Microsoft Game Director Adam Orth Resigns Following Xbox Comments 261
DavidGilbert99 writes "According to anonymous sources, Microsoft's game director Adam Orth has left the company following a series of comments on Twitter about the rumoured always-on aspect of the next generation Xbox console. It is still unclear if Orth left voluntarily or was pushed out but either way it's not good news for Microsoft." If you'd prefer your news without obnoxious auto-playing video ads (with sound!), IGN reports Orth's departure, too.
Fantastic. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sometimes a person can be both gracious and just. Nobody is perfect and will make mistakes in their career. So if we would not like to be publically humiliated, why call on Microsoft to publically humiliate Orth? So what if it's a PR disaster. Things happen.
If you're just upset about Microsoft's always on DRM, then buy a Wii U or PS4.
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Insightful)
why call on Microsoft to publically humiliate Orth?
Exactly. he deserves our support, not this tarring and feathering. At least he was honest and said what others at Microsoft clearly thought and intended, but were too sly to admit publicly. Those sly, dishonest people are the only ones who've been damaged by his comments..
Thanks to him, potential buyers of this product know what they're facing. Any potential customers here should be thanking him for giving them the heads-up.
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Insightful)
When he started saying stuff like "why would anyone want to live there?" in response to comments about not having quality broadband available everywhere in the US, he stepped across the line into general jackass territory.
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Funny)
Is general jackass territory the place where they don't have quality broadband?
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Funny)
Is general jackass territory the place where they don't have quality broadband?
Not based on my experience with multiplayer gaming.
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Actually they don't, because nothing has been formally announced or proven beyond a doubt yet about what Microsoft's next device requires. If anything we can thank him for showing Microsoft and other gaming companies just how much people loathe always online.
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This is absolutely and entirely incorrect. Nobody pushed MS to do anything, they chose to do it on their own. They could have left him with the company.
Orth deserves no support here. He said the most intellectually dishonest things that could possibly be said. That's not defensible.
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He said the most intellectually dishonest things that could possibly be said.
What did he say that was more intellectually dishonest than;
“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.”
Are you sure you're not getting things mixed up here?
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Orth deserves no support here. He said the most intellectually dishonest things that could possibly be said. That's not defensible.
I don't see it as intellectually dishonest. What Orth said is probably EXACTLY what the company thinks when consumers complain about it. They pushed him out because he was too honest.
What do you think is going to happen now? The internet connection requirement is going to vanish from xbox? that Orth was somehow the evil genius behind it all? Now that he's gone the rest of microsoft will start singing ding dong the witch is dead and only do what is in our best interest? No. it's still there. They are stil
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Microsoft eventually got this right, IMO, with the X360.
Yes, downloaded content will only work on the original console it was purchased from (by serial number) or the Xbox Live Account. However, I suffered through no fewer than 3 red-rings of death from 2006-2009.
The first console came back with a different board, different serial number. My content would only work by logging into Xbox Live. Royal PITA.
Second console came back but MSFT allowed the content to be re-downloaded and authorized on my new serial
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It is true that a lot of people hate jerks and thus are jerks towards jerks which makes them a jerk which others hate and so on and so forth. Sounds a bit too complicated. Lifes too short to live like that. (- This is usually the part where people accuse me of not living in the 'real world' when discussing more serious topics). Why not just admit he made a mistake, realize he got punished for it, and hope the best for him in his future endeavours?
Grace, mercy, and forgiveness are freeing. Not only that
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You're correct. I think the OP's problem is a form of DRM called "Always On DRM". This prevents a product from working unless it has an active connection to a DRM server via the Internet. The Wii U does not have this since games can be played offline and, afaik, the PS4 will also not have this.
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Compiling is DRM? Stallman might be onto something...
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Sometimes a person can be both gracious and just. Nobody is perfect and will make mistakes in their career. So if we would not like to be publically humiliated, why call on Microsoft to publically humiliate Orth? So what if it's a PR disaster. Things happen.
If you're just upset about Microsoft's always on DRM, then buy a Wii U or PS4.
Therein lies the reason for the firing. Consider the timing here: It begins with a great deal of uncertainty and rumors regarding a possible 'always online' requirement for the upcoming generation of consoles. Sony comes out and states that they won't be implementing it, which turns all the speculation squarely at Microsoft. Microsoft remains silent on the subject, and then all of a sudden one of their employees shoots his mouth off with some highly scornful Twitter posts about gamers that are concerned abo
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Informative)
That's the beauty of grace. It makes life not fair.
Grace isn't grace if it is given only to the gracious. That's merciless justice. Grace goes beyond being merciful and withholding wrath. It is to give one undeserved respect and forgiveness. It is something that the Internet community as a whole has forgotten how to do.
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Or as Hamlet said "use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity: the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty."
IMO this is a profound realization about morality.
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However it should have been treated publicly as a firing offence though instead of a graceful exit
It SHOULD have been treated with a repudiation of intrusive DRM.
The bluntness of his tweets was utterly inconsequential. MS cares about the PR disaster, but that's not the underlying issue. The fact that they think it's okay to treat their customers like they're Lance Armstrong trying to enter the Tour de France this year, is.
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Insightful)
If Orth had been a rank-and-file developer, then firing him for these comments would have been overkill. But he's in a management role high enough in the Xbox hierarchy that anything he says in public might be interpreted as representing the company's official position. For someone like this, generating good PR is actually supposed to be a part of their job – and he obviously isn't any good at that. In Stan Lee's immortal words, with great power there must always come great responsibility.
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Insightful)
If a rank and file employee says "deal with it" to their customers on a very public forum, and it generates large amount of negative media buzz, you can damn well bet they are going to be fired.
Re:Fantastic. (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh how naive! Where have you been all last year ...
Counter-example: Blizzard's Diablo 3 Directory Jay Wilson
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It's more like you're a cashier at McDonalds and a rowdy group at a couple of tables ask why the new McAwesome burger doesn't come with mayo. You explain that it was done this way for a variety of reasons - cost, balance of flavours, space in the burger - but they yell and chant about it continually, some go outside and hold up signs to passing traffic to complain. Eventually you get sick of it and say "Mayonnaise is your Grandma's ingredient, I wish none of our burgers used it. Deal with it."
Stretched a
Re:Fantastic. (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly. He had "Microsoft Studios Creative Director" as his title on Twitter. If you don't want to appear to be speaking for the company you work for, don't slap your title on there.
Re:Fantastic. (Score:5, Funny)
In Stan Lee's immortal words, with great power there must always come great responsibility
With great power comes great current squared times resistance
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Why not? (Score:3)
but either way it's not good news for Microsoft
An employee posting company related information without clearance, especially things like "deal with it", deserved to be reprimanded at the least.
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Crediting sources who "wish to remain anonymous"...
For everyone but the person that leaked THIS story, of course...
Re:Why not? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's what I thought, I don't see how "either way it's not good news for Microsoft". If the employee was incompetent because he caused harm to the company then getting rid of him is damn good news because it means he can't do it again.
I somewhat wonder if Microsoft have been having the always-on DRM debate internally and Adam Orth was in fact on the losing side of that internal discussion and took to Twitter to bitch about consumers who don't like always-on DRM simply because he lost the internal debate on the topic to the argument that consumers will fucking hate it.
I say this because I'd be surprised if Microsoft do go the always on DRM route, I don't think even MS is that stupid, but time will tell I guess.
Either way, good fucking riddance. This is one of those few things every once in a while Microsoft does that is absolutely right and that they absolutely shouldn't be faulted for. This guy was an idiot.
Re:Why not? (Score:5, Insightful)
I say this because I'd be surprised if Microsoft do go the always on DRM route, I don't think even MS is that stupid, but time will tell I guess.
Stupid might not be the right word. "Being stuck inside the corporate bubble" but be better. "Arrogant" might be another.
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Shhhh, you'll make Windows 8 jealous.
Re:Why not? (Score:4, Interesting)
Indeed.
I think the other point that dropped out of the discussion in this particular case (though plenty of people have brought it up elsewhere) is that people don't so much fear always-online requirements because they're worried their net connect might blip out (though that's a perfectly fair concern), but rather because they can see the thin end of the wedge approaching and recognise always-online as a direct underpinning for blocks on used games and rentals.
MS may be getting a lot of pressure from game developers to implement those blocks, but to do so would be absolutely suicidal given customers have a choice to jump to an unrestricted PS4 instead.
Re:Why not? (Score:5, Interesting)
My personal opinion is the next generation of consoles is dead in the water. I only have a linux machine at home and with the availability of Steam and indi games, I've only turned my PS3 on in the last 10 months so my 2 year old could watch the Care Bears movie, which doesn't seem to be available on Netflix (build into my TV). I was surprised the PS3 even worked, it's one of the original consoles that had the OtherOS Feature. I was sure Sony would have bricked it by now in some update, which I don't have to worry about them doing on my PC.
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The funny thing is, your comment just gave me a very clear idea. Microsoft really should have, instead of wasting all the time and energy into making Windows 8 and following the tablet crowd, tried to better integrate MCE as a core part of Windows and pushed developers for more 10 foot UIs--which Metro might have been good for coupled with kinetics for gesturing (emphasis on the might, since AFAIK, the issue is really MS's implementation, anyways). But, I'd guess that idea was put off because it might com
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The Playstation 4 is only "unrestricted" in so much that Sony is not making always-on DRM a requirement for games [arstechnica.com] to play on their system (at least, right now; Sony has a habit of changing their minds about stuff like this). The Playstation 4 will, however, allow always-online DRM and you can bet that the publishers will be making use of it just as readily as they do on the PC (and are moving as far forwards with as they can on the consoles).
I bet there's a team of accountants in Sony somewhere crunching nu
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The Playstation 4 is only "unrestricted" in so much that Sony is not making always-on DRM a requirement for games [arstechnica.com] to play on their system (at least, right now; Sony has a habit of changing their minds about stuff like this). The Playstation 4 will, however, allow always-online DRM and you can bet that the publishers will be making use of it just as readily as they do on the PC (and are moving as far forwards with as they can on the consoles).
So? The PC "allows" always-online DRM because it "allows" publishers to do whatever they want. The PS4 is no different in that regard. I'd rather have an open platform and simple vote with my wallet not to buy games that have that crap.
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Microsoft, OTOH, is mandating this for all games. Publishers reportedly can't opt out. The only way games can voice an opposition in this case is
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I'm waiting for EA/MS or others to start offering a subscription service a la Netflix or more accurately a Cable TV company, where you pay a sub to them to get their entire catalogue.
Basic packages give access to older games, while you can get an addon for EA Sports, an addon for EA Premium and an addon for EA DLC 'channels'.
Would be just like them. That way you never get to own the games, or sell them on. And if you stop subscribing, then no games access for you!
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Honestly? I'm betting it's mostly the net outages (and time spent away from the Internet in general).
Re:Pay for internet (Score:5, Interesting)
FWIW I started with a 360 and bought a PS3 later on, I was an XBox fanboy originally, but nowadays I could care less who "wins" a console battle (I guess I'm getting old).
But now I do have both, now I am apathetic to fanboyism I do feel that objectively the 360 feels more polished, the controllers not only feel better to hold and use, but the PS3 buttons even just outright feel like they don't respond sometimes. There's a lot of awkward inconsistencies such as sometimes when you download a game from the store you get an unlock file, and others you get the full game, and other times you get random extra downloads on top, then it's non-obvious what files you can delete so you end up with these files that do nothing but you're unsure if it's safe to delete them. Patching is horrendous, I had to download many 10s of gigabytes of patches for the handful of games I bought such that on my connection (a mere 4mbps, but still double the recommended 2mbps minimum for modern consoles) I ended up spending my first two to three days of owning the system patching games. The sign up process to Sony online was brutal, the site kept going down and I desperately tried to recover an SOE account from years ago but apparently that's a different Sony online thing to the Playstation one and that made it all a bit of a pain. It's still not a bad console, and yes Microsoft's advertising on the 360 UI after you've paid £40 a year is annoying, and yes it costs £40 a year, but the 360 is just so much more of a pleasure to use, it's so much more polished, and you spend so much less time patching.
All that ignores Sony's arrogance towards it's customers, but I bought mine after the Linux debacle, the removal of backwards compat. etc. so I knew exactly what I was buying (though that's subject to change given their history I guess).
If the 360 never existed the PS3 would still be a decent console, and even with the 360 I've had many hours of enjoyment out of my PS3 as both a Bluray player and on games like the Little Big Planet series, the Killzone series, and the Uncharted series. But if I was doing it all again knowing what I know now, even with the RROD debacle, I'd most definitely still have bought the 360 first.
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I'd agree with you for the most part, but...
The 360 offering is substantially less attractive than it was two years ago. The new "third gen" dashboard UI is a big step back from the previous one. It's not just the sheer quantity of advertising, but also the irritation and number of navigations involved in trying to get to actual game content. Bizarrely, it's also a worse UI to navigate using Kinnect gesture/voice controls than the old "second gen" dashboard was.
The other issue, of course, is that while many
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I do agree, Sony has raised it's game, whilst Microsoft has at best stood still.
But it still has so far to go to catch up with XBL, and given that Microsoft has stood still for at least a few years, and arguably gone backwards (as you say, more ads, a slightly less nice UI) it's pretty damning that it's not just outright overtaken it as it's fairly clear what needs to be done.
I'm especially surprised though that with the PS4 they've kept the controller pretty much the same, this almost tells me that Sony ju
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I wonder if the controller issue is driven by a desire for regional standardisation. There's a general consensus (wonder if it's actually true?) that Japanese gamers prefer a smaller controller and US gamers prefer a larger one (though obviously not one as large as the original Xbox controller). As a Japanese company, Sony will always be more exposed to feedback from its home market.
But yes, while I'm generally positive about the PS4 reveal, the controller does stand out as a bit of a sore-point.
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Oh dear, we have a fanboy.
"This shows you have never actually used a PS3. After installation, there is just "the game". "Game data" and "Patch/DLC" may exist at some point, but only if you have run the game or downloaded them. These are all clearly labeled (assuming you know the definition of "DLC" or "Settings") and in a single location with the same game icon. There are no "files" that are "non-obvious"."
So tell me genius, why when I download the trial of Joe Danger, and then later bought the Joe Danger +
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Re:Why not? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, horseshit. People have all sorts of reasons for living in rural areas (cost of living, lower crime, because they want to, because that's where their job is). Are you suggesting everyone should move out of every rural area for the cities and leave the rest deserted just so they can have access to the internet?
The internet isn't the be all and end all of the world, and lots of people still want to be able to play games without the need for an internet connection.
My XBox no longer connects to the network, because once they started putting ads into both the home screen and the games they crossed the line into "absolutely not". I don't play games on-line, I have no interest in playing games on-line, and it's none of their fscking business when I play, what games I play, or for how long. And I'm certainly not giving them a platform to show me ads.
Always-on internet and DRM is meant to give them control over the consumer, as well as making sure to get some extra revenue from ads, and maybe garner information about your gaming habits.
Being required to do this is more like choosing to eat at a restaurant which serves bad food, because you're being told "eat shit, if you want to play you have no choice".
Well, there is a choice, and that's to simply not buy the next XBox. If they require always-on internet, that's the choice I'll be exercising.
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No, I am suggesting if internet access is important to you, you should select a location that can provide that. If it not important to you than the 720 is not likely to be either.
I have a PS3 if they had advertising on the home screen or charged a monthly fee to use an unrelated service, netflix, I would have sold it already.
Not buying the 720 is just like not moving to a place without reliable internet access. Both are voting with your dollars for the values you hold.
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And if the attitude is that "well, if you haven't got a decent internet connection and are willing to leave it on for is, we don't give a shit about your business" then the sooner people say "fine, fuck you" the better.
This is just more corporate ass-hattery saying they don't actually give a damn about their customers, and are willing to put their developers and marketing interests ahead of the customer.
Since Microsoft is discovering people apparently interested in Windows 8, they can't exactly afford to be
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Sure, but they should be free to do that. If you ever thought MS was interested in what customers wanted you were incredibly naive.
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No one's suggesting they aren't free to do that. Vocal players (eg a part of their market audience) are just telling them what they are willing to spend money on.
They can ignore free feedback it at their own peril.
Talking of ads ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm going off topic here, but I want to make a complaint. /. has gone down hill since being bought by Dice. In the old days /. would make it clear if there was some relationship between /. a site it linked to (e.g. "Slashdot and SourceForge are both part of OSDN"). However, now this doesn't happen any more. And it should. Not only that, if a submitter is related to Dice or to /., it should be made clear. And if you are only linking to an article on /. (e.g. in the ridiculous BI or SlashCloud sections) it should also be made clear.
Now mod me down (I shall become more powerful than you can imagine).
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/. has gone down hill since being bought by Dice.
Once Dice.com instituted an "always on" Internet connection policy to read Slashdot, it became nearly impossible for me to read. It's become particularly hard since I lost my job and can no longer browse and troll Twitter from work.
Re:Talking of ads ... (Score:5, Funny)
/. has gone down hill since being bought by Dice.
Once Dice.com instituted an "always on" Internet connection policy to read Slashdot, it became nearly impossible for me to read. It's become particularly hard since I lost my job and can no longer browse and troll Twitter from work.
Deal with it.
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It's all Google's fault. Ever since they shut down Gears, you can't read ANYthing offline.
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fun fact, I save slashdot pages and read them later (offline). So your analogy/joke is flawed.
Re:Talking of ads ... (Score:5, Funny)
Why do anon cowards make these demands but then provide no method of means of complying? Maybe if you provided a location and a method of contacting you, I could comply. But simply demanding something in the fashion you have is just silly.
You should write it something like:
Then, assuming I could make it to Washington DC, I could, if I was interested, come around and knock on your door. If I liked your looks, and you didn't smell, and your place was not to messy, and you offered me a decent drink, etc., I might well, "shut up and suck your dick". But you know, just making random demands on the Internet isn't enough. You've got to put effort into it.
The Question is: (Score:5, Insightful)
How does MS feel about an always on Internet Requirement for all games on the Xbox? Obviously the customers don't like it, but does MS care what it's customers want?
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I think it's more of a "What does MS think they can get away with?" question. If MS does the dreaded online only DRM, then hopefully Sony won't do it and this next fight will play out like ps2 v xbox1.
Of course, if the two companies have colluded on the matter the console space may get very unpleasant.
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Re:The Question is: (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously the customers don't like it, but does MS care what it's customers want?
If they did, they wouldn't have released Windows 8.
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It wouldn't surprise me to learn that one of the the reasons MS pushed the Xbox announcement back to May instead of April was because of this controversy, or to learn that there is a serious internal debate going on right now there over whether they should really go forward with the always-on requirement (their original plan) or to abandon it in light of this controversy and Sony's distancing themselves from the requirement on the PS4.
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I'm not sure they can back out at this point. The relationships with publishers in getting exclusives and launch titles hinges on obligations like this. Remember, it's the publishers who are demanding these sorts of DRM measures more than any console manufacturer themselves, so I don't think MS could pull something so important to that relationship when the wheels are already in motion.
I don't see the problem (Score:3, Funny)
If new Xbox requires always on internet connection (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not buying that shit. Neither should you.
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I'm not buying that shit. Neither should you.
You obviously don't have kids saying "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
....
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "oh fuck i
Re:If new Xbox requires always on internet connect (Score:5, Funny)
Kid: Waaaaahhhh!
Re:If new Xbox requires always on internet connect (Score:5, Insightful)
Except the problem for MS isn't parents who will say, "No." It's parents who will say, "No. We're getting a PS4 instead because it has 99% of the same games and doesn't have absurd DRM requirements."
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Yeah, the key word is absurd though. I don't have a problem with unobtrusive DRM. I've only ever had Steam piss me off once, which honestly I feel is a fair trade off for the great deals and convenience it offers.
Always online DRM? Absurd.
DRM that ties a game to a specific machine so if your console dies and you replace it, it's a pain in the ass to play the game you bought? Absurd.
Online DRM that mostly stays out of my way and offers an offline mode, and in turn offers me a convenient store with great deal
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Preview fail. Inconvenience me as a customer.
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Yeah, the key word is absurd though. I don't have a problem with unobtrusive DRM.
That's why I don't understand MS' silence on the always-on requirement. The Xbox 360 already has a working DRM system. It's very difficult to play a game unless you have the disc or purchased it from the Marketplace. Sure, I've heard some people manage to pirate Xbox 360 games, but I don't know of anyone who's even thought about doing that, and it's a lot of work. Frankly, I would be very surprised if 1% of Xbox 360 owners
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Yeah, but my guess is they're thinking the "game on a disk" thing is on the way out (probably not wrong), and are looking for DRM outside of that model.
Re:If new Xbox requires always on internet connect (Score:4, Informative)
Because Sony is somehow better? Removing functionality, backward compatibility, being more expensive, root-kits, etc? How hasn't Sony fucked up in this generation of consoles?
Sony doesn't make people buy a monthly subscription just to watch Neftlix, which is an important factor for me. I'll probably switch from Xbox to PS for the next generation for that reason alone. It'll save me hundreds of dollars over the life of the console, I can't ignore that huge savings.
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I hope you don't actually have kids. Giving in like that sends the wrong message.
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I hope you don't actually have kids. Giving in like that sends the wrong message.
True, IRL I take the opposite extreme, if I say something I will not back down. My wife thought I was taking it too far when I said "If you do that again your new game is going to the charity shop" when we'd just spent a lot of money on it, but my daughter has never ignored a threat like that since.
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You're doing it wrong.
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: "no".......
Kid: "Dad, can I have an x-box", answer: smacks kids across the face
Kid: "I'm sorry, Dad"
That's how it goes in my house.
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That's when you visit a site like this [ranker.com] to see what sort of crappy knock-offs are available, and get one of those for the kid.
"Daaa-aaaad! I want an X-Box!"
"What's wrong with the eXtreme Box I got you last year? It's the same thing ain't it, except it comes with a light gun!"
Phhht. I ain't got no sympathy for the kids. I mean, all I had was a Coleco Telestar [ultimateco...tabase.com], while everyone else had a Playstation. "It's the same thing, ain't it, except it comes with a light gun!"
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In place of an XBox, for instance, I bought a Wii. I know it's not a hardcore gamer platform, but my kids don't play violent games. They can do that when they're older if they want; I think my son started around 16 or so. He turned out fine and only hates me as much as any teenager should.
I get them iTunes gift cards and we build things togethe
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Obligatory Simpsons clip [youtube.com]
Yes that's what I was thinking of!
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Figured this was coming (Score:4, Interesting)
I'll be the first to admit I enjoy a bit of give and take with snarky comments on the Internet, but for a person in his position I though his condescending Twitter comments regarding people who dare to live in places such as Wisconsin or Virginia were a bit shocking in their arrogance. I can't say I'm surprised at all at Microsoft letting him go.
Advice Orth (Score:5, Funny)
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Other comments were insulting (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't find the quotation so this is from memory but someone responded to his tweet by saying "sometimes the internet is spotty in other areas of the country like Kansas and that's why always on would suck" and Orth responded "why would anyone live there". That's pretty much a big fuck you to a large part of the country. Not a wise move to disparage millions of potential customers. I think that comment and the attitude it conveys is a bigger problem than him stating his opinion about "always on".
I guess he can go to work for Electronic Arts (Score:2)
They apparently love asshats like him especially with Simcity
let's keep our eye on the price, shall we? (Score:2)
I know it's anathema for /. to praise MS but this is good.
The guy made not only catastrophically stupid comments, but came off as arrogant and patronizing. Whether his exit is graceful or humiliating, I don't really care: it's a GOOD THING that he has departed MS.
Whether it was a higher up 'suggesting he seek another opportunity', or him quitting after getting constant complaints about it, either way it should be clear that his beliefs are not going to be the company line at MS. That's an unmitigated good
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either way it should be clear that his beliefs are not going to be the company line at MS
That's not clear at all. We have no idea what the company line internally is, and one person spouting off casually might very well reflect what the rest of the direction is behind the scenes. The guy got shoved out because he made the public angry, and for no other reason.
Good ... (Score:2)
Good. Because his response to criticism about always-on requirements amounted to "let them eat cake".
If that's how you feel about your customers, don't be surprised when they decide you suck and don't want your product.
An always-on internet requirement makes this next XBox a complete non-starter for me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
#dealwithit
ibitimes (Score:2)
To quote his own words .. (Score:2)
First EA, now Microsoft? (Score:2)
Good. (Score:2)
Just what I wanted:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3620333&cid=43377895 [slashdot.org]
Of course ... (Score:2)
probably M$ asked him to step down not because of what he said, but because he let people know ahead of time instead of them not knowing until after they bought the new XBox ...
Devil's advocate, checking in (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm going to jump in here and buck the hivemind by saying this may have been a case of Internet overreaction and mob persecution. This guy has said multiple times that this was a snarky banter between friends on Twitter, he just had the lack of foresight to make his feed private. I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, considering the horrible things I sometimes say to provoke my friends.
Would you want to be held accountable to your entire customer base for your snarky conversations with your friends? If you made some wholly inappropriate out of context comment while baiting/trolling your buddies, would you want the world to treat that as not only your actual stance, but that of your employer?
Now before the nerd rage bubbles over, let me caveat:
At best, the guy was at least a dumbass who didn't realize how connected his life was. In a position like that, even when he's talking with friends, he's talking with the Internet and cannot help but represent his job considering how many people it affects. Games are serious business on the Intertron, and you flick the nose of your customers at your peril.
At worst, he was the arrogant douche the internet proclaims him to be and sold himself on his company's own Kool-Aid, which is a terrible mistake in any profession and he paid the price.
I think it's good for Microsoft that this issue was dragged out into the spotlight before the console launched - and I think it's tragic that it cost Adam a career. Let this be a lesson for people in high-profile game industry positions - you are NEVER just talking to one person on the Internet, and the public eye never blinks.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
So not an isolated event, either. The guy is just a jackass and deserves to get the boot.