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The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

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Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#21

Post by chaostheory »

mxxx wrote: post #20
chaostheory wrote: post #14

The problem is that Microsoft put a saddle on the car by offering physical discs. I really didn't see the point of it if it was always online, given that MS has their music and movie stores. Moreover it didn't really give consumers the main benefit of always on DRM: lower prices for games. This is why consumers don't care about the DRM on iOS or even Android. Another major problem is that for all the features offered…

physical discs are useful for people with always-on-but-still-painfully-slow internet, and it also was a way for MS to compromise and not piss off all the physical disc retailers, who happen to be the same people who will retail the console itself.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#22

Post by NZ_Matt »

proland wrote: post #8

This really just looks like sour grapes from Microsoft to me. There's no reason they couldn't have both... Buy a physical disk? Trade use it like you always have, but you don't get to make use of all the fancy cloud features. Buy your game online? You'll need to phone home every once in a while (24 hours was a bit harsh, maybe more like 1 week), and you can't trade it like physical media, but you get the fancy new le…

The problem with convert to cloud is that it would require every Xbox to go online in order to check with the mothership before running the game, even from a disk. Otherwise you'd be able to share the disk with offline users who could continue using the physical copy.

They had two choices:

Require an internet connection before running a game. (the 24 hour check)

or

The disk must be present at all times.

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#23

Post by gfodor »

Looking forward to the iTV or SteamBox. I live in 2013 in the U.S., and I am willing to buy a device that requires I have Internet access in my living room, and leverages that fact to let me buy and share games in an innovative way. I guess I'm a rare bird!

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#24

Post by proland »

NZ_Matt wrote: post #22
proland wrote: post #8

This really just looks like sour grapes from Microsoft to me. There's no reason they couldn't have both... Buy a physical disk? Trade use it like you always have, but you don't get to make use of all the fancy cloud features. Buy your game online? You'll need to phone home every once in a while (24 hours was a bit harsh, maybe more like 1 week), and you can't trade it like physical media, but you get the fancy new le…

The problem with convert to cloud is that it would require every Xbox to go online in order to check with the mothership before running the game, even from a disk. Otherwise you'd be able to share the disk with offline users who could continue using the physical copy. They had two choices: Require an internet connection before running a game. (the 24 hour check) or The disk must be present at all times.

So, rather than sharing with up to 10 people it's now 11 (and the 11th can never go online, because the key for the disk has been burned)?

Alternatively, sell your physical disk used and buy the digital copy off live.

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#26

Post by rtkwe »

proland wrote: post #8

This really just looks like sour grapes from Microsoft to me. There's no reason they couldn't have both... Buy a physical disk? Trade use it like you always have, but you don't get to make use of all the fancy cloud features. Buy your game online? You'll need to phone home every once in a while (24 hours was a bit harsh, maybe more like 1 week), and you can't trade it like physical media, but you get the fancy new le…

That would require some form of one disc identifier and a one time (at least) authentication to ensure that someone who had converted their discs into cloud copies hadn't passed off their disc to someone who was now playing offline with the disc.

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#27

Post by NZ_Matt »

proland wrote: post #24
NZ_Matt wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with convert to cloud is that it would require every Xbox to go online in order to check with the mothership before running the game, even from a disk. Otherwise you'd be able to share the disk with offline users who could continue using the physical copy. They had two choices: Require an internet connection before running a game. (the 24 hour check) or The disk must be present at all times.

So, rather than sharing with up to 10 people it's now 11 (and the 11th can never go online, because the key for the disk has been burned)? Alternatively, sell your physical disk used and buy the digital copy off live.

The digital sharing would've only allowed for one user to play at a time.

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#28

Post by nhangen »

I think the OP here is giving MS more credit than they are due. I don't believe they were trying to build a car, and I don't believe they had a messaging problem. I think they were trying to pull a bait and switch. Pitch a car and sell a faster horse. They got caught, and the Internet won.

You can easily get to that conclusion by gauging the HD storage shipping with each unit. Add to that the average speed of Internet in the US, and you have a poor situation for over the net gaming.

We're just not there yet.

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#29

Post by B0Z »

This is frustrating and it's a false choice. "The Internet" is otherwise known as the people who were most likely to purchase an XBox 1 before hearing about the draconian DRM policies. If the XBox 360 were a horrible product, MS would have heard very very little from "The Internet".

Who they heard from was a fan base who very much still enjoy their XBox 360s and were truly looking forward to an improved product with some sick innovations that only companies like Microsoft can deliver. They heard from this collection of people because in addition to the excellent innovations, they tacked on completely unreasonable restrictions that make the product all but completely useless if you CHOSE not to connect it to the network or have the spying eye watching your every move, and then twisted themselves into a pretzel trying to either make these sound like a feature instead of handcuffs or failing to explain that you could turn off the advanced features of the Kinect.

In response to hearing from "The Internet", instead of actually listening to what was being said and making some reasonable changes to the restrictions, they stopped dead in their tracks, turned 180 degrees, then killed many of the innovations that could have been modified while still providing consumers with an actual choice.

I'm sooooo tired of being told I'm too stupid to understand something. By my government, and by big companies who once commanded my respect.

Re: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse

#30

Post by proland »

rtkwe wrote: post #26
proland wrote: post #8

This really just looks like sour grapes from Microsoft to me. There's no reason they couldn't have both... Buy a physical disk? Trade use it like you always have, but you don't get to make use of all the fancy cloud features. Buy your game online? You'll need to phone home every once in a while (24 hours was a bit harsh, maybe more like 1 week), and you can't trade it like physical media, but you get the fancy new le…

That would require some form of one disc identifier and a one time (at least) authentication to ensure that someone who had converted their discs into cloud copies hadn't passed off their disc to someone who was now playing offline with the disc.

So charge $5 (or whatever the cut they would get from a used game resale) to convert it.
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