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COD Ghosts Xbox One offline (2 weeks before launch) not possible without Live?

Steel

Banned
I love that fact sheet. "You don't need to be online to play your Xbox One and games offline! You just need to go online with your Xbox One and games first before you can use them".

It's only for launch games probably so I don't see the big deal.
 

mechphree

Member
He paid $500, got to try the system early, got a $100 target gift card, and gets invited to the MS launch event and who knows what other goodies he'll get and still gets the system unlocked on day 1. Yeah I don't really feel sorry for him.

I don't feel sorry for him, if I was him I'd be pissed but that's not the topic at hand right now.
 

BBboy20

Member
Well from the sound of it they are unbanning him... yes it sucks it doesn't work now... but come launch he wont have an issue.

In the end people are dog piling MS even though it was all targets fault.

XBL isn't ready, so the best decision is to restrict his access but as a negative the launch patch wasn't live yet for retail so he's seeing the effect of that.

If it couldn't connect to XBL in the first place, this thread wouldn't exist as hed just be stuck waiting for the patch.
It's a stark reminder of just how apocalyptic things would have been if M$ really went ahead with their master plans. For all we know, the actual day one patch won't work for every console.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
People should read this before jumping to conclusions. This could simply be a full console ban and may have nothing to do with COD per se. Let's sit tight until we get more info.

Isn't it troubling though that they can actually ban a console from actually working?!
 

Cmagus

Member
"Offline Play Enabled" on the PS4 box is still a wee bit mysterious though.

Probably just a pre-caution considering many are use to free online play. There will be alot of people who won't know about the PS Plus online play.

Isn't it troubling though that they can actually ban a console from actually working?!
Their old policy was very troubling but if the patch isn't for the DRM reversal then it really isn't shocking.Still scary to think that this is what they could originally do.
 
how could he download the day one patch when it's not even out yet doe
Ya, it gets confusing. We were told by MS before the guy got his console that the XBox One would not function without a day one patch. The first thing the guy had to do was connect, then it downloaded a patch that matched the estimated size (500MB?). Then his XBox One booted to the UI and everything worked, including Call of Duty. Today it doesn't.


Edit: I was going to say that maybe only the final patch doesn't have a one day time out on it, but that doesn't explain all the other people playing with XBox One's now (like devs and MS employees). It's not like their consoles are going to a different server.
 

f0lken

Member
I'm gonna go with 2. He can't even access his settings, so it sounds like the ban essentially bricked the console.

Unlikely because after the ban he was still playing, it makes no sense to ban you and then giving you a grace period when you can do stuff offline. I am willing to bet that the console wasn't able to do the 24hrs check for obvious reason and then it blocked itself because that was the original plan.
 
I'm not even getting an Xbone and I can confidently say that many of you are blowing this way out of fucking proportion. They said it would need a day one update to reverse all of their prior decisions. It is not day one. There was no guarantee it would function as promised before that date.

Chill ouutttt. Shhh shhhhh.
 

Baron Aloha

A Shining Example
Would not the fact that he was able to play the game to begin with indicate that HE DID in fact download the day 1 patch or at least a version of it? I think the 24 hour thing is the likely culprit but one has to wonder why that hasn't been settled ~2 weeks from launch.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
Isn't it troubling though that they can actually ban a console from actually working?!

They didn't, though.

The firmware he had was 24 hour check in.

They ban his console from live, that stops the console from refreshing its token and as a result forces the system to do barebones operation until the check in occurs.
 
Unlikely because after the ban he was still playing, it makes no sense to ban you and then giving you a grace period when you can do stuff offline. I am willing to bet that the console wasn't able to do the 24hrs check for obvious reason and then it blocked itself because that was the original plan.

Has it been 24 hours since he played it online?
 
"Offline Play Enabled" on the PS4 box is still a wee bit mysterious though.

I certainly wouldn't use a banned account 12 days out as proof of anything though. Not without any additional corroboration.

Yeah I would love to know why that's on there myself, XD Seems a bit odd. It could be sony's marketing sillyness to try and zing MS some more after E3, but that's getting a bit old.

But yeah, i'll judge this all on the 22nd when I actually have the console! *fingers crossed*
 

hawk2025

Member
People should read this before jumping to conclusions. This could simply be a full console ban and may have nothing to do with COD per se. Let's sit tight until we get more info.



But... that's bad news, **if** the patch he downloaded is actually the final one. It means that console bans now affect offline content and games as well, unlike on the 360.

The way I see it, there are three scenarios, in order of likelihood:

1) The patch wasn't final; 24-hour DRM is still in until the next patch to come out before launch
2) The patch already includes the disabling of DRM, but console bans now lock out offline and disc content
3) Activision implemented its own DRM, despite the console itself being ready to go


Best case scenario, of course, is scenario 1 (I also think it's the most likely by far), but it still begs the question -- why is the fix of the most major, crucial shift in policy coming down to the wire, if that's the case?
 

Steel

Banned
The system goes live on November 22nd. You have to download a patch before it works. If these problems are still present then, yeah, go crazy and I'll join in. But the speculation in here is tin foil hat stuff

You've gotta get the torches and pitchforks ready to form the angry mob if shit hits the fan though!

Slightly more seriously: This thread is pretty much getting peoples thoughts in order looking at the possibilities, not quite an angry mob yet but if things go bad for MS they can go back and point to this as the first hint.
 

Kyon

Banned
This is hysterical. When this thing launches the things CBOAT was talking about will come out. Probably not this
 

CLEEK

Member
Based on the CBOAT posts about key OS function being fucked, MS would likely take it down to the wire to have the final firmware ready. I'd imagine they'd be working away right up to the last minute.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Would not the fact that he was able to play the game to begin with indicate that HE DID in fact download the day 1 patch?

Yes, this is what I can't understand when people keep mentioning this. The patch was to remove the DRM and enable offline play (which he did for a while) so why is it now not able to do what he did yesterday? If the patch removed the DRM then it should have also removed the 24 hour check in, surely. Why the hell would MS not include the 24 hour check in on the same patch that allowed him to play offline?
 
I though he said he just downloaded a file of around 500 mb after the initial startup, and I remember MS stated before that said patch was going to take around 15-20 min to download, so I really doubt it was supposed to be the real deal, IIRC didn't some insider said at some point the final patch was going to be around 1.7 gb?
 
The system goes live on November 22nd. You have to download a patch before it works. If these problems are still present then, yeah, go crazy and I'll join in. But the speculation in here is tin foil hat stuff

Honestly, the speculation here isn't nearly as outlandish as you think considering:

1) A previous COD game had an offline mode that could only be accessed if you had Live Gold. It was patched to work properly, but still...

2) The PS4 box has that "offline play enabled" logo, and the Xbone version doesn't

I think this is probably the 24 hour check in thing personally, but I wouldn't be too shocked if this ended up being an actual issue.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
But... that's bad news, **if** the patch he downloaded is actually the final one. It means that console bans now affect offline content and games as well, unlike on the 360.

The way I see it, there are three scenarios, in order of likelihood:

1) The patch wasn't final; 24-hour DRM is still in until the next patch to come out before launch
2) The patch already includes the disabling of DRM, but console bans now lock out offline and disc content
3) Activision implemented its own DRM, despite the console itself being ready to go


Best case scenario, of course, is scenario 1 (I also think it's the most likely by far), but it still begs the question -- why is the fix of the most major, crucial shift in policy coming down to the wire, if that's the case?

You are assuming the patch that he downloaded was recent. Its possibly a month old build. We dont know.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
I though he said he just downloaded a file of around 500 mb after the initial startup, and I remember MS stated before that said patch was going to take around 15-20 min to download, so I really doubt it was supposed to be the real deal, IIRC didn't some insider said at some point the final patch was going to be around 1.7 gb?

The last big patch (in dev) was around 1.4gb~

You are assuming the patch that he downloaded was recent. Its possibly a month old build. We dont know.

The fact that's it's happening is still alarming.
 
But... that's bad news, **if** the patch he downloaded is actually the final one. It means that console bans now affect offline content and games as well, unlike on the 360.

The way I see it, there are three scenarios, in order of likelihood:

1) The patch wasn't final; 24-hour DRM is still in until the next patch to come out before launch
2) The patch already includes the disabling of DRM, but console bans now lock out offline and disc content
3) Activision implemented its own DRM, despite the console itself being ready to go


Best case scenario, of course, is scenario 1 (I also think it's the most likely by far), but it still begs the question -- why is the fix of the most major, crucial shift in policy coming down to the wire, if that's the case?

Yeah this is the only reason I am slightly uneasy about this news. Seems really odd they didn't have that done by now.

Scenario 1 is the most likely by a huge margin still though.
 
Ok, I just found a picture of Call of Duty: Ghosts Xbox One packaging.

It does NOT say offline play is enabled.

whatcallzko80.jpg


This doesn't confirm anything one way or the other, of course, but there it is.

Huh. What's Raven and Neversoft doing there. What did they do in the game?
 

viveks86

Member
But... that's bad news, **if** the patch he downloaded is actually the final one. It means that console bans now affect offline content and games as well, unlike on the 360.

What if MS was always capable of bricking the console, but never exercised that capability because it would result in a consumer backlash? This could be a one off situation where they wanted to completely block any media exposure. As I said, this may have nothing to do with DRM or COD. Just a one off. Messy and unfair, but unrelated.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Based on the CBOAT posts about key OS function being fucked, MS would likely take it down to the wire to have the final firmware ready. I'd imagine they'd be working away right up to the last minute.

Doesn't really mesh with the dude actually digging through everything, snap etc. all working for him.

They are still doing finalization, but it's hardly like nothing works as stated.

What if MS was always capable of bricking the console, but never exercised that capability because it would result in a consumer backlash? This could be a one off situation where they wanted to d it to completely block any media exposure. As I said, this may have nothing to do with DRM or COD. Just a one off. Messy and unfair, but unrelated.

They've console banned 360s. I don't recall it being for anything minor though, more to stop hacked systems.
 

f0lken

Member
Has it been 24 hours since he played it online?

It was in the eqrly hours of yesterday when he was banned, so at least 24hrs had passed since then. Maybe he didn't notice before because he has doing whatever he does on sundays, got home, turned onthe Xbox and voila, no more access to it.
 
Yes, this is what I can't understand when people keep mentioning this. The patch was to remove the DRM and enable offline play (which he did for a while) so why is it now not able to do what he did yesterday? If the patch removed the DRM then it should have also removed the 24 hour check in, surely. Why the hell would MS not include the 24 hour check in on the same patch that allowed him to play offline?

He was online when he was playing before the ban. If he didn't get the day 1 patch, the DRM is likely still in place and He might have been in that 24 hour window yesterday when the game was playable.
 

synce

Member
Yeah I would love to know why that's on there myself, XD Seems a bit odd. It could be sony's marketing sillyness to try and zing MS some more after E3, but that's getting a bit old.

But yeah, i'll judge this all on the 22nd when I actually have the console! *fingers crossed*

I think it's there solely to remind people that PS4 doesn't need online, while some games like this will require it on Xbone.

Taken from Sony's official FAQ:

Does PS4 need an “always on” internet connection in order to play games?

No, PS4 does not require a persistent internet connection to play games, so users can play single-player titles offline at any time. For titles with online multiplayer functionality, an internet connection and a PlayStation Plus membership will be required to play online.

Does PS4 need to occasionally connect online?

Besides system software update 1.50 and a one-time activation for playing Blu-ray Disc and DVD movies, PS4 does not require an online connection for authentication purposes or to play disc-based games. However, PS4 features many advanced online benefits such as live PS4 gameplay streaming, entertainment services and more.
 
the thing is, how is anyone going to find this out even after launch? Most people will have already had broadband installed and already downloaded the patch. Unless someone deliberately removes the broadband for a day, no one will be any the wiser.

Of course they will. There will be those who will want to test it offline as well to see what works. There will also be those who may indeed use the system offline afterwards for personal reasons. The thing is we are getting ahead of ourselves once again.
 
Unlikely because after the ban he was still playing, it makes no sense to ban you and then giving you a grace period when you can do stuff offline. I am willing to bet that the console wasn't able to do the 24hrs check for obvious reason and then it blocked itself because that was the original plan.

Why would the original 24 hour check have locked him out of his settings then? That doesn't make sense. I don't think he says he played at any point after the ban, but I may be wrong there and will stand corrected if so.
 

Pop

Member
You could play a console banned 360 offline, so that excuse doesn't fly.

Besides, isn't it sorta silly paying $500 for a video game console that can't even play games straight out of the box.
 

Justin

Member
I think it's there solely to remind people that PS4 doesn't need online, while some games like this will require it on Xbone.

Taken from Sony's official FAQ:

More likely it is the place to identify that a game is online only.
 
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