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[frogger]

Wrong then, wrong now

 

[Susurrus]

She said 70% of adults have high speed internet in the US. So what about the other 30%? Also you can't argue that it is just people that can't afford or are not interested in gaming. There are people that live in truly rural areas even in the US that like gaming that have at best dial up. Last I checked, the latest console to have a dial up modem was the PS2.

Also, I've deployed to where I didn't have an internet connection that I could hook up a gaming console to. What would I do then? Whelp guys can't relax after a stressful day and play video games because fuck me and my no internet connection.

What about when I move and the internet isn't set up yet because they haven't come out to my house yet? I've known people go more than a month before the local company came and set them up. Hell, I knew one dude who lived in a place for 6 months that didn't have an internet connection.

Just because most gamers do have an always on internet connection doesn't mean everyone does. Don't get me wrong, I love online functionality, and where I live I have cable internet with 200MB down and no cap. Absolutely have features that are improved by online. But the part where I need an internet connection to play an offline game I already installed or bought a physical version of is where I draw the line.

 

[mckmas8808]

She said 70% of adults have high speed internet in the US. So what about the other 30%? Also you can't argue that it is just people that can't afford or are not interested in gaming. There are people that live in truly rural areas even in the US that like gaming that have at best dial up. Last I checked, the latest console to have a dial up modem was the PS2.

Also, I've deployed to where I didn't have an internet connection that I could hook up a gaming console to. What would I do then? Whelp guys can't relax after a stressful day and play video games because fuck me and my no internet connection.

What about when I move and the internet isn't set up yet because they haven't come out to my house yet? I've known people go more than a month before the local company came and set them up. Hell, I knew one dude who lived in a place for 6 months that didn't have an internet connection.

Just because most gamers do have an always on internet connection doesn't mean everyone does. Don't get me wrong, I love online functionality, and where I live I have cable internet with 200MB down and no cap. Absolutely have features that are improved by online. But the part where I need an internet connection to play an offline game I already installed or bought a physical version of is where I draw the line.

And just because he have 50 MB download broadband speeds, doesn't mean you want to have it for an "Always On Console". Sometimes the principle matters. I don't want my console calling HQ, just to make sure I didn't steal any games.

 

[Artistic]

It's inevitable, but maybe too forward thinking.

 

[iconmaster]

I guess we can ask this question every year until the answer seems like, “yes,” but it was wrong at the time.

 

[Dargor]

MS: "If always online is wrong, I don't wanna be right!"

 

[ZenTzen]

They were wrong then and they are still wrong now

I dont care that random person #15375 has internet wherever he goes, i never want my enjoyment or ability to play games being dependent of a broadband connection, especially singleplayer games or even games that have a multiplayer component, sure only multiplayer games is fine and thats only when it comes to the play part, not if its some crappy checkup to see if i have pirated stuff or the time i was offline like a bullshit timer, and that idea of putting it on everything? No thanks, and no one should be ok with this

 

[phil_t98]

Even though I was an Xbox guy (I had an OG Xbox, and 360 early last gen before it went red ring and I never replaced it) this news of "always online DRM" and them wanting to kill physical disks was what pushed me to buy a PS4 this generation. I eventually picked up an Xbox One X, but honestly only because of backwards compatibility with older games and obviously years later.

In those years where I was a PS4 player, I predominantly bought physical disks. I have almost 300 physical PS4 games now. Some of you say "but if you can't get online to update them, they're worthless" but as others have pointed out, that's not exactly the same thing. When I upgraded to the PS4 Pro, I gave my original PS4 to my son - and since most of my games were physical, he could simply pop the disk in his console and start playing without any hassles. That has provided a huge additional value to me, personally.

I bought 3 digital games on my Switch: Stardew Valley, Golf Story, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - the later of which I'm already regretting. I love the game, and I think my son would love it too, and I'd like to be able to pass it along to him when I'm finished - but I can't. I wish I would have bought the cartridge. In Microsoft's dream world where this scheme took off and was successful, I might have been able to give him my digital copy of the game which is cool, but at the cost of always online DRM I don't think it'd be a good trade.

All that is to say, I don't think Microsoft was right all along. I'm a huge fan of the X and it's backwards compatibility, but if their next console is 100% digital and always online that news alone would be enough to make me want to skip it.

You can game share digital games on xbox already

 

[Ballthyrm]

They were wrong then and they are still wrong now

I dont care that random person #15375 has internet wherever he goes, i never want my enjoyment or ability to play games being dependent of a broadband connection, especially singleplayer games or even games that have a multiplayer component, sure only multiplayer games is fine and thats only when it comes to the play part, not if its some crappy checkup to see if i have pirated stuff or the time i was offline like a bullshit timer, and that idea of putting it on everything? No thanks, and no one should be ok with this

You do that for water and electricity though. People don't ask themselves if they are going to get electricity wherever they go, they bring their phone and tablet with them without ever questioning if they are going to be able to charge them back up.

I don't see why in the future internet shouldn't be in that category, never questioned, ubiquitous, and just like electricity most things will need it to function.

 

[mckmas8808]

You do that for water and electricity though. People don't ask themselves if they are going to get electricity wherever they go, they bring their phone and tablet with them without ever questioning if they are going to be able to charge them back up.

I don't see why in the future internet shouldn't be in that category, never questioned, ubiquitous, and just like electricity most things will need it to function.

Because having energy or battery power is different than an internet connection and you have to understand the difference right? If I disconnect my PC from all network connections, many core applications will still work. I can still use Word or Excel and save locally to my hard drive without a connection.

If my cell phone is in Airplane mode, I can still use the Calculator, Stop Watch, and listen to my downloaded music and podcast. My console shouldn't turn into a paper weight just because I don't have an internet connection.

 

[Dr. Claus]

"Always Online", "Online Check-In", or whatever it is you want to call it was, has been, and will continue to be a terrible idea that does nothing but put limitations before the consumer. There have been a number of excuses people have used to suggest that these systems would be "pro-consumer", such as the idea that you can "trade/sell" your digital games, or share them with select number of friends/family. These things you were already able to do... with most physical media. Hell, this has already been shown to be doable without forcing the consumer to be always online when they do not partake in these systems. What would happen when, in 10-15 years the servers are shut down? How will we access to those games? Buy them on the next system? Spend even more money? There are a lot of people who like going back and playing older games, NES, SNES, Atari, N64. Imagine having a console where you were unable to do that because it required online to even play strictly single player games.

Not everyone has free access to daily internet. Some people travel for work, for personal reasons, or because they have no other choice. Sometimes there are emergencies, sometimes there are things that are completely out of your control like natural disasters (tornadoes, hurricanes, fires) or even simply shitty internet service providers who can be down for days at a time in certain parts of the world (and even in the US). Gaming is a way to escape, if only for a few minutes from the real world, from those problems.

I am genuinely curious how anyone can honestly believe that being forced to have online check-in's or being forced to always be online is a good idea. Even from a business standpoint, it limits your customer-base by preventing those who do not have ease of access to internet, or continued access to internet from purchasing your system. You can have these online bonuses if they choose to partake in them without forcing every last customer to do so. Hell, Microsoft has done this already when they originally said it couldn't be done. It serves no point other than as a means to control the consumer and prevent permanent ownership of the games they own.

 

[ShirAhava]

Always online is the future...XBOX Scarlett Streaming box coming soon

If you don't like it you can always buy an Atari 2600

 

[Ballthyrm]

If my cell phone is in Airplane mode, I can still use the Calculator, Stop Watch, and listen to my downloaded music and podcast. My console shouldn't turn into a paper weight just because I don't have an internet connection.

If you are streaming from a console maybe but i don't think we are going to get consoles in the future. You just get near a TV a grab a game-pad, the TV detect you want to play and connect you to the nearest game stream service, in 2 sec you are in game, no loading, no Blu ray to put in the console, Instant Play.

You never have to update anything, can start any game from a giant list your service offer. You can watch a guy on twitch and instantly join their game at the press of a button.

We could have a service like that today, there is just customer expectation in the way. We have all the technology pieces to make that work today.

You phone without electricity is a paper weight. You pay or someone pays to charge it every-so often. Internet should be a utility, like electricity it should not drop out unless something wrong is happening(like a storm or something).

We are already using a ton of service that are always online, Amazon is always online, Google is always online, Facebook is always online, Twitter is always online, i can go on. Yeah you can still use the bare minimum when the internet shut off but that's not really the point isn't it ?

 

[mckmas8808]

If you are streaming from a console maybe but i don't think we are going to get consoles in the future. You just get near a TV a grab a game-pad, the TV detect you want to play and connect you to the nearest game stream service, in 2 sec you are in game, no loading, no Blu ray to put in the console, Instant Play.

You never have to update anything, can start any game from a giant list your service offer. You can watch a guy on twitch and instantly join their game at the press of a button.

We could have a service like that today, there is just customer expectation in the way. We have all the technology pieces to make that work today.

You phone without electricity is a paper weight. You pay or someone pays to charge it every-so often. Internet should be a utility, like electricity it should not drop out unless something wrong is happening(like a storm or something).

We are already using a ton of service that are always online, Amazon is always online, Google is always online, Facebook is always online, Twitter is always online, i can go on. Yeah you can still use the bare minimum when the internet shut off but that's not really the point isn't it ?

The day Consoles stop being made, is the day I'm quitting gaming. But I do think that's a point of hardware. If hardware doesn't work without an internet connection, I don't buy it. It's why I never got the Google ChromeBook.

 

[Dr. Claus]

The day Consoles stop being made, is the day I'm quitting gaming. But I do think that's a point of hardware. If hardware doesn't work without an internet connection, I don't buy it. It's why I never got the Google ChromeBook.

This. So much this.

I like owning my media. I like being able to grow a collection, show it off, and lend it/sell it/trade it if need be. The day gaming moves to some digital only "subscription-based" system without dedicated hardware, relying entirely on streaming is the day I am long gone. That isn't what I, nor many others want.

 

[EventHorizon]

There is some extremely faulty logic in that video...

Look at it this way. In 2013 70% of adults in the US had broadband connections in their house. In 2018 today that number is still 70%. The world was ready for an always online system in 2013, but Microsoft had to convince people this was true.

The console market is larger than the US. It's also odd that instantly excluding 30% of your potential market for no good reason is portrayed as a sound business decision.

Another point that is ignored is that just because you have broadband, it doesn't mean you are ok with an always online console. There are larger issues of game ownership, and the ability of a platform holder to prevent you from playing games you have already paid for. There is the also the issue that just because most of the time you have a fast internet connection, that doesn't mean you'll have one all of the time. Ironically enough, I lost my internet for the past two days and was glad that all my non-online games still worked perfectly.

Finally, it's become evident that Sony's big ace in the hole has been their library of high quality AAA single player games. So while it's true that multiplayer online games have become big sellers, it's been the single player exclusives that have been the deciding factor in the second half of this generation.

The argument in this video repeats that same fundamental flaw that Microsoft made with the rollout of the XB1. A video game console must satisfy all of the gamer's requirements, not only the ones they spend most of their time on. Microsoft keeps failing with the Xbox because they keep trying to optimize it around only a subset of popular gamer demands. On paper that sounds right, but missing smaller key elements is like focusing on building the most powerful sports car engine, but putting it in a car without a brake pedal. It'll be flashy, but not something anyone would want to drive.

 

[Iced Arcade]

at some point you are gonna have to accept that living in a place with spotty internet is NOT the norm and that companies don't need to cater to the 10% or whatever that fall under that.
the majority of gamers live in cities where they have access to "always-on" internet.

I wouldnt say spotty internet... it's called winter and a large chunk of the world gets it lol

 

[HaveButOneLife]

That's the road we are all on. Physical media is going to die, it's inevitable.

It doesn't have to be, especially with that mentality.