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[macewank]

Hey, I don't approve of the cyberbullying that's happening to Paul right now.

I can't say I agree with it, but I don't feel bad for him, either.

If you don't want to be bitten, don't poke the bear. He poked. Now he can deal with it.

 

[Sorian]

The sad thing is that the large majority of the Xbox demographic doesn't give two hoots as long as they can play CoD, FIFA or Halo.

Exactly why I hate talking to "gamers"

 

[Iacobellis]

Oh boy oh boy!

Ps4 to get Ps2 quantity of games, confirmed.

Nextbox to get Xbox quantity of games, confirmed.

Oh Boy oh boy!

You had a good run Microsoft.

This!

 

[Zephyrus]

Start marking down all the people who think this is good, and thus when this all comes back to destroy the next Xbox launch, point and laugh at their tears. Bully them, in fact.

I think it is good because it will destroy the next Xbox launch.

Microsoft needs a good dose of humility. Far more than Sony ever needed.

Hopefully that system will crash and burn and Microsoft will make emends and launch a system made for the consumer while taking Xbox 360 best year (2007) as their base for every year in their consoles life.

 

[bakedpony]

I hope the people who says that they're not supporting this shit by not buying the console will not give in once the Halo's and the Forza's are unveiled. At least the GAFfers.

 

[stktt]

Oh boy oh boy!

Ps4 to get Ps2 quantity of games, confirmed.

Nextbox to get Xbox quantity of games, confirmed.

Oh Boy oh boy!

You had a good run Microsoft.

When was this confirmed?

 

[DaBoss]

[ANNOUNCERS VOICE] "Don't you hate that feeling of having no-one to play with?"

*black and white footage of a kid sitting in front of a TV, looking disappointed with a controller in his hand"

[ANNOUNCERS VOICE] "Well not anymore." "With our Microsoft™ patented "AlwaysON™" technology you have access to millions of gamers at the touch of a button." "Imagine the millions of interconnected gamers sharing their in-game progress and experiences with eachother online, the possibilities are endless!" "A true social experience like never seen before!"

*Colour footage of a kid having his mind blown while he's chatting away while shooting dudes*

[ANNOUNCERS VOICE] "No hacking, no cheating, it's where gamers call home!"

[ANNOUNCERS VOICE] "Only on Xbox™ Live™"

Hire me Microsoft.

They probably have something with even more spin than that.

 

[Talamius]

Lost in the "always-online" deal is just how much bandwidth that box is going to be chewing through. I'd be surprised if the average US connection was even 10 meg. I imagine it could bring a lot of household connections to their knees if it starts downloading a ton of HD video ads.

 

[LumpOfCole]

I agree, if rumors are true, which it seems things have been pretty correct so far, the "offline mode" is that you can simply have the console turned on while being offline. As far as we can gather so far, any app (games, music, etc.) will require an internet connection whether it actually needs to be online or not.

If the above is true then fuck him for trying to spin in there that there is a usuable offline mode.

Of course there will be an offline mode. How else is the user supposed to get to the Internet connection settings menu? That's the offline mode.

 

[Mileena]

Microsoft is only upset about the way this feature was communicated, because it likes to present this kind of thing has a positive, not a negative.

awww poor Microsoft

what a joke

 

[BlazingDarkness]

The article is hard to understand, he clearly states

Folks, the next Xbox is going to require an always-on Internet connection.

And then says this is a part of Microsoft's next-gen strategy of offline capable hardware that uses apps/software in a way which assumes the hardware is always online. What does that even mean?

 

[mavs]

Oh boy oh boy!

Ps4 to get Ps2 quantity of games, confirmed.

Nextbox to get Xbox quantity of games, confirmed.

Oh Boy oh boy!

You had a good run Microsoft.

I hope EA goes nextbox exclusive then.

 

[itsgreen]

If MS pulls this shit:

 

[Grinchy]

I hope the people who says that they're not supporting this shit by not buying the console will not give in once the Halo's and the Forza's are unveiled. At least the GAFfers.

I almost gave in and bought a 360 for the various Halo games, but I held myself back. I can do that next-gen too.

 

[Miles X]

Oh boy oh boy!

Ps4 to get Ps2 quantity of games, confirmed.

Nextbox to get Xbox quantity of games, confirmed.

Oh Boy oh boy!

You had a good run Microsoft.

Pipe dream, if anything devs will love this. I am wondering what Microsoft's and EA's partnership means now.

 

[HiredN00bs]

Whenever I read something like this it makes me think:

"Go fuck yourself, Microsoft"

which is a little unfair, because there's barely been any talk out of the company itself. I got so sick of people defending anti-consumer bullshit (I used to be a hardcore Nintendo fan) that I have absolutely no patience for it any longer. Bungie brought me into the Xbox fold, and I went in hard. But after a decade of XBL (for myself, my brother, and my wife), multiple Xbox consoles (I've personally bought new a total of two Xbox consoles and six Xbox 360 consoles), thousands of hours gaming, and having met many dear friends online, you would think the successor would be a slam dunk.

You would think.

My regular group of XBL friends is perfectly capable of collaborating to switch platforms, and I guarantee we aren't the only ones having these discussions. Xbox LIVE connected all of these people, and gave them the means to collectively shun Microsoft if and when they crossed the line. It's actually pretty cool.

 

[macewank]

The article is hard to understand, he clearly states

And then says this is a part of Microsoft's next-gen strategy of offline capable hardware that uses apps/software in a way which assumes the hardware is always online. What does that even mean?

the hardware doesn't care if you're online or not. the software does.

at least, that's the only thing it could possibly mean. which is still confusing

 

[soul creator]

posted in another thread, but I guess this will probably be the new post for this stuff, lol. My theory on what the "always online" rumors may mean:

another random theory I just had:

MS will essentially treat retail games like XBLA games on the current Xbox 360. Every game will have a trial version. They'll use their rumored "you can play the game even when it's only partially installed" tech to help do this. This will apply to retail discs, or digital downloads.

Like current XBLA games, the game will get authorized to both the console you first install/download the game to, *and* your Xbox Live account. At this point, if you had a retail disc, it's essentially useless now (unless they allow some kind of deauthorization or re-licensing), so you can now play straight from the hard drive, kind of like a Steamworks retail game. But all the games can still be played offline, and by any user on that same machine, because it's registered to the console hardware as well. Again, this is basically how the current Xbox 360 works.

But, if you go to a different Xbox and try to play the same game, you will have to be logged in with your Xbox Live account to play it. Otherwise, it defaults to the trial version.

They could maybe modify this a bit and let you authorize up to 3 separate machines or something (so that you essentially have a set amount of "offline-capable" consoles), or make the license transfer more frequent (so if you play on a different console, you do have to log in at least once to "move" the license to the new machine, and automatically deauthorize the older one)

Obviously, I have no special inside info, but this does seem to nicely tie in their past behavior, and the rumors for the future. Still would be annoying DRM, and does restrict used games more, but it wouldn't be quite as evil as the current rumors imply.

I'd also add that this is basically how other platforms like Steam, Zune, and iTunes Store (well, when it had DRM on music, though I guess it still applies to videos) works. It ties content in with the original licensed console hardware to allow offline play, but using content on a different machine requires an internet connection, unless the licenses are updated. This also blurs the line between "retail" and "digital download", like how Steamworks retail games work.

 

[RoboPlato]

I hope EA goes nextbox exclusive then.

As much as EA would love to do that, they're bleeding money as is. Abandoning a platform would destroy them.

 

[DesertFox]

Cross-posting from the megathread:

Hey look another article that can't distinguish "always on" and "always online." Becomes even more clear when he confusingly then suggests all the devices will have offline modes. And don't get me started on that "likely have high speed cable connections" quip, as if that suddenly makes them reliable or something.

It's a pretty shitty article that doesn't even know what he's trying to say and isn't clear in the slightest.

Folks, the next Xbox is going to require an always-on Internet connection. I don’t know the specifics of what that means, but as I explained on this week’s What The Tech podcast, which was recorded on Friday instead of the usual Tuesday because of my travel earlier in this week, this piece of information had been communicated to me, along with some other relevant tidbits, in January. It’s true.

Will Microsoft change this requirement in the wake of early outrage? Frankly I think we’re too far along in the development process of the next Xbox, codenamed Durango, to make such a change. More to the point, I think that an always-on Xbox is directly in keeping with Microsoft’s strategy for all next-generation platforms, including Windows Phone (all versions) and Windows 8/RT, which are designed to work as if you are simply connected all the time. Yes, they do work offline, of course. But the apps platform on these systems—which will be replicated on the Windows 8-based next Xbox—assumes a connection. Microsoft’s new platforms are integrated conduits for online services.

I'm with you Enzo, I don't think this guy has any clue as to what he's talking about, or what always-online means for gamers.

 

[Y2Kev]

Oh boy oh boy!

Ps4 to get Ps2 quantity of games, confirmed.

Nextbox to get Xbox quantity of games, confirmed.

Oh Boy oh boy!

You had a good run Microsoft.

Quip about the "good run" aside, there is no chance of this actually happening.

 

[Into]

I hope EA goes nextbox exclusive then.

I really wonder if the 2 will go down together on a sinking ship here, EA clearly wants this always online more than any other third party publisher out there.

This might only work to some degree in the US where the Xbox brand is strong, but the infrastructure is still not there in the entire country.

Japan wont care about the next Xbox no matter what, always online means they may as well not release it there.

And Europe will likely give the biggest middle finger in the history of mankind to such a device.

 

[Doffen]

Microsoft, go home, you're drunk.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

Lost in the "always-online" deal is just how much bandwidth that box is going to be chewing through. I'd be surprised if the average US connection was even 10 meg. I imagine it could bring a lot household connections to their knees if it starts downloading a ton of HD video ads.

Windows 8 has as bandwidth setting for metered connections, that will stop it from constantly updating the tiles with new content.

 

[Sorc3r3r]

I'm almost morbidly curious to see how Microsoft could try and spin an online only/always online Xbox into a positive...

PRing, marketing, exclusive deals.
They will no doubt.
It's not about rationality.

 

[shinobi602]

Let’s not let one ill-conceived comment ruin what’s going to be an awesome year for Xbox. And yes, it really is going to be awesome.

We'll be the judge of that.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

We'll be the judge of that.

Too late, bro. Paul has spoken.

 

[Zephyrus]

I hope EA goes nextbox exclusive then.

XD

Come on. It's EA. They go where the money is.

And I have a really hard time believing it'll be on the console that a large number of people are saying they won't purchase due to it requiring to be always on.

EA will definately support it. But I doubt that 2 years after it's launch, there'll be a big userbase for it. Unless Microsoft makes some serious changes. Like playing games without being forced to be online.

 

[DESTROYA]

It will be interesting to see how MS spins this "always on" thing but I think the damage is already done.
I was almost certain to pick one up but now not so much, it's been a blast MS but don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

 

[alr1ght]

I'm almost morbidly curious to see how Microsoft could try and spin an online only/always online Xbox into a positive...

Expect to see another giveaway to every journalist in existence, just like e3 2010 for a start.

 

[Audioboxer]

Of course there will be an offline mode. How else is the user supposed to get to the Internet connection settings menu? That's the offline mode.

I see what you did there

It would be hilarious if the offline mode only served as a purpose to get to the online mode.

 

[Hindle]

I'm wondering about MS partnership with all the publishers, not just EA.

 

[Sorian]

I hope the people who says that they're not supporting this shit by not buying the console will not give in once the Halo's and the Forza's are unveiled. At least the GAFfers.

Who the hell decides to buy a console for Halo?

 

[Hoo-doo]

Who the hell decides to buy a console for Halo?

Lots of people?

 

[Arksy]

Can someone explain to me what the difference between always-on and always-online is?

 

[FStop7]

Hey, repeatedly shouting how good something is into the tech journo echo chamber before forcing it onto the customer helped Windows 8 become a massive success, why wouldn't it work for... Oh.

 

[Derrick01]

I hope the people who says that they're not supporting this shit by not buying the console will not give in once the Halo's and the Forza's are unveiled. At least the GAFfers.

That's easy for me, I can't stand those franchises. The real test for me will be for their new IPs or if they secure a next gen GTA 5 port.

 

[i-Lo]

Who the hell decides to buy a console for Halo?

You nearly had me...

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Who the hell decides to buy a console for Halo?

This guy:

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

So what is the positive, Microsoft?

Always on means you'll always be able to load up advertisements.

 

[metareferential]

If Ms actually goes through with the always-on drm, it means all publisher are on board and happy to be Ms' bitch once again.

Besides, with rising costs, devs need two (three, with PC) platforms.

If you think PS4 will have more games, you're delusional.

 

[Harlock]

The guy runs a site about Windows, with a lot of ad banners from Microsoft. What you expect?

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Can someone explain to me what the difference between always-on and always-online is?

I think 'always on' suggests a standby/sleep state mode where everything you're doing on the console is saved so you can jump straight back into whatever you were doing without having to boot up the console.
'Always online' is just that, the console needs to be online at all times to use any software on it.

I think this article suggests both of those things.

 

[Sorian]

Lots of people?

Lots of people sound like assholes :/ Things like this make me sad.

 

[Grinchy]

Lots of people sound like assholes :/ Things like this make me sad.

It does get worse. There are people out there who buy a console for Mario games.

 

[Arksy]

If Ms actually goes through with the always-on drm, it means all publisher are on board and happy to be Ms' bitch once again.

Besides, with rising costs, devs need two (three, with PC) platforms.

If you think PS4 will have more games, you're delusional.

Publishers can be on board all they want, but if the PS4 has 5x the user base because 5x as many people can actually buy the console and use it. It will have more games.

 

[Snubbers]

Xbox sucks, PS4 will be king. Etc. Etc.

I still think Xbox is going to shoot themselves in the foot and I, personally at least, won't be there to bandage it up. They can have the rocky start to a generation that PS3 had last time.

Pretty much sums up my feelings so far (from what we know).

I'll wait and see if it's all a storm in a teacup, but if everything is as advertised thus far, I'll be definitely following Aegies advice and voting with my wallet, I don't feel any vitriol to MS, I will happily just buy what aligns with me best..

Although it's kind of potentially quite delicious that Sony seem to have made every step towards satisfying the core gamer with MS gone ten steps backwards and kicking them in the nuts.. If the rumour of always connected DRM requirements, MS are knackered big style, I can safely say that in the UK, internet outages occur a magnitude more often then power cuts.. not to mention how many times XBL has been down for days at a time..

I really am almost willing MS to release an underpowered POS with always online DRM.. I double dare them..

 

[ferr]

This E3,

720 presentation: It's always on! Can't play 360 games! DLC DLC DLC

PS4 presentation directly following 720's: Not always on, no DRM, backwards compatible with PS1, PS2, and PS3 games! Makes candy!

 

[stktt]

Lots of people sound like assholes :/ Things like this make me sad.

I hate it when people enjoy franchises I don't like

 

[Sorian]

It does get worse. There are people out there who buy a console for Mario games.

At least, there used to be a time where that was a wise decision. It was never a wise decision to buy a console just for Halo.

I hate it when people enjoy franchises I don't like

No, I just hate it when people allow shitty and not well thought out franchises to thrive.