So, I bet you all heard the news right? Microsoft have announced that they've reversed their anti-consumerist tactics with the Xbox One. You can now play offline without a 24 hour check in (after an initial one at the system setup), you can play disc based games without installing them on the harddrive, and you can buy/sell and trade in games new or used. Great news for gamers right? Of course it is. Though, there is a real possibility that the 10 person game sharing is dead now. It is for downloadable titles, but disc based games still need clarification.
Why did Microsoft do this? They claim that it's because of feedback from the community. Sorry Microsoft, but I call shenanigans on that one.
This is a company that didn't give a damn about the community during the development of the console, at the reveal of the console, and before, during, and after E3. This is the company whose executives said things like "If you can't connect, stick with the 360," and "We need to educate consumers about the DRM system's benefits," and "We're not going to change the DRM" and Major Nelson even getting after Angry Joe saying changing the DRM isn't so simple. Why all of a sudden does the community matter when the community has been shouting their anger from the rooftops for weeks over these issues with no success until now?
The answer is simple. The community isn't why Microsoft changed their mind at all. The reason Microsoft changed their mind is likely 3-fold.
I think the first reason is due to what Don Mattrick said about military personel or anyone without an adequate connection sticking with the Xbox 360. The core gamers were going to b*tch regardless, but when Microsoft essentially said "we don't care about the service men and women, they opened themselves to a whole new level of hate from a different crowd of people. I mean, these are who risk their lives so that companies like Microsoft can get fat, bloated, and as arrogant as they are in a capitalist world. They chose the 360 as their favourite console and likely would have expected that same support from the X1 only to be met with "Tough sh*t soldier, #dealwithit." Yeah, that's not really going to go over so well.
I think the next reason has to do with the rumour that Gamestop cancelled all further pre-orders and stopped ordering any X1 units recently. Gamestop had also previously been handing out pamphlets detailing the restrictions present in the X1 to all of their customers, especially the ill-informed, so that everyone knew what they'd be getting into with an X1. Gamestop, as one of (if not the) largest video game distribution retailers in the world, would have been the hardest hit with the X1's DRM against used games. After all, these measures against used games were created specifically to target stores like Gamestop. When Microsoft targeted Gamestop's primary source of income, Gamestop fought back, and you don't want to lose one of your largest distribution partners if you want to succeed.
And the final reason I think is thanks to the Jimmy Fallon show. If you haven't already seen the segments, I'll link the videos after I've made this point. Jimmy Fallon recently had 2 segments as part of that show's Gaming Week. One segment was dedicated to the X1 and its multimedia features (and Killer Instinct), while one segment was dedicated to the PS4 and Knack. During the PS4 segment, Jimmy brought up that the PS4 was the only console that supported used games (obviously he's not a fan of the WiiU) which caused his studio audience to applaud. What does that have to do with anything? Well it proves that even the casual audience, the mainstream tv watchers that don't look into these issues, have heard about what's going on with the X1 and prefer Sony's methods over Microsoft's. You wouldn't consider typical fans of the Jimmy Fallon show to be hardcore gamers as well. I know that's a gross generalization, but it's also hard to completely dismiss.
So when Microsoft saw that the casual audience didn't like their policies either, that must have been the final trigger for them to do something about it, considering that the casual audience is their primary demographic with the X1.
Xbox One Segment: http://www.youtube.com/watc...
PS4 Segment: http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Basically, what all this means, is that Microsoft saw every other audience complaining just as much as the core audience and recognized the sinking ship they produced.
This is a victory for gamers to be sure, but it should be recognized that Microsoft had every intention of going through with these practices, and that this too is still subject to change at their whim. It's also important to note that Kinect is still mandatory and the X1 is still $500, so no one should rest on their laurels just yet.
In any event, the gaming industry today learned a lesson. No matter how many hypocrites exist among the core audience who will complain about yearly releases and terrible sequels, yet buy these games anyway, gamers are capable of incredible solidarity when they feel threatened and you'd be hard pressed to find a more expressive group. Remember that the next time you try to tell us what we like and what is our future instead of just asking us what we think is cool and what we'd agree with being the future.
We were expecting problems with mod support, but there are a lot of other issues.
This is why you get the GOG version on gog you can select the version of the game to download.
On pc fallout 4 fallout new vegas and skyrim are all broken on steam because they all got the same "next gen" update.
Skyrim dec 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/sky...
Can not find new vegas but anyone that modded it knows the script extender there was also broken
Not accidental, they want modders to stop modding their older games to force them to mod Shitfield.
There doing the same on starfield with a mods store and blocking mods
There goal is like blizzard and what they did with fallout 76 you make mods they can sell and you become a slave.
On skyrim they have "trusted" mod devs now basically a badge that lets your mod on the store you get a crumb of the sale when someone buys it.
lol to the disagrees, the last Skyrim update broke mods too. They've been trying to kill mods to monetize them in creation club for years, it's not a stretch that they purposely put out patches just to break free mods.
The disagrees are from people who have common sense. They aren't trying to kill mods. Most mods for any game will break with a new update because they rely on files/code that have been changed. This isn't new. Even with Bethesda this would happen way before the creation club. Mod support is literally one of the things that got Bethesda to where they are, and they're one of the only devs that releases comprehensive mod tools for each of their games.
Over 14 GBs and doesn't change much at all? What? Taking up that much drive space for a pathetic 'remastering' is shameful.
Par for Bethesda.
LOL people are actually expecting massive improvements or something? From Bethesda?? the same people who released Skyrim multiple times and the all look like shit? THAT Bethesda? are people for real?
The ps5 version doesn't change a ton but from my small playtime it's enough to make me want to replay it just to have it running at 60.
A side note to this my PS4 version no longer boots after it's "update" so I guess that's what it feels like to own a Bethesda game on PC
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.
tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
A voice actor from The Coalition's third-person shooter series, Gears of War, has hinted at a new game announcement coming in June.
Hopefully Microsoft will go back to the original story line and get away from that woke nonsense from the last Gears game Gears of Woke! But were talking about Microsoft so all the betting money is on more of the same woke nonsense.
The Locust trilogy concluded with Gears of War 3. I don’t get how Gears 4 and 5 are “woke” .
Yep exactly, MS could no longer rely on the ignorance of the casual audience, now that they were informed by Fallon of all the dangers of buying an Xbox One.
Excellent blog, and it brings up an intriguing point:
If Microsoft decided to change their policies due to the masses and the casuals (i.e the public) and not due to the one-month-straight of complaints from gamers, what does that say about their perception of you? Is everyone simply going to brush aside all of the rude, dismissive comments made by Microsoft's PR?
If Microsoft didn't care enough about core gamers to listen to their complaints, what makes you think they'll care about you instead of the TvTvTvSportsTvCalladooty crowd?
I think Microsoft has already shown their hand. Just because they decided to fold on this particular issue doesn't mean I want to keep playing poker with them. They still probably have a revolver underneath the table pointed at my junk.
good read
@ MikeMyers I love how people are treating Microsoft like some sort of hero now instead of glaring at them and telling them that they damn well better change it.People who defend Microsoft are always so ready to forgive them for the $hit that they do instead of watching them more carefully and seeing what they will do to compensate for taking DRM away.These are the very same people who were talking down to you about your complaints, telling you that you are overreacting and refusing to change their minds.and now of course Xbox fanboys try to pretend what just happened didn't just happen just like they do everything else.You are like those abused housewives who keep running back to the people who abuse them. Microsoft gave you a big middle finger and talked down at you and to save their asses they finally backpedaled.And now all the crap that they said before they changed their mind will be auto automatically forgotten. And to add to it trying to drag Sony fanboys into it.We are not the ones who disrespected you and told you they were not going to change it and then come crawling back with everyone pretending that they did it for the good of gamers