Xbox 720 Could Require Always-On Connection, Lock Out Used Games 592
MojoKid writes "Sony's next-generation PS4 unveil is just two weeks away, which means leaks concerning both it and Microsoft's next-generation Xbox Durango (sometimes referred to as the Xbox 720), are at an all-time high as well. Rumors continue to swirl that the next iteration of Xbox will lock out used games entirely and require a constant Internet connection. New games would come with a one-time activation code to play. Use the code, and the game is locked to the particular console or Xbox Live account it's loaded on. Physical games will still be sold (the Durango reportedly supports 50GB Blu-ray Discs), but the used game market? Kiboshed. If this is true, it's an ugly move on Microsoft's part. Not only does it annihilate the right of first sale, it'll eviscerate any game store or business that depends on video game rentals for revenue."
Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
Always on always turns me off.
The main problem I see with this is the ability to lend games to friends, or have friends lend games to me! This is what hooked me in with COD 4 and the reason I purchased an Xbox. My mate lent me his copy for a day and boom I was hooked.
That wont be happening again I guess....
Well... (Score:5, Insightful)
No new console for me then *shrugs*
Re:Always on = !on (Score:3, Insightful)
How was it the reason you bought the console? If he lent you the game without having the console, how on earth did you play it?
Burn them all at the stake! (Score:5, Insightful)
We don't need proof, unsubstantiated blog entries will suffice!
Sounds like a good way (Score:5, Insightful)
to get themselves out of the console business again
Re:This is a move to stop online piracy. (Score:5, Insightful)
So what you're saying is you WANT to have to go out and replace ALL your DVDs, CD and Games every time you buy a new DVD Player or Console?
I can't even begin to describe the amount of utter stupidity you have posted here.
Dick move? Note even close.
Lesser Evil? My ass.
Thanks, Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
You've chosen to release a console that's less powerful than the PC I built 2 years ago, so heavily encrusted with DRM that it will get in the way of playing games I have purchased. Router bounces - say goodbye to your game session. ISP has problems - no games for you, you filthy thief.
Here's a little hint, MS - you are not the only game in town. There has never been such excellent choice in the games and console market. I can run MAME on my Raspberry Pi, or Skyrim at full shiniez on the PC. What do you have to offer that's so unique? Halo? No, that's not looking a bit tired at all. Halo 5? Wow, I wonder what you have to do in *that* game!? (hint: shoot aliens...)
My PC plays anything that needs heavy lifting - my 360, Dreamcast, N64, PS3, PS2 and Saturn all still work, and I have plenty games to tide me over your entire current console lifecycle. Really, what are you offering this time around to make up for all this shit?
No matter... (Score:5, Insightful)
The pool of gamers (and people in general) who actually give a shit is dwindling rapidly.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
It's worse than that, because of online activation for multiplayer me and my girlfriend can't both play online with games that use this technique. They expect two people in the same household to buy two copies of the game to both be able to play online even if one of the discs isn't even in use at the time because activation gets tied to your account and we have separate accounts so we can play different things at the same time on each console.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
I think their beef should be with DRM. Demos only allow you play up to a certain point.
This is really simple. (Score:4, Insightful)
If I can't own it, I'm not buying it.
The only reason why I own a 360 and PS3 is because I feel like I'm buying a game, and I therefore own the disk that it comes on. I can expect that disk to work in any other console, no questions asked. It's mine, and I can do as I please with it- I can play it whenever I want, trade it to whomever I want, borrow it to whomever I want, doesn't matter. It's mine. I paid for it, I own that disk.
Copyright laws be damned, I don't give a flying fuck about what passes for law in the USA these days. I don't care if I don't "legally" own the data on the disks. I don't even care if it's encrypted or not, as long as I can buy a console, plug it into the wall (sans internet), and expect it to work. This has been the case for nearly every console up to and including our current generation of offerings.
If they want to take that away from me, then fuck them.
Nothing irks me more then spending money on nothing. You think you're buying Halo 5 for the Xbox 720? Think again. You're giving Microsoft a wad of cash and hoping that they'll give you something in return, and if they do- that they'll let you play with it for long enough that you don't feel like you're being totally screwed when they inevitably take it away.
So really, me "owning" anything today is a huge stretch- but this kind of shit just iterates how little my rights matter to these corporations. You keep forcefully reminding me that I'm paying you for nothing tangible and nothing that I can permanently keep- damn straight I'm not going to buy into your newfangled bullshit. How do you think everyone would feel if car manufactures had the legal right to break into your garage and take away your car even if you paid full pop for it? I don't think that would fly very well. How come the same thing is OK for gaming?
Don't buy bad products... (Score:3, Insightful)
The easy solution is to simply not buy the product if you think it's bad.
Re:And for those with a normal... (Score:4, Insightful)
On slashdot "most of the world" is a synonym for America. It's like, in the faqs and stuff dude.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:3, Insightful)
I picture Microsoft stuck with a warehouse full of them until the laughing from their peers and loss of profits force them to change their suckass firmware.
Par for the course for Microshit. Misguided leadership as per usual.
Maybe it is the economy, but not how you think. (Score:2, Insightful)
Sony's failure with the PSPgo is partly because they had to compete with their own more fully-featured product and partly because they didn't mandate day-and-date digital releases of retail titles.
Whether doing that worked with the Vita is impossible to tell, since that platform's sales numbers are pretty much crushed under its high price (including separate overpriced memory card) and having to compete with mobile gaming (such as it is), and pulling game sales numbers is a futile exercise anyway, since digital sales aren't usually reported, NPD's given the public the finger, and VGchartz's methodology is a disaster.
Looking at how digital sales on retail PSPs did might be better, but that may not be feasible.
And before you go on with "blah blah piracy": The DS was as wide-open as the PSP was. Developers who weren't fans of good-faith efforts used that as an excuse to develop on just the DS, or more likely have fled to mobile or folded. The 3DS is also suffering from the end of the cash-in, but is sort of weathering it because Nintendo. Pick another argument.
CAPTCHA: euphoria
Re:Misunderstood Intentions (Score:5, Insightful)
But that's just it. Publishers *do* get money from resale.
If I know I can pay $60 for a game when it first comes out, play it for a week or two and then sell it, I'll buy it opening day.
But since I can't resell it, I wait for that sucker to hit the bargain bin before I even consider it.
Re:No matter... (Score:4, Insightful)
The same GameStop that does its best to sell that "CoD kid" preowned games over new? Yeah, they'll be jumping at the chance to sell "Madden 2014 GameStop Can Eat It Edition".
Re:So, Microsoft, you're saying just like Steam? (Score:4, Insightful)
Only $60 per game? I think you're forgetting about that whole DLC thing.
Re:Misunderstood Intentions (Score:4, Insightful)
I understand what you are saying, and it's true. They also make money by friends lending out copies, or from rentals. There are many 3rd party channels that lead to sales.
The reality is that intangibles like "goodwill", "word of mouth" etc just don't make it into the all mighty spreadsheets that are the end all be all for corporate decision making. But "estimated annual lost revenue" from resale and rental channels does.
Re:And for those with a normal... (Score:5, Insightful)
But then, that's how things are in these United States of America.
And here I thought you were talking about Canada. Same deal up here.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't get the anger here. Valve have been doing this with Steam sales for ages. You can't even give away an old game on Steam; it's locked to your ID. You can't even remove it from your game list.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
I think this is a dick move by MS.
It's just a rumour at the moment. I'm gonna wait until details are confirmed before deciding to buy it or not.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure it does, company produces crippled platform, protest by not buying it. Perfectly valid reason.
Keep drinking the Kool-Aid my friend...
Re:Well... (Score:4, Insightful)
It may well be that someone inside Microsoft deliberately leaked such a rumor to test the waters. Hopefully they will find them as uninviting as everyone but Valve. I don't care either way, I'm not planning to give Microsoft any money for anything but the occasional discounted windows license ever again. I probably should have bought Win7 with this motherboard, for that matter, so I could use it in a VM. I still haven't managed to find a good price on a legit license key for Win7.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:2, Insightful)
No, because the steam games are sub $10. The Console games are never that cheap.
Also because the steam games are trivially hackable.
Give me a console that is trivially hackable and I will say the same.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
You are probably right in surmising that there is a way around many objections being made.
The real question is why we should have to pay them so we can jump through their hoops?
The answer to that is because people buy console games and accept a locked down platform. Having game companies make use of their advantages on this platform to control your access to what you have bought has always been a "feature" of consoles. It is one reason I don't waste my money on consoles for gaming.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently when a company offers you a free sample, that's not good enough. You want a free game.
No, they want to use a friend's paid-for game while the friend isn't using it. Like they might do with a vacuum cleaner, or a car, or a book.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
The only thing that one can really do is decide that they don't "need" that new gizmo if they feel it restricts them beyond what they feel is fair. Personally, I won't be buying any console that is locked in this manner, Xbox, PS, or otherwise.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
Downloading is fine, but you know what would be nice? If you could just pop in the disc and play the goddamned game. Like current consoles already do. Wanting the same basic functionality from next-gen hardware that its predecessors had isn't a "silly reaction" at all.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
For many people, a book or a game loses it's utility after one run through. If you read a book that you were lent and fall into this group, you are unlikely to buy yourself another copy just because you thought it was so good the author / publisher deserved an extra chunk of money. In short, the act of lending may have prevented a sale.
You're probably right. We should ban libraries, just in case.
Re:Always on = !on (Score:5, Insightful)
Well goody gumdrops for you. Go ahead and support the locked down stupidity...
You are thinking only of your own usage supporting a paradigm that hassles all the other users.
The way you use it is TOTALLY unaffected by the simple changes we are desiring. Your way on the other hand...
Re:Always on = !on (Score:4, Insightful)
For many people, a book or game maintains its utility for many uses. I've played some games more often than I've used my vacuum. Though maybe I've revealed too much about myself.
The act of lending can indeed increase sales. Libraries of books used to get people hooked on certain authors (ie, Stephen King with his prolific output) and then when a new book was available people would often go and buy it instead of waiting for the library copy. I have purchased full price games after playing the prior version from a discount reseller, games I would not have known about otherwise. For videos the library makes sense, few people are willing to waste $20 to watch a movie one time. And of course video rentals are big business and those stores are making money for Hollywood.
This DRM stuff does not hurt pirates in any way. Instead it hurts people who are trying to be moral and ethical. The problem is that the publishers have this mistaken notion that they deserve to be paid full price by every consumer even though the law says otherwise, so DRM is their way to effectively bypass the legal rights of the consumers.