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Microsoft Studios' creative director has some choice words about always-online

H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
gamma said:
Shit, keeping up with the thread has become too time consuming lol. Did anything happen in the last 15-20 pages? Last thing I read was that MS non-denial on Game Informer (?).
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Arthur Gies continued to say stupid things, was pointed to the reasoned arguments against "always online" that he claimed to want, then refused to read it because it was on GAF despite the fact that he was logged in here not two hours ago, then said more stupid things.

Major Nelson apologized for the creative director's attitude, while saying nothing about whether the actual console will be online-only, giving a standard "we haven't announced anything" response.
 
F

Fudgepuppy

Banned
With a phone, you're paying for the fucking service of calling people and accessing data, with a console you're paying for the games that you play.

This is the most retarded shit I've ever heard, it's downright offensive and repulsive. It's a big fuck you to anyone that isn't him.

I work at a tech-support, and I can tell you, making people's internet work beyond surfing Facebook is fucking harder than it should be. Now you're telling me all of those people, all of those average people who just want a plug-n-play experience, those who use 3G, those who don't have any fucking idea about what a router is or how to set up a connection at home, those very people are supposed to be bought into buying a console that only moves further away from what made consoles popular to begin with?
 
R

Raitosaito

Member
bluehat9 said:
instead of a big game reveal at the e3 press conference this year, the "one more thing" will be a video of a person pulling out their ethernet cable from the 720, opening one of the gamestop generic cases (because the game was turned in with nothing but a disc), putting the disc in, and then booting up and playing.

The crowd will go wild and MS wins E3!
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The bar is that low I guess
 
C

Corto

Member
Snuggler said:
I believe this was when Donny revealed that the everyone in the audience was being given a free Xbox 360 S. Purely out of the kindness of Microsauce's heart, of course.
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I don't think so. He just said something expecting an audience reaction and awkwardly nobody applaud him so he waited until some peeps started pity clapping so he could move on the script. The console giveaway had some instant reactions.
 
S

SonicX_Zero

Member
With the reaction of the net regarding the always online DRM, I dont think MS will actually push through with it. Perhaps an online verification when you start the game, but always online is just not realistic they have to be crazy to push through with it seeing the shitstorm we got just from a tweet.
 
mysteriousmage09

mysteriousmage09

Member
God damn this thread is moving fast!

First off, this
DecoyOctopus said:
ibwI1puhNCjqAg.gif
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Is amazing and second, Gies has cemented himself as the biggest laughing stock in games journalism.
 
W

wildfire

Banned
ekim said:
http://majornelson.com/2013/04/05/official-statement-on-what-was-said-yesterday/



English is not my first language so I could be wrong but the bolder can be read as : "no we won't do such things like a mandatory Internet connection for our next customer centric Xbox"

Or I'm just naive. :eek:
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You are being optimistic. Their comment could simply be about not denigrating their customers based on where they live. Since they apologized for his behavior I'm satisfied with the situation.
 
E

ekim

Member
jtb said:
It can be read either way, which is why it's a bit premature to be reading too much into what is a pretty clear "no comment" statement from Microsoft.
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I haven't found a viable way to interpret this as a confirmation - that's why I was asking.

wildfire said:
You are being optimistic. Their comment could simply be about not denigrating their customers based on where they live. Since they apologized for his behavior I'm satisfied with the situation.
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Well the part after the bolded one is about this, so why both statements for one meaning?
 
P

Penguins&PolarBears

Member
jaxpunk said:
You've also made the assumption that the average consumer reads neogaf, cheezburger or gamefaqs. They walk into a store and go HEY XBOX 720 THAT'S MORE THAN 360, I NEED IT.

No one had a windows phone to begin with, apples and windows comparison... (see what i did there)

Who know's anything about surface, again average consumer is stupid.

Have you ever seen apple fanboys, I would pretty much put them in the same category as xbox fans. BIGGER NUMBERS MUST BE BETTER! Here's all my money. Don't under estimate the lack of knowledge of the mom, dad or whoever walking into walmart.
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Can you please stop degrading everyone that wants Xbox or Xbox Live as an abject moron or WalMart customer.

It's nice that you guys are having your little tantrums and fits over every Xbox rumor and you believe PS4 will take you to heaven, but everyone who doesn't agree with you isn't stupid nor an insane fanboy.

Reading "neogaf, cheezburger, and gamefaqs" doesn't make you a super informed and smart consumer. If you don't want this rumored device great, but don't insult and degrade the people who do.

The things I've seen Microsoft demonstrate of what they can do with their server technology, specifically with the speed and accuracy of voice recognition makes me want them to build an always on device for my living room. That is what I want to control my TV and entertainment center. If you don't that's fair, but don't say everyone who is gonna want this is an uninformed idiot.
 
O

Opiate

Member
I want to make the distinction between a game being always online and a system being always online.

First, I think it's important to acknowledge that some mechanics and game designs can only be achieved through an always online system, MMOs being one example of that. But this is for individual games, and not for every game.

The chief problem is this: an "offline" system can have always online games, while an always online system cannot have "offline" games. An "offline" system, in other words, can do both on a per-game basis.

So even if we acknowledge that some mechanics are only possible with an always online game, that does not require an always online system.
 
N

NullPointer

Member
Sinnick said:
I disagree somewhat. Microsoft's plan from day 1 (original Xbox - not the 360) was to go after the living room with games acting as a trojan horse. Consequently, they spent billions doing whatever they can to gain a competitive advantage. This included implementing various services, rushing a console to market, redefining what it meant to be "hardcore" (hardcore did not mean graphics focused before they arrived), and bending over backwards to secure content.
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We're in complete agreement here.

My take is that they're making their casual pivot while foolishly assuming the gaming audience they garnered will stick with them. If anybody at Microsoft thought the gamer audience was a given for next gen, I hope they see the folly of that now.

They need to raise the bar on the gaming and media fronts.
 
O

Owlowiscious

Member
seady said:
If 'always on' enhances the gameplay experience (like automatic downloads, streaming new content during all gameplay etc), I am totally supporting it. My personal life is surrounded by always-on internet connection anyway - from home wifi to LTE & 4G everywhere outside.

But if it is only for Microsoft's security reason, then no for me too.
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Even though, as others said, this is missing the point, what about people without that coverage? You like your LTE/4G, but here in Hawaii Sprint doesn't have LTE up, so my iPhone5 has been a piece of useless shit for the past 5 months.
 
O

Owlowiscious

Member
To be crazy, I'll say Microsoft is unamerican because an always on console means you can't play it in the desert. When a military man is deployed for 6 months and he can't play the xbox there, that's just unpatriotic.

Microsoft is siding with the terrorists.
 
M

Mifune

Mehmber
Well, good for Microsoft for apologizing and acknowledging that the comments were inappropriate. Also bonus points for paying lip service to the consumer.

Much better than saying nothing like that response to Game Informer did.
 
I

itsgreen

Member
NullPointer said:
We're in complete agreement here.

My take is that they're making their casual pivot while foolishly assuming the gaming audience they garnered will stick with them. If anybody at Microsoft thought the gamer audience was a given for next gen, I hope they see the folly of that now.
Click to expand...

To be fair: this could all be about nothing in the end...

But if they do stuff like this, it will be interesting to see what they'll do without their base.

Right now they seem as arrogant as Sony was in 2005. Good luck with that MS.

Right now you are still in a position that matters and are able to set up products by leveraging success of other products, that might not last considering market shifts.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
ekim said:
http://majornelson.com/2013/04/05/official-statement-on-what-was-said-yesterday/

"We apologize for the inappropriate comments made by an employee on Twitter yesterday. This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views do not reflect the customer centric approach we take to our products or how we would communicate directly with our loyal consumers. We are very sorry if this offended anyone, however we have not made any announcements about our product roadmap, and have no further comment on this matter."
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English is not my first language so I could be wrong but the bolder can be read as : "no we won't do such things like a mandatory Internet connection for our next customer centric Xbox"

Or I'm just naive. :eek:
Click to expand...
"Customer centric" does not necessarily have to reflect what most people on NeoGAF (or other gaming sites) feel about "always on". "Customer centric" could be spun as "We have incorporated the always online aspects of Xbox Durango entertainment console to in best ways possible be able to provide consumers with heightened security, stability, and reliability, as well as new and improved means to purchase and use products and features through Xbox LIVE entertainment services."

It's the message seen as from the eyes of the beholder that's important in this context.
 
M

M.D

Member
Opiate said:
I want to make the distinction between a game being always online and a system being always online.

First, I think it's important to acknowledge that some mechanics and game designs can only be achieved through an always online system, MMOs being one example of that. But this is for individual games, and not for every game.

The chief problem is this: an "offline" system can have always online games, while an always online system cannot have "offline" games. An "offline" system, in other words, can do both on a per-game basis.

So even if we acknowledge that some mechanics are only possible with an always online game, that does not require an always online system.
Click to expand...

Why did you change your avatar :(
 
J

Jomjom

Banned
EmSeta said:
Almost 8000 posts? Damn.

Why don't MS take a hint from Dark Souls and offer players extra incentives in single player games only made possible by being online, instead of creating arbitrary requirements?
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Because that is directly against what MS's policy has been when it comes to requirements on their console. Unlike Sony, MS's strategy has always been to make strict requirements so that you get conformity on all games so that you don't get the kind of fragmentation on the PS3 where it's up to the developer to implement things on their own.

While the requirements certainly cause some inconveniences for both the user and even sometimes the developers, the end result is you get a console and online service that doesn't look half-baked like the PS3.
 
L

Lost Fragment

Obsessed with 4chan
FGC events would all go PS4-only without hesitation if the 720 requires an internet connection just to start up. Fighting game tournies are open tournaments that draw hundreds (or thousands in the case of Evo) entrants and tournament matches are played on dozens of consoles at a time. Having to ensure that dozens of consoles have reliable connections to hotel internet? Logistical fucking nightmare.

If both the PS4 and 720 were to have the same persistent internet requirement, the FGC would be forced to go exclusively PC across the board, and games that aren't released on the PC would be excluded.
 
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