. A 70% gain over 3 years isn’t too shabby.
People keep repeating this line, but it’s not true at all. What Sony said in the GI interview was that “always online” was never considered because many PlayStation customers live in areas with spotty or expensive internet. Someone from Frobes misquoted the print article and that got reprinted everywhere else.
You’ll note that Microsoft also said “always online” isn’t required.
Moore
1791
I do not see that as a common thing in the xbone world either - and it happens ALL the time with steam games, they are so affordable you end up with extras without even trying. And your friend you give it to may well buy x-com 2, or that devs next game, or just get a good feeling about steam which they then pass on when they gift a game later to someone else. This is just one more reason why steam, even with DRM titles, can end up way more palatable to gamers.
Moore
1792
ps4 still comes out ahead for me because the xbone is doing so many other dumb things. ps4 can mirror every single xbone policy and still win, because it has the hardware advantage. I wouldnt think it would affect me ( I can play ugly games and enjoy them!) but I know from experience I will not enjoy my purchase of the weaker console, it will get ignored like my ps3. (I don’t want a ‘worse’ version of a game that has a ‘better’ version)
To approach this from a different angle, for me at least, I’m not really a console gamer, I’m not particularly price-sensitive, and for me, exclusives sell consoles. If Microsoft announces a huge new Bioware RPG exclusive to the xbone, I’ll probably buy one. That is exactly why I purchased the Xbox (KOTOR) and the Xbox360 (Mass Effect).
Mass Effect was the only game I actually played on the xbox360. I basically unplugged it after that and put it in a closet. I never bought a PS3, because it didn’t have any exclusives I had to have. Although I did get a PS3 for free a couple months back and enjoyed Uncharted3.
So lets see what they announce at E3.
DivXBOX is my personal favorite, although it’s kind of an old obscure reference.
Plus it has all the wrong connotations for me, because when the DIVX was announced, my brother was soooo excited for it, and I was living with him at the time. He loved the idea of a machine that let him watch movies that he wouldn’t have to return to the video store and would never watch again anyway. So through osmosis I always think of DIVX box as this great idea that never took off.
Yeah, I posted that on the previous page :P, but you got to get the capitalization right, DivX is the codec, DIVX was the Circuit City disaster.
Zylon
1798
“A new generation of games with power from the cloud”
“…a digital copy of your game is stored on your console and in the cloud”
“…speak directly to smart wireless devices and connect to them through the cloud”
“Future proofed with power from the cloud”
“Games that are designed to take advantage of the cloud may require a connection.”
A hate market-droids so much. “The cloud! The cloud! Bawwwk! The cloud!” I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if some PHB over at Microsoft has issued a memo that “Going forward, all references to ‘online’, ‘servers’, or ‘internet’ will be replaced with ‘the cloud’.”
That still leaves room for things like activate-at-install, not the same as “24 hours, bitches”. Still annoying, sure, but…
According to Kotaku (reported in an update, so this may have been missed), Sony did mention that it won’t require an Internet connection for game registration:
- Will games need to be registered online in order to use them the first time out?
UPDATE: Question #2 actually had been answered by Sony. And we’d reported it: “At a roundtable this morning, Sony’s game studios chief, Shuhei Yoshida, told reporters that any requirement for users to register a game online in order to play it would be left to game publishers. Sony won’t require that.” Apologies for missing that during our attempts to clarify just how similar or dissimilar Sony’s next-gen policies are from Microsoft’s.
I agree that that’s not exactly reassuring since it leaves room for publishers to impose anti-used-game DRM in place of the system manufacturer. But “Sony won’t require that” is suggestive that you may not need an Internet connection to use your PS4. Again, I agree it’s not completely straight forward, but at least Sony won’t be requiring that games (or licenses) be registered to a PSN account.
Lococyle by Twisted Pixel coming to the 360 XBLA and as a launch title for the XBone. Damn it. They’re trying to lure me in. I love most Twisted Pixel games, and I’ve loved playing them with my niece and nephew (Splosion Man, The Maw, Ms Splosion Man).
KWhit
1802
Uh… Amazon? Greenman gaming? GoG?
That doesn’t actually matter, though, since EA and the rest will require it. Without mandatory registration, you can still trade games with your friends, etc.
The fact that Sony isn’t shouting about their less restrictive policies from the rooftops is a good indicator that they have something in mind that’s similar to Microsoft. Though I suppose they could be saving it as a gut punch at E3.
But I agree with stusser: Most of the outraged people will cave when an exclusive they can’t live without hits the One. That includes me, unless a monthly, higher-rate Gold subscription becomes mandatory. Then I’m definitely out, even with a subsidized box.
Games Industry International reports that analysts don’t think it’s likely that “EA and the rest will require it,” though:
With yesterday’s announcement of the Xbox One’s game licensing capabilities, we now know that Microsoft has given publishers the power to block second-hand sales of games if they chose. Despite the looming threat of this option, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter and Baird Research senior analyst Colin Sebastian both believe that publishers won’t jump at the chance.
“In our view, it is still unlikely that publishers will block used games; however, they may try to extract a retail fee,” said Sebastian in a note this morning.
“We expect the majority of the large publishers to enable used gaming, at least in the early years of the Xbox One launch. In our view, any publisher that disables used gaming risks a backlash or boycott of its titles by gamers, negatively impacting sales,” said Pachter in his release.
Pachter explained that publishers who did block used games would be leaving themselves open to lose customers to competitors who allowed second-hand sales and trades. Instead, he expects that publishers will lock used game trades for a certain period of time near launch.
“We continue to believe that the currency generated from used game trade-ins is beneficial for the publishers, as it provides currency available for new game purchases. However, many believe that used games sold in proximity to a new game’s release cannibalizes sales of the new title, so we think that some publishers may limit used game trade-ins for a specified period of time following the game’s launch,” he said. “We expect used gaming to continue to be widespread, to the benefit of GameStop.”
That last part still confuses me, though. GameStop says only 4% of used-game sales are of games released in the prior 60 days, and it also says that 70% of trade-in dollars go directly toward new games. So I just don’t see any compelling evidence that “used games sold in proximity to a new game’s release cannibalizes sales of the new title.”
