It would be too much to expect for fanboys to not (poorly) play head games with absolutely any criticism that bestows their favorite system, I suppose, but that doesn't mean that it isn't bothersome reading such excuses. Xbox One has become a veritable punching bag over the last few weeks, but it would be a lie to say that it doesn't almost deserve it; Being the first system with console-wide DRM is a sharp sword to swallow. That analogy being that swallowing such a thing could be life threatening, or at least slice your vocal cords and change your life forever, for the worst. And swallow some have, with pitiful attempts at mitigating blame.
Before revving up the blame machine, we saw lots of talk about the Xbox One DRM being merely "rumored." That's interesting, considering that all of the rumors were based on Microsoft comments, such as their own VP. Their VP confirmed 24 hour checks and unnecessary license complications weeks ago, and yet we were told time and time again, "It's just a rumor!" And not just by fanboys; by Microsoft themselves. When the reception was unsurprisingly terrible (unsurprisingly if you have an ounce of brain; gamers hate DRM and console gamers have always loved not having to deal with it), Microsoft pulled back, shouting "Rumors! Falsehoods! We will clarify later!" Only to confirm these self-rectified "rumors" weeks later. Fanboys were happy to oblige in this fantasy and until the other day, some held off another fantasy...
That other fantasy being that the unhappy reception was the cause of people that hated Xbox to begin with. Certainly the loyal fanbases of Microsoft's consoles' competitors didn't help; Especially as Microsoft began putting a lot of time and energy into Kinect, loyalty to the Xbox brand on the interwebs fell apart. With instances such as being more or less lied to about "Fable: The Journey" being on-rails and ultimately getting a mediocre game instead of what Fable fans actually wanted...is there really need for shock that some people have found disdain for Microsoft in recent years?
Obvious bias aside, it's a joke to pretend that the reception is mostly due to that. Console gamers don't want DRM. Many gamers don't have internet available to them that they can trust to always work for Microsoft's check ins. Many gamers hate the idea that they should justify their purchase every 24 hours. Many gamers don't like the idea of any form of forced connection to a company that participates in PRISM.
PlayStation fans are the main target of blame shifting. Apologists throw around "if" situations where Ps4 has the same DRM and PS4 fans still accept it, constantly. Where were these people when a million Tweets from PlayStation fans begged Sony not to implement DRM? In what world would Playstation fans have accepted DRM? One that would take a load of self-indulging theoretical BS.
It won't end there, either. As E3 approaches, we're told that "15 exclusives" will make up for DRM. The translation being "We'll find another reason to pretend like only Xbox haters take issue with DRM; the next excuse being Halo 5's announcement!"
I suppose we will never stop dealing with the lies and blame shifting, though. If Xbox One thrives (and it will no matter what, Microsoft spending millions to be sure of that), it will likely always have DRM and there will always be fanatics of it there to pretend it's a non-issue. As Microsoft plays publisher to journalist games, it will start to be accepted and fans will build up and turn their noses to any continued criticism. All we can really do is prepare some air sickness bags...God help us.
The friendly folks over at Razer recently sent us their full size Kishi Ultra mobile gaming controller, and this thing didn't disappoint.
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "Upon finally finishing Devil May Cry 5 recently - after it spent several years on my “I’ll play that soon” list - I considered giving it a fittingly-named Late Look article. However, considering that this was indeed the final piece I was missing in the DMC puzzle, I decided to instead take this opportunity to take a look back at the entirety of this genre-defining series and rank the entries. What also made this a particularly tempting notion was that while most high-profile series have developed fairly evenly over time, with a few bumps on the road, the history of Devil May Cry has, at least in my eyes, been an absolute roller coaster, with everything from total disasters to action game gold."
3,1,4,5 to me, never played 2. 5 gameplay is amazing but level design was really disappointing to me, just a bunch of plain arenas, the story felt like a worse written rehash of the 3rd and the charater models looked weird ( specially the ladies ). Another problem with 5 was that there was not enough content for 3 charaters so I could never really familiarize with any of them
TSA go hands on with the beta for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, but how is the game transitioning to the post-stylus era?
The sheer amount of apologist wishing to sugar coat the matter or play spin doctor, is almost as shocking to me as the reveal itself.
Personally, I simply cannot see any positives in regards to the Xbone, to purchase one is the equivalent of throwing away your consumer rights, the whole idea of ownership and possessing an item of value just ceases to exist when said item can no longer be traded or sold on like we have been doing so for countless generations.
Some people are calling this "the future" no, it's just a future MS and many other Publishers desire, it's anti consumer and I refuse to be a part of it.
Awesome blog as usual (you always deliver, man). I agree. It's a huge whirlwind of spinning. Instead of focusing on the Xbox One, y'know, the SOURCE of all this b.s., some people are pointing the finger in every other direction. "Sony is gonna do it too" and "Playstation/Nintendo fanboys are the only people upset about this" and stuff like that. It's unreal.
I'm strangely at peace about the whole thing. Either the Xbox One will bomb and it will send a message to companies that we won't put up with it, or it will be a success and the market will crash. The only result of the Xbox One (and any other DRM-locked, always-online console) is a market crash, plain and simple. (IMO, of course).
I've noticed some have started lying to themselves (and others) stating the DRM will be left up to publishers. This is obviously not the case as a mandatory online check is required every 24hrs.
.......... I typed a long drawn out response, but it served no purpose so I just deleted it.
The fact of the matter is, other than the whole used game thing (fee, no fee, family members, etc) Microsoft is doing the same things that have made Google and Apple so popular. Spying on people. You guys, myself included, have allowed this. People praised the Patriot Act, but now are acting like its brand new legislature to them when it turns out the government is doing exactly what they said they were gonna do. Spy on you.
Apple has turned into one of if not the biggest tech company in the world by having a closed system with TOS contracts that are laughable, pimping out the copyright system, Spying on people.
Google has turned into the #1 cloud based company by Spying on you. Gmail, the Android operating system that everyone loves, google docs, Their app store, google voice, now google+, etc. But you people cant live without the latest and greatest phone with your widgets and bigger screen. You have to use Google Maps because Microsoft is evil and google rules!!!!! Frying pan to the fire.
At this point in time, I will not be purchasing the XBone, but people really need to stop acting like if the shoe was on the other foot, Sony or Nintendo, they would not be trying to defend their chosen console maker. They would try to find loop holes in every argument to gain the upper hand. There are those of us who see the faults in the XBone that prefer the 360 also. But we, can also see some of the good things, which are very few at this point.
Although there is no such thing as an unbiased opinion, we are all biased in some way, some of us on N4G come very close to being unbiased but we still are. I currently prefer the 360 to my ps3, but I can see the faults of both. I have owned every console since the Atari, with the exception of the Jaguar and one thing I have seen over the years is this.......
People don't need the internet to decide what they want or do not want to buy. If it does not work for consumers, it will die. There are many consoles in the console graveyard that couldn't fool the consumers. They looked good, sounded good, but died a very, very quick death. I'm always saying the internet has killed and is sucking the fun out of gaming, but it can also be used for good. Unless Microsoft does something it could be the Jaguar, Virtual Boy, Dreamcast(rip) all over again.
I wish them the best.
Let me say this: My decision, at this point, to not buy the xbox one is not based on the Kinect always on thing. I like Kinect and I know how to turn it off or put it in a corner. Its not based on the 24hr check in. My internet has only been off for an extended period of time once since I bought my house 8 years ago. Its not based on the fee or no fee for borrowing/trading games. I've learned to not trade games in anymore for the most part. Those things are an issue still IMHO. It's just that I'm not interested in consoles right now. PS4 included. My PC sucks up all my time.
Believe it or not, this is shorter than my original response.
I have always felt that people's willingness to put up with getting nickle and dimed by MS last gen would come back to haunt them. They have sent the message with their wallets that they don't care (be that message true or not).
There are also the many people out there who don't even know about PRISM... I seriously worry what the uninformed people will do... will they blindly buy the system without knowing the DRM or anything else?