Microsoft pulls a 180 (heh) on Xbone DRM (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

Ha Ha Ha. Totally called it that MS would be scrambling to readjust their pathetic DRM strategy. The only thing more pathetic than the initial strategy is this sad sack strategy.

 

[Sam Posten]

First bit of major fallout incoming:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/don-mattrick-may-be-leaving-microsoft-for-insert-name-of-struggling-gaming

(Note: RUMORS! TM Sam Posten 2013)

 

[Edwin-S]

Good riddance if true. Although, I wish he would stay at MS and finish off the XBOX1........THEN he can move to EA and finish them off after he is done with ZYNGA.......whoever, they are.

 

[Edwin-S]

Penny Arcade updated the Mattrick article. He is taking over the reins at Zynga. We'll be reading about their bankruptcy if he does as masterful a job there as he did with the launch of the XBone.

Don Mattrick's letter to Zynga employees:

http://allthingsd.com/20130701/heres-new-zynga-ceo-don-mattricks-first-letter-to-employees/?mod=atdtweet

 

[Sam Posten]

Veddy interesting.

 

[Hanson]

Sounds like Mattrick got Sinofskyed.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Zynga recruited him. It's a bit interesting that he jumped ship before the One came out.

 

[mattCR]

Considering Zynga is a bunch of money thieving, in game up charging pricks, seems like a good home.

 

[Edwin-S]

Considering Zynga is a bunch of money thieving, in game up charging pricks, seems like a good home.

Ha ha. Sounds a lot like Gameloft.

 

[Afiger]

I'm quite glad they wised up though. They would have lost a lot of buyers if they kept up with what they were doing. Hurting Game Stop is the least of my worries. I was more concerned with wasting money on a console i wouldn't be able to use if I didn't get XBOX LIve..

 

[Sam Posten]

Family share not dead, just pining for the fjords:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/12/microsoft-shame-on-us-for-xbox-one-messaging

 

[Sam Posten]

And boom all is right in Xbox land (they added a headset to the box yesterday):http://news.xbox.com/2013/08/xbox-one-digital-games-and-live-goldIf you buy a single disk based game not on close out pricing you are crazy.All digital, kill Gamestop, GO!

 

[DaveF]

$60/yr Gold doesn't enthuse me, but I'm still hazy on its benefits. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/08/08/xbox-one-subscription-required-for-skype-game-dvr/

 

[Edwin-S]

You know, Sam, some of us aren't as enamoured of digital downloads as you are. First, a lot.of us don't have connections for high speed downloads, so downloading a game or movie for an hour or more is a pain in the ass. Secondly, we have caps where I live, so downloading will start adding up fast in expense, once a person exceeds their monthly cap. Thirdly, I don't like the business model of some of these online retailers. For instance, like comixology. Where they charge as much for a digital verison of a comic as the physical copy costs. Except the digital version only allows you to read, not own a copy. So, if the company tanks your "collection" of digital comics goes with it.The devs and publishers would love to get rid of physical media. That way they could start charging a fee every time you wanted access to one of their games, movies, books or comics. AFAIAC, that scenario is worse than anything a business like Gamestop or EB Games does.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

And boom all is right in Xbox land (they added a headset to the box yesterday):http://news.xbox.com/2013/08/xbox-one-digital-games-and-live-goldIf you buy a single disk based game not on close out pricing you are crazy.All digital, kill Gamestop, GO!

I so do not understand this. You are complaining that Gamestop is ripping off sellers and buyers of used games with their high transaction fee except that with disc based games people can bypass any middle man. Yet you laud Microsoft forcing itself as the middle man in 100% of the used market transactions with all digital downloads where Microsoft can guarantee they always get another $20 console fee for every transaction. If you think that Microsoft or any console manufacturer would give even 10% of the used market transaction to the original game developers then I don't think you understand the reality of a closed market controlled by a single company.

Digital downloads for consoles != Steam for the PC. They aren't even close.

 

[Sam Posten]

We'll see!

 

[mattCR]

Xbox Live Gold Family Pack Conversion to Individual Memberships

As a valued Xbox Live Gold member, we'd like to thank you and your family for being part of the Gold community.

We continually evaluate our offerings and are always working to provide services that best meet the needs of our customers.

[*]Starting August 27, 2013, we will be converting each activated account on your Gold Family Pack to an individual Xbox Live Gold membership to prepare for new upcoming features on Xbox Live Gold. Rest assured, each individual membership will work on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

[*]Through the new Home Gold feature on Xbox One, a single Xbox Live Gold membership will allow anyone in your home to enjoy many Gold features like multiplayer, access to Gold entertainment apps, and more on your Xbox One.*

[*]As a bonus, we will give each converted individual Xbox Live Gold membership from your Gold Family Pack an extra 3 months of Gold (in addition to the time remaining on your membership term).**

[*]Before your memberships convert, you can still add family members to your Xbox Live Gold Family Pack, for a total of up to four accounts. However, any unassigned secondary accounts will no longer be accessible after your conversion. Please be sure to update your secondary accounts here.
[/list] After your memberships convert, the only Gold Family Pack features that will no longer be available are activity monitoring reports and Microsoft Points allowances. Activity monitoring reports will deactivate at the time of Gold Family Pack conversion, whereas the Microsoft Points allowance feature will no longer be available after the next Xbox 360 system update. Xbox Live family settings, including parental controls for what your kids can access and play on or offline, will still be available.

More Info >>

We hope you enjoy your 3 bonus months of Xbox Live Gold and continue to benefit from your Xbox Live Gold memberships on Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Sincerely,
The Xbox Live Team

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I think digital is great as something that coexists with other methods of buying games, but all digital is kind of a bad idea. Sony tried it with the PSPgo and it didn't work. MS wasn't really trying it with the One any more than Nintendo is with Wii U or Sony is with PS3/PS4. There's still a market for vinyl records and CDs alongside MP3s, so there will always be a physical market for games, too.If console games wanted to get anywhere close to digital-only, they would need to incetivize digital purchases over physical ones. Sony did that on the Vita (10% off for digital versions) but it's a LOT easier to wait 6 months and get a physical copy of a game for half price than it is to wait a couple years until there's a good sale on a digital game. They've gotten better at reducing digital game prices, and PS+ offers tons of games for free digitally, but I don't think its good enough.

 

[Sam Posten]

Here's the thing, progress requires pain. Everyone gets pissy when apple kills off the floppy or skips Bluray to go all digital downloads but if you look BACK in time you realize they were the right decisions. The alternative is to keep yourself tied to the past and never break free from it.Look, I sympathize that vast swaths of the world doesn't get broadband Internet. But if we CATER to that population then we will never have the consumer outcry and political motivations to fix that bullshit all the while hampering the millions who do. Does that make those people unwilling pawns? Perhaps yes!

 

[TravisR]

The alternative is to keep yourself tied to the past and never break free from it.

I don't care if it makes me a luddite but as far as I'm concerned, everyone downloading everything is just another step in man rushing towards the nightmarish hellscape of a future presented in Wall-E.