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"Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

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Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#111

Post by bigfrakkinghero »

nostromo wrote: post #72

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 .

I think the problem here is how important physical retailers are as partners in actually selling the console. You don't want to piss off Walmart/Best Buy/Game Stop too much or they might not stock your device.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#112

Post by jlgreco »

dragontamer wrote: post #92
jlgreco wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia has Halo 2 multiplayer on the xbox being shut down in April of 2010 (while on the PC it lived until this year). That is not the sort of lifecycle I expect from a game that I enjoy (I still play Doom on occasion, and that was released two whole decades ago. Half-Life, from 1998, is still played online as well. Halo 2 was only from 2004, was massively successful, and is dead.)

Difference: if XBoxOne servers are ever shut down, single-player XBoxOne experience will be destroyed due to stupid DRM.

Yup, and it is not like Microsoft has never threatened to shut down DRM servers before.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#113

Post by wutbrodo »

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…

My apologies if you're not particularly bothered by diction, but I believe you mean "false equivalence" rather than "false equivocation". Equivocation means "beating around the bush" or "refusing to give a straight answer".

http://mw4.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/equivocation

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#114

Post by bcRIPster »

malbs wrote: post #97

That is all well and good, anonymous MS guy can claim that the games will be cheaper in the long run, citing steam as the model that works and drives prices down. Not in Australia. In Australia we pay 89.95 / 99.95 for a AAA game released on Steam, versus the USD price of 39.95 / 49.95 / whatever. It must be the shipping of the bits over the pacific that jacks the price up right? Yes, eventually the prices drop, and…

Actually, I saw recently that the reason for the price difference is because Aussi minimum wage is around $17/hr where as in the US it's around $8, so your pricing is inflation adjusted against common wages. I still think the pricing is inflated on digital content across the board though.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#115

Post by CamperBob2 »

nrivadeneira wrote: post #96
ianlevesque wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Advertisements are not the reason they're in decline. People don't sign up for Netflix because it's ad-free, they sign-up for convenience.

People don't sign up for Netflix because it's ad-free,

Speak for yourself, please.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#116

Post by eropple »

cortesoft wrote: post #104
cbhl wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It would be 10x better to play the game at a friends house without needing to bring the discs in your backpack, which is what this enables.

And then wait 30 mins while you download the game

Longer, in most of the United States.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#117

Post by KVFinn »

georgemcbay wrote: post #73

"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…

>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.

Yup.

Prices are lower on Steam mostly competition provides downward price pressure.

If Microsoft opens up their system to self-publishing and lets devs set their own low prices, including offering steam like sales, then that would maybe produce lower costs. Used games is a red herring.

Large publishers probably don't want downward price pressure on the platform. Look at IOS where even 3 dollars is considered expensive. To them, restricting pricing and availability to keep prices high is a feature that may encourage them to go with one platform or another.

I'm not totally averse to that argument either -- I hate what the f2p model has done to game design on IOS. Right now Steam is a great middle ground and I hope they can maintain that.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#118

Post by malvim »

nostromo wrote: post #72

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 .

There's obviously that, good point. I also think we can't forget the price point.

I buy my iPhone games for $5 at most. Steam usually has a lot of promotions and discounts, so I get lots of games for under, say, 15 bucks. Physical media games are usually way above these prices.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#119

Post by mortenjorck »

nostromo wrote: post #72

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 .

  Humans are wired to see a physical item (disks, etc.) and think *mine.*
Well, yes, but you oversimplify. There is a long-established doctrine of first-sale in the US, and it's not just part of case law, it's part of the culture. The non-resaleability of Kindle books or anything else digital is still new to the popular mind, and carries with it a certain implicit devaluation.

Even though most people at least abstractly understand the non-resaleability of bits (whether due to the infinite duplicability of DRM-free media, or the practical inflexibility of DRM systems), a big reason they don't complain about iPhone apps or Steam games is likely the frequently low prices they pay.

A $60 game demands at least a bit of fungibility for most consumers. A $0.99 one doesn't, regardless of whether it came from a disc or an app store. If, as the supposed insider claims, XBO games can actually retail for half what a resale-friendly game would, then that offsets the implicit devaluation of non-resaleable media.

If Call of Duty 8 retails for $59.99 on the PS4 and $29.99 on the XBO, that suddenly makes the DRM a very appealing tradeoff. If they're both $59.99, Xbox is dead in the water.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#120

Post by onedognight »

potatolicious wrote: post #88
onedognight wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Am I a customer or a product? Do you have Cable TV? 70% of America does, knowing that they are both customer and product.

And cable providers are some of the most hated companies that people live with. Have you ever met even a single person who's a fan of their cable company? The difference here is while cable has (for now) an iron grasp on content and monopoly in their coverage areas, gaming has competition.

> Have you ever met even a single person who's a fan of their cable company?

I am. I don't buy their TV or phone service, but they provide the best internet connection in every place I have lived. They have consistently been cheaper and faster than fios, uverse and any DSL. I can run a server, they don't block ports, and my IP is effectively static.

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