That's a good point there at the end. It's going to be really tough for MS to continue charging for full XBOX Live access with all of these new rules and requirements. They'll need to make it free or give members considerable discounts on downloaded games.
I forgot if MS touched on this, but I would have to imagine they would implement some sort of "play as you download/install" system for the console. It will take a LONG time to download and install ~50GB games. Sony has already demonstrated the ability to play "incomplete" games (even on PS3), and I have to imagine MS can do something similar. Along the same lines, I wonder if the OS will try to be "smart" and claim space back from games that haven't been played recently. Could just keep a few portions of the game installed in case you play it again soon (then re-download/re-install the rest). Could make it easier to juggle dozens of games on the same system with only 500GB of storage (less so if you factor in any other media I guess). Actually, I think I read you could use USB storage, although I'm not sure if you could run games off of it (I'd guess not, but maybe I'm wrong). That could help too. Agree with you on #2.
Pachter is often very wrong on predictions (Fuse was supposed to sell 5M+ IIRC), but he is connected to these publishers: http://www.gamespot.com/news/pachter-publishers-wont-block-xbox-one-used-games-6409443 Hmm...I'm still not a huge fan, and it could get out of hand. But some sort of "no renting/used games X weeks after release" program might be OK if done right. It is still taking away consumer rights (and might not offer much in exchange), but maybe it is a way of keeping gamers happy (can still buy/sell used games) and publishers happy too (no one renting/buying your game used 2-3 weeks after release). Thoughts? I'd still tweak a lot of the other stuff MS is doing, but found myself thinking about this in particular.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-06-07-microsoft-kills-game-ownership-and-expects-us-to-smile To save you skimming large tracts of condescending prose about how much Microsoft loves and respects you as a human wallet, here is a summary: 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. Well after reading this article provided by RCola, Im not purchasing a Xbox one will wait for updates on the PS4. Microsoft lost another video game consumer.
Consumers don't. Say goodbye to Microsoft consoles. They will lose so much money on this console. All it takes is for people to keep shouting that this machine is **** and extremely restrictive. For some all you have to do is shout big brother is watching. Either way I'm getting a PS4. You shouldn't be successful for screwing people over.
Ability to play "incomplete" games would resolve the issue... partly. To me that would then create another issue of excessive churn on the hard drive. For example, I play FIFA a lot on my PS3. The way it is constantly recording an entire match to the hard drive as you play for the sake of end-game highlights really seems to tear up my drive. I start to get stuttering if I don't replace the drive every 2 or 3 years. How much worse would that effect get if the hard drive is being used not only for those same purposes, but *constantly* needing to uninstall and re-install large games as well? And then when you go to replace them, your replacement cost is many times what it should be due to proprietary hard drives? Ugh. Even as annoying as I see that being, I'm definitely much more concerned about the "can I play XboxOne games 15 years from now" question. I buy a ton of games that I don't manage to get to for years. I plan on finally playing Suikoden 1 & 2 soon, for example. Those are freaking PS1 games that are 15+ years old.
I think you're probably right. And it'll be completely their own fault if they can't capitalize on all the negative attention XboxOne is getting. All they need to do is launch with practices that are perceived as more consumer-friendly, and they should lead out of the gate. But it wouldn't surprise me if they do a faceplant instead, and make themselves look even worse than Microsoft by instituting similar practices but just waiting longer to reveal that they are doing so.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. There are *tons* of people around who are perfectly happy to pay for Xbox Live now because it's perceived as "better" than PSN. But the reasons for that, outside of party chat, are very vague. It would not shock me if Microsoft got people to continue to pay for the service, for no other reason than because they're used to paying for it. It would also not shock me if Sony started charging for online play as well, just because Xbox Live has proved consumers will accept it.
Yeah, this would put more stress on the HDD. They could tweak the implementation some to swing things one way or the other (less wait time for users vs less stress on HDD), but it isn't ideal in every way. Could probably work for "casual" gamers, but could cause issues for the gamers with dozens of games. I would like clarification of the USB HDD support. I'm just speculating that it wouldn't support games, but obviously if it does, this could be a moot point. And yes, the other issues is much more concerning to me as well. As for Sony and DRM, I also am not very optimistic. This is Sony and all that. "Insiders" have indicated they've looked into this and seem to have some implementation ready (if needed), although it is unclear whether they're going ahead with that (seemed that they weren't sure themselves). I don't think it will be as "bad" as what MS is doing, but I don't think that really matters much if it keeps most of the negatives. The only optimism I have about this is that Sony seems like a very different animal with the PS4 so far (thank you Mark Cerny!). They've gotten so many things right so far. They're outdoing MS in dev tools/support, which is just crazy talk. Seems that they'll keep online play free too (although push some subscription features). So who knows... I wasn't going to be shocked by this, but "insiders" (one's I'd trust) have stated as recently as today that it seems online play still seems to be free (but other things will cost $). Not from the horse's mouth (and the horse himself might not know), but I'll remain optimistic on this for now.
I hate to tell you, but if u think Publishers are going to allow console not follow what MS is doing...u are mistaken. Sony will announce similar policies. Cause what will happen is developers will support the X box One because the will make more money. GameStop and others were making all the money on used games. Gamefly was make a lot of money on rentals that Developers are not getting. Just watch...
You could just as easily conclude that Sony will sell so many more consoles than the Xbox because of this policy, and there's no way developers will sacrifice that audience. Sony also says it will be up to the developers whether or not they want to charge for "used" games, like EA did with online codes. People were pissed, it didn't work. Sony also has many video game studios that produce AAA titles. The big third-party sellers like CoD, Battlefield, GTA would hurt, but who's going to hold out on who? I know I'm not buying a console if they try to pull this. IMO, there should already be a "PC" console. Developers don't have to pay Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft, friends can play with each other without console limitations, etc.
