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XBOHICA: Don Mattrick Defends Xbox One's Online Requirements
- Thread starter IHaveCandy
- Start date
An E3 like this only comes once every 8-10 years. He is probably just as excited as we are and has long prepared the ban hammer. It's going to be glorious. 1-2 GAFers have made statements close to ban bets on the POWA OF DA CLOUD TM
his favorite time of the year
Sola Scriptura
Member
"We have built a future-proof console! Oh, by the way, when we stop running servers for all Xbox One titles, you won't be able to play them ever again. Sorry about that."
That would be the best idea, let E3 do the talking but people on either side just don't want that. I expect a constant stream of stuff till E3, which will make it way more interesting to watch since everyone will be focusing on MS.
Visualante2
Member
Brian Crecente reminds me of Ricky Gervais in the office with his manager speak. He has sweated long and hard over these swank decsriptions.
I think the problem with this cloud stuff is they haven't shown us any compelling reason why we'd want to give up all our current freedoms. Until then it's a massive leap of faith on the consumer's part.
I think the problem with this cloud stuff is they haven't shown us any compelling reason why we'd want to give up all our current freedoms. Until then it's a massive leap of faith on the consumer's part.
If Sim City did not have all those terrible launch issues, it would have been a non issue.
What you have isn't future-proof, Don. You've built a worst-of-both-worlds platform, designed around appeasing a group of corporations based in old media, AAA games publishing and bricks & mortar retail, all of whom are in decline.
Steam is forwards- and backwards-compatible.
Steam has an offline mode with no arbitrarily short check-in period.
Steam actively promotes community-building and user-generated content through its APIs for free, instead of spending hundreds of millions of your customers' subscription dollars promoting ads, old media and live sports.
Steam allows me to push image quality beyond the capabilities of your GPU, which is already out-powered by its closest rival.
Steam lets developers self-publish.
Steam aggressively experiments with a wide variety of pricing models, sales strategies and cross-game promotions.
Steam is actively supporting a VR headset over a year ahead of it's consumer launch, an actual "next generation" user experience rather than hand-wavy cloud computing nonsense.
If Steam doesn't offer something I want, there are multiple competitors on the same hardware platform I can choose from, including a storefront purpose-built for allowing backwards compatibility with 20+ year-old games without DRM.
If customers want a future-proof system they aren't going to you Don, who is "purposefully not targeting the high-end".
Your online requirements have nothing to do with a "progressive path" and everything to do with controlling sale and resale through your cartel with publishers and your friends in retail.
Steam is forwards- and backwards-compatible.
Steam has an offline mode with no arbitrarily short check-in period.
Steam actively promotes community-building and user-generated content through its APIs for free, instead of spending hundreds of millions of your customers' subscription dollars promoting ads, old media and live sports.
Steam allows me to push image quality beyond the capabilities of your GPU, which is already out-powered by its closest rival.
Steam lets developers self-publish.
Steam aggressively experiments with a wide variety of pricing models, sales strategies and cross-game promotions.
Steam is actively supporting a VR headset over a year ahead of it's consumer launch, an actual "next generation" user experience rather than hand-wavy cloud computing nonsense.
If Steam doesn't offer something I want, there are multiple competitors on the same hardware platform I can choose from, including a storefront purpose-built for allowing backwards compatibility with 20+ year-old games without DRM.
If customers want a future-proof system they aren't going to you Don, who is "purposefully not targeting the high-end".
Your online requirements have nothing to do with a "progressive path" and everything to do with controlling sale and resale through your cartel with publishers and your friends in retail.
dragonbane
Member
The problem is we don't know if they would go the Steam route. It's unfounded optimism and just a guess. Steam has competition from Amazon and GoG for example. Why should MS make games cheaper if they don't have to?
I always prefer to go on the more optimistic route. Life is way too short to be worrying about console specs and confusing PR speak. Just give me some games I want to play and I don't mind too much.
You would think that the Steam way would be the best idea for them to follow, since the majority of PC gamers have no issues in their style of semi-DRM.
NullPointer
Member
This thing is DRM in it's heart, from end to end and then outward throughout infinite space in all directions.
The only thing MS is trying to future proof here is their profits. They are covering their bases on every last mechanism of control possible.
The only thing MS is trying to future proof here is their profits. They are covering their bases on every last mechanism of control possible.
A Black Falcon
Member
I'm going to guess that the system itself is "check in once a day", but if you want to play one of the 'cloud-enabled' games, they're online-only.
It seems to me like the press is just repeating the same nonsense over and over again. Yeah, we know that Microsoft has prepared 100 different statements that make all of this look like it's the best thing that could ever happen to anyone man up and question their marketing phrases for once, please!
Not calling for a ban on Polygon, but they've been absolutely terrible at questioning whatever crap gets thrown at them in any way.
Not calling for a ban on Polygon, but they've been absolutely terrible at questioning whatever crap gets thrown at them in any way.
Have you seen the shit Nintendo fans have had to deal with after the Wii U launched?
Or, to a lesser extent, the reaction around the Vita?
This forum moves in waves and responds to trends, especially bad ones. If a company walks into the firing line, it most likely deserved it.
The passive-aggressive, anti-backlash victimhood response is pretty ignorant.
FonkyByNature
Member
I don't understand what Don means by using the cloud for developers so they can take more advantage of the console or situation... as like more progressive... ?
I would be very very surprised if their cloud system really works as they want it to work. Streaming computational tasks is something i don't see in at least 10+ years. It's just not gonna happen on a huge scale this gen, even the one after.
Or, what he's saying is all lies and all he wants to do is to have more control over users because i guess for MS, an offline user is good for nothing.
I would be very very surprised if their cloud system really works as they want it to work. Streaming computational tasks is something i don't see in at least 10+ years. It's just not gonna happen on a huge scale this gen, even the one after.
Or, what he's saying is all lies and all he wants to do is to have more control over users because i guess for MS, an offline user is good for nothing.
BoboBrazil
Member
Checking in once a day is basically always online required. There really isn't a difference unless you plan to always disconnect and reconnect your internet every damn day.
DRM with a friendly/exciting face in order to try and make people think it's great and for their benefit. That is obviously their strategy here, and I am happy to see it falling flat on it's face. It's just sickening.
Steam works because the games are cheap and their amazing winter and summer sales.
Now,look into my avatars eyes and aswer me fairly.
Do you see a company like MS is realy gonna offer their games at 30-40$ or give game bundlesales for less then 15$?
think long and hard.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
They could but I just don't think they will. They do have sales, just not great ones.
We just don't know what bits they might take from Steam, if at all. Again, I prefer to be on the upbeat side, so I will wait to see what they do. Sony, MS and Nintendo all have E3 to impress people with.
dragonbane
Member
Yeah, because the games are cheap. I hate Steam DRM, but I can live with it, because all the games I want to play are insanely cheap. I don't need the used games market, because I pay so little for so many awesome games.
But Steam sales are not a result of the non-exisiting used games market or Valve's consumer friendliness. They exist, because Steam has direct competition, since the PC is an open platform.
If MS goes this route, no one can predict what they will do. Since they have no competition on their platform, I don't see any reason why they would introduce something like Steam sales. People are probably going to buy the games at $60 anyway if they have no choice and MS knows this.
As I said, who gets to decide when they are no longer required? Also reason two is exactly why people are against online DRM - why should we have to stop playing our games just because Microsoft says they're releasing new tech?
Agreed.
Cheaper prices would pretty much rule out the need to keep a used game market available. I really wonder how far MS is willing to go to do that? Half way seems a bit pointless and they cannot be that dumb to lock one side out without opening the other right?
Consumers do. They will move onto to whatever suits them best. As it stands, MS seems to cover most of those bases very well, so people have no need to go elsewhere.
Who says games will suddenly stop working if they move to new tech? If it makes them money, they will keep it going.
Right, but that sort of flies in the face of what Mattrick was saying about the One being different from the 360. You could make a 360 game that required was cloud powered as well. There already are 360 games that require an internet connection.
Mattrick's had to have something that's complete bullshit somewhere in all this mess, but it's tough to sniff out where exactly, because everything about it smells like shit.
dragonbane
Member
I'm not questioning this, but this article is not one of them. The headline is:
"From Xbox One to Xbox None: The risks of an internet-required gaming console"
The closing sentence reads as follows:
"The Xbox One is shaping up to be a paradigm-shifting console. The question is: Does anyone want the new paradigm?"
This is a negative article make no mistake.
.la1n
Member
Zombie James
Banned
Bullshitting is a paradigm?
I think a mod added this in because I didn't see XBOHICA in the original title.
If they were to do that, they'd have to offer backwards compatibility, support indies, constant sales, publisher packs, free to play, mmorpgs, mod support.... Etc, etc, etc.
There is no way Microsoft could do that even if they wanted to. Which they most certainly do not.
Wickerbasket
Member
If you say so.
I had already decided not to buy Sim City before launch, based on it's always online DRM. I won't support stuff that goes against my interests.
dragonbane
Member
Of course that was nonsense and the article is not as negative as it could be, but the OP makes it sound like the article is just repeating Don's words.
Connecting to the net to play a game was a non issue for me but thats just me of course. Some fans must have had unreliable internet access, so it was not an option for them. Or they just hated EA for everything they do and would not buy it regardless.
It is telling that I put loads of time into SimCity and when I got the first world wipe, I stopped playing.
BlastProcessing
Member
So if Sim City wouldn't have been fundamentally broken, nobody would have complained about it being fundamentally broken?
This is the bloggers way. The only contact the press has really got has been on the 21st. So anything you've been reading for days now, is still from that event. Spread across time, like butter, on too much bread.
If it had worked the way they say it would have worked, what is the problem? Sure people are going to say DRM is why its broken but if it works with no issues, I don't see the problem.
Wickerbasket
Member
I don't mind games that require internet connections if there's a reason for it, I play lots of online only multiplayer games. I won't support a game that uses online only purely for DRM, which it turns out, is what Sim City did. All their claims to the contrary turned out to be bullshit.
I just don't want to support anti-consumer practices that make my experience poorer. If I have to connect to Xbox Live every 24 hours, then I'll simply not buy the console.
This all sounds so dang similar to when the Wii came out and didn't have HD capabilities. People were pulling stats out of everywhere defending Nintendo because most of the world didn't have HD televisions etc. Now, people are doing the same, except to bash MS. All of a sudden, everyone has shitty internet. "What if, what if, what if?" Really, A FUCKING CABIN!!?? A FUCKING CABIN?!! Here's an idea, look at nature while you're in your log cabin. Spend time with your family while in your cabin. So he can't complete that oh so important level of Max Payne 3 in the "cabin" and it irks him. Yup, let's hold back technology because some can't get a solid connection. "But what about, but what about, but what about?" Nope, you all are right, let's make a system for black and white tv's, that supports vhs, and has an antenna on it. I can't wait to see this applauded when Sony does it. "But they already confirmed ....!!!!" Did they? Uh huh.
Yeah, it did suck to find out it was only DRM, even if the early ideas of connecting the cities etc sounded awesome.
Where I stand is if MS can show me something that is good, then I will buy it. I already have my Monster Hunter Tri U machine, so I need more stuff or that as well.
dragonbane
Member
Dude read the article first. The OP is terrible. The article is not positive at all.
Ah, the most mundane thing ever - someone willing to give up their rights with no appreciable return simply because he adores a game company. "Well why stop there," exclaims an excitable BillyBats, "if you're so concerned about that, WHY DIDN'T YOU SPEAK UP FOR BLACK AND WHITE TELEVISIONS!?"
I mean, this post would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad. Drawing parallels between giving up ones property rights on physical media and black & white tv, even though everyone knows color TVs can play black & white content as well. Truly sad. Mods doin' it up right.
entremet
Member
Well to be fair, it's not like those populations are those Microsoft is marketing to.
BlastProcessing
Member
The problem is that adding cloud functions adds exponentially more possible points of failure to a game without providing enough benefit to be worth it. Games are already incredibly bug prone by their very nature. The idea that we should further complicate them seems counterproductive.
The idea that I can't play my game at Cheetah Speed because some server on the other side of the country can't handle it is ludicrous. Even without the login issues, I lost a city I had put 15 hours in to the vagaries of their servers. Even without the login issues I have never had the region calculations work reliably.