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"Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

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Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#121

Post by chaostheory »

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 .

Yeah they could have easily reversed their PR mishap as well.

"Hey everyone $29.99 (or less) for release day games"

No one would be complaining about always-on DRM at that price. Sadly it's very unlikely since they are selling physical discs.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#122

Post by raudabaugh »

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…

Even here in the states, the cheaper games line feels empty. So much of these decisions the result of pressure coming from the big publishers who are in trouble. Historically their idea of a sale for a console game is like 54.99 instead of 59.99. The only reason we saw steep cuts from Steam is because PC piracy was at an all-time high and is so much more accessible since you don't have to hard-mod anything.

Also, it's worrisome how little MS is supporting the indie scene while they tout digital distribution as the future. With our current Internet infrastructure, they should be going after the indies first! Right now it just makes way more sense to download a bite size game over your connection than a full AAA title.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#123

Post by interpol_p »

He doesn't really address the issue of lending games. When my wife bought me a PS3 for my birthday last year I had zero games.

My friend at work lent me a huge stack of games — he's a gamer and had a ton of games he loved but didn't play anymore.

It was a great introduction to gaming for me and it led me to purchase many of the sequels to the games I played initially. I have purchased about 10 games since, and about 7 of those were purchased purely based on games I had played from the initial stack that I borrowed.

I don't understand why they feel the need to capture this as a "revenue stream." Focusing on great games and great convenience will surely get them more money in the long term.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#124

Post by asperous »

bobsoap wrote: post #71
asperous wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"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...

That actually is kinda suspicious he picked the one piece of information that was on the Facebook page. I changed my stance and now more agree with wutbrodo that it doesn't really matter if he's an engineer or not. Just pretend he didn't say that if you don't believe him.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#125

Post by wtvanhest »

mortenjorck wrote: post #119
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 abstractl…

>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.

Exactly, if MS had been thinking this all along, they could have proved it with a low price game option announced with the DRM. That would have been really appealing to a lot of people.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#126

Post by archagon »

As I see it, DRM is much more of a problem on consoles than it is on PC. In my Steam library, I have Commander Keen right next to Bioshock Infinite. There's no "expiration date" for my games. On the other hand, consoles come in generations. They only last a decade at most, and it looks like we're not going to have backwards compatibility going forward. What's going to happen when Microsoft decides to pull support for their 10, 20, 30 year old DRM-laden consoles? Not every game is going to get an HD remake, sadly.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#127

Post by saidajigumi »

mortenjorck wrote: post #119
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 abstractl…

We'll see how the story plays out leading up to launch, but Amazon pre-orders for Destiny[1] are currently running $59 (give or take a few $) for all supported platforms (XBox One, XBox 360, PS4, PS3).

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Xbox-One/dp/B00CX9T598/

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#128

Post by orf »

hobs wrote: post #90
orf wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Which just reinforces the point that you are not the product and paying at the same time.

Despite that the US newspaper industry alone makes more revenue than the US video games industry. So you are indeed both the product and the consumer and will continue to be both far into the future.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#129

Post by polshaw »

chaostheory wrote: post #121
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 .

Yeah they could have easily reversed their PR mishap as well. "Hey everyone $29.99 (or less) for release day games" No one would be complaining about always-on DRM at that price. Sadly it's very unlikely since they are selling physical discs.

I imagine we will see $29.99 (or even less.. I would say even some as far as free if they were digitally distributed) release day games, but that the proportion of the game that will be included will be significantly reduced.. like you get the demo for free and $5 per level thereafter for example. All sorts of possibilities for pricing and making money in new ways for consoles.

I agree the use of discs seems a silly move, especially WRT new pricing models and the implications. IMO they should be optional; 50GB (?) is an infeasibly large download for a lot of places in the world today, but this is not the case everywhere nor forever. Digital distribution allows for more possibilities.

The problem with the reduced cost argument is that I really can't see cross platform developers pricing the Xbox version lower, so long as they believe it to be the equal to the PS4 version (which might not be the case, the PS4 seems it should have a little more graphics power). And as a consequence I can't see Xbox exclusives selling for less than those-- they won't want to appear inferior.

Add into that the fact that the PS4 will be cheaper too- I think who 'wins' in the upcoming generation may depend on how magic MS can make the kinect sensor-related software with media/TV control. If they can make it awesome and polished enough to make people forget about the fact they are putting an always connected '3d' camera into your home with an always-on internet connection in a device from one of the companies which has most-cooperated with the NSA (I wonder if they might justify the depth camera data as 'metadata'?), then I think MS could be on to a winner. If not, it seems advantage Sony so far.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#130

Post by asveikau »

jacobquick wrote: post #22
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.

So that's an excuse for bad writing?
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