

Microsoft Is Removing Xbox One DRM - rkudeshi
http://kotaku.com/microsoft-is-removing-xbox-one-drm-514390310?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Twitter&utm_source=Kotaku_Twitter&utm_medium=Socialflow

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timdorr
This is a pretty bold move by them. They're essentially getting rid of all the
changes to the DRM set up from the 360 (which also has DRM; this isn't a
complete removal), _including all the beneficial changes_. Of course, they
weren't that compelling to me and introduced a lot of confusion about how they
would work and exactly what limitations would be put in place.

Looks like they're still going to struggle with the Kinect privacy concerns,
but that's more of a PR battle than an actual privacy one. You can turn off
Kinect, but you couldn't turn off the Xbox DRM system.

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HelloMcFly
> Looks like they're still going to struggle with the Kinect privacy concerns

I can't help but wonder. Of all of the issues with the XB1, that one seems
like my candidate for biggest disconnect between what people say online and
what popular perception actually is. I know I don't care, nor do any of my
gamer friends, nor my brother.

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chokolad
Do you own an iPad or a laptop with a web cam and microphone?

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mercuryrising
iPads and laptops aren't sitting there, listening to everything you say,
waiting for you to say 'xbox, on!'. It listens to everything you say while
waiting for that one command (like Glass, too). It'd be easy to give someone a
hook for that audio stream, given the right motivations.

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HelloMcFly
"Always on" is a price I'm willing to pay for fully voice-controlled
functionality. If someone looks at the power usage and network activity of the
XB1/Kinect and determines there is something untoward then that will give me
pause, but at the present I'm not going to run from the technology because I
think Microsoft is trying to record all of my actions.

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nrivadeneira
I'm not all that thrilled about this. I wanted to see where Microsoft would go
with this. It would have been great if we could transition to a pricing and
distribution model similar to Steam. I saw this as a step towards weening
console players off of physical media.

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Pxtl
The difference is that Steam has to compete with other online retailers as
well as hard media. Consoles are more of a captive audience... obviously some
folks have multiple consoles, but most of the core audience will only be
buying one console at launch. So even if MS grossly undercuts the competition
in their e-shop like Steam does, game prices don't appear to be a big point of
competition in the console-vs-console war. And either way, developers doing
cross-platform releases don't let Steam do those kind of deep cuts on new
titles. If they're only reaping the benefits on older games? That could be a
hard battle to win.

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nrivadeneira
I don't believe Steam has their crazy sales with the primary focus being on
undercutting competition. Generally, the sales are for slightly older games (1
year or older). These games have likely seen a dramatic drop in sales. Even as
low as Steam reduces the price point to, I'm willing to bet the revenue bump
is huge. It's an effective way to derive profits from otherwise low volume
titles.

"Instead what we saw was our gross revenue increased by a factor of 40. Not 40
percent, but a factor of 40." [http://www.geekwire.com/2011/experiments-video-
game-economic...](http://www.geekwire.com/2011/experiments-video-game-
economics-valves-gabe-newell/)

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notjustanymike
"Thank you again for your candid feedback. Our team remains committed to
listening, taking feedback and delivering a great product for you later this
year."

Translated: "Please stop telling us to burn in the 9 circles of Hell. Our team
would also like it if you stopped threatening their families."

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Jare
I am more sad at all the potential advances that have been lost / delayed:

    
    
        These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously
        announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today,
        you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared
        or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will
        require that the disc be in the tray
    

The last thing that next-gen consoles need is to remain anchored to last-gen
practices. The road was going to be bumpy but, as many have said before, so
was Steam and now everyone loves what it's become.

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kryten
They forgot to turn off the telescreen though...

i.e. it won't boot without the Kinect plugged in.

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smegel
Good move, but I can still see the one becoming this generations Wii. Sort-of
gaming system mixed up with home entertainment and novelty controllers...going
up against the PS4 which has similar guts but is designed as a no-compromise
gaming system. The Wii did OK to begin with, but was then smashed by 360, I
suspect the PS4 will do same to One.

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Zenst
WOW, maybe the hope of DRM being redefined as Dynamic Response Marketing over
the more common Digital Rights Managment (We not only know what you did last
summer but can dictate all yoru summers), has hope.

If anything it shows a more consumer responsive Microsoft, which can't be a
bad thing.

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eof
Next all we need is for the government to do an about face for the things
people are fussing over!

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hayksaakian
> "Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console — there will be no
> regional restrictions."

this is pretty big

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Narishma
Not really. It's the norm on Sony consoles since the PS2.

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revx
Is this totally confirmed? This seems hoax-y to me right now.

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squidsoup
Yes, confirmed:
[http://news.xbox.com/2013/05/qa](http://news.xbox.com/2013/05/qa)

