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"Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

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Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#71

Post by bobsoap »

asperous wrote: post #64
UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #36

I am a Microsoft Engineer so take what I am about to say as gospel: There's no way to know when someone claims to be something on the internet that they are that thing unless the company itself corroborates it. The pastebin was posted on 4chan... 4chan... And all of the information in it could have been gleaned from publicly available sources. We should at best discuss it like it is rumour, and much more realisticall…

>"It's not worth my time to prove it, or risk my Job. I work in Studio A, 40th ave in Redmond, Wa. The thai place in the studio cafeteria has double punch wednesdays. Go ahead and call them and verify if you want."

Clearly, only a true Microsoft employee would know such a well-kept secret. This proves everything.

Oh wait. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Streets-of-Asia/1595621342030...

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#72

Post by nostromo »

The real misstep here is that Microsoft is still selling physical media.

Nobody (well, almost nobody) gets mad when they can't resell their iPhone games or mp3s or Kindle books; compare that to the outpouring of anger when a company puts limitations on used optical media games or CDs or books.

Humans are wired to see a physical item (disks, etc.) and think mine.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#73

Post by georgemcbay »

"Think about it, on steam you get a game for the true cost of the game, 5$-30$. On a console you have to pay for that PLUS any additional licenses for when you sell / trade / borrow / etc."

That's a neat theory, but if you listen to virtually any publisher or developer talk about used games and game pricing it is abundantly clear that they view $60 as the game price (and as far as they are concerned, you're getting a huge bargain), and used sales beyond that as virtually akin to theft. They absolutely do not view it from the angle of the game being worth $30 and the rest being money they're forced to charge to make up the losses.

On the PC with Steam the publishers are willing to drop the price to compete with piracy, but assuming the Xbox One is not cracked to the point of a Dreamcast, I can't imagine them ever allowing Steam-like prices.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#74

Post by ianlevesque »

orf wrote: post #68
MiguelHudnandez wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> If I pay money, I don't want to be sold Ever watched TV? Ever been to the cinema? Ever read a newspaper or a magazine? Get real.

All four examples you gave are in decline. His viewpoint is shared by a growing segment of the population.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#75

Post by shuzchen »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #31
pfraze wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but they still understood the consumers- better, perhaps, than the consumers did. MS is arguably misunderstanding them, in this case.

I don't get that conclusion. Steam does it and they're applauded, even by many who "hate" DRM. Microsoft does it (and maybe doesn't detail the entire vision/value well) and gets shit on. Much like a lot of things that MS does.

While I don't love that Steam has DRM, I don't hate their version of it either. What MS says they'll do (and what they'll probably end up doing) is nowhere close to what Valve has done. Valve has a history of listening to its customers about legitimate pain points with their DRM. Case in point: military personnel stationed abroad don't have the internet connection available to phone home every time they want to play a game, so Valve introduces an offline mode - authorize once before you deploy and freely play on that machine without an internet connection. Combine that with the fact that their DRM servers are pretty rock solid (I'm sure people have had problems with it but I've never encountered them in the years I've used steam) and the Gabe promise to unlock DRM if anything happens to Steam, and you get a lot of people comfortable trusting their game library to Steam.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#76

Post by tracker1 »

r00fus wrote: post #37
mtkd wrote: post #25

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 sh…

The problem isn't that it's boomers heading these companies. It's that they're 1%'s who have either lost or never had the pressures that their customers are feeling. Maybe Microsoft thought Sony would just follow their lead since there wasn't a DRM scheme that Sony didn't like or try (before).

True enough.. I haven't bought a Sony product since the CD rootkit fiasco... I may just get a PS4... though, kind of perterbed at the removal of "other os" option from PS3.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#77

Post by lyndonh »

bphogan wrote: post #35
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…

The problem is that they still charge $59.99 for Games On Demand. When Black Ops 2 came out digitally, that's what it cost. Same with lots of the Games On Demand - many are $10-$15 more than I can get the disc for new. Not used, NEW. In the shrink wrap. So you'll pardon me if I think this is full of crap. I want to see low priced games like on Steam. But until I see it from MS, I'll probably switch to full-time PC ga…

We have to believe that "all this time they wanted to charge less but their hands were tied". Sure. This has happened loads of times in history, where prices were high but kind hearted vendors dropped their prices whenever possible...

By the way; anyone working for one of those companies hit by the recession that has asked their staff to take a pay cut, "but we'll restore your salary when the good times return" ? Yeah, right.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#78

Post by orf »

ianlevesque wrote: post #74
orf wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I pay money, I don't want to be sold Ever watched TV? Ever been to the cinema? Ever read a newspaper or a magazine? Get real.

All four examples you gave are in decline. His viewpoint is shared by a growing segment of the population.

They are only declining because products that you don't pay for, where you are the product are booming.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#79

Post by alekseyk »

Speaking as a PC gamer.. Steam who everybody 'loves' does not allow you to transfer games.

You can't even transfer games from one account to another account that YOU owe. It's not allowed.

Just some perspective into this. And I don't agree there should be ANY limitations for hard media.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#80

Post by jfb »

It's certainly possible to have an interesting conversation about the changes to the way markets will work when the cost of reproduction falls to zero; it's ridiculous to think, however, that the place to start this conversation is at the introduction of a new gaming console.
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