Microsoft Will Allow Indie Self-publishing, Debugging On Retail Xbox One 99
tlhIngan writes "Microsoft was the last platform manufacturer to require that all games go through publishers, a much hated policy. Indeed, their approval process was one of the harshest around. But now Microsoft will allow indie developers to self publish, and allow retail Xbox One units to serve as developer consoles. Previously, self-publishing developers were relegated to the 'Xbox Live Indie Arcade' section, as well as developer consoles often costing upwards of $10,000 with special requirements and NDAs. This puts Microsoft's Xbox One more in line with Apple's App Store, including Microsoft's new promise of a 14-day turnaround for approvals. Microsoft's retail debug console system is to work similarly to Apple's — that is, to run pre-release code, the individual consoles used have to be registered with Microsoft."
Very tempting (Score:4, Insightful)
If it gives me programatic access to the video stream as they were showing in some of the demos... it would be very interesting indeed.
If it's just games, that's nice for a lot of people but not as exciting in terms of something really new.
Re:Very tempting (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Very tempting (Score:0, Insightful)
Have you already forgotten about all the DRM crap they were going to, and probably still will, stick in. This is a shallow attempt to regain some public face, they're still planning on screwing their customers, and any developers, that buy into this over.
oh for fuck sake why do you even bother?
Free /. karma from easy upmods?
Re:In the voice of a British peasant (Score:0, Insightful)
Oh, thank you, sir! For the privilege of accessing the hardware I have paid you money for, I am forever grateful!
This is the sort of entitlist mentality that shows how out of touch some people in this community are. An announcement like this is great thing for geeks, tinkerers and developers, but the posts that are already rolling in on this story show that people here are more concerned with playing devil's advocate, conspiracy theories, fanboyism and anti-everything than they are with technology.
They don't *have* to provide APIs and app stores and all that stuff, in days past if you really wanted all that sort of stuff you would do it yourself on a PC, but consoles ended up way more popular because the experience is better, you don't have to fuck around with settings and system requirements and drivers and then worry about your PC slowing down because of additional software that you have installed or malware or all that crap. Now yes you can mitigate all that stuff (and it requires a little work) but on a console you don't have to and when 99%+ of people don't want access to the hardware or APIs the console is the logical choice.
The minority that claims this "freedom" is necessary has always had the power to show it as being the superior way through PCs, open embedded systems, open smartphones, etc, but ultimately nothing has been done that has really struck a chord with the majority population vs what is provided on the alternative closed platforms. So it's time to stop all the bitching and whining about the existence of closed platforms and start using the existing open platforms to prove that they are better and win by being better!
Re:In the voice of a British peasant (Score:4, Insightful)
So objecting to "you bought it but we still get to control how you use it" is somehow "entitlist"?
I agree people shouldn't buy shackled hardware in the first place, but that doesn't mean that it's in any way ethical to sell it. And claiming that the public has made an informed decision by choosing heavily marketed closed systems over the essentially unmarketed open alternatives doesn't pass the laugh test.
-- MarkusQ
Re:In the voice of a British peasant (Score:5, Insightful)
It's elitist because GGP is suggesting buying the PS4 instead. After all the crap Sony pulled, I wouldn't trust them either...
Re:In the voice of a British peasant (Score:2, Insightful)
dont be such a submissive corporate fuckpig
Says the anonymous coward defending Microsoft over DRM and openness...
I do have to say that I was wrong... I had no idea Microsoft reversed their policies on everything they announced at E3. I haven't owned anything since the Dreamcast, so the console nonsense doesn't matter either way. I did think it was hilarious that those idiots tried to get away with it, though. Additionally, Donn Mattrick's whiney, foot stomping press release is priceless. [gameological.com] Imagine how many meetings and buzzwords evaporated just because some executives forgot that they still had to sell their device to people and care about their opinion.
"But, our synergy and best of breed digital lifestyle metrics! Nooooooooooo!"
Re:In the voice of a British peasant (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh, thank you, sir! For the privilege of accessing the hardware I have paid you money for, I am forever grateful! Next I should like to beg to turn off the camera feeding directly to the American authorities. Is such a dream possible?
Yes, yes it is. As they have said, countless times, you can disable the Kinect entirely if you so desire. If you have any proof whatsoever that data from XBoxes/Kinects are being sent to any US authorities (without a fully authorised warrant being issued), do please point to it, post it, or something similar. Otherwise it's just rampant, and damaging, speculation on your part.
Except, of course, that you're just a troll, and all you can do is innuendo and speculation to try and shill for your particular corporate overlord.
Urk (Score:5, Insightful)
If at any time during execution of unsigned code your network connection drops, or you sign out of Xbox Live, the hypervisor/debugger forcefully resets the console.
Well that sounds really un-appealing, I have to say... I develop a lot of times in places where I have spotty connectivity. I'll for sure wait and see what reports are like in developing for the system before I spring for one...
Re:In the voice of a British peasant (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, yes it is
No, no it isn't. You can disable the standby mode in software but the console needs it plugged in to work. Unless you physically unplug it ever single time you turn the console off there is nothing to stop MS inserting a backdoor for the FBI/CIA/NSA/GCHQ that lets them silently turn it back on whenever they like.
If you have any proof whatsoever that data from XBoxes/Kinects are being sent to any US authorities
I think it's safe to assume everything accessible to Microsoft is accessible to them now.