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

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

#351

Post by semiquaver »

inigyou wrote: post #96
spicymaki wrote: post #82

First, we need to make it illegal to say you are buying something when you are actually renting. Words mean something.

They did this in California. Solution: stores don't use any of the words now. Now the buttons say "add to cart" and "proceed to payment". Sometimes the button just says the price. I wonder if it's legal to build a completely scam store like this. You pick a game, you click on "$7", you pay $7, you don't get anything at all, and if you try to sue them, they point out they never actually sold you anything, you just vol…

Yeah, did anyone really think that language policing would fix the issue?

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

#352

Post by epistasis »

inigyou wrote: post #319
epistasis wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was able to take a 25 year break from Microsoft, from 2000 to 2025. Yet I was drawn back in because my son wanted to play Minecraft. This was the worst account process of any system ever invented, as far as I can tell. Plus in 2025 I had some interesting clients that are large corporations that use Microsoft as their core IT practice. The escape to the relative simplicity and consistency of AWS interfaces, from MS…

Just pirate it. Minecraft is really easy to pirate if you don't want to play multiplayer, or want to play on pirate-compatible servers (which is one boolean flag in the official server configuration file and doesn't require a pirated server). Make sure to get Java Edition. The other one is just an ad-riddden slopfest where they also ban you if you say swear words.

The point of the account was multiplayer, unfortunately. Wanted a locked down account to play the game with a closed group of friends.

Ended up on Minecraft Education on the computer, eventually.

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

#353

Post by inigyou »

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…

Then if you really want to do something yourself instead of waiting for leet hackers to do it, buy one, reverse engineer it thoroughly, write a protocol emulator so you can buy the game from the store and download the bits to your PC, and then develop a method to store those bits to as many compatible consoles as you want.

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

#355

Post by reaperducer »

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

Praise Criterion

The whole collection, mostly on Blu-Ray, was 50% off at Barnes and Noble when I was there a couple of weeks ago.

There was a huge display right at the entrance of this huge chain retailer, so in spite of the online streaming hype, there must be a non-niche audience for optical media.

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

#356

Post by inigyou »

otaconjh wrote: post #110
ragazzina wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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?

remember that time all of the frontier AI labs trained their models on copyrighted material and no one batted an eyelid? If they can do that, I don't see why I can't back up my CD's and DVDs or digital purchases with digital copies sourced from the high seas. If buying isn't owning...

"If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing."

We've all heard this. But let's not forget that recently, some important representative of Microsoft went and told some important politicians, that buying is stealing.

Yes. She said that buying is stealing. Buying the game and playing multiplayer on your own server is stealing, more specifically.

So if buying is stealing, why not pirate?

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

#357

Post by philistine »

inigyou wrote: post #322
f6v wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Microsoft products are no longer ubiquitous. That's an early 2010s view. In 2026 most clients are running Android, followed by iOS, followed by Mac, and use Google Docs for their office work. Windows is only used on a per-company basis. If your company uses it it uses it, otherwise it doesn't.

You got it mostly right. It's Android, then iOS, then Windows. It is still the number one PC OS, in terms of active users and sales. MacOS is a distant second. Of course in 2026, if you want to make money as a developer selling directly to consumers, your best targets are probably iOS and macOS. Android and Windows are rife with users who'll never buy anything and pirates.

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

#358

Post by pishpash »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #283
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.

That isn't true. Microsoft has made some genuinely good software over the years.

It really became a problem only with Windows RT attempting to merge mobile OS with desktop. All the non-sensical UX compromises are still from that.

Later they abandoned consumerware after losing the mobile space but that's a different story. Microsoft isn't really a consumer software company any more so there's no point judging it on that basis.

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

#359

Post by inigyou »

saghm wrote: post #145
otaconjh wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

remember that time all of the frontier AI labs trained their models on copyrighted material and no one batted an eyelid? If they can do that, I don't see why I can't back up my CD's and DVDs or digital purchases with digital copies sourced from the high seas. If buying isn't owning...

The obvious risk is that you don't have nearly as much budget to spend on lawyers if someone does come after you for it. The copyright system tends to disproportionately punish small players and not punish larger ones.

They can't come after us all. We outnumber them. Also we have disk encryption now. Admit to nothing.

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

#360

Post by inigyou »

saghm wrote: post #293
Grimburger wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lawyers cost a lot more than what you are going to get back from GP in a copyright lawsuit.

That doesn't seem to have stopped any prosecutions for piracy in the past

It actually did. There weren't that many, they were just high profile news at the time. And most of them either lost or recovered minimal damages. There was no actual $250,000 payment for downloading an MP3. That's why the industry stopped doing it and now only targets distribution sites.
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