An Xbox One DRM Breakdown

So, this pretty much kills Gamefly, right?

So many good points being said in the video and comments, it only leads to one clear cut solution for me: build a PC.

P.S. Which I already did and I am happy. :)

What's fascinating tome is that in a time when console sales and video games sales are showing a steady decline (people are interested in their cell phones, etc) Sony and Microsoft are making decisions that are less consumer friendly.

Logic would state that they would do whatever it takes to bring in more people, not alienate them. After listing to Jeff and crew, the use of these DRM schemes are so convoluted people less patient than gamers will just ignore the consoles altogether. Most parents still think all of the consoles are called a Nintendo, do you think any will want to deal with Always on, or "trade with friends" or inability to resell games.

I never thought I would want to stop playing new video games but these decisions are major turnoffs.

Microsoft is playing a dangerous game.

As a gold member for 10+ years. I have purchased over 165 XBLA games and 120 disc games and a ton of DLC. I figure I'm the type of person Microsoft doesn't want to lose as a customer.

Well, I'm sorry to say... but come September, I will not be renewing my gold account.

What happens after the Xbox One...once it is retired..those games are lost to history. Also no Craigslist sales...I bet Sony does the same...and I will stick with the PC.

Vinny has good manners!

You do realize that the publishers are the ones pushing for this right?

Why are so many people choosing to ignore this fact? Why do so many of you believe that the exact same restrictions will not be on the PS4?

This entire generation of consoles is going to have this stuff, Xbox One, PS4, it doesn't matter.

I am an avid PC gamer, but what you are saying doesn't make sense.

Steam is literally the exact same thing, when it goes down, all your games disappear.

As someone who lives in a household where I'm the only one who plays the console, as well as owning the vast majority of my games on Steam/Origin, all of this stuff is going right over my head. It might as well be greek to me. I also haven't rented or purchased a used game since the PS2 days. That being said, I still feel bad for those this affects.

Indeed. He has a kind soul.

thats the biggest question of all though isn't it... What exactly will Sony do at this point, will they come right out at E3 and say they have the exact same system towards DRM/Renting/Reselling games, will they just stick with the PS3 policies just revamped, or will they avoid this like the plague untill they are closer to launch? They might just want to avoid the media storm all together and just say they haven't finalized anything and will let everyone know closer to launch, just to see how much backlash microsoft is going to get with the X-1 stuff.

From a gamer perspective, I think everyone is hoping that the PS4 is not going to have ANY of that rubbish thats in the X-1 as their all about the games this generation where MS clearly is not. I hope Sony comes right out off the bat and states they are going to support renting/re-selling of games like they've always have as apposed to some digital renting licensing up to the publishers sharing accounts bullshit.... hopefully we'll all know by this time next week.

I'm a PC gamer, always have been always will be, but I can definitely apreciate just how important it is to give players the ability to play offline/ play with their friends or family, whenever they want, WHEREVER they want, that was really what separated the consoles from the PC in the biggest way possible, now, its almost like you get your X-1 put it in your living room and there its got to stay... This is more messier then a be-heading... Unless MS planed on cutting off their own head its just insane how a decision like this could possibly be made.

"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized." - George Orwell from 1984

yep, PC for most games, PS4 for Sony exclusives, and Wii U for Nintendo Exclusives. MS can take their Halo and Gears and shove it.

Ok, I'm really trying here, guys, but I just don't understand the outrage at all. Anyone and everyone that switches to PC, and inevitably Steam for the majority of their games, has to deal with this same kind of (in some ways, even stricter) DRM and pure digital distribution, and everyone I've talked to eventually realizes, "oh yeah, this is actually really great and not a problem to deal with at all."

In terms of the preserving video game history argument, I trust that the dedicated community of hackers/modders/etc. will make sure that stays intact in some way, as they always do. All this stuff's digital; it's all just bits of data. If something's digital, it will eventually be torn apart, hacked, and able to be preserved by dedicated independent people who will share their work with everyone else online. And by the time that's even an issue, the fear of lawsuits over copyrighted material will likely be nearly nonexistent, just like all the S/NES emulation stuff is now. OR, these big corps will finally get their act together and offer a virtual console-style catalog of all their old games for emulation, on much more powerful machines of the future at a hopefully reasonable cost.

The 24 hour disconnected period, though, is completely ridiculous, and raises the question, "are they going to sell a 3G/LTE SKU of the XBone to ensure connectivity for, say, military personnel?" Because they really should if they have these ludicrous restrictions in place.

Why bother about something i can't control, I'll stick to PC but my games in higher quality and watch the TV I want to watch, without having the eye of mordor looking at me

Whatever. I wasn't going to buy either one for the first year or two anyway. Good luck with this stuff, early adopters.

@pillclinton: I agree with you in some respects, my post below said pretty much the same thing. The major difference is that Steam throws us bones like the Summer/Holiday sales. I picked up LA Noire for $4, Batman AC for $7, etc etc. We've all unloaded $100 bucks for 10 AAA games on those sales. Xbox has NEVER done anything similar to that, and there is no evidence that they ever will. Steam sales make used games irrelevant IMO because the games are way cheaper than what even Gamespot sells their used stuff for. $60+ games are an albatross for most people and borrowing, renting, or buying used is sometimes the only way they can enjoy their hobby.

Now if MS came out and said... "We will be launching quarterly blow out sales similar to Steam, and will have a trade in mechanism in place for digital items (20% off a new game in exchange for turning in your license for an old one)" Then and only then will I say that all the outrage is unnecessary.

@santa_8aby: I didn't disagree with any of the other points you made, I just called you a shit for comparing something as ultimately stupid & trivial as buying/selling used games to rape. Literally that's all I did. I agree with you that its really kinda crummy for how it'll effect some people, but really, fuck off.

@thornie: True, Steam's incredible sales are the one main differentiator between the two systems. I guess as someone who hasn't really had to sweat money spent on games in quite some time (one, because I'm not a kid anymore, and two, because of Steam's amazing deals, funnily enough), I'm not able to readily relate to those who do. But yeah, you're right, when $60 spent on a new game was a big deal for me, the ability to rent, borrow/loan, resell, buy used, etc. was indispensable.

So I suppose, above all, kids get the shaft in this change? 'Cause they're going to be the ones most affected by this, and being a gamer kid is going to be a whole lot different soon than it was for any of us.

Wave goodbye to our rights of ownership, and our digital rights in general. If Sony goes the same way with the PS4 i could see myself going with a WII U/PC combo.

To be fair to MS, they have done a couple of good sales on Games on Demand in the past. I was able to pick up a few games for $5-10. But they don't have sales that often, maybe once or twice a year.

It's worse than that. Not only did Microsoft give data to PRISM, they were one of the very first in 2007. For reference, Google handed their data over in 2010. I can understand people thinking Microsoft may not give this data to the government, but stating that this would never happen is naive. Personally I do think if the government even asked Microsoft to hand them the Kinect data they'd so in a heartbeat, partially because Microsoft has extensive deals with the government.

And if it doesn't happen this time, I think it definitely will down the line. "Oh, we're only checking the footage for terrorism, no need to worry if you're not doing anything wrong." This is the scary direction this industry and sadly the western world is going.

@codefire: Fuck MS by bying Windows? That'll teach 'em.

@zevvion: Sony and Microsoft are counting on apathetic people like you who don't care about consumer rights, and there seem to be lots of you. It's fucking lame but whatever, as long as you get to play the game where you shoot the man in the head and the fish move out of your way you'll let them put the bar code right on your subservient neck, right?

The irony that is Windows.

I bet there are conspiracies about M$ trying to sell in Windows 8 for the upcoming generation.

They already got so many hooked on Xboy fanboyism that they probably break even no matter what on the Xbox front.

@hunter5024: Vinny's shirt is dope

Hadn't even considered that yet. That kind of makes me sad.

@ajamafalous said:

Yeah when I posted that I was under the impression that Sony had taken a much harder stance on online requirements. However I went to look up the quote and they left themselves just enough wiggle room that if they required you to authenticate your games online, the quote wouldn't technically be a lie.

This is better than what the rumors stated, but their explanation is convoluted. Like Patrick said, the fact that guys as savvy as yourselves had to spend a good five minutes trying to understand the "family account" system issues, it dread how the general consumer will be able to understand that. If only one other person in the "family" can play a game from that library, what about four player games? Will we just no see four player games on the XBox One? A dad wouldn't be able to give his two boys separate accounts and all play together at the same time? There's still a lot of unanswered questions and does not make me optimistic. I worry PS4 will probably announce something similar next week...

I totally agree with this! I will miss Patrick when he leaves.

If Sony implements a similar type of DRM on the PS4 (which seems likely) then I will sit out this generation.

I still can't wrap my head around the idea that I am paying $60-$70 full retail for something that doesn't belong to me. If game companies want to still own the thing they just sold me they should drop the price to $15 and call it an "access fee" then they can control it after purchase as much as they want because I won't give a shit because I only paid $15 for the damn thing. They want to have their cake and eat it too and it's bullshit.

MY BODY IS READY TO FEEL DISAPPOINTED!!!!!

Why I'm not worried about the Xbox One http://www.ultraimg.com/images/6hT5x.gif

Whats the shirt Jeff is wearing. Looks dope

So how much does a gaming pc cost these days?

Like the guys said, the split second Xbox Live and these activation servers or whatever go down, this whole thing becomes a massive shitshow of which Xbox One never recovers from. They need to have this whole system completely foolproof and consistent which will be impossible to guarantee no matter what stress testing they do. And add on to that, with all this crazyness and people just killing Xbox everywhere, you know there is some Anonymous-like group that is going to try and fuck this thing up Day 1 just to watch this shit crumble. Xbox executives will be praying to every god they can think of for the lifetime of this entire system that the online requirements never crack.

@smitty86: agree

When did I say anything about using windows, or buying it? When I said "fuck Microsoft" I should have been more precise. What I meant to say was, fuck Microsoft's Xbox Team. The PC is ever changing, unlike consoles. Just because Microsoft has the market on games, doesn't mean the OS always will. Although in saying that, I will say this, fuck Windows 8. :P

Not only do you get total control over games (obviously that doesn't include multiplayer components) but you also have the biggest game library, starting all the way from the beginning. Yes, some of them require mods / hacks to trick the game into running on new hardware, and yes, to have total control over games it requires mods and hacks as well, but at least the player has the option and ability to. Buy the game at your favorite store of choice, then apply mod or create one (for those who know how), done. Plus emulators for older consoles on top of all of that.

The PC gives the player the highest number of options and control, and usually the cheapest prices. It's therefore logical to move over to the PC, or stay on, instead of supporting the Xbox Team's horrible attempt at total ownership and control of all media. It's more logical going with the lesser evil of the group, then going full in with the worst of the group. The general opinion of the PS4 will have to wait until we know more about it.

Also, I look forward to hackers cracking open the Xbox One. Microsoft is giving them a challenge, and they will accept it. Don't be surprised when they attack the authentication servers.

It just seems insane to me to be setting up a system which provides no benefits at all the to the consumers purchasing your product. In any other business, it would be suicide to change the way you product works by complicating the process and removing rights customers have become used to without offering anything tangible in return.

I am not a luddite at all but this seems to be a clear example of how technology development, instead of streamlining services, adding features and empowering users is just increasing complexity and removing rights. The publishers and console makers need to realise that while it may look to them as if these policies are going to increase their bottom line, it might also harm their repuations, ultimately having the opposite effect.

Even in these days of online purchases etc there is still a strong feeling amongst consumers that once they have paid for a product it is theirs to do with what they will. Starting to restrict these right is a dangerous path to tred, both moralistically and financially.

Actually, I was agreeing with that other comment, but thinking of the latest Bombcast discussion. I actually think they were all real sensible in this video.

An always on connection won't be required, if the PS4 only needs to hit a server once every 24 hours. Sony still has room to do the same thing as M$.

As someone who sells their used games on amazon, this if FUBAR. I really don't like taking it in the ass from GameStop, and that's who they're empowering.

@l4wd0g: Which means if PS4 lets traditional used games exist, they've got a sale from you pretty much guarenteed?

or is going microsoft worth losing that income?

So their attitude is basically that? :(

haha Rorie transformed into Drew at around 26minutes xD

I'm with Patrick, it shouldn't be this hard to figure out. It sounds like all we need to do at this point is wait for something clearer to come out..

Improvised fruit sketch starring random delivery guy was a classic way to end the video. ROTFL

This non-ownership direction the gaming industry takes can only reinforce my piracy habits.

27:20 - Sitting Rorie became Standing Drew.