XBOX One - Microsoft-pulls-180-removes-restrictions

[ACR731]

Microsoft is getting rid of controversial DRM restrictions it announced last month at the unveiling of the Xbox One.

Microsoft will no longer require the Xbox One to have an Internet connection to play offline games, Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, said Wednesday in a statement on Microsoft's Xbox Wire blog.

Read more at: Microsoft Pulls A 180 And Removes The Restrictions From The New Xbox That Video Game Fans Revolted Against - Yahoo! Finance



I'm not the least surprised by the reversal. Microsoft saw the writing on the wall and wanted to avoid a major flop.

 

[ShadowMario3]

Was expecting this. Looks like they saved themselves.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

mh, the stuff before sounded like a marketing move, to get more buzz in the air.

 

[Thorsen]

Not sure if marketing move or just stupid move, but it angered and scared xbox users for a minute. Regardless, I am glad enough people complained about this and it is getting changed

Those factors where a big put-off for me and obviously a lot of people...

 

[FuturDreamz]

The new setup is not really that great. there's no sharing with friends, and although the game still has to be installed to the hard drive (taking up space), you STILL have to insert the disk whenever you want to play a game.

 

[Trucidation]

I suppose it's fine for those who just want to play games, but if you're a collector I'd still avoid it: they could update the console's firmware to impose all those restrictions at a later date and you'd have no recourse.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Not sure if marketing move or just stupid move, but it angered and scared xbox users for a minute.

Suddenly changing so much software is not just costly, it requires a lot of time. Also, all the authentication servers they should have put up for all this to work now would be useless.

This created a ton of buzz around the Xbone, and that's what matters for marketing purposes.

I suppose it's fine for those who just want to play games,

This device is aimed also to be a media center, and an internet browsing machine for Facebook.
That said, I still prefer a PC.
Why? Because now both Xbone and PS4 are x86 machines, so games that work on them won't be hard to port over to PC.

 

[sdadamo]

I suppose it's fine for those who just want to play games, but if you're a collector I'd still avoid it: they could update the console's firmware to impose all those restrictions at a later date and you'd have no recourse.

This is one thing I'd worry about. The second thing is how the price goes up with the addition of the Kinect in the purchase; don't you think it should be sold separately? It would compete with Sony better without the Kinect in the bundle. I still wouldn't go with it just because Microsoft makes it.

This device is aimed also to be a media center, and an internet browsing machine for Facebook.
That said, I still prefer a PC.

Let's spend 500 dollars to watch TV on our TVs.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Kinect is the only way to turn it on/off, and is needed to run the most controversial parts of the deal.
Like detecting if you are old enough to see porn or restricted movies (that clearly state this in the stream or the disk anyway) through it, and possibly implement additional fees if there is more than X people watching a movie (that again supports this feature).

Media center = watching movies and streaming content from netflix/similar and stuff from youtube. Most if not all TVs are either unable to do it OR use rubbish UI and dumb settings.

The device lacks any kind of hardware to work with regional TV broadcasts, or even cable TV (afaik).

That said, yes, Android can do better for 400$ less. But you will miss Halo and the next CoD.

 

[jimbo45]

I suppose it's fine for those who just want to play games, but if you're a collector I'd still avoid it: they could update the console's firmware to impose all those restrictions at a later date and you'd have no recourse.

Hi there
A Firmware update can always be IGNORED -- you don't have to do it - and in general people are recommended NOT to do it unless absolutely necessary -- so I wouldn't worry about that problem.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[vaidas3]

I suppose it's fine for those who just want to play games, but if you're a collector I'd still avoid it: they could update the console's firmware to impose all those restrictions at a later date and you'd have no recourse.

Hi there
A Firmware update can always be IGNORED -- you don't have to do it - and in general people are recommended NOT to do it unless absolutely necessary -- so I wouldn't worry about that problem.

Cheers
jimbo

well game developers or MS can make that you can not play new game without updating firmware.
I got this experience with psp.. to play some new games you have to upgrade firmware/software on psp.
sony did this so MS can do this too.

 

[sdadamo]

I suppose it's fine for those who just want to play games, but if you're a collector I'd still avoid it: they could update the console's firmware to impose all those restrictions at a later date and you'd have no recourse.

Hi there
A Firmware update can always be IGNORED -- you don't have to do it - and in general people are recommended NOT to do it unless absolutely necessary -- so I wouldn't worry about that problem.

Cheers
jimbo

well game developers or MS can make that you can not play new game without updating firmware.
I got this experience with psp.. to play some new games you have to upgrade firmware/software on psp.
sony did this so MS can do this too.

Even though that's true, I don't think Microsoft wants to make another mistake and enrage their consumers again.

 

[Wishmaster]

It still has the whole Kinect required/watching you always deal that some dislike.
Although probably not much of a deal breaker as the used game,trading deal was.

But, there's also the fact that right from the start PS4 is superior in RAW power. 40-50% more powerful if rumors are true. And by that, I mean the paper specs and whats been said from some Developers. That the PS4 would be noticeably better from day 1, visually.

But the Xbox is supposed to work with the cloud streaming to make up the slack ... not sure how that will work.

I guess its just a matter of time to see how things work out.

 

[severedsolo]

The new setup is not really that great. there's no sharing with friends, and although the game still has to be installed to the hard drive (taking up space), you STILL have to insert the disk whenever you want to play a game.

Is this not how it works now? I don't have an Xbox, but PS3 games already require game to be loaded onto the HDD anyway, but the disk is needed for authentication.

Hi there
A Firmware update can always be IGNORED -- you don't have to do it - and in general people are recommended NOT to do it unless absolutely necessary -- so I wouldn't worry about that problem.

Again taking an example from the Playstation world, but i am assuming that Xbox is the same, you need the latest firmware to get into the store, which for my Playstation Plus subscription, is needed to get the free games they are offering. I'm assuming that as MS are now doing something similar for the Xbox this will be the same.

Also, I've found that if your machine is connected to your network, you can't do anything without the latest firmware.

Fine if you never want to go online I guess, but then I would ask, why bother getting an Xbox when all it's got going for it is the enhanced multimedia capabilities.