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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

#671

Post by eleveriven »

epistasis wrote: post #159
mawadev wrote: post #151

I wanted to show my gf the halo 1 campaign, so I downloaded the 30GB Masterchief Collection via steam. When I launched it, I was greeted with a black box. After 1 Minute it was a microsoft login screen that looked eerily like a browser inside the game. Since I couldn't do anything else, the game was stuck at a sub 720p resolution. I said fine Ill just create an account. Yea so mail, firstname, lastname, birthday, cou…

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…

The difference is that Linux usually fails loudly and gives you something to investigate. Microsoft software often fails behind five layers of UI etc.

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

#672

Post by eleveriven »

hnlmorg wrote: post #566
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…

It’s actually impressive just how badly Microsoft fcuked the online experience in Minecraft. It’s so bad that Occam’s Razor should suggest malice; because an organisation that large and that profitable surely cant be that incompetent at managing the sign in process for the world’s most popular game. Yes here we are. Back in the early 00s I coined the phrase “everything Microsoft touches turns to shit”. A reverse Mida…

The most damning part is that signing in isn't some obscure edge case. It's the front door to one of the biggest games ever made

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

#673

Post by eleveriven »

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…

The part that bothers me is that preservation has become the customer's problem while continued access remains the vendor's decision

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

#674

Post by samplifier »

epistasis wrote: post #302
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 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…

Luanti + Mineclonia is really good.

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

#675

Post by wolvoleo »

robotnikman wrote: post #579
mikrl wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cyberpunk is NOW a playable game I never had problems with cyberpunk but I think I know why: I built a new PC right around its release and it was good enough to play it smoothly on 4K medium or HD ultra. When I checked to see what 4K ultra looked like, the graphics latency caused a bunch of scripting to fall apart and the game glitched really bad. IIRC the console release was notorious for bugs, so I assume console…

I encountered bugs when it first released even with a decent PC. IIRC there was a mission where you were running away in a truck, and it would crash every time at a certain point so I could never complete it. Also the whole save file size limit debacle, where they never actually removed deleted items from your inventory and the save file would reach a certain size that the game could no longer read (10mb or something…

I've played through the whole thing on the day one patch. On PC it was really not that bad. On console was another story though

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

#676

Post by trymas »

7e wrote: post #101

Own? You don’t own someone else’s work. Even when it goes into public domain, you don’t own their creation. At that point, nobody does.

Don't be obtuse.

I own a physical book, I don't own the IP of it. As long as I own the book - I can freely read it's contents 100 years from now.

If I own[1] DRM protected ebook on a Kindle. Tomorrow I may not have that book on my Kindle (and I will not be refunded, because fuck the plebs) or may not be able to open it even if I have the file, that I bought with my money.

[1] I paid money for it, just like the physical one.

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

#677

Post by tsylba »

epistasis wrote: post #302
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 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…

Wait, you can't play Minecraft on GNU/Linux anymore? I've bought the things for 10 bucks when it was still an alpha on TIGForum, it's been decade since I played the game but it never required us to be on a proprietary platform then.

That'd be a bummer.

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

#678

Post by opan »

tsylba wrote: post #677
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…

Wait, you can't play Minecraft on GNU/Linux anymore? I've bought the things for 10 bucks when it was still an alpha on TIGForum, it's been decade since I played the game but it never required us to be on a proprietary platform then. That'd be a bummer.

I think they just meant that Microsoft owns Minecraft and you need an account with them these days. Java Edition stills runs on GNU/Linux last I checked.

>it's been decade since I played the game

Unfortunately you may have lost access to your account and thus copy of the game if you didn't do the two mandatory time-limited account migrations.

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

#679

Post by tsylba »

frollogaston wrote: post #629
ThePhysicist wrote: post #471

I think Valve is just going to kill Xbox in a couple of years. Basically Microsoft is planning to make the next Xbox an "ordinary" Windows computer with a different UI as well as vendor-locked hard- & software. So essentially you'll get a (maybe) slightly discounted small form-factor PC for the living room that only runs games from the Xbox store, which will be more expensive than the same games on Steam. Now, everyo…

The Steam machine costs like double an Xbox

Like for an espresso machine or a printer, the incentive is put on the consumables. Peoples trust Steam and their frequent sales, not so much XBox and the rest of the platforms, so if you want to frequently buy a plethora of games, old and new and indie and AAA, it would probably still be cheaper to get a steam machine than the next console with their limited catalogue and fixed prices.

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

#680

Post by opan »

ndriscoll wrote: post #433
epistasis wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can get a group of other parents to also pirate... Not really in the cards, though I can appreciate your dedication to pirate advocacy.

The referenced config setting is apparently literally just whether to have the server authenticate accounts with Microsoft, so pirate and nonpirate players can play together on a server with checking off.

Can confirm, I ran a server like this at a LAN party once, 90% legitimate players and then a couple who hadn't bought the game. From what I recall they had fun and bought the game later. No auth means someone could put in your name and steal your items, and you probably won't have a (non-default) skin, though I think you can even work around those issues with mods.
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