XBox 720 Always Online...

[FlipperBoidSkua]

I rarely get angry, but a recent series of events have really gotten under my skin. But I'm not here to rant or vent my anger on this forum; I just feel the need to share the news to the gamers here, in case they haven't heard. Sorry if this has already been brought up and feel free to remove/lock it if it has.

Rumors has always gone 'round about the new XBox 720, and it seems one of them has been confirmed. Creative Director, Adam Orth, pretty much told us that the new XBox will be 'Always Online' and cannot, and I repeat, CANNOT even function unless you are connected to the internet. I dunno 'bout you guys, but my internet is far from reliable...

This got plenty of both XBox fans and casual gamers concerned. And when they brought their concerns to the Adam Orth, he basically told us to "#dealwithit" and that we should move some place better if we don't have internet. When told that there're lots of places without internet, he responds "Why would I live there?". He goes on to say that we all need to get with the times and he flat-out insults our intelligence by saying that since the electricity goes out, we shouldn't buy a vacuum or that we shouldn't get a mobile phone with we live in a bad reception spot. He doesn't seem to understand that we're not all living the life of luxury...  

I work closely with the military and TONS of them love XBox. However, they won't be able to play this newer model if they get deported to places like Afghanistan.

And don't get me started on how the thing won't play used games... <_<

[F-14 Ace]

Not that I intend to buy any of the new consoles coming out (The PS3 and Xbox 360 already have photo-realistic graphics and processing capabilities.  What can this new system do that the old one can't?) but if I do, I'll be going with the PS4.  I believe that Sony has already confirmed that not only does the PS4 lack this "always online" crap, but that it will play used games as well.  I don't have any loyalty to any specific console (and I hate fanboy console wars) but I'm going to go with whichever one tries to screw me over the least.   Sounds to me like Micro$oft just shot themselves in the balls.  I hope so.  They deserve it after that abomination that was Microsoft Flight.  

That was yet another fine example of how Micro$oft treats their loyal customers.  I've been a long time fan of the Flight Simulator franchise.  The games are fun and easy to customize.  The 3rd party add-on market for Flight Simulator is huge, with tons of developers offering both freeware and payware add-ons.  Aside from the occasional expansion pack like Acceleration for Flight Simulator X, very few of these add-ons were officially licensed by Microsoft and Microsoft made no prophet from the payware or freeware add-ons.  Well, Micro$oft apparently got tired of not being able to cash in on the 3rd party add-on market so when Microsoft Flight was released, the game did not allow for 3rd party add-ons.  Instead, they jumped on the DLC bandwagon and required you to purchase add-ons directly from them.  Not only that, but Flight handled more like an arcade game than a hardcore flight simulator, which further alienated fans of the series.  The game turned out to be a huge flop and Microsoft has since ceased development of further add-ons.  The core game itself was free to download but it only included one airplane and a couple missions.  And it only included the big island of Hawaii.  Additional scenery, airplanes, and missions had to be purchased.  Flight was an inferior follow up to the previous games, and it was a slap in the face to long time fans of the Flight Simulator franchise, all because Micro$oft got greedy and/or lazy.  Not surprisingly, there is still a thriving 3rd party add-on market for Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X.

I hope Micro$oft's arrogant attitude and disrespect for their fans comes back to bite them in the butt with this new console.

[pokeplayer984]

Oh boy!  Microsoft have gone and shot themselves in the foot big time!  Due to budget reasons, I had to switch from a cable wireless to a DSL connection where the only way to activate wireless connection for a device is to hold down a button until it's activated for said device.

Besides, my connection is not 100% reliable.  I've had it disconnect a few times on me and had to do the old "disconnect and reconnect the power cord" trick to get it working again.  Start up can take a few minutes to get my connection working again.  So, even if I could get it working, there would be problems for me.

I know a friend online who has HughesNet, which he has gone on to say "is the worst Internet Service ever".  However, due to his location, he sadly can't get anything else.  Due to bandwidth limitations, he could never properly work with a device that requires it to always be online.

Do they even realize how many people they are alienating by making it online only?  Being able to be online for gaming has hardly ever been a requirement.  Exceptions are MMOs, cloud games and publishers who don't care. (I think you know whom I'm thinking of here.) It was nothing more than an option for most games, as it should be.

First Windows 8 and now this!  Microsoft, what happened to the company I knew and enjoyed since Windows 95?

Even if there's games I like exclusively for this, I'm not getting it.

Maybe it's time I gave Sony a shot... :unsure:

[Littlefoot1616]

Whilst I don't agree with DRM and always online functionalities, from a business perspective it seems like a great idea to have a console and games only accessible online. Publishers and game companies have always been screwing over second hand games and how transfers are all internal so they don't see a penny of the transactions and feel cheated as such. Having purely digital copies of games linked to an always online service pretty much destroys that loop and keeps the proceeds coming back to them. Also, being linked online the whole time makes it easier to clamp down on piracy. So as a business model its a wonderful ploy to have in place. But what these fat cat companies don't seem to realise is that they are punishing the majority of the gaming community and their fan base on the presumption that pirates and second hand trading will remove turnover from their sales records. It really is a bone headed move because all it is saying is that companies don't trust a single member of the gaming community and belittles players by a paranoid power play to remove control from buyers. There have been so many examples of DRM not working (Diablo 3 servers crashing and the SimCity fiasco) but these companies want players to rely and become dependent on them so they won't go anywhere else. I hope that MS don't go through with it or at least give people a choice. To lump everyone under the same "piracy" banner is just disrespectful.

[DarkHououmon]

Yeah I heard about Microsoft doing the "always online" console thing. I heard about this from the latest Jimquisition episode, where he talks about how stupid an always online console would be. At the time of the video, the "always online" console was just a rumor and was not proven.

If anyone is interested in watching the video, here's a link to it: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/vie...-Dumb-Dumb-Dumb

Oh apparently Adam got fired.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-r-oJpeb4k

[bushwacked]

I don't understand, has it actually been said that the next Xbox is going to be online only? I've seen articles saying how it's a rumour but I haven't seen anything confirming it. If it turns out to be true, I guess I'm going to switch to the PS4. Online - only is ridiculous.

[F-14 Ace]

Whilst I don't agree with DRM and always online functionalities, from a business perspective it seems like a great idea to have a console and games only accessible online. Publishers and game companies have always been screwing over second hand games and how transfers are all internal so they don't see a penny of the transactions and feel cheated as such. Having purely digital copies of games linked to an always online service pretty much destroys that loop and keeps the proceeds coming back to them. Also, being linked online the whole time makes it easier to clamp down on piracy. So as a business model its a wonderful ploy to have in place. But what these fat cat companies don't seem to realise is that they are punishing the majority of the gaming community and their fan base on the presumption that pirates and second hand trading will remove turnover from their sales records. It really is a bone headed move because all it is saying is that companies don't trust a single member of the gaming community and belittles players by a paranoid power play to remove control from buyers. There have been so many examples of DRM not working (Diablo 3 servers crashing and the SimCity fiasco) but these companies want players to rely and become dependent on them so they won't go anywhere else. I hope that MS don't go through with it or at least give people a choice. To lump everyone under the same "piracy" banner is just disrespectful.

Game makers are not entitled to prophets from second-hand game sales any more than other manufacturers are entitled to second-hand prophets from items sold at a pawn shop.  And as has already been pointed out, this stupid "always online" crap pretty much alienates anyone who doesn't have a reliable internet connection.  I hardly ever connect my Xbox to the internet because doing so requires that I connect it directly to my dad's internet router.  I'm not paying big bucks for one of those stupid wireless cards just so I can play the games that I have bought and paid for.  

This whole thing is NOT good from a business standpoint because it greatly inconveniences gamers and screws over a large part of their customer base (eg. people with no internet access).  If you decide to go on a road trip to a place that doesn't have internet access you're just screwed.  Microsoft can blow me.  If I ever get a new console, it will be something other than an Xbox.

[Cyberlizard]

I've got the perfect video pertaining to this.  Adam Orth, a microsoft employee just made a fool of himself on Twitter about this whole thing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTAcyZZu498

[F-14 Ace]

I'll just leave this here... http://news.yahoo.com/next-xbox-won-t-forc...-171516119.html

[pokeplayer984]

^^Okay, good start Microsoft.  Now just add in backwards-compatibility, don't go even within a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole of the used games banning technology and give me an exclusive launch title that I enjoy, and we might have a deal.