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"Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

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Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#211

Post by bni »

redms3 wrote: post #166
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 was a dev lead at xbox when they first implemented "Games on Demand" or direct purchase and digital download of full games. My team implemented the feature on xbox.com back in 2009 I think. As I recall it, the main reason we didn't do a wholesale switch over to digital distribution was because that would have upset the retailers who sell games. We relied on these same retailers to sell our xbox consoles. We were af…

Couldnt just have been the risk of not selling hardware, selling games at retails must have been just as important? Store shelves, lots of exposure, impulse buyers, etc.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#212

Post by smutticus »

nknighthb wrote: post #183
shock-value wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't actually the reality. For example, if nothing else, it's clear that Sony does care about the poor schmuck in rural Nebraska. But more generally, why are you only talking about the United States? What you are saying might be true of the US, but plenty of places across the wider world are home to people who play video games but don't have an internet connection. Or have a spotty internet connection. Or have…

Much of the first world is better connected than the US. If you're talking about gamers with both money and poor connections, they're far more likely to be in the US than anywhere else.

South Africa and many countries in Latin America can afford to pay $400 for the console. But they certainly can't count on a >1.5mb/s reliable internet connection.

So yeah, MS screwed the pooch on this one and that will now all be Sony territory.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#213

Post by Heliosmaster »

inportb wrote: post #207
ewzimm wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no way any of this will reasonably apply if we stick to this seven year cycle. By 2020, this will all be so obsolete, nobody will care about backward compatibility. Do you care that your PS4 is backward compatible with an abacus?

Do you care that your PS4 is backward compatible with an abacus? I find it handy that different iterations of abacuses tend to be cross-compatible. There may occasionally be minor architectural variations, but it usually isn't too difficult to port your abacus drivers.

the plural is abaci :)

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#214

Post by nknighthb »

smutticus wrote: post #212
nknighthb wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of the first world is better connected than the US. If you're talking about gamers with both money and poor connections, they're far more likely to be in the US than anywhere else.

South Africa and many countries in Latin America can afford to pay $400 for the console. But they certainly can't count on a >1.5mb/s reliable internet connection. So yeah, MS screwed the pooch on this one and that will now all be Sony territory.

I'm not going to canvass all Latin American countries, but the median per-capita income for South Africa is about US$500.

Are you unwittingly basing your comment on the standards of the still-privileged White minority, comprising less than 9% of a country of just 53 million?

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#215

Post by Zakharov »

ensignavenger wrote: post #154
sirclueless wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't really work. The game is still supposed to be $60 at launch, that's when games make the most money, they really are worth that much (and more) as evidenced by the many people who pay that much for them, even on DRM-laden platforms like Steam. The point is to let the price fall faster after launch. Xbox can't exactly promise "Our games' prices will fall faster than the other guys" because the market will…

The poor schmuck in rural Nebraska with 25kb service won't be able to play the Xbox One period- MS has already proposed a min speed of 1.5mbps. And if you are in an area (like pretty much most of the US and the majority of the rest of the world) where your service goes down periodically for more than 24 hours, you will be locked out of playing any games while it is offline. Or if MS gets hacked like Sony and their ne…

Are you sure that min. speed isn't just for multiplayer? I don't see why the call-home would know or care how fast your internet is.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#218

Post by dagw »

shock-value wrote: post #160
calhoun137 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I should probably make a throw-away for this comment but whatever, as much as it hurts to admit it: I kind of like windows 8.

On a tablet or desktop? I have it on a desktop and every affordance it makes for tablets and touch interaction is annoying to me. And its desktop UI is ugly. It is fast though.

At the risk of getting way off topic. I also like Windows 8 on the desktop. Yes, it is very slightly annoying that I have to click a large desktop icon after booting up, but after that it is simply a slightly faster, slightly better version of Windows 7. I can't think of any touch interaction aspect that I even see when using it in desktop mode.

I miss it when I'm at work using Windows 7.

Re: "Microsoft engineer" on Xbox1

#220

Post by na85 »

nknighthb wrote: post #214
smutticus wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

South Africa and many countries in Latin America can afford to pay $400 for the console. But they certainly can't count on a >1.5mb/s reliable internet connection. So yeah, MS screwed the pooch on this one and that will now all be Sony territory.

I'm not going to canvass all Latin American countries, but the median per-capita income for South Africa is about US$500. Are you unwittingly basing your comment on the standards of the still-privileged White minority, comprising less than 9% of a country of just 53 million?

Racial politics aside, 5 million people is a lot of potential MS customers.
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