Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc • Hacker News Board

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

#331

Post by inigyou » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:33 PM UTC

mawadev wrote: post #172

epistasis wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my experience with all Microsoft software. The worst thought out, buggy, untested pile of crap. There's something seriously wrong in Redmond. At least with linux, you can search on the web and find a forum post telling you the magic incantation. With Microsoft, you will be forced to consume some second-rate engineer's unmanaged, barely workable, edge case until it might or might not work. Office on the web is…

You know whats the cherry on top? I got it working today and you have to download the actual halo 1 campaign as a DLC from inside or outside the MCC game. Even if I got it working yesterday, I'd have to wait for another download. What the 30GB MCC does initially is still a mystery to me.

Why don't you literally just pirate it.

You already own it, so it's not even immoral.

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

#332

Post by rc5150 » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:33 PM UTC

altmanaltman wrote: post #202

jerf wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't get in the locked box in the first place. That's the whole point. A day may come where it is the only option. In which case, personally, I will still advocate for not getting in the box. If they're going to hold "music" and "movies" hostage tell them to go fuck themselves. It's your money they're using to lock you in. And the day that I have nothing left that can play MP3 files is too far in the future to b…

With the planned death of physical media for games, it will soon become impossible to do so. Like, Sony literally plans to stop making discs starting in 2028, and all games you buy will have to be digital only. GTA 6 is just giving a code in a box. It's really the end of times for physical media in a few years, maybe something can change if consumers push back but they likely will not if we are being realistic. https…

Oh no! GTA6, the 2026 simulator, may not be accessible?

If the death of physical media locks me into playing whatver is forcefed to me by AAA studios, I will reject that bargain and engage in the decades of backlogged media I haven't gotten to yet. If every studio stopped making music, movies, and TV today, there is still so much I haven't seen/listened to/played that it won't even move the needle.

Lastly, going against the grain here, but GTA 6 looks about as unappealing as it possibly could. I don't want to play 2026 Simulator, no matter how good it looks. Really it just looks like parody version of current politics and society and that's what games are helping me escape from.

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

#333

Post by dismalaf » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:34 PM UTC

f6v wrote: post #258

keiferski wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is strange to me that people are re-discovering this today, in 2026. Microsoft has always been half-baked, even in the 80s and 90s. Heck, my parents basically raised me (20+ years ago) by running a business fixing problems with Microsoft products for their clients.

I guess it’s surprising because how ubiquitous their products are. You’d expect them to be of better quality considering everyone is using MS software one way or another.

They're ubiquitous because everyone else fucked up during the 80's and 90's charging too much for everything. MS was affordable. It's really just Apple gaining economy of scale by manufacturing in China and Linux being free while being higher quality that make MS look bad.

Also MS stuff has always been slop. Hate their business practices too. But without Linux we'd be choosing between MS, Apple and Oracle Solaris or something...

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

#334

Post by inigyou » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:34 PM UTC

bitmasher9 wrote: post #187

reaperducer wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my experience with all Microsoft software. The worst thought out, buggy, untested pile of crap. When you try to save a short-term buck by offshoring your workforce, you end up with long-term problems and brand damage. And now vibe coding is the new offshoring, so we can make things worse at scale!

When did the offshoring happen, because Microsoft has been bad for a long time. Even in the 90s there were so many BSODs.

Microsoft in the 90s was doing things that hadn't been done before with Windows. And the NT line, converging to consumers at XP, solved many of them, and by now they don't have an excuse any more.

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

#335

Post by wraptile » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:34 PM UTC

avhception wrote: post #246

fouric wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft stole my copy of Minecraft. I had bought Minecraft before Microsoft bought Mojang, and eventually I was forced to migrate my Minecraft license to a Microsoft account. After I had successfully created the account, logged in, and transferred the license, and ONLY after I had transferred the license, I was suddenly locked out of my account until I provided a phone number. I will never buy a Microsoft product a…

My original Minecraft account got lost in all these shenanigans as well.

Bought Minecraft on one of the first survival mode releases back when Notch was streaming himself making the game and Microsoft stole this from me. I'm not particularly sad about the digital access itself but this low-key meant something to me :|

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

#336

Post by ksenzee » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:35 PM UTC

wbl wrote: post #268

pelagicAustral wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same effect of wanting to watch an old film... If you want to do it the legit way, you will have to face all kind of hurdles, starting from finding a service provider that might have the film, then forget about all the modern audience "edits" they put on these things, at times the quality isn't even good, the audio tracks are messed up... So you either give these jackals at least 30 to 60 minutes of your…

Physical DVD is the way. Praise Criterion

yeah good idea, I'll just pop it into my xbox -- oh.

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

#337

Post by inigyou » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:35 PM UTC

vaylian wrote: post #291

fouric wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft stole my copy of Minecraft. I had bought Minecraft before Microsoft bought Mojang, and eventually I was forced to migrate my Minecraft license to a Microsoft account. After I had successfully created the account, logged in, and transferred the license, and ONLY after I had transferred the license, I was suddenly locked out of my account until I provided a phone number. I will never buy a Microsoft product a…

"Give us your phone number or we will hold your minecraft account ransom"

Happened to me every time I ever made a Microsoft account. It works for one day, then some fraud process runs overnight and if I try to use it the next day I need a phone number. Good thing I first discovered this on a throwaway account.

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

#338

Post by trinsic2 » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:36 PM UTC

>But owning a game on a disc today isn't really the same thing.

This is an important point distinction that many people of physical media are missing or being distracted by. All this backlash could be put to better use by supporting game ownership.

You can't play the game you own if the product has to phone home. I'm not getting why people are up in arms about the physical product while DRM is in place that prevents you from playing it.

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

#339

Post by inigyou » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:36 PM UTC

ciupicri wrote: post #328

trompetenaccoun wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a moral PoV pirating old movies isn't a big issue, especially in cases where the original makers are already dead. At that point you're only feeding Hollywood bosses, shareholders and decendants. Same as torrenting music from dead artists. I don't care for Jimi Hendrix' greedy sister or 'Authentic Brands Group', which owns the rights to Elvis Presley's music. These people can create their own art instead of livi…

What if Jimi Hendrix wanted for his sister to benefit from his work?

Too bad because she isn't either way. It's all going to shareholders and top executives.

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

#340

Post by zuzululu » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 3:37 PM UTC

surgical_fire wrote: post #207

cautiouscat wrote: post #9

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…

Pitacy is back in the menu for me. That "if buying is not owning then piracy is not stealing" sounds corny and is legally void, but hell if morally it is not justifiable at this point. When I want to support the creator I go and "buy" the thing, but I also go and pirate anyway.

for me these games are too large to pirate

i went back to recomps and emulation