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If online-required is true, how bad will system/game launches be?

depends on the games...we can all moan but if MS throw enough games at us we will bite I'm quite certain of that.
 
OP pretty much nailed it. The launch of games like Diablo 3 and Sim City or every Ubisoft PC release that has required a persistent internet connection will likely provide a glimpse into what consumers can expect from system launch up to probably every major release.
 
Roto13 said:
Remember when the Wii U came out and people were having problems downloading the update because of the server load?

Durango will be like that, except nobody will be able to do anything at all.
Click to expand...

I keep thinking, "Certainly they know what they are doing." But...do they?
 
That would depend on how they do it (and if they do it), if it just contacts a server every 5 or 10 minutes to ensure you're online and legit and maybe optionally download updated data if available (for news or whatever else depending on the game/OS functions, but without stopping you from playing if the download is too slow or otherwise impeded, only the previous check could do that) then it shouldn't need much bandwidth or be that hard to manage. If they do it like Ubisoft's implementation or something where even a single player game is MMO-like in that it needs constant updates from a server to even function on a basic level then yeah, that would get bad.
 
I don't have a 360 anymore, and I rarely played MP back when I did, but aren't MS' servers the most stable out of the three, and able to sustain high server load (save for thy Christmas)?
 
Unless you live in a country or city with spotty internet, good luck trying to sell that console massively.
 
If the Xbox is always on, are we to believe that Microsoft is at the same exact level as Activision and EA when it comes to maintaining servers and keeping XBL online.
 
Can you imagine, during the Microsoft e3 conference they start demonstrating why their always online approach is super awesome. Their internet connection drops out and they cant do anything for the whole conference.
 
ScRYeD said:
Can you imagine, during the Microsoft e3 conference they start demonstrating why their always online approach is super awesome. Their internet connection drops out and they cant do anything for the whole conference.
Click to expand...

Probably be all scripted/ pre recorded anyway with some bad acting/ sync.
 
RoboPlato said:
I don't think it will have an effect launch too much because a lot of diehards will buy the console anyway and a lot of general consumers flat out won't know about it, especially if they're just gettin it for their kid for Christmas or something. It'll be after launch when the consoles are set up in people's homes and things start going awry that there will be awareness raised about it and returns/angry complaints will begin.
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Sounds about right.
 
Honestly a console launch will not have anywhere near as many simultaneous connections as the Diablo 3 launch, and unlike software launches they can expect server load to increase not decrease so they aren't incentivized to under purchase server capacity. I'd still expect a train wreck though, and more each time a popular game launched.
 
I don't recall XBL servers taking a strain during the 360 launch, assuming most early adopters were also connected to Live.

I don't see how this would be different.
 
I expect some sort of promotional cheap console + 2 yrs Gold requirement. Gold is pure profit for MSFT as a junk fee, and poor folks will get conned by the cheaper console.

I suspect always online will get modified after the first major outage outrage.

The FGC will go PS4 period- anything that's offline competitive will.

I do think overall console sales will be down compared to current gen. Bad economy+ PC.
 
It'll be bad. If Blizzard had problems with their always online stuff there's no way MS will be able to do it better.

Every Christmas and popular game launch will be like diablo and sim city
 
Sheeeeeeeit! Launch day won't even be the worst of it. Just wait until Anonymous gets into Microsoft's server network. It'll be glorious...
 
Iced_Eagle said:
I don't think the launch of the Nextbox is going to be bad like people think.

MS has run XBL very well over the years. They also run tons of other services that are used by millions of people (Outlook, Office365, Skype / Messenger, Xbox Music/Video, App store, etc etc). Halo 4 also uses Azure for its services in the backend (there's videos on Channel9 talking about this, it's highly scalable depending on load), and they didn't crash when Halo launched.

They know how to create a service that scales. Nothing is perfect, you can of course point to various outages XBL has had over the years. The Xmas of 07 was the worst by far. No company has a perfect track record. Even Google / Gmail have gone out over the course of years.

For third-party games though, it might be a different story. Most companies just don't have the expertise in launching large services. We can only hope the devs do their jobs right, and take the right measures to make sure we don't have Diablo3 or Sim City-esque catastrophes on launch day. I'm actually slightly worried about Destiny's launch for example. That's going to be a lot of people form tons of different platforms hitting their servers. We'll see though.
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That's true. I forgot about Azure. Hopefully MS is prepared. They obviously have the resources to be.
 
I actually doubt launch will have any problems network wise. Microsoft will know how many Durangos they have built. The most users you could have connected on launch day would be every console you manufactured. All you have to do is plan your network to support that million users on day 1 and 2. Which should be fairly easy for a company like Microsoft. Its not a moving target like SimCity or Diablo3 when you have no idea how many users are going to be buying and playing your game day 1.
 
You guys have learned nothing from past experience. Microsoft tends to throw lots of money and be well-prepared at the introduction of a product or service and when they have the hook in then they start screwing you.


The launch will be perfect, Microsoft will only start getting stingy with the servers after they've convinced plenty of suckers to buy an always online console.
 
If Microsoft does indeed require an always-on connection for the Xbox then I can't imagine they will allow the network to go down on launch day. If not one can play their brand new $500 Xbox as soon as they get home, Microsoft will have a PR nightmare on their hands. This will be Sim City x10 and will pretty much kill any hopes Microsoft has of claiming next-gen. Though I wouldn't mind watching as I'm proving wrong, I would bet that Microsoft will be sure to spend lots of resources and money preventing this from happening. There's no way they could botch a major hardware release that badly.
 
The first time XBL is down and no one can do anything with there xbox's there is going to be a hell of a shit storm even if its just a short blackout.
 
I can only assume that Microsoft isn't going to allow the EA situation to happen. As much as I hate the idea of an always-online video game/console, MS is going to go the extra mile to avoid a disaster.
 
Afrodium said:
If Microsoft does indeed require an always-on connection for the Xbox then I can't imagine they will allow the network to go down on launch day. If not one can play their brand new $500 Xbox as soon as they get home, Microsoft will have a PR nightmare on their hands. This will be Sim City x10 and will pretty much kill any hopes Microsoft has of claiming next-gen. Though I wouldn't mind watching as I'm proving wrong, I would bet that Microsoft will be sure to spend lots of resources and money preventing this from happening. There's no way they could both a major hardware release that badly.
Click to expand...

Exactly, if it goes down day one then the console war is instantly over. PS4 will win.

However, things happen... Hackers, DDOS, let's see what happens. It'll be interesting. Hope it's successful.

Didn't work out for me on any MMO, Diablo 3, and I avoided Sim City for that reason.
 
If D3 and SC are anything to go by, it could be an amazing wreck. The digital/semi-digital nature of both made returns harder.

For hardware, at a significant pricepoint, everyone WILL get their returns.

At least, if MS really intends to go forward with this, they must be aware how critical server availability in these first few days will be to the perception of their product.
 
If Diablew 3 and Simshitty-esque occurrence were to see a repeat, then people in droves will buy and later cry.
 
What about system update times, people won't be able to play offline at those times.

I suspect the first real outrage will come from a localized internet outage due to weather, which is beyond Microsoft's control.
 
So lets assume the majority of COD buyers are playing online , and are connected to XBL.

Lets also assume there is a backlash due to always on , and the best numbers MS could look at is parity with the 60% of consoles that are currently online.

So at end of gen we have 45 million XBL connected consoles, we have COD and BF launches multiple times bigger than the Sim City / Diablo launches.....and XBL copes just fine.


Always online is problematic for a number of very good reasons , the shit being written in this thread isn't one of them , though.
 
Always online is such an incredible stupid way of fighting piracy.

In the end I would not be surprised if piracy wins again and finds some way to bypass it.
 
So a question about this alway online nonsense.

I like to play my video games on my big screen tv in my living room. Unfortunately I have no lap top, and my main house computer is in my room on the 2nd floor.

Is Microsoft (assuming the rumors are accurate) basically FORCING me to purchase a laptop in order to play their video games? How is this even fair? All I want to do is play a simple game, to free my mind like I did with the ps1 days. Why must we get into all of this bullshit that no one has asked for?
 
At this point I have pretty much decided not to get any next-gen console day 1.

I will be monitoring the clusterfuck from my PC and when all the dust has settled, make informed decisions.

But let me preemptively thank any and all GAF console beta-testers.
 
DatDude said:
So a question about this alway online nonsense.

I like to play my video games on my big screen tv in my living room. Unfortunately I have no lap top, and my main house computer is in my room on the 2nd floor.

Is Microsoft (assuming the rumors are accurate) basically FORCING me to purchase a laptop in order to play their video games? How is this even fair? All I want to do is play a simple game, to free my mind like I did with the ps1 days. Why must we get into all of this bullshit that no one has asked for?
Click to expand...

Laptop? Just get a wireless router.
 
samus4ever said:
Laptop? Just get a wireless router.
Click to expand...

I'm not a tech person, so I have no clue what this even means!

Damn, why can't I just have a console, turn it on, pop in the disk, and lay down on my couch and play a video game, without having to worry about all this wireless router shit!
 
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