The quote used for the title of this blog is usually attributed to P.T. Barnum of Barnum and Bailey Circus fame. He wasn't the first who coined it, but he seemed to be the most famous. This is a saying used chiefly to describe a con game, and I've used it to describe a master of the Long Con.
Think about the Xbox One. Think about its restrictions. Notice Microsoft and the apologists clamouring about how these restrictions are actually beneficial, how they are good for us and are the future of the industry. Doesn't that sound like a con job? A successful con artist can bilk you out of something all while making you believe you were doing something for yourself, of benefit to yourself. What does this have to do with Microsoft? Just take a look at their restrictions and see.
-Take, for example, the 24 hour connection requirement. Microsoft and their defenders will try to explain that a connection requirement is beneficial to everyone for ridiculous reasons that are only good to a bottom line. Things like faster updates, easier sharing, better communication. These will always be used to describe why the 24 hour (or 1 hour connection on someone else's console) is of benefit to consumers. What is completely negated is stuff like checking for piracy, or enforcing used game restrictions, though Microsoft do say "Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend."
-Then there's the business of cloud powered games. Disregarding the impracticality, and non-existent infrastructure for cloud powered games (come on, the PC market would have been all over this long ago if it were something feasible), the con here is the quiet inclusion of always-online DRM in games. The cloud powered technology wouldn't work without an always on connection, and Microsoft has even admitted that some games may require a connection. Sneaky business right?
Consumers are being asked to give up freedoms and rights in the name of convenience. Sounds awfully familiar doesn't it? Why, the U.S. government is quite guilty of that. Take the current President of the United States of America. An expert con artist, he has succeeded in explaining the necessity for illegal wire taps; something which he was completely AGAINST in 2007. This video clip explains it better.
http://youtu.be/Etm4dHdaApo...
"You can't expect 100% security, and 100% privacy, without inconvenience."
Strikingly, this mentality applies to the Xbox One.
"You can't expect convenience, and the ability to exercise basic rights, without some limitations, restrictions, and provisos."
We live in a world where people are giving up their rights, their privacy, and their freedoms every day under misguided causes and conveniences. A world run by corrupt businessmen and women in the guise of convincing Orators and Microsoft is no different. This is a company that convinced millions to pay for access to half of a game they paid full price for with a monthly subscription. They've been testing just how far they could go removing rights and basic features before a backlash would occur.
Sadly, the uninformed masses and the apathetic apologists have rendered any real opposition far too late to do the kind of significant damage needed to reverse such anti-consumerism.
-One of the signs that the Xbox One is a successful con is that the defenders and apologists shoot down any opposition with arrogance and condescension. Mention that a persistent connection of any kind is unsupported by the less than total network infrastructure, and the defenders will simply quote you the century and rebut you with indifference. Free advertising and free defense.
-The issue of privacy is of great concern to those in opposition to a mandatory Kinect that must always be connected to the Xbox One. Microsoft have stated emphatically that the Kinect 2 is not a spy device that will intrude on anyone's privacy, but these are the words of expert con artists.
Microsoft are part of PRISM. A partnership with the FBI and the NSA to data mine and record the private messages (in text, sound, or video format) of normal people like you and I for investigative purposes. Microsoft have been found listening in on Skype conversations with impunity and likely are part of the large group of companies that sell personal data to advertising firms.
MS' PRISM involvement: http://venturebeat.com/2013...
MS spying on Skype: http://www.zdnet.com/big-br...
So, in the face of these truths, how can anyone say that Microsoft respect anyone's privacy? Microsoft's official release about the privacy options surrounding the Kinect 2 are that everything can be turned off. What is also mentioned is a setup process for how sensitive the Kinect 2 will be to monitoring what you do or say.
What isn't mentioned is that filtering software is necessary to distinguish what will be heard and what won't be heard. When added to the fact that the one requirement that HASN'T changed, that being that the Kinect 2 MUST ALWAYS be connected to the Xbox One console, one must wonder what the point of having these alleged privacy options is if the Xbox One simply will not function WITHOUT the Kinect connected to the device. Considering these are the words of masters of the con game, no one can be faulted for feelings of suspicion and distrust.
-When we look at the Xbox One as it currently stands right now as a whole, we see a device meant to appeal to the uninformed, easily manipulated masses content to laze about watching tv and playing fantasy football. We see a device that imposes heavy restrictions on gaming, yet none that we can see on TV and Movies (unless you count the need to already own a compatible cable box a restriction, I'd call it more of a design flaw), or the social aspects. To look at that fact, it's clear to see that the Xbox One is not a console designed for gamers. It's a device designed for people who place convenience over choice, speed over rights, fluff features over basic consumer consideration.
E3 arrives in 2 days. Microsoft claim to be making that conference all about the games. But quite honestly, how can any excitement be aroused over games when the simple truth is that the gaming aspect of the Xbox One is so heavily monitored and littered with restrictions that one has to go through so many hoops just to do what previously was as easy as Plug 'n Play?
http://venturebeat.files.wo...
http://img266.imageshack.us...
Coincidentally (or maybe not, who knows), I found out that the first 13 seconds of a cartoon intro from 2003 perfectly describes the aura surrounding the Xbox One, its defenders, and Microsoft. Right before the word hope is everything that Microsoft is bringing to the table.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
And yet there are those who are steadfast in the belief that the Xbox One is a good thing. Despite a multitude of bad things, and any number of sources all being repetitive of just how bad the situation is, these people hide behind the "I'm allowed to have an opinion" excuse, completely avoiding the very real fact that their poor buying habits have a much greater reach than their own living room.
And people wonder why publishers get away with what they do. This is just the beginning. I don't know about you, but I'm going to start looking for an eccentric doctor that likes to collect classic cars with gullwing doors so that I can go back to living in the 90's and Plug 'n Play gaming. Good luck everyone.
Following their success with crafting an online multiplayer survival game in the Exiled Lands with Conan Exiles, Funcom is looking to repeat the victory with a different IP.
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The tour is coming to the states as new dates have been revealed.
Hey, if you're ever in the Michigan area and you wanna do some old-school gaming, my door is always open. And that's the thing. In two years, that door will be open. 5 years. 10 years. Hell, until the day I die, I'll always be able to pull an NES game (a cartridge that is already almost 25 years old) off my shelf, push it in, and we can play it. No restrictions. No authentications. No signing in with my profile.
I hate the idea of not having console games that last. I have a gaming PC. I have a reasonably-sized PC library (some Steam, some DRM-free), but I will always have a console option because I believe in the concept of keeping games and playing them in the future.
AHAHAHAH! MikeMyers resorting to an EULA? My goodness, the desperation is overflowing. I bet you leave on those "DO Not Remove" tags on your mattress, too, don't ya?
An EULA is not a binding contract. A binding contract requires the consent of two informed and aware parties, and since the EULA is not on the outside of the box for you to read before purchasing, you are not bound by its terms. This is middle-school stuff, man, and yet you insist on trying to convince people "bu bu but you never owned your game in the FIRST place s-s-s-so these restrictions are okay!"
I would be more worried having privacy issues on a smart phone tracking as an example i don't own one as i live in the mountains and don't get good reception, but i have internet drm just means i buy on sale and no longer buy at launch i have about 80 retail pc games that i cant trade got them real cheap so big deal.
excellent article.