Live data from Hacker News

Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

birchtree.me

111–120 of 800 posts

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#111
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

General principle: It is way easier to avoid lock in by not being locked in in the first place then to extricate yourself later. It's easy for me not to be locked in to a streaming video service because I had a DVD collection that predates them, and I maintained it instead of being on a streaming service, so I've got a personal collection. It's easy for me not to be locked in to a streaming music service because I ha…

>and I maintained it How do you plan on maintaining your CD and DVD players when the new ones will be sold with a subscription plan like printers?

Citation needed for this, as this makes no sense.

However, content shifting (i.e. ripping from CD to digital) is a thing, and that's what I do with my physical media.

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#112
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish Gog made a Steam Deck.

Why not an actual Steam Deck? You can install any software you want on it.

You can but having to hook it up to a mouse and keyboard and monitor every time I want to install new games from not-Steam would be a pain.

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#113
post #87

Gaming is heading in the same direction that TV, movies and music are. It’s a shame. I can invite my friends over, boot up my GameCube to play some Mario Kart Double Dash. As long as the console and disc are okay, I can (hopefully) do that until I pass away. These days? Not so much. I’ll never be able to be sure I can play GTA VI in twenty years. It just sucks not owning anything anymore. I know why they do it, it’s…

Eh, I'd probably leave music off that list. Even mainstream music releases are still pretty easy to buy DRM-free via services like Qobuz, even if the majority of people are using streaming platforms these days. Although I wonder if that's maybe just because music seems like it would be pretty easy to sidestep DRM, even if they do come up with some kind of innovation (heck, even my friend told me he pirated my album..…

If I want an e-book, I buy it from bookshop.org and then pirate the DRM-free version. It clears my conscience: the author gets paid, a small bookshop gets the sale, and I can read my book anywhere.

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#114
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Hard. No. 2. Fame-inducing. No. 3. Illegal. Maybe where you live.

Really? You cracked Denuvo?

Denuvo doesn't exist in a vast majority of games. It's not even used in all modern games.

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#115
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the command I can use to run them without Steam then? If the game links to a dll that launches Steam and won’t play without it, then that is effectively Drm. Before I even play the game without Steam: how do I download it without Steam?

There are DLLs that remove any check of Steam running. Just keep a copy of one and use that on other games. Regarding the download, it's the same issue with physical media. If I don't have the DVD, how can I acquire the game?

Oh there are Dlls? And as a non-technical consumer I just know this do I? I know how to dig deep into my file system and copy+paste a dll file into software I can’t/don’t understand? How do I download and install a copy without Steam?

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#116
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not staying this to be pendantic or to annoy you, but you really do know that at the bottom line, the same sort of license applies to movies and music that as of games. It is just accepted with movies, music and books that people just 'have' them. The publishers seriously know what a huge outrage there would be when they did the same to those forms of media like they did with games, but they would if they could get a…

They already did though. Sony removed your movies from your PlayStation. And every Blu-Ray player can brick itself if you insert a disk with a player blacklist update.

> And every Blu-Ray player can brick itself if you insert a disk with a player blacklist update.

That seems to be somewhat of a myth.

Discussion here, 37 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48698374

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#117
> "But owning a game on a disc today isn't really the same thing. It's still just a license..."

Here's the crux of the problem in their own sentence and they don't even realize it.

Owning and Licensing are not the same thing. If I own something, I own it outright. If I license something, I am leasing it.

It does get fuzzy with media, I will admit. But we need the same protections as physical books and game cartidges. If I buy it, it is mine to use as I please and even resell or transfer. If that's not what the transaction is, then don't call it buying or purchasing, call it leasing or licensing.

Require stores and publishers to use language that reflects the nature of the transaction.

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#118
One consideration I have on every purchase I make is that I own it, like actually own it (with exceptions where necessary, of course). Internet access in something that shouldn't need internet access is a downside. It's a way to mess with the purchase you made.

If my e-reader had a bad battery after years of use, I should be able to replace that battery myself without issue (personal skill allowing). I purchased it. Why wouldn't you be able to? I haven't yet found reason for this in consumer devices, except because they want you to send it in or buy a new one from the manufacturer.

Every time we see something like this, it doesn't get enough eyes or care from those who use these platforms. Sony takes your movies away, Xbox requires you be online, Amazon updating your books automatically without asking you, etc. My favorite that I repeat constantly is all of the BS that BMW has done over the years: heated seats subscription, proprietary bolt heads, ads in the infotainment. If you buy a BMW at this point, I'm sorry, but you had alternatives and I don't feel bad. The scary part is when enough people accept it that everyone else in the industry follows suit and then the outliers are the ones that respect you.

If I purchased a physical disc, I'm not even asking for the source code (which I'd love), I'm just asking that I can run the damn software I bought, but you can't even do that now. Viva open source and right to repair. Make the educated choice when purchasing software and hardware, to your benefit, where appropriate. Of course, the proprietary system is what you need/want sometimes, but I bet most of us don't most of the time.

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can buy and own legal copies of movies and music. But I often really can’t with games.

Not staying this to be pendantic or to annoy you, but you really do know that at the bottom line, the same sort of license applies to movies and music that as of games. It is just accepted with movies, music and books that people just 'have' them. The publishers seriously know what a huge outrage there would be when they did the same to those forms of media like they did with games, but they would if they could get a…

A lot of games are not sold with re-sellable licenses at all while almost all movies are.

Re: Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc

#120
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Steam games don't actually have any DRM. They just link to steamapi.dll for things like achievements, and that makes you think you can't run them without Steam. Some have DRM, of course.

What is the command I can use to run them without Steam then? If the game links to a dll that launches Steam and won’t play without it, then that is effectively Drm. Before I even play the game without Steam: how do I download it without Steam?

You download it with Steam, then run Steam's backup function to back up the games you care about to physical media. Or in the vast number of cases you can just copy the game folder

Obviously if you buy it with steam you need Steam. But you only need it at the time of purchase, for the vast majority of titles

Post reply on HN