

Microsoft man on always-online consoles: 'Deal with it' - taytus
http://www.destructoid.com/microsoft-man-on-always-online-console-deal-with-it--250855.phtml

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georgemcbay
I've been gaming pretty much my entire life and the Xbox has been my primary
console gaming platform since the original one. I currently own two Xbox 360s.
I haven't owned a Playstation since the PS1.

I'm 99.9% sure my next console will be PS4. This isn't because of the "always-
on" requirement or really any one particular issue in general but lots and
lots of little signals that Sony seems to be re-positioning itself to be a
platform that wants to delight gamers (see, for example, the focus they had on
The Witness and indie games in their product announcement) while Microsoft has
been increasingly positioning itself to be a media center first, games second,
ads and micro DLC upsells _everywhere_. I'm pretty sick of paying $50 a year
for their online service only to be inundated with ads constantly, being
upsold constantly, the system still having no infrastructure for dedicated
servers (thus having to play online games off of other Xbox Live user's shitty
tethered cellphone connections in some cases), etc.

I'm sure Sony won't be perfect either and I'm really hoping systems like
Ouya/Steambox/whatever really catch on in the long run, but I've been
extremely disappointed with the Xbox experience lately to the point where I'm
actively looking to jump ship in the next generation.

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r00fus
If anything, mobile gaming platforms (iOS, Android) have gotten users
expecting minimal to zero wait times for decent quality graphics on games. And
that's not even in their wheelhouse - other connected experiences like Netflix
streaming and browsing are unbelievably better on a mobile device (esp.
considering bluetooth inputs).

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freehunter
As pointed out elsewhere when this story was brought up, the two parties
involved both have said it was a practical joke between the two of them, not
meant to be any truthful information released to the public.

You can scrutinize the fact that this happened in public and you can discuss
how truthful the two parties (from different companies) involved are being
when they make this claim, but that's their side of the story. This is not
meant to be an announcement from anyone at Microsoft that this will be in the
next Xbox.

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Delenda
The problem is weather or not this does reflect his actual opinion. Was his
response that it was simply a joke? Sarcasm taken wrong? That can happen to
plenty of folks, and simply clarifying probably would have helped avoid the
shitstorm.

His initial #dealwithit comment reflects a lot of what people are seeing in
the industry today, so it's easy to believe he was serious and holds that
opinion. Brushing off serious concerns with what was apparently a joke doesn't
reflect well, either. No, it's not as though it's some kind of official
announcement or leak of information. However it reflects on an attitude the
big-league players have had, and an attitude which has been becoming more
obvious and harmful to the consumers. Whatever we do, you'll still buy it. We
don't actually care about your feedback. We'll do as we want regardless of
what effect it has on you, and your only option is to deal with it.

Do you happen to have a link on hand where he says otherwise? If he claimed
sarcasm, well, we really DO need to get around to making some kind of symbol
or font :)

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mnicole
The guy he was tweeting back and forth with said something to the effect of
"If you guys actually knew us, you'd know we're friends and we're just
joking," at the end of it.

We don't need to go back in time more than two weeks to realize the social
shitshow that can be Twitter and how it can have an impact on your employment.
Whether it was a joke all along or not, it was a stupid sentiment to troll
with when speaking as even the slightest bit of a representative for
Microsoft.

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Delenda
> we're just joking

The worst thing he could really have done at this point was hide all of his
tweets, particularly that one. If he kept something up saying it was just
friendly banter, of course I don't really believe this, etc, then he could
have not only saved him image, but also gotten more people to see him as ON
their side vs against them. A huge boon for himself and his company as a
whole.

People are people, and I can't expect a person to show absolutely zero
character and personality outside of their company branding (And I am blessed
to work for a company who thinks likewise). As a person and a figure of the
industry, his opinion on things is something to pay attention to. If he could
have just kept up that jk/lol tweet, things probably would not have turned out
so nasty.

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ihuman
I'm curious what the ratio of Xbox 360s currently always connected to the
internet to ones not always connected is. It may be possible that there is
just a vocal minority upset about this issue. If there are non-DRM benefits to
being always-on, then I would still like an option to turn it on or off.

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MatthewPhillips
There's no need to ever have your Xbox 360 always connected unless you play
online or use the video services. The 360 is the worst device I've ever owned
about nagging constant updates.

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freehunter
You've obviously never owned a PS3. The Xbox gets updated often, yeah, but
generally those updates are quick. PS3 updates and mandatory software installs
commonly stretch to the 30 minute mark and sometimes beyond, at least on my
console and Internet connection.

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MatthewPhillips
I have both and find the XBox more annoying personally. I feel like it has
more system-wide updates, but I think we're splitting hairs here, both are
bad. We're talking about a market where it's normal to go out and buy a game,
wait 10-15 minutes for the console to update, the game to update (maybe twice)
before you ever get to play the game. I would consider that to be ripe for
disruption.

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bane
I am, I'm not buying your crap. There's plenty of enjoyment to be had in
things I can spend money on that aren't your products.

Best quote in the article "I hope the entire next gen is 'always on DRM.' I
love anything AAA does to make it easier for us indies to sell our games." and
yes, that's _exactly_ who I'm giving my money to.

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res0nat0r
It was bound to go this way IMO. Just escalation in the arms race to win out
against piracy. I don't really see it going away anytime soon, unless some
foolproof anti piracy scheme magically appears (and it won't).

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ihuman
When it comes to piracy, if people want to bypass it, they will.

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shmerl
Another sick DRM scheme.

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Shorel
Yeah, and MS will have to deal with Steam.

