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[Riggs]

I say with some level of confidence, and without actually knowing a single thing about conversations that have taken place in the Microsoft campus at Redmond during its entire history, that Microsoft have thought about it.

I have no faith in the intelligence of corporations, hopefully you're right though. Entire thing could be a giant headache.

"Chill out, dickwad" -40g

You bonded with John Connor

Fuck my internet dropped and the achievement only works for watching 100% of the movie, including credits. Fuck this.

 

[Majanew]

Wow the next Xbox isn't sounding so hot. C'mon, May 21.

 

[Outrage247]

It's also not like Microsoft haven't had a series of disasters caused by poor planning with such services.

You pretend like Sony didn't just shut off there online for a month cause of hackers. Talk about disasters.

 

[Dabanton]

With the small collection of major publishers you can expect practically every AAA game to use the always-online option

Yep on both consoles as well.

EA
Ubisoft
Activision

Will definitely require it in one form or the other.

 

[Raide]

If there are 'special' achievements I could win one for a contest that only happens once or something. That could be cool. I don't give a fuck about hoarders so sorry guys; that'd be one good achievement aspect.

It would be gimmicky - but maybe fun for a while.

1 v 100. You Won!

 

[Nemesis_]

It's also not like Microsoft haven't had a series of disasters caused by poor planning with such services.

Are you talking about the Zune? Because yeah, that sucked - and they've subsequently retooled the entire brand to be a streaming service (ala Spotify) with some unique-ish features (well, the Zune Pass was unique for it's time).

My point was that they would be familiar with licensing and I would've thought that they would've discussed it at some point, due to their familiarity with the entire concept of music licensing with their Zune (now Xbox Music) platform.

 

[Midas]

You've gotta love how they try to spin DRM as something positive.

 

[BloodMoney]

"To complete this achievement, please watch 47 hours of dashboard advertisements!"

"To complete this achievement, please purchase a window 8 phone, and post 100 tweets about your love of Microsoft Products"

 

[cyberheater]

The next Xbox will allow publishers to decide if their games should require an internet connection to be played.

Yeah. Not buying it if it's got this bullshit.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

Achievements are not mandatory. People that like them will have their fun and go get as many as they can. Others will ignore them and all will be fine. It really is not a big deal at all. I mean really at all.

It's a problem for people that like getting 100% of achievements if developers can just add random achievements whenever they like that may be completely unrelated to the game or might be time or event specific.

 

[metsallica]

If achievements affect game design, then turning them off won't solve your problem.

If achievements don't affect game design, then the little pop-up prompt for getting one is not "the worst thing to happen to gaming in your lifetime" because you're still getting the game you would have got without them, and so it's all about your own neurosis in terms of having to deal with the prompts.

I believe they have impacted game design, and you're absolutely right that disabling them on a console level won't solve the crux of my issue. And, at least partially, it is a mental thing with me. The option to ignore the whole mechanism would help with that, and also eventually obscure the inherent game design issues. Certainly wouldn't eliminate them, but it would bring to the forefront getting to the ending as the point to move on to the next game.

 

[Mandoric]

Always-on up to the publisher... this isn't a good thing :-/ When it comes to consumer-friendly decisions, little to no publisher take the good ones... But it's where we're heading to (Sony and MS, next gen Nintendo as always ) so... let's see what ther is at the end of that path.

There've been online-only or offline-nerfed-to-shit games for years, on a variety of platforms, and it's hard to think of ten notable titles where it's actually been primarily DRM. Every once and a while a publisher pokes at the idea and pulls back a stump.

OTOH, it being like X360 region-free would be bad. "$40,000 fee to let your game be played offline" :lol

 

[Globox_82]

MS copy cats, nice way to copy "share". Lol copy cats.

 

[jbug617]

Yeah. Not buying it if it's got this bullshit.

Sony said the same thing.

 

[Steroyd]

Sources tell Polygon that the next Xbox will indeed have some form of an always-on requirement. That will be both to support the suite of non-gaming entertainment applications that will be launched alongside the console, like streaming video services, but also as a possible anti-piracy tool. Currently, the console will support digital rights management and anti-piracy checks using an internet connection. Under Microsoft's current guidelines, which may still be changed, the decision of whether a game will require an internet connection to work and if that is a one-time authentication or a constant connection, will be left up to individual publishers.

What the...?

At first I thought the first part I bolded was only talking about apps and streaming video, but then the line "also possible anti-piracy tool" throws me off.

As I've said in other threads, if it's down to the publishers I can just add them to my ignore list compared to it being implemented console wide.
Nice to know there's at least one rumour of either Sony or Microsoft getting rid of the friends list limit, such a silly idea in the first place.

 

[Riggs]

MS copy cats, nice way to copy "share". Lol copy cats.

LOL, wtf.

 

[Projectjustice]

EA must be foaming at the mouth at this! Sounds like a very very good thing for publishers overall.

 

[partyphone]

this is the best rethinking of DRM in games: http://www.gog.com/

 

[gaming_noob]

"To complete this achievement, please watch 47 hours of dashboard advertisements!"

"Achievement denied. You did not watch the ads with your friends (we can see you)"

Okay..enough from me.

 

[Hana-Bi]

Yeah. Not buying it if it's got this bullshit.

Hope you won't buy a PS4 then... Because Sony confirmed it for the PS4.

 

[TriGen]

Games from certain publishers already have activation codes for online features, this sounds like they are extending it to the whole game, I assume they will handle it the same in regards to people being aware. I mean, they probably rather the average consumer buy the games, open the box, see a code that says they need to put this in before they can play it and either begrudgingly enter the code or carelessly enter it without a thought . None are gonna put "This game uses a code, you should reconsider buying it" on the cover .

Wouldn't that be stopping used games, though. I'm getting very confused with all this. Even if a console allows offline play, if you need a code to start the game, then it doesn't matter, right? This authentication thing would seem to be the big issue.

 

[theusedversion]

From the leaks, do we know if Microsoft added dedicated hardware to the system to handle video recording or are they trying to shoehorn it in after seeing the PS4 announcement? It would affect performance if the latter.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

What's so "repulsive" about those new achievement tweaks ? The special events part, or the cross platform one ?

It will be used to extort more money from consumers. If there's a nickel to be made, they'll squeeze it out :\

 

[Starwolf_UK]

So the recording part is basically a reaction to PS4. Its going to make the walled garden of Miiverse (yes even on PCs its still a walled garden as you need a Nintendo ID to see non-hotlinked images) with merely screenshots seem like the stone age (and heck even screensohts were not really big this gen, sure some console games had a bullshot mode...).

I can see always online being like region free where IIRC it was slightly cheaper to region lock a game as you didn't need to certify it for all regions so I could see MS charging publishers for allowing consumers to play without a persistent connection. fakedit: I see I'm echoing others here...

As for achievements. The sooner people learn gamerscore is like power levels (i.e. meaningless), the better. But it sounds like a marketer or puppet masters dream (as in "heh look at the sheeple playing CoD with mountain dew bottles only") at worst.

 

[Karma]

Yeah. Not buying it if it's got this bullshit.

So what system you going to buy then?

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

MS copy cats, nice way to copy "share". Lol copy cats.

 

[Thoraxes]

Also this other part:

Want full achievements in BioShock 4? Buy The Darkness 3!

Oh man they are going for full milkage with achievement-whores.

 

[JoeFenix]

Achievements are not mandatory. People that like them will have their fun and go get as many as they can. Others will ignore them and all will be fine. It really is not a big deal at all. I mean really at all.

The people that like achievements are usually people that have a more of a 'completist' type of mentality.

This new system makes it a complete nightmare for those people. Sure you can ignore them but it's still pretty terrible to complete everything in a game and see you have 10% completion on these stupid things and worst of all most of them are now impossible to even get.

Who does this serve? Marketing people who can use that carrot to get people to check out their other games or products. That's all it is, treating passionate gamers like monkeys.

It's just another sign of Microsoft not getting it.

 

[Mik_Pad]

Sony said the same thing.

They were talking about used games not always on I think but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

MS copy cats, nice way to copy "share". Lol copy cats.

Would be nice if Nintendo also followed suit. I've had many moments in Lego City, ZombiU, etc that I've wanted to share.

 

[Projectjustice]

Yeah. Not buying it if it's got this bullshit.

Guess its Wii U for U!

 

[Raide]

"You shouted "McDonalds!'" 100 x this week."

Achievement Unlocked.

 

[SpaceHobo]

I honestly have to double check I'm not on N4G parody site when reading any MS news here.

The achievement stuff sounds great , the always online situation being up to publishers is exactly the same as the PS4.

Can't wait for the first 3rd party title that requires always online on ps4 and nextbox, possible biggest outpouring of Internet rage ever ?

It's fucking impossible to tell what posts are even genuine now.

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

"Achievement denied. You did not watch the ads with your friends (we can see you)"

Okay..enough from me.

"We're sorry, your friends are not Xbox Live™ Platinum subscribers. Please have your friends purchase Xbox Live™ Platinum subscriptions to unlock this achievement."

 

[PhatSaqs]

That video sharing stuff sounds awesome.

 

[jbug617]

Crecente posted in the Polygon comments that there is some rumors regarding Microsoft and Indies but he hasn't confirmed it yet.

 

[EightBitNate]

It will be used to extort more money from consumers. If there's a nickel to be made, they'll squeeze it out :

Achievements offer nothing other than bragging rights. If you value such a stupid thing, you deserve to be cheated.

 

[sangreal]

Yep on both consoles as well.

EA
Ubisoft
Activision

Will definitely require it in one form or the other.

Don't forget Capcom, they already do it on PSN

 

[Canis lupus]

Something we've been hearing from Sony too. Why the fuck do platform holders let publishers decide these things and not just say: you either let that shit go or don't release your game at all. Why don't Sony and MS come together and make this an industry standard.

 

[we.are.the.armada]

Ok sounds better to me but still need some definitives from MS. Can't wait!

 

[cyberheater]

Sony said the same thing.

Yes but Sony have confirmed that they will allow used games. Sounds to me like MS is leaving this up to individual publishers. If true, it's a no sale for me.

 

[abadguy]

All of it, it's a marketers wet dream.

Adding crosslink achievements and event based achievements, fucking garbage!

People actually give a shit about this when they are playing games? Honest question because it seems like such a non issue to me.

 

[Riggs]

I honestly have to double check I'm not on N4G parody site when reading any MS news here.

The achievement stuff sounds great , the always online situation being up to publishers is exactly the same as the PS4.

Can't wait for the first 3rd party title that requires always online on ps4 and nextbox, possible biggest outpouring of Internet rage ever ?

It's fucking impossible to tell what posts are even genuine now.

Enjoying having to buy a Honda to get 100% completion. Not sure if I am joking or not at this point.

 

[Dabanton]

Sony said the same thing.

Well then erm..good job Sony.

I fully support their decision to let publishers decide. It's revolutionary. But not MS they can go to hell.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

So what system you going to buy then?

Wii U and PC might be a great combo this upcoming gen.

 

[Nemesis_]

Enjoying having to buy a Honda to get 100% completion. Not sure if I am joking or not at this point.

Yes, they will make you buy a car to get an achievement.

 

[Just_myles]

Well i'm glad they are focusing on this video sharing/cross gen stuff rather than Drm. Just leave it to the devs/pubs no need to impose on everybody.

 

[Karma]

Yes but Sony have confirmed that they will allow used games. Sounds to me like MS is leaving this up to individual publishers. If true, it's a no sale for me.

Sony also said it was up to the publishers. So no PS4 for you.

 

[Unspeakable Evil]

PS4 and Nextbox are twins!

 

[shinobi602]

This is EA's dream right here.