Xbox one

Consoles are a whole lot more secure than regular PC's, at least they have in the past. We'll see with this one, but the closed nature of them makes it a whole lot harder.


I seriously doubt they would turn the camera on without you answering the call. I could see the friends video feed popping up saying you have an incoming call, but it won't auto answer for you.
You say that, but when consoles get compromised, they get compromised on a massive scale. The continuing (and for whatever reason swept under the rug) large scale theft/scamming of people playing Fifa and the massive PSN security failure of a year or two ago is proof of that.

Microsoft isn't immune. Look how easily Hotmail gets compromised.
 
If those are real, those are fucking awesome, and Sony is bringing the pain.

If they're not real, they're still fucking awesome.
 
The saddest thing about the new Xbox is all the TV stuff it does? Smart TVs already do all of it. And without stupid voice command or Kinect.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
You know, they all crow about how their consoles are becoming more-PC-like, but I think they're taking the aspects of PCs not even PC gamers like. Becoming "more like a PC" as a good thing would entail more versatility, interconnectivity and openness. This sort of thing strikes me as like.. saying a car is more truck-like just because they hid weights inside the chassis to make it heavier, like trucks generally are.
 
E3 is right around the corner they will talk about more than the top 3 franchises (I mean games no one carse about!) on the platform then. Of course any excuse to bitch and moan about the gaming industry amirite!
 
Hey, I just saw this as a great opportunity to buy some MS stock. Here's hoping their reveals on E3 will be better and their stock will rebound from this. Of course, it's entirely possible their stock will tank even further as people see the XBone and the PS4 next to each other, but hey, a guess is a guess.
 
I guess the word is now that the PS4 will also have some kind of used game DRM too. I'm not surprised, if one of them is going to do it they all have to I suppose. I'm really curious about this though:
1) Who is pushing for this? The game publishers? The developers? It seems like the console companies are pushing this instead of the people I assume it's really meant to protect (those who make the games).
2) What about renting games? Does that go out the window too?
3) What will major used game retailers do about this? It's already almost pointless to buy a used game. I was at a gamestop to buy Tomb Raider and the used version was 3 whole dollars cheepers! Yay? But will this change their model more so they focus mainly on new games then? Or will they offer some sort of incentive so you don't pay for the same game twice?
 
After how little I actually jumped into the last console generation, and how the current console generation is looking, it seems instead of buying a console or new/used games (which are always more expensive on console than PC) I'll just spend the money keeping my PC in tip top shape and enjoy all the same games (exclusivity is getting less and less appealing) on my system. With all the mods, graphics updates, patches I can throw a stick at.
 
1) Who is pushing for this? The game publishers? The developers?
My guess is that it's either the publishers or the console makers. The developer probably wouldn't care how many platforms carried his/her game (in fact, the more, the better) but the console people want vendor lock-in, and the publishers want to maximize the number of little plastic discs which get sold.

--Patrick
 
True, I suppose thats part of it, that begs a bigger question then, will MicroSony pocket the 34.99 charge to activate my used copy of Tomb Raider or will it go to the people who made the game?

And still, rentals? Will I have to pay a fee to play a rented game? Seems like this move would kill that market completely (Granted it's not huge anyway anymore is it?)
 
Will I have to pay a fee to play a rented game? Seems like this move would kill that market completely (Granted it's not huge anyway anymore is it?)
I'm sure what happened is that since games are no longer technically a physical object*, the console people will be more than happy to rent you your game via download through their official channels (and keep the money for themselves) rather than somebody like Blockbuster springing up to get that business (and that money).

--Patrick
*If the consoles require always-on, then there's no real reason they can't be download-only as well, since people who can't download games would be precluded from playing anyway.
 
3) What will major used game retailers do about this? It's already almost pointless to buy a used game. I was at a gamestop to buy Tomb Raider and the used version was 3 whole dollars cheepers! Yay? But will this change their model more so they focus mainly on new games then? Or will they offer some sort of incentive so you don't pay for the same game twice?
That's mainly an issue with newer used games, but what happens if I, someone who likes to play old games, suddenly gets a hankering to play some obscure title from 10 years ago like Way of the Samurai 2 for the PS2? Used is often the only way to get these games. Will the PERMISSION servers to give me PERMISSION to play these games still exist? Will I still have to pay some dumb fucking fee?
 
Will I still have to pay some dumb fucking fee?
Probably. I'm sure they're counting on your inability to play those older titles (inaccessibility, failed hardware, turned off activation servers, etc) in order to sell them to you again inside their console-du-jour store.

--Patrick
 
I've said this before, but it's not the "console makers" exactly, it's the software publishing arm of the same companies that the console makers are part of. I know it's a fine point, but it's worth considering as people try and suss out motivations.

True, I suppose thats part of it, that begs a bigger question then, will MicroSony pocket the 34.99 charge to activate my used copy of Tomb Raider or will it go to the people who made the game?
Probably some rev-share combo of MicroSony and Square (the publishing side). The studio that made the game is unlikely to see any of that except maybe the top folks who have it written into their contracts.
 
First, you're thinking too far into the future. They care about early buyers who play through once and then sell it. Realistically, people like me who don't play a game until I can score the GOTY edition for twenty bucks won't care.

Also, for years the publishers have been clamoring for exactly this kind of scheme, so it really should have been expected. People can piss and moan all they want. They'll cough up the money when their favorite franchise comes out in stunning high-def quality. It's why they can get away with it. It's also why the reveal was all TV all the time. They know the gamers will come around. They want the parent of the next gen of gamers to have a reason to drop a few hundred dollars on this thing.
 
I was gonna quote Covar, but deleted it before quoting Espy, could have confused the poor forum.[DOUBLEPOST=1369755839][/DOUBLEPOST]
Also, for years the publishers have been clamoring for exactly this kind of scheme, so it really should have been expected. People can piss and moan all they want. They'll cough up the money when their favorite franchise comes out in stunning high-def quality. It's why they can get away with it. It's also why the reveal was all TV all the time. They know the gamers will come around. They want the parent of the next gen of gamers to have a reason to drop a few hundred dollars on this thing.

Or they won't in the same numbers and we have the dreaded collapse that a lot of people have been predicting is coming. Would probably be for the best.

Nintendo has been all but abandoned (even more than the Wii was) by 3rd parties and they themselves are scrambling for what to do.
 
If you want rights as a gamer, better start lobbying your representatives. Just be aware that gaming companies have far more lobbying dollars than you, and they generate significant economic activity, which is good for the economy, so it'll be a hard sell, convincing lawmakers that game companies should be forced to produce the games you want under the conditions you want, rather than the games that will generate the most revenue, under the terms that will generate the most revenue.
 
Or they won't in the same numbers and we have the dreaded collapse that a lot of people have been predicting is coming. Would probably be for the best.

Nintendo has been all but abandoned (even more than the Wii was) by 3rd parties and they themselves are scrambling for what to do.
I think we have a similar thread going about how Adobe is doing this for non-game software as well. This is more about the how we are starting to treat software in general, and less about "gaming."

--Patrick
 
Or they won't in the same numbers and we have the dreaded collapse that a lot of people have been predicting is coming. Would probably be for the best.

I agree on the first part, disagree on the second. I know lots of folks (understandably) want a lot of the existing top dogs to get some financial comeuppance for the way they do business, but a crash will be bad because it will mean a lot less investor money going to gaming projects.

Most new game dev houses, even the hardcore indie ones, don't subsist on consumer money for the first few years of their existence, they subsist on VC funding, and while VCs are used to assuming risk, they do so because they are confident that eventually one of their projects will hit the right market and pay out in a big way. If there is an industry crash, a lot of these guys are going to shy away.

This is why I think the best case scenario is that instead of a crash, we get a shrink. The big guys divest themselves of their baggage and shrink to dev teams around strong core properties, and we see an exodus of talent from those big companies to smaller companies with a better focus. This is what I think you guys actually want anyways, and it's what I'm hoping we're heading towards at this point.
 
It's about time for steam to launch a $42/month all you can eat subscription to their entire game library. Follow Netflix, amazon prime, Hulu.
 
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