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Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

arstechnica.com

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Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#31

Post by nivla »

During this whole fiasco, I was trying to put myself into their shoes on what they were trying to achieve. On the outside, it looks like a great idea. The ability to share games with family. No longer you need to carry discs to your friends house. You can lend them games to strangers on the Internet without worry about losing it. You can have an organized catalog on the cloud, and never have to get up to pop the disc in. Sell the disc game to X over the internet and cut out the middle man (Gamestop). etc...

However the whole, connect 24 hours to verify the ownership of the game is a big turn off. I understand that, theoretically you could sell your game and then keep playing it on a switched off console. So if it were you, how would you go by achieving all the pros and none of the cons without enforcing DRM? Not supporting DRM but genuinely curious.

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#32

Post by shock-value »

ameen wrote: post #14

If this is true, there isn't going to be the announced "Family Share plan" or the "Disc-less" operation. Also, the fact that a few consoles might not be connected to the Internet means, MS can't really do cloud processing as it claimed (since it would lead to variable experiences of the same game). I see this as a step-backward than a step ahead. Sure there will always be a vocal minority, but rather than provide the…

It'd be a slight step ahead for anyone with a persistant, reliable connection, but a drop-off-a-cliff for anyone else (a large part of the world). And that isn't even counting the implications for used games. I don't think they were ever going to be serious about that share plan either; there'd be too many abuses.

Edit: and also, as mentioned, reliable cloud processing was never in the cards since they were only ever going to require check-in once per 24 hour period.

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#33

Post by thisisdallas »

[deleted] wrote: post #26

[deleted]

You hit the nail on the head. This is nothing more than innovation being held back by the masses. Allowing customers to share their ENTIRE game library with up to 10 people is extremely generous but all people could see was the 24 hour online check.

It's sad how even ignorance can spread so easily through a mob mentality.

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#34

Post by potatolicious »

ameen wrote: post #20
wmf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a tradeoff between discless play and used games; allowing both leads to massive piracy (in somebody's mind). It looks like MS has gone from one extreme to the other.

Used games IMHO are a menace. How many software companies give away transferable licenses? (apart from Open-source licenses) It isn't fair to the publisher/developer. I'd rather have seen a price change to facilitate more ownership rather than used games sales. EA's implementation sounded a bit practical to solve the used games market.

In the same way that used books and public libraries are a menace?

There is no intrinsic social contract that stipulate media creators should/must be paid per-consumption.

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#35

Post by bornhuetter »

[deleted] wrote: post #26

[deleted]

No, they looked at a problem and found an utterly despicable way of "solving" it. There is absolutely no technical reason why the terms had to be so anti-consumer. As long as the system has to phone home every time a game is bought or traded, that it enough to keep piracy at the same level it is now. It wasn't design by committee, it was design by greed.

EDIT: Parent has deleted. Originally read:

"This is too bad. These engineers/marketers imagined a world where you don't have to deal with the crappy experience that lost, scratched discs provide, but bent over backwards because a few loudmouths can't imagine a digital future. Sometimes even the customers don't know what they want. These engineers identified a true problem and took a pretty good stab at solving it while juggling a huge number of stakeholders, but marketing's awful communication about this vision for the future puts so much of that work to waste. This is design by the biggest committee."

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#36

Post by superuser2 »

nivla wrote: post #31

During this whole fiasco, I was trying to put myself into their shoes on what they were trying to achieve. On the outside, it looks like a great idea. The ability to share games with family. No longer you need to carry discs to your friends house. You can lend them games to strangers on the Internet without worry about losing it. You can have an organized catalog on the cloud, and never have to get up to pop the disc…

Deactivate on the first console before allowing sale?

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#37

Post by ameen »

[deleted] wrote: post #26

[deleted]

I was actually looking forward to a console that made sense in an always connected environment. No more need to deal with discs.

As a steam gamer, this would've been the console of my choice. I don't think I'll be getting any of this generations consoles yet.

There really aren't much differences between current-gen consoles and so-called next-gen consoles besides a spec bump and revamped controllers.

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#38

Post by agscala »

thisisdallas wrote: post #33
[deleted] wrote: post #26

[deleted]

You hit the nail on the head. This is nothing more than innovation being held back by the masses. Allowing customers to share their ENTIRE game library with up to 10 people is extremely generous but all people could see was the 24 hour online check. It's sad how even ignorance can spread so easily through a mob mentality.

You must admit, 24 hour online check was pretty bad. Also they said that they're removing region restriction on games, which is another thing that people (including myself) were complaining about.

Re: Microsoft reverses controversial game licensing policies

#40

Post by cheald »

ameen wrote: post #37
[deleted] wrote: post #26

[deleted]

I was actually looking forward to a console that made sense in an always connected environment. No more need to deal with discs. As a steam gamer, this would've been the console of my choice. I don't think I'll be getting any of this generations consoles yet. There really aren't much differences between current-gen consoles and so-called next-gen consoles besides a spec bump and revamped controllers.

Honestly, a PC with Steam, and XBox 360 controller, and an HDMI cable is all I really need. I've moved to doing that pretty exclusively and it works wonderfully. Bonus, I don't have to re-purchase games to play them on my laptop or in my office.
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