Microsoft boss defends Xbox One price
Xbox One - SING!
Posted on 06/20/2013 4:32:23 AM PDT by Caipirabob
Microsoft responds to global outcry and removes daily online requirements and restrictions to pre-owned sales. Xbox president, Don Mattrick, thanks gamers for 'candid feedback'
Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of Xbox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console.
In a statement released on the Xbox website on Wednesday, Don Mattrick, the president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, wrote that the company had listened to "candid feedback" from gamers. Before listing the changes, his explanation reads, "You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
still going to go with ps4, each to their own heh.
My thinking was that this was an interesting case study in the free market. MS was demonstrably not listening to it's consumers and they were literally "storming the caste" over a box that was apparently designed by lawyers and not gamers, catering more to DRM than simply being a gaming console that was easy to use and fun to play.
The outcry over the limitations that were going to be intentionally incorporated as standard functionality lead MS to reconsider their positions.
We have several Xboxes at home and no PS3s, before I go on. This is a nice concession, however having considered the lack of backward compatibility, we are basically back to square one as far as comparing to the PS4, which was the default choice prior to this announcement.
Given my experiences with two XBricks, I'm concerned that even if Xbox was $100 less, equal to the PS4, I'd give the PS4 a shot given we can't play the current library on the new system. We'd have to buy the current gen Xbox if another one bricks. It's kind of like considering the quality implications of a Chevy versus a Toyota in that arena. There's more than a little anger still after two RRODs (Red Ring of Death - the failure code for an Xbox which they are notorious for.) We've had to replace 66% of our units to put this in perspective and we suspect it will reach 133% shortly.
We are considering a change, too.
This is a household that had no Apple products 4 years ago and now everyone in the favor has one of their gadgets. Quality, convenience and utility wins every time. Pick something and do it well. "Big Brother Box" apparently was a hard sell.
I’m not into this garbage (better things to do with my time), but it is in line with their stupid move to send Microsoft Office into the cloud. I think there will be hell to pay with that stunt too.
I’d rather do business with North Korea than with Microsoft
Well, Bill Gates was always of the same mindset.
Yes, they seem to have many things that would indicate a massive infringement on privacy.
Either way with technology we always take our chances heh.
Part of it sickens me in a way - we all say war is hell - yet we willingly choose it as entertainment....I dont get it....
F- Microsoft.
Everyone now knows what their intentions are.
That they actually planned to launch a major cutting edge product with these restrictions shows the seriousness of their intent to move towards this business model. They WILL do this just as soon as they are able. If not for Sony offering an alternative their response to their customers would have been ‘p!ss-off if you don’t like it.’
The Xbox One will NEVER enter my home. Period.
Especially when you have kids. You realize that these “games” are extensively researched and tested to specifically addict kids...and, I guess, adults.
They are so effective that when one of my kids nearly got kicked out of school for not studying, I didn’t get mad, I just told him that it wasn’t his fault, because there is simply NO WAY a normal kid can fight these things off.
Microsoft felt bold enough in their position to actually show their customers what they really think of them with the original restrictions and DRM.
To me it’s the equivalent of Obama actually coming right out in a press conference and telling all of America what he really thinks with no filter.
There is actually a congressional bill being forwarded right now that addresses this specifically, I wish I had time to post it for you. “we are watching you act” or something if you can check it out. Cheers....
Talk about arrogant overreach! Even my 16-year-old son — as devoted an Xbox slave as any on earth — said Microslop stepped in it bigtime this time.
PS4 all the way for me.
Ever since my son was born two years ago, I haven’t touched a video game. I used to play Madden and Halo a lot in my spare time, and now I seemingly don’t have all that much.
I don’t even miss it really either. The new systems are intriguing though and I may take a look at getting one in November, as we need a DVD/Blu Ray player anyways.
That said, I’ve had both Playstation and Xbox consoles and not a “fanboy” of either one. I like the hardware better on the Playstation but the Halo series and Gears of War were always fun exclusives on the Xbox.
Microsoft was wise to reverse their DRM policy but the damage has been done. At some point in time the industry will go all online and Microsoft knew this, yet the consumers aren’t ready for it (hence the outcry). Even then I’m not sure if it’s considered “progress” or not.
Having all of your games stored on the system (or possibly via cloud storage) has its advantages, but the pesky sharing restrictions would kill the used game business model that businesses like Gamestop and Gamefly have been using pretty successfully.
Not only that, but property should be property. If I buy a game, I should be able to do whatever I want to with it. Imagine kids coming over for sleepovers and instead of just bringing their games and an extra controller, they have to bring entire systems over to play a certain game. Pretty stupid, but that’s the mess that the former DRM policy would’ve created.
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