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[SlipperyMoose]

Are you aware of Microsofts past legal troubles regarding monopolies and oligopolies?

It is perfectly valid, especially given the tone not 2 days ago.

Mmm yeah but a lot of the same people had no issues buying an Xbox 360 and M.S. had all of those troubles prior to the 360 and original Xbox.

They showed they have no regard for their consumer base. Now that they've reversed direction after a massive amount of blowback and we're supposed to say,"Hey guys, this is a different Microsoft from the Microsoft of last week." You know, those guys that told us to just 'buy a 360' if our internet was spotty? There are legitimate reasons to wonder if Microsoft gives a fuck about our interests after the past few months. No bullshit there.

I think you could say the same for a lot of tech companies. I can see your concern about the back pedaling but if they had literally no regard for their consumer base than I don't think you would be seeing a change in the policy. I see your points but I think gamer's memory is a little fuzzy and sometimes a little selective.

Look I'm not saying that people don't have a right to feel put off or weary of jumping into a Microsoft console. What I'm saying is that a good amount of people are purposely being selective because they are essentially fanboys. There are a lot of legitimate reasons why not to purchase and Xbox One but there are plenty of bullshit and contradictory reasons stated in this thread solely just to put down the Xbox One when today Microsoft actually made a good move. Let them have their five minutes and hope that this is progress being made in the right direction and in the future a lesson will be learned.

 

[Clockwork5]

What happens to the cloud? I want my games computed in the deserts of Utah damnit!

 

[Theman2k]

Amazing, just wow. Holy shit!
Great job gaf.
If anyone had a doubt we changed a horriable fate in the industry togather.

I still going for a ps4, but good to know that xbox fans will not suffer and that consumers won.

NEXT STEP: FREE ONLINE.

 

[McKeeverFever]

I don't see why a lot of you guys shouldn't at least reconsider buying an Xbox One if you were at all every seriously consider buying one. A lot of you gave Sony a second chance on the PS3 after $599 U.S. dollars, taking away backwards compatibility, saying rumble was last gen, PlayStation Networking being down for weeks and Credit Card information being breached, Online passes for their first party games, not to mention online multiplayer you have to pay for now, etc. I own both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and will probably be getting both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I'm not saying everybody has to get both, nor are they for everybody but at least keep an open mind and stop trying to find shit to blind yourself with just because you want to dislike something. Just my two cents, I know this isn't everybody. You know there are some people with this mentality out there and a handful of them are on this board and more specifically in this thread.

And to the people that are upset about the DRM, Phoebe has your back =p
http://youtu.be/MEsYdiA7OL0?t=1m22s

I am not investing a cent into Microsoft's ecosystem. We seen a glimpse of what they wanted to do to the industry had consumers not put their foot down. Its a little too late now, bridges are burned. MS can go fuck themselves.

 

[Anth0ny]

Boom.

I guess I'll buy an Xbox One someday. Just not anytime soon.

 

[MilesWebber]

#boycottxbone just popped up on my twitter feed lol

 

[devonraynor]

gamers won today, but their brand is damaged by doing this

 

[xenoflux2113]

What happens to the cloud? I want my games computed in the deserts of Utah damnit!

No, no you don't. Nothing good goes on in the deserts here.

 

[ironcreed]

This is indeed a victory for gamers. While the ps4 will remain my only next gen console, this was the only way for ms to fight back. Dont see them moving the price tag.

Which is unfortunate. That $500 price tag is what will make me wait a couple of years. I am not going to forget that they had every intention of screwing us, either. But at least they ultimately caved, and for that, I'll eventually check one out once the price drops.

 

[AlphaDump]

Mmm yeah but a lot of the same people had no issues buying an Xbox 360 and M.S. had all of those troubles prior to the 360 and original Xbox.

HD-DVD
RROD
Pay Standardized


im just saying, it's important to pay attention.

 

[jim2011]

What happens to the cloud? I want my games computed in the deserts of Utah damnit!

It's still there


This news changes nothing about the cloud features. This deals solely with DRM.

 

[SlipperyMoose]

HD-DVD
RROD
Pay Standardized


im just saying, it's important to pay attention.

Oh yes I agree with all of that. But hasn't both Sony and Nintendo had their faults as well? I listed some in my original post and there are more that could be posted.

 

[FiveMinuteHero]

Does "no regional restrictions" mean you can purchase games online using a fake account and play them if your country is not supported by Xbox live?

 

[AlphaDump]

Oh yes I agree with all of that. But hasn't both Sony and Nintendo had their faults as well? I listed some in my original post and there are more that I could be posted.

no doubt, and I dont want to discourage anyone from buying. it's a great thing, i just hope they continue to focus on consumer goodwill. It's arguably why Nintendo is on the ropes, and why Sony was. Competition is a great thing when it is legitimate

 

[Dragon1893]

I am not investing a cent into Microsoft's ecosystem. We seen a glimpse of what they wanted to do to the industry had consumers not put there foot down. Its a little too late now, bridges are burned. MS can go fuck themselves.

This.

 

[hyp3rlink]

How can anyone trust MS? They won't hesitate to try to pull this again.

 

[Vormund]

Wow. What news to wake up to.

Still not buying it though.

 

[NingenJanai]

Still not buying it and never will. Don't trust MS implementing it again down the line when they have a big enough marketshare.

 

[ido]

Will the discs still be install only now, though?

If I have to install every game I borrow, that would really fucking suck.

 

[Picobrain]

This are great news
But what will happen to forza now? I thought they said they are uploading their AI in the cloud and some other bullshit, that means they were lying?
Either way this is awesome and I will buy Xbox one.

 

[Theman2k]

I am not investing a cent into Microsoft's ecosystem. We seen a glimpse of what they wanted to do to the industry had consumers not put there foot down. Its a little too late now, bridges are burned. MS can go fuck themselves.

This.

 

[ultron87]

How can anyone trust MS? They won't hesitate to try to pull this again.

How would they "pull it again"? You can't sell a product and then be like "oops, doesn't work without Internet" 6 months later without getting sued to the moon.

The only way I could really see this come up again this generation is if they put out a SKU with no disc drive.

 

[Gurkog]

Need a M$ eating crow .gif.

 

[sleeping_dragon]

What a joke of a company ! After just one week announcing their core vision future for their next gen console they then completely turn a 360 on that said vision. This is very confusing for the mainstream now with all the cloud computing BS that they announce at E3..

 

[Danny-Boy]

Great news but still won't buy it.

 

[Gurkog]

How would they "pull it again"? You can't sell a product and then be like "oops, doesn't work without Internet" 6 months later without getting sued to the moon.

The only way I could really see this come up again this generation is if they put out a SKU with no disc drive.

They can say, "all future games require the cloud to play. This means you have to connect to the internet or the games won't work." Quite simple really.

 

[theignoramus]

Im buying their system for Forza, but they still come off like sleazy pieces of shit. especially that clown Don Mattrick.

 

[Vormund]

How would they "pull it again"? You can't sell a product and then be like "oops, doesn't work without Internet" 6 months later without getting sued to the moon.

The only way I could really see this come up again this generation is if they put out a SKU with no disc drive.

It could be hidden in a EULA that nobody reads, or simply, any new game past a certain point will start implementing it.

 

[timetokill]

I am so damn happy about this I can fucking scream man. Gamers won. Gamers FUCKING WON.

MS fucked up so bad with this whole ordeal though. Man oh man... Sony has ALL the momentum and the cheaper price. *smacks forehead*. Sony will also be seen as the "Hero" in this story (as they damn well should be) that prevented a potential catastrophe. It's sad it took them this long o realize how badly they were shooting themselves in the foot. Just amazing.

There's no reason for Sony to be seen as the Hero in this story. They did nothing. Microsoft completely dropped the ball, and all Sony did was NOT kick the ball off the cliff. Let's not forget that they added in a paywall to their online scheme. If MS had never tried this bullshit in the first place, Sony wouldn't have been able to give them a free kick in the nuts for something they never had the capability/intent to do.

No, in this story, gamers are the heroes, who for once stood up for themselves and drew a line in the sand, and said fuck no, we won't take it. For not giving into the Gies and CliffyB's of the world who said we should just bend over and take it and thank MS for it after.

 

[EatinOlives]

They can say, "all future games require the cloud to play. This means you have to connect to the internet or the games won't work." Quite simple really.

New XBox One Experience UI Update!*

*constant internet connection required

Not that I think it's possible, but Microsoft's shamelessness knows no bounds. Shameless in implementing a horribly anti-consumer infrastructure, shameless in sticking by it so aggressively and arrogantly, shameless in backtracking on their message and "bu- bu- bu- the whole console was designed around this!" when it became clear Sony was going to beat their ass.

 

[Sleeping Badger]

I don't even, even. Damn Microsoft if you are going to go full retard just keep going!

 

[Jetman]

So why not incentivize digital purchases by enabling family sharing and whatnot for non-disc purchases?

Oh yeah, because it was only meant as lubricant for the DRM bohica.

Exactly it!

 

[x3sphere]

Funny thing is the direction MS was taking is somewhat comparable to Steam, and yet Valve is praised while MS is burned at the stake.

Don't get me wrong, I love Valve, but it makes you wonder - when gamers get even more attached to these online services this upcoming generation, will there be acceptance of an always online approach eventually? I think MS didn't want to delay the inevitable, but weren't prepared for such a blowback.

Will be interesting to see how the generation after this is handled, if there even is one and everything doesn't converge into PCs.

 

[Gadirok]

I don't know, I personally knew that they would change the policies. I honestly couldn't see them going forward with their previous policies by launch when the negative PR had already gone crazy and their primary competitor used it to their advantage.


I'm glad they fixed it. I have never bought a MS console myself, but may eventually get it sometime down the line if they muster up some 1st party exclusives (not timed) worth purchasing a console over. So far it doesn't look that way, but that may change over time.


I didn't exactly think a Playstation console was worth purchasing until the PS3, and with Phil Harrison behind the helm at Microsoft, things might just change for the better knowing that they are investing in new studios. Though it might have been easier with Sony's philosophy of establishing second party studios and eventually purchasing them as first party studios its interesting to see how this gen will turn out.

Personally though, I am still going PS4 first. When the Wii didn't satisfy or meet my gaming standards I jumped ship to Playstation and it offered me things I didn't even know I would be interested in. That philosophy seems to continue with PS4 when my new favorite franchise (infamous) finally got announced on February 20th after 2 years of anticipating Infamous 3. That and the $399 pricepoint along with the reliability of Playstation software and hardware makes me choose them for next-gen first and foremost.

However, if Sony can't deliver with games I might just jump ship again. Its whoever has the better and more diverse exclusives. But I will admit, despite only owning Playstation consoles for the past 5 years, I feel that they have given me much better value than any other consoles that I have owned have managed to disappoint me with.

 

[ironcreed]

In a way this really does make them look worse. They are essentially admitting that they were going to fuck us... but changed their mind.

 

[Aytrial]

Microsoft has already lost my trust so I'm not gonna be jumping in line for one anytime soon. With this announcement they've shown that can listen instead of ignoring us, but it doesn't mean that they won't try something like this again in the future.

 

[EatinOlives]

Funny thing is the direction MS was taking is somewhat comparable to Steam, and yet Valve is praised while MS is burned at the stake.

Don't get me wrong, I love Valve, but it makes you wonder - when gamers get even more attached to these online services this upcoming generation, will there be acceptance of an always online approach eventually? I think MS didn't want to delay the inevitable, but weren't prepared for such a blowback.

Will be interesting to see how the generation after this is handled, if there even is one and everything doesn't converge into PCs.

It's in the execution. Microsoft presented a digital-only platform with 99% disadvantages and 1% advantage. Nobody's going to buy into it.

Valve came into the picture with Steam only when they started selling games for insanely low prices. Before that point, for several years Steam was crawling about the PC space and barely anyone was even bothered to let a fart out in its direction.

 

[Kuroudu]

The damages are done, is Microsoft able to recover from it? I am curious how the future pans out for them.

 

[Haunted]

A win-win situation all around. Better for gamers, better for Microsoft, better for NeoGAF, better for developers.

Whoever did this policy reversal at Microsoft just prevented them from getting utterly destroyed by the public backlash once the generation started. There was no way they'd be recovering from this if they held the course. Good on them for seeing the cliff and stopping the train.

XB1 purchase status has now changed from "never" to "maybe someday", from a complete non-starter that I wouldn't give a second thought, actively ignoring games and announcements for, to something I might consider, and certainly will have a closer look at when more games are announced.

 

[dark_inferno]

God M$. Get your shit together. Now at least everyone is going to buy the spy console no.1. Nintendo should have fucked up like this with WiiU and they could have got better sales.

 

[Rickard]

So now I can't install all my discs and play them from the Hard Drive? Lame.

 

[Nikodemos]

In a way this really does make them look worse. They are essentially admitting that they were going to fuck us... but changed their mind.

For now. After all, they changed their mind once, they can do it again, later on.

 

[2real4tv]

Man those preorders must of been lopsided...

Very cocky of them to do this in the first place.

 

[Gokurakumaru]

Not for digital. You can't walk out of Gamestop day one with a new release redemtion code, and whatever exclusive content that retailer got. At least not yet. This change also killed the ability to resell digitally. Wasn't resell ability a basic consumer right? Where's the fight for justice now? It's just, "buy digitally, bro" and that's it. I thought people were fighting for what was right and just? So the battle's over? I guess people just wanted what was most important to them personally and not for the greater good of the consumer. Go figure.

No you can't buy a download ticket at retail, but that's not a right. Neither is getting retailer exclusive DLC. It sucks, but you're trying to muddy the "consumer rights" argument with unrelated issues here and I won't be baited into it, sorry.

Digital licence resale rights are a separate battle, and one that will be fought and won or lost in European courts if anywhere. The horse has bolted in the U.S. thanks to its politicians all being in big industry's pockets.

How does a disc you don't need to put in any less a collectible than one you do if the box is the same? It's still a disc in a box you can display on your shelf.

Typically people "collect" stuff because it has value. These discs would have had no value under the old scheme. I do not presume to speak for others, but I have games on my shelf for convenience of accessing them, not because I want to show off what I play. Others buy mint or keep sealed games for their inherent value. I've personally never heard of someone being proud of how much they blow on video gaming, even if they're fine with a display that completely excludes digital-only releases. But to each their own.

 

[nastybastard]

Do we know anything about the initial set up? Will the 21 region restriction be changed? Can I buy a US console and use it in a region not listed in the initial launch regions?

Last piece of the puzzle for me. Unless MS surprise me and launch in Japan this year I am keen to get a US launch system.

 

[ultron87]

while Sony decided to push the boundaries of play.

I'm sorry, what is this now?

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Good news for the masses.

I liked the idea of disc and digital games being treated equally and all being added to my account so I'm kinda bummed they caved but I can appreciate I was perhaps part of a vocal minority.

 

[robertsan21]

Hopefully that major nelson dude get´s fired and Mattrick to. these guys are fucking clueless.

 

[Biker19]

There's a chance Sony had similar ideas and pulled the plug right after hearing Microsoft's plan. I think people are giving Sony too much credit. It's the people's voice that
Changed Microsoft, not Sony.

Um, they never did...

Link.

 

[ironcreed]

For now. After all, they changed their mind once, they can do it again, later on.

It would be the biggest shitstorm of all time if they announced this, changed their mind due to pressure, and then did it anyway after millions bought it, lol. As bad as this has been, I don't see them doing that. They know they fucked up and knew they had to change course as fast as possible.