Microsoft Apologizes For Cavalier 'Always-Online' DRM Tweets 236
Adam Orth, creative director of Microsoft Studios, on Thursday tweeted that "doesn't get" objections to DRM schemes that require always-on internet connection to play console games. An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft on Friday released an official statement regarding the tweets: 'We apologize for the inappropriate comments made by an employee on Twitter yesterday. This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers. We are very sorry if this offended anyone, however we have not made any announcements about our product roadmap, and have no further comment on this matter.'" I can't help reading those tweets in the voice of Sterling Archer.
"We are very sorry if you are offended..." (Score:5, Insightful)
"...but we're still making it always-on anyway. Fuck you. Sorry."
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except we're not
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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The objection is mostly THAT he said it, I'm pretty sure. I highly doubt it was supposed to be trumpeted out that the X720 will be relying heavily on "always on" DRM before people could get a chance to buy it unknowingly.
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They are mad because they were not able to frame the always on DRM connection in PR terms. It is not a very winnable battle since that bullshit does not fool many people but that is the goal.
Look at the PR statement from EA's CEO (I think it was the CEO, some high level EA exec.) in response to EA being named worst company again. They spouted the same PR line that their always on connection requirement for Simcity is not a form of DRM, period!
Caught in so many lies and screw ups about that whole game they
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So it's not a form of DRM, whatever. Repainting the turd doesn't make it smell any nicer, and renaming it certainly won't do the trick either. I don't care what EA wants to call it, I am not in the name calling business, I let PR find some lovely sounding name. Let's call the turd manure and promote its ability to increase harvest. But being no farmer, for me it's just waste that stinks.
That's what you have to keep in mind if you point out the various "benefits" your great innovation has. Sim City has an "a
Re:The summary doesn't mention (Score:5, Insightful)
If you own MS shares and the launch a console with an "always on" requirement - SELL. Don't even wait for the end of the press conference.
It's not the reaction of the slashdot market you need to worry about. Will we cry foul over such a requirement? Yes. Will we be less likely to buy the console as a result? Yes. Are we a drop in the ocean? No.
Rather, it's the huge "hinterland" demographic, particularly outside the coastal US and Western Europe, that you should be concerned about. If you think that internet connections are as reliable and "always on" as the electricity supply in most of the world, then think again. Personally, I'm pretty lucky; I live in the suburbs of London and have a pretty meaty 120mbit downstream 12 mbit upstream connection with no monthly cap. But even here, reliability isn't perfect - in the 12 months since I moved into this place, I've had two serious broadband faults; that's actually better than the reliability of my old 6mbit downstream 0.5mbit upstream connection in my old place.
Get outside of the major cities and, even in the US and Western Europe, broadband connections become a lot patchier. Moreover, people who don't fall quite so far towards the nerdy end of the spectrum as I do are more likely to be on cheaper broadband packages with restrictive monthly caps; an always on device which is doing anything more than pinging status back and forward could be a major inconvenience for them.
Oh, and then you get some pretty developed parts of the world, particularly out around the Pacific Rim, where home broadband is still fairly limited (sometimes associated with ultra-high-density housing) and most net activity takes place in internet cafes.
If MS announces an always-on console, you can take that as a declaration that it's not interested in competing in those markets.
If the always-on connection is linked to restrictions on the use of used games, then you can take that as a declaration that it's not interested in competing in ANY markets.
There's a lot to dislike about Sony's record. Seriously - a lot (do I even need to say this on slashdot?). But thanks to unbelievable levels of stupidity from both MS and Nintendo, the PS4 is heading to win the next round of the console wars by default, simply by following a low-key, low-risk approach (PC-like architecture, no always-on, no used-games-restrictions, no expensive tablet controller pushing developers into territory they don't want to bother with).
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Are we a drop in the ocean? No.
Um, that should be a yes? MS, Sony, Apple etc are all rich and successful despite how much we moan about their business practices in here. If Slashdot has taught me anything it is that a well thought out and reasoned argument carries zero weight when measuring the likely success of a product in the marketplace.
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£60/month covers broadband, phone (including all calls except international) and TV package. Not cheap, not extortionate either. If you live in the right area, the UK's actually very good for broadband. The problem is that most of the country doesn't count as "the right area" yet.
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Very well said. And in addition to all this, people living outside of the cities are the worst polluters due to the large distances they drive with their own cars (incl. into and out of the city for work/shopping/entertainment/etc.), plus the transport of goods.
To those worrying about farmers: forget it, they're subsidized heavily already.
Re:The summary doesn't mention (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course the new Xbox will require always on connection. Everyone who has any clue has known this for months.
For Microsoft, it is primarily a box to sell subscription services - XBox Live Gold - and act as a platform for things like Netflix. That is where the money is. To be the living room box that does everything.
While going for this goal, everyone at MS who know anything about games and what gamers want have already left. It started with the whole Kinect thing. Since then, Microsoft themselves have shipped ZERO Xbox 360 titles that were not either...
- Sequels to existing huge franchises (their lip service for "core gamers", ie. they keep funding production of games series proven to sell. Halo, Forza etc.)
- Kinect junk
For the new Xbox I fully expect their presentation to be...
- 25% about the hardware and how it is better than PS4 (spoiler; it won't be)
- 25% about how kinect is the best thing since sliced bread and showing of new titles that leverage the improved sensor. All of them will be crap.
- 25% about how the new UI seamlessly ties to Windows RT / Windows 8 / Windows phone (never mind that Xbox 720 won't have touch interface - but that doesn't matter, they'll make you use a crappy touch-optimized UI even with a controller)
- 15% about how the new Xbox will happily be your living room box for video
- 10% about some core games, most of which will be multiplatform ports. Oh, there will be new Halo because well, Xbox = Halo.
Every gamer will go either for PS4 or PC.
And for the record, I own Wii, Xbox 360, DS and PC. 360 had some good stuff early but the hardware was obsolete 2-3 years ago and all development of interesting games ceased around that time. I have never owned PS3. I still think PS4 will completely own this round because Sony seems to understand that it is all about games. games. games. If that works, they can then sell all kinds of other stuff, but if the core bit isn't done right, why bother.
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Set themselves up? Quite the contrary. "Your console doesn't work? It's not the console, it's your internet connection".
Ah yes, the "the customer centric approach" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ah yes, the "the customer centric approach" (Score:5, Funny)
Old joke: Why does MS put the customer at the center of their efforts?
So they can fleece him from every possible direction.
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Every MS OS is faster than its predecessor, at least it seems to be. Given time, every MS OS slows down to molasses speed. I have no idea where it comes from, is it the patches... because even after reinstalling it just doesn't get to the same benchmark it has gotten to when it was installed the first time.
I should probably do a check, install a clean Win7 and see how much faster it is without the latest service pack.
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The only significant tests made by those people are the gaming ones where the diffs in FPS are in the margin of error (3 or 5 frames/sec) and some others that do real life workloads and where W8 and W7 perfrom basically the same.
The so called benchmarking suites like PCMark, 3dMak and mark don't represent any real work that computers do. Sorry.
Re:Ah yes, the "the customer centric approach" (Score:4, Funny)
I wouldn't say I love Windows 8, but after running it at home and work I'd say overall it's not worse than Windows 7.
This could be construed by some as "damning with faint praise".
customer centric approach (Score:4, Funny)
lol, that made me laugh. Customer Centric Approach. I think that means they didn't actually plan on telling anyone, you'd have to find it out for yourself when you buy the systems and the games. I'm sure on the back of the game box, in small letters, will say, "Requires an Always On Internet Connection".
Indy Games (Score:4, Insightful)
Coming soon to a console/computer near me.
Corp. Comm. (Score:5, Interesting)
So the Microsoft Studios Creative Director's views have no impact on what he does at work? He has nothing to do with Microsoft. Wow. Then why is he a director? These Microsoft Corp. Comm. people are more disconnected from reality than I expected.
By the way, the new Windows 360 Office for 2013 ( or whatever it is called ) is moving towards always on cloud connectivity. And directors at Microsoft are actually idiots who have no impact on product direction. Give me a break. First, fire the Creative Director for speaking the truth. Next fire the Microsoft Corp. Comm. for regurgitating canned responses that makes the company look dumb.
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These Microsoft Corp. Comm. people are more disconnected from reality than I expected.
No, I think they know what's going on, even though the things they say are carefully crafted attempts at making us think the opposite. When I was a kid, we called that "lying".
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Get with the times, it's "public relations" now.
Re:Corp. Comm. (Score:5, Interesting)
Or perhaps he was speaking what HE wants to see. Microsoft Studios is Microsoft's first party games publisher - so he's speaking what he'd like to see in the Xbox. Which will probably be similar to what other people at EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc. wants.
They want always-on DRM. They don't see the bigger picture. They run independent of Entertainment and Devices (who go under the Microsoft label). They don't speak for anyone's interest except their own as a game publisher.
Larry Hyrb ("Major Nelson") works for the Xbox division, so he knows what is probably in the next Xbox. And he also knows that division is having to balance a ton of competing interests - some publishers (like Microsoft Studios) will want always-on DRM. Some will want one-time codes. Others want an easy way to be indie. And then there's the other competing interests - the Online division wants web browsers, Bing, and other services in by default. The Windows group would want Windows Media Center extender.
So yes, the director is speaking frankly. Because he runs that group, which is pretty much isolated from the core Xbox team. Even more so at Microsoft because of the way it's run - Microsoft is a HEAVILY silo'd operation - the people from one team rarely speak with people from another team - and sometimes the lines of communications rise from the engineer through a half-dozen managers (probably a couple of steps below Ballmer), over to the counterpart in the other division, then down a half-dozen managers, to the responsible engineer. I've known people who got in trouble for trying to speak directly to their counterpart.
It's why the various divisions often have their own toolsets - Windows team have their own compilers and maintain their own compilation tools (and may pull now and again from the Visual Studio team but never are allowed to contribute nor ask about stuff like bugs). Likewise, the Xbox team probably have cloned a copy of the compilers as well and have inhouse people maintaining them as well (because the Xbox director would get a serious chewing out if they even asked a question about the compiler code - as far as the development tools team go - they've done Xbox a favor by giving them a code drop).
Fiefdoms, is probably the better word. And the Xbox team probably haven't decided how the DRM is supposed to work.
After all, the tweet was about why he felt always-on DRM was good and didn't see why people would care otherwise. The Xbox team simply said "we can't comment because we've not announced anything". It's likely yes, there will be the option. Or maybe it'll be like the Xbox is now - if you download it, the DRM license is for that console, or if you're signed into Xbox Live (the latter is "always on" as disconnecting will end the game).
At Microsoft, one hand literally does not know what the other hand is doing.
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Don't knock LBreakout2 until you've tried it. :P
Thoughtcrimes and MSdemeanors (Score:2)
That should be upvoted. A company like MS might have dozens or hundreds of "creative directors." It doesn't mean you're in charge of the creative direction the entire outfit will take. Somebody much higher up on the food chain would certainly be making all the important decisions.
Also, even if this guy were a bigwig voicing his personal opinion, so what? Yes, we know that practically speaking, he should realize his words, for better or worse, represent his organization. But do we really want to support
Because there is no on/off switch? (Score:3)
always-on DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
... Well, here's a thought: Not everybody has internet. I know this is shocking, but some people actually take their XBox, etc, on road trips, to friends houses, etc. Shocking, I know. So unless something really needs internet, it shouldn't have it because there are perfectly legitimate reasons beyond "zomg, piracy!" to not have internet. Secondly, always-on internet means when your servers crap, or you decide the game isn't popular enough, the people who paid for that game get screwed -- they can't play it anymore.
And for the second reason, I'll never buy a game that needs a DRM server to play. I play an MMO, and I can understand that the server is the game in that case, but unless you can make a compelling case that the game simply can't be played without it, I'm not buying it. Ever. And take a page from EA's playbook, Microsoft: Their stocks just took a big dive because of DRM and now one of your idiot employees is saying your company supports it. Do you want your stock prices to plunge too?
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I actually have a PS3 and XBOX360 and tons of games I almost never finish, but buy them only when I go on vacation and take a console. I always play PC games when at home.
Non-apology (Score:2)
We are very sorry if this offended anyone,
Typical non-apology apology. "I'm sorry you were offended"
Someone needs to listen to the This American Life episode "Mistakes Were Made"
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/354/mistakes-were-made [thisamericanlife.org]
--
BMO
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I absolutely agree with you. But I'm also not really sure what they need to apologize for. An employee stated an opinion on the net.
The opinion might have been stupid, and you might even be able to connect it to prevailing attitudes at Microsoft. That said, I'm not sure what Microsoft actually needs to apologize for, so this whole thing started off on a purely invented media vs. public relations theater footing. Nothing actually apology-worthy was done, so the "apology" being flaccid is unsurprising. A
Re:Non-apology (Score:5, Insightful)
I absolutely agree with you. But I'm also not really sure what they need to apologize for. An employee stated an opinion on the net.
true, if said employee is a low level grunt, but when that employee is high level management, don't you think that changes things?
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The difference is maybe that this isn't just anyone making a comment. It's not like some bank teller complaining that he can't understand how people could get loans they can't pay back when everyone knows that management tried their best to convince everyone that everyone should have another mortgage running and that nothing can happen. It's the bank manager talking.
no apology like firing adam orth (Score:2)
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He'll probably get a raise. Like the Hollywierd people always say, there's no such thing as bad press. Pretty much every shitty company on the planet is making money hand over fist right now.
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Then instead of this article we would get one condemning MS for firing an employee because of a personal tweet.
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On what planet is the Xbox circling the bowl?
Consoles are dying. The people who used to play console games are increasingly playing games on a phone or tablet.
The Xbox is a tremendous success
As far as I'm aware the Xbox has still cost a couple of billion dollars more than it's made. If that's a 'tremendous success', I'd hate to see a failure.
and is an example of Microsoft's ability to gain marketshare in a difficult environment.
Buying your way into a market isn't hard if you can throw enough money at it. Shame it's not a market that actually matters any more.
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Gamepads on phones (Score:2)
Consoles are dying. The people who used to play console games are increasingly playing games on a phone or tablet.
How so? A lot of genres popular on consoles don't translate well to touch control, and though Bluetooth gamepads exist, I haven't read any evidence that many people have bought them. How would one make something like, say, Street Fighter or Smash Bros. for a phone or tablet? For a game like that, an on-screen gamepad would be a joke.
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You get your information from like minded idiots who reinforce your view.
There's a psychological term called 'projection'. You might want to look it up sometime.
The Xbox has finally been making an operating profit after years of losses, but unless I'm much mistaken, it's still billions away from making a real, actual, profit over the life of the product. And now they have to blow a lot more money making a new console, while casual gamers are moving to tablet and phone games.
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And you've given yourself away as a shill.
0123456: 1
AC: 0
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No, but one is very likely to be a shill whose ulterior motives are readily apparent when they are reduced to swipes at 'your kind' in lieu of fact or logic.
That's incredibly obvious AND lame. Better luck next time.
Microsoft isnt as stupid as Electronic Arts (Score:2)
Admittedly that is a low threshold to cross.
Definition of customer centric (Score:5, Funny)
Customer Centric adj. Pertaining to any system in which the customer is trapped in the center and cannot easily remove himself. Originally this was accomplished through vendor lock-in and market share, due to changing market conditions it is now largely realized using various IP protection methods, including lawsuits against wayward users, DRM platforms, and DMCA crackdowns. If the newest legislation passes congress this month, we may should be able to add to our customer cenrtic portfolio by having over-zealous prosecutors press criminal charges on customers who stray beyond the bounds of the impenetrable EULA or any TOS we care to write. Currently customers are also kept centralized by the fact that there is no possible legal recourse to any malfeasance or negligence on our part due to the fact that all our customer-facing contracts specify that all disputes must be settled by arbitration, using arbitrators of our choosing.
See also: Coopetition, survival strategy.
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From the Linux dictionary, 2864rd ed.
Customer Centric adj. The point where most newbies end up being surrounded by Linux fanboys and yelled at for anything and everything untill they go back to where they came from.
An apology is not sufficient. (Score:3)
.
Such a conundrum for Redmond.....
Somewhat stupid question... (Score:3)
Loyal "consumers" (Score:5, Insightful)
The most important thing I've noticed, in this whole charade, is this:
"loyal consumers"
You are not citizens anymore. Or customers.
You are consumers, please get used to it.
If the views are personal, why is MS apologising? (Score:2)
We apologize for the inappropriate comments made by an employee on Twitter yesterday. This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers.
Then why are you apologising for him?
Not enough (Score:2)
Fire the bastard, he's made his views clear. If Microsoft's apology is genuine then they can't continue to have that guy working in that position.
Suddenly OUYA is starting to look pretty good... (Score:2)
Only now SONY and Microsoft have begun having a contest to see which one of them can completely tank their console sales the best and Microsoft just took a major lead in the competition... Not that I can really blame SONY as they're still smarting over how badly they got spanked when they removed OtherOS from the PS3.
Meanwhile with this latest salvo, Mi
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Maybe we should ask Dice.com, surely they know how many Creative Directos are out there.
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What the hell are you talking about? Some Microsoft guy made some comments thorugh personal channels and you think they're "sacrificing" him for them as though this was some sort of official announcement they're recanting?
Re:Translation: (Score:5, Insightful)
Some Microsoft guy made some comments thorugh personal channels
Not just "some Microsoft guy". He's creative director at Microsoft's video game division. If you think his opinion is irrelevant or atypical, you're delusional.
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Re:Translation: (Score:4, Insightful)
I didn't see the following tweets until Major Nelson put out the apology, and I was rather horrified by the way Adam Orth expresses himself to a potential customer. Still, I am not sure kicking someone is the right way to go, but I do think they need to give at least the management some media training and make sure that everyone is aware of a company media policy. So many people are ignorant of how the internet ecosystem works and how things spread.
Personally, I refrain myself from publicly commenting on matters regarding the organization where I work. We have people whose job is to take care of these matters. When I see something I can tell them, say what I think and let them decide the correct course of action. I am entitled to my opinion, but that doesn't mean that I need to express it at all times. I know that my word might be taken for the official position and that might not be true, anyway I am not paid to comment on my employers decisions.
Yesterday I summed up some of my thoughts in the matter: http://mzomborszki.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/how-to-be-an-insensitive-clod/ [wordpress.com].
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Uh what? no. he should be able to say whatever he wants on his own twitter account regardless of his employer's position.
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Uh what? no. he should be able to say whatever he wants on his own twitter account regardless of his employer's position.
In my company, and probably many others, they do performance reviews. The guidelines how you are measured depend on your position. The higher up you are, the higher the expectations of you. From some level upward, you _always_ represent the company, even on your private twitter account, and whatever you say is part of your job.
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Creative director...
So he chooses what colour the led's will be?
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I'm aware of his position, but how exactly does that change anything I've said? I merely stated that it was his personal feelings on a very controversial topic and had nothing to do with Microsoft proper.
AC was implying that Microsoft has a dastardly plan in store and once they caught wind that people aren't actually that keen on it, they're throwing the messenger under the bus and implying it was all a misunderstanding. That's not what happened. Someone at Microsoft (Creative Director or not,) who does not
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Not just "some Microsoft guy". He's creative director at Microsoft's video game division. If you think his opinion is irrelevant or atypical, you're delusional.
He's just got a major telling off from his company. He may be creative director now, but that's not a position that you have for a lifetime. And being a creative director and somewhere higher up in the food chain means that making statements contrary to the official company line is a major problem for the man and his career.
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That may be so, but he expressed a clear intention to injure a large number of customers. And no remorse when challenged on the point. This is not someone that we want in even a low-level management position.
OTOH, as I wouldn't buy any Microsoft product anyway, my standing to take action on this matter is dubious. But then I *didn't* take any action. I'm merely defending the actions of those that did as being reasonable (the actions I heard about, anyway).
Re:Translation: (Score:5, Insightful)
This wasn't some random drone, some low level programmer, whose input and decision plays no role whatsoever. This was the creative director. If ANYONE'S input in stuff like that is important, it is his.
The mere fact that this was NOT some "official" fart but actually a decision maker making a (from a purely company politically point of view) "stupid" remark says 100 times more than any "official" press release.
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> Some Microsoft guy made some comments thorugh personal channels...
That COINCIDENTALLY reflect the corporate views. It's not astroturfing, never ever.
"As much control as possible" is the corporate view for most corporations. "As much freedom as possible" is the people view for most people.
Well, more precisely, the view is "As much doing_whatever_I_want as possible", which becomes "as much slavery as possible" if you soak up enough propaganda. But I digress.
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Insightful)
If the always-on thing is required for the Xbox720, effectively Microsoft are saying "we don't care if you can't use your product you purchased from us because of a hundred possible reasons". Moving house can mean a month of downtime to get internet connectivity back up, nope, can't play games during that month. Recently an Australian telephone exchange burned down in Warrnambool - the entire area had no internet connectivity for a few weeks - yep, no gaming during that time either. A tree took out my phone line and Telstra took 2 weeks to get it repaired - yep, no gaming during that time. These are just the examples I can quickly think of.
We currently own 67 Xbox 360 games in this house, and have two of the consoles (one for my wife and I and one for our kids). If having the internet permanently connected for the purposes of DRM is a requirement of the Xbox 720, I guarantee we will purchase exactly zero consoles and games for that generation.
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Interesting)
For me the biggest problem is the the fact that the games have a finite time after which they will not work. The servers will not be available forever and if I'm spending money on game I want to know that I'll still be able to play them 10 years, 20 years or even further in the future. I have games that I bought in the late 80s and early 90s that I still play, it stands to reason that if I buy games next generation I will want to play them again in the distant future, but that's not going to happen if "Always on" becomes a reality. Given a long enough time frame my having an internet connection is more guaranteed than MS supporting their server for the remainder of my lifespan.
This doesn't even take into consideration people like my friends who serve in the military, and play games in their down time despite not having access to broadband while deployed, or those friends who lost their jobs due to the economy and had to cancel their internet and TV service but kept their gaming consoles as a meager source of entertainment in an otherwise shitty period in their life.
Microsoft earned the lions share of my gaming budget the last two generations and if I were to receive similar gaming experiences in the next generation I have no problem continuing to spend money that way, but if they required an internet connection I will not be giving them any money what-so-ever. I have no interest in purchasing games with an expiration date.
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For me the biggest problem is the the fact that the games have a finite time after which they will not work.
Here Here! Only a few days ago we pulled out our PS2 to play Burnout during a party. That didn't even had retro appeal, but the game was simply damn fun. I was just prompted by your post to look it up. It's more than 12 years old now!
Any DRM scheme which requires some activation from a server whether it be always-on or just a check at first install is an instant no-no for me.
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Funny)
FYI It's "Hear Hear" not "here here". You're asking the audience to take note, you are not befriending a cat.
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Insightful)
"I have no interest in purchasing games with an expiration date."
Although in reality you always have. Any game constructed for a specific platform has a limited lifespan. And that's all games.
With the brilliant advances in emulation recently, I find it hard to believe that an always on server couldn't be emulated just as easily as the hardware of an 80s arcade machine. Just saying.
I get the feeling that you seem to be engaging in a from of double-think.
Just so I get it right: You say that all games have an expiration date, as the hardware/software they run on will not be available permanently. You equate that to the identical impermanence of the remote servers in always-on games. Then you say that the latter can be emulated quite easily, just like the old hardware is.
But does that not mean that your first point is totally moot? Because as long as you have reliable emulation, offline games do not have an expiration date; especially if the emulators are Open-Source and thus easily (depending in the code) convertible between platforms.
I for one strictly believe that one of the very first software tools that is going to be written for the first off-the-shelf quantum computer will be an SNES emulator.
Always-on-games are a different beast though. Because instead of writing an emulator for a whole platform, thus covering almost all titles for it at the same time; you need to write a completely new emulator for every single always-on game, since they're all fundamentally different.
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Or the existing emulators could use a plugin system for always-on titles where you need to supply the emulator with the relevant plugin to emulate the online server.
You seem to be missing the point here. It's not that you can't emulate the remote servers (you can, as pirates have proven for certain very popular games).
It's that you have to do it at all.
The SNES has between 700 and 1500 games (depending on what region you're in). The number of programs you need to emulate almost all of them: 1
In contrast, if every single one of those was an always-on game, you would need -- as you put it -- no less than 700-1500 plugins. How many people do you think will actually sit do
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Insightful)
The reaction to his posts, however, are skin to the Christian conservatives reactions to Cesar Chavez on Google. The people fucking bitching the loudest.. NEVER FUCKING LOG OFF. It doesn't make their core point wrong, but assigning "burning contempt" to a guy fucking around with his friend in twitter is hubris, hyperbole, and hyprocrisy that only normally comes from people with an extreme politcal agenda.
Seriously. People need to fucking GROW UP. IF, and I state again, IF, Microsoft is stupid enough to require an always on connection, guess what? Flame the hell out of them. Frankly, they'll deserve it. But the shit I saw made up about a guy on Reddit and random other sites.. because a bunch of self righteous, outrage point seeking entitled assholes wanted to burn down someone that.. they FUCKING DISAGREED WITH. Makes me goddamn sick.
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree about the need for folks to do a head-check before reacting to something said off-the-cuff, but there's one sticking point... ...why did he use Twitter to verbally horse around with a buddy on such a touchy-assed subject? I mean, there are many, many less public means of doing that.
I play Devil's Advocate on a lot of subjects. I work with fellow sysadmins and developers, and I often say some incredibly crazy/provocative things (err, even at work) - usually to force someone into thinking through a blockage. But, what I don't do is use a publicly-viewable means to do any of that.
One other bit I should mention; it's not that the loudest gripers are bitching about the always-on aspect per se, but the unstated-yet obvious reason it torques them is that they want to retain control over the stuff they paid for. The always-on requirement implies that they won't have that control. When I was younger (I know...) I'd play Quake (1, 2 and 3, usually a CTF mod) at all hours, and between that plus goofing off on USENET, I practically never logged off.
I don't game anymore (well, almost never), but the very thought of keeping a connection open just to get permission to use a product I paid for? Hell, my skin crawls at the thought.
Little wonder the more passionate gamers are up in arms at the idea.
Just food for thought.
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The always-on requirement implies that they won't have that control. When I was younger (I know...) I'd play Quake (1, 2 and 3, usually a CTF mod) at all hours, and between that plus goofing off on USENET, I practically never logged off.
I don't game anymore (well, almost never), but the very thought of keeping a connection open just to get permission to use a product I paid for? Hell, my skin crawls at the thought.
Little wonder the more passionate gamers are up in arms at the idea.
Just food for thought.
Well, it doesn't look much better on the PC front, at least if you go with Valve's Steam Shenanigans. [rockpapershotgun.com]
I mean, imagine if you said something in the heat of battle that got you kicked from the Quake server, and could never play it again...
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I agree about the need for folks to do a head-check before reacting to something said off-the-cuff, but there's one sticking point... ...why did he use Twitter to verbally horse around with a buddy on such a touchy-assed subject? I mean, there are many, many less public means of doing that.
...
Because people fuck up sometimes?
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why did he use Twitter to verbally horse around with a buddy on such a touchy-assed subject? I mean, there are many, many less public means of doing that.
Because the whole thing was a microsoft ploy to see how bad the fallout will be when they ACTUALLY announce always on network requirements?
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Informative)
But stop and think about how the whole game playing internet reacted to him. They basically tried to destroy a persons career - someone who has no involvement in the not actually officially announced product - over a stated opinion with a friend.
That guy is the fucking Creative Director of Microsoft, if he has no involvement with the direction the XBox at all, he is not doing his fucking job and he deserved to be fucking fired.
What he said publicly (yes, those tweets are public, even though he might have intended otherwise) does reflect on his company. This may be news to kids living the basement, but many companies have code of conducts for employees that have explicit clause for disciplinary action or even termination for employees behaving badly in public and damaging the company's image.
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Do you *want* someone who so despises the end-users to have a management career in software?
He expressed the desire to injure an extremely large number of people, and when he was called on it he expressed not remorse. It's true that this is an attempt to injure him more severely, but the attempt is spread over a vastly smaller number of people.
Someone who intentionally injures a large number of people to a small amount deserves a punishment equal to the sum of the injuries done, plus a bit added, because i
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Maybe he shouldn't have posted it for all the world to see, available to the public.
When I state my opinions to my friends, I don't use a public forum.
The console will not have an always on connection requirement. Oh wait, I said that in public... (my broken DVD drive first gen Xbox360 requires a constant connection, because it's only good for Neflix and Amazon streaming services)
If you post for everyone to see, everyone is entitled to respond with their opinion. If one creates a shitstorm that may impact
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Funny)
>Recently an Australian telephone exchange burned down in Warrnambool
Move.
-Xbox Creative Director
Re:Archer? (Score:5, Informative)
Obviously someone cares, otherwise Valve wouldn't be throwing resources at an apparently dead market. Oh, and I care. That's at least one person.
As for the Dell-Alienwar announcement, ArsTechnica covered it. They're ultimately a far better tech site than Slashdot is, but I think Slashdot has a better selection of commenters.
Re:Archer? (Score:4, Insightful)
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(3) Slashdot's advertising money comes from Microsoft, Apple, Facebook et al, and they see the Linux aricles purely as an opportunity to smear competition.
It's not like there's ever much positive said here about FOSS. It's all just sly astroturfing and FUD.
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MS, Apple, etc might pay Google for advertising, but I don't think I've ever seen an Apple or MS banner ad on Google (probably because as a general rule businesses don't pay for their rival's services if the don't have to).
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I wasn't aware that Slashdot had an obligation to proselytise for Linux or anything else.
Welcome to Slashdot. We're here because we're here, and because we want to be here.
If you are not here, you are not reading this.
If you are here, and you would prefer to be somewhere else, you are welcome to go there.
It's all good, mate.
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If you are not here, you are not reading this.
Wait - we need to rename the site Schrödingerdot. Who do I yell at to get this done?
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In this special case the personal view of him does carry over into the company. He's not some no-name programmer who can do little but execute what is decided further up. He's one of those making the decisions.
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The phrase is "Film at 11", or if you're a Brit, "Pictures at 11 [wikipedia.org]".
(Yes, Grasshopper, I do know what I'm talking about, as I worked in the industry for some years.)
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New logo proposal: THE ALL SEEING EYE.
Yeah, too bad for them that they bought the wrong TV network...