"Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1 • Hacker News Board

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#21

Post by zinkem » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:42 PM UTC

This comparison to steam is a bit of a false equivocation. I can run Steam on a variety of hardware configurations, which I can buy from a variety of vendors. Steam is better not because the DRM system is different, but because it's hardware agnostic.

Once the XB1 lifecycle is over, I have no guarantee I will be able to play the games I bought. As far as I'm aware XB1 is not backwards compatible at all. Once my 360 dies, if I can't find another one in working condition, or XBL stops offering services for the 360, my 360 XBLA games are gone forever.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#22

Post by jacobquick » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:42 PM UTC

asveikau wrote: post #6

This guy is an awful writer. Even if I ignore that they don't know "its" from "it's", "then" from "than", this thing is hard to follow. Just an incoherent rant really, looks like it was written by a kid.

It was cut and paste from an ama on 4chan. Really you should understand this already.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#23

Post by tzaman » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:42 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #16

tzaman wrote: post #3

Yeah, Microsoft really sucks at storytelling. All they had to say was something in the lines of... "If you want to buy a disc, pay $59 for a game due to all non-digital crap the disc has to go through. And then do what you want with it. HOWEVER, if you download the game, it's like $29 (50% OFF!!!11), but then it's just yours, and yours alone, you can't sell or lend it - and we'd have to check every once in a while it…

I'm sure they thought of that. That's how they licensed software for decades (the OEM version of Office was much cheaper than the retail box, but it could only be used on that computer).

Exactly. One has to wonder why they didn't go with this approach if it's a valid and proven business model.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#24

Post by MiguelHudnandez » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:43 PM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #13

Microsoft really did a terrible job at messaging on this. I'm even annoyed, and I don't play much, and everything I buy is digital download, not physical media, so the whole disc selling thing doesn't even affect me. Even so, it feels nasty. MS has basically said fuck you to gamers, without any justifiable reason. Taking down Gamestop doesn't require anything but a better Gamestop replacement. This dev complains abou…

> The fact Xbox tosses ads in your face on every single home screen except settings is also extremely distasteful, and MS burned a lot of goodwill on that.

This is the single biggest thing that puts a bad taste in my mouth from my Xbox. Am I a customer or a product? Companies should pick only one. If I pay money, I don't want to be sold.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#25

Post by mtkd » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:43 PM UTC

Microsoft thought they had a dominant market position and tried to stretch a little. They miscalculated.

Sony were concerned they were heading towards irrelevance - they upped their game to win share back.

I'd say it was a perfectly efficient market - and then I remember we're talking about kids being able to swap games like I did in the 80s as if it's a revolution ... the boomers heading these companies right now should be ashamed of what they've created.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#26

Post by andrewingram » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:44 PM UTC

To be honest, the only thing that annoys me is the 24 hour check-in thing, and here's why...

On average I've moved house once a year for every year since I moved to London in 2007. There was one place I stayed in for 18 months, but everything else was 12 months. In all these moves except one I've had to wait 3-4 weeks (sometimes more) to get my broadband connected, so essentially for 1/13th of a year the only internet I have is through my mobile phone.

These 4 weeks a year are also the times when I get most of my single-player gaming done (I'm not saying I play hours of games every night, but for a couple of nights a week for a few weeks a year I'll settle down with a good RPG or similar).

The 24 hour check-in will make this impossible, thereby probably making me play less games overall (or I could just buy a PS4...).

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#27

Post by jiggy2011 » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:44 PM UTC

eridius wrote: post #20

jiggy2011 wrote: post #10

He seems to be suggesting that Xbox One games will be cheaper because of the lack of used sales. I don't see what their economic incentive would be to lower the prices (at least to below prices for a similar PS4 game), usually if there is less competition in a market and demand stays constant the price goes up. In the case of Steam , they have to be cheap because their competition is TPB which is the cheapest game st…

Right now, used games capture the low end of the market. If there are no used games, then there's nothing servicing the low end, and that's a lot of wasted money. If game prices come down a bit, you capture more of the low end, which makes up for the lost revenue on the high end. The trick is figuring out the price point that gets you the most revenue.

The typical way this is done is to sell at a high price initially and when sales drop start lowering the price. Or put a game on offer just before the sequal is released to drive sales for the new game.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#28

Post by shock-value » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:45 PM UTC

jiggy2011 wrote: post #19

shock-value wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A copy of a game is "inherently" less valuable if it cannot be resold by a consumer (many gamers buy games at $60 only because they know they can resell them once they are done with them). Therefore demand at a given price level would go down under a system where games are locked to a user.

Perhaps, this may be more the case for games with small amounts of content or mediocre reviews. I don't see significantly less people being willing to buy COD or whatever for $60 if they can't resell. Unless they move to PS4 at least.

You're right, but that could just mean that COD is priced too low even under the current system (where games are always $60 max not including DLC etc).

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#29

Post by mtowle » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:45 PM UTC

zinkem wrote: post #21

This comparison to steam is a bit of a false equivocation. I can run Steam on a variety of hardware configurations, which I can buy from a variety of vendors. Steam is better not because the DRM system is different, but because it's hardware agnostic. Once the XB1 lifecycle is over, I have no guarantee I will be able to play the games I bought. As far as I'm aware XB1 is not backwards compatible at all. Once my 360 d…

All non-mathematical/non-logical/etc. equivocations are false if you're enough of a dick about it. The dude is trying to make a legitimate point about disc-based vs. cloud-based storage, and there's exactly one player in that area. Give him a freakin' break.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#30

Post by jlgreco » Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 10:47 PM UTC

zinkem wrote: post #21

This comparison to steam is a bit of a false equivocation. I can run Steam on a variety of hardware configurations, which I can buy from a variety of vendors. Steam is better not because the DRM system is different, but because it's hardware agnostic. Once the XB1 lifecycle is over, I have no guarantee I will be able to play the games I bought. As far as I'm aware XB1 is not backwards compatible at all. Once my 360 d…

> Once the XB1 lifecycle is over, I have no guarantee I will be able to play the games I bought.

Sooner than that though, right? Weren't they shutting off Halo servers when new Halo games came out during the same console lifecycle?

Of course that is a problem you'll have with multiplayer on all the consoles I guess. Maybe gamers are okay with that. I would be bummed as hell if I couldn't play the occasional quake match anymore though.