Xbox 180 - Microsoft changes its mind

L

LukasROAR

Straw Hat Pirate
The Xbox One has done a 180 and decided to get rid of its used games policy and 24 hour online requirement.

Let’s face it, everyone was laughing at Microsoft. Laughing at the audacity of what they were trying to do and the fact the gaming world was siding with Sony. Friends of mine who adore their 360 were getting ready to switch to the PS4 after feeling so let down with Microsoft and their attitude towards their core audience, gamers.

I'm a 360 kid, I love my Xbox and apart from the 3 red lights of death I've never had any issues. Great games and fantastic online service throughout but even I am seriously considering PS4. I have no beef with Sony, the PS1 and PS2 are two of my very favourite consoles. I switched for one reason…Halo.

What does everyone think of Microsoft changing their mind? It’s arguably one of the biggest technical u-turns in computer gaming history.

I think it’s fantastic news but I can’t believe it went as far as E3 before they realised what a bad an idea it really was.

Has the damage already been done? Has Microsoft lost the respect of gamers?

They’ve certainly lost mine.
 
And now the attention has turned to Nintendo - who are now the only console manufacturer who has a region lock on their consoles xD.

What I found most appalling about Microsoft during this, was their attitude about the policies, with things like "Stick to 360". I'll be buying a PS4 for sure.
 
So much better now.

I didn't read mega into it but game wise, originally you couldn't even use dics right? Now they're going to release games on discs??? I know people hated the lack of sharing or being able to buy used ones from like HMV etc.
Damn straight over the internet! I cannot afford internet at my house so go around the corner to my Mums whenever I need to use it so there's no way the Xbox would of benefitted me at all!

I'm still not a gamer but when both consoles get reduced in years time haha I will at least now have to deliberate both whereas before these changes, it was an easy answer.

I wonder how many people will now cancel their PS4 preorder????
 
I was unlikely to buy an Xbox 1 either way so I'm not going to pretend the changes have had a positive or negative impact in my case (it has no exclusives I want and a history of poor support for Japanese games). It's shocking that they thought their changes would be universally well received when they plainly did a lot more for publishers than for the actual buyers, and all the more so because they communicated their goals so badly throughout the process. No matter how great the actual console ends up being, Microsoft's treatment of its next gen market has been an embarrassment right from the start.

I feel glad for people who genuinely want an Xbox though, since they've been having a very awkward few weeks defending their (perfectly reasonable) choices amidst Microsoft's general buffoonery. Removing the region lock was a strange twist, though again... their very firm focus on a few specific demographics with the Xbox line means it won't really change anything for me. Nonetheless, it's good for the whole industry if people move away from ineffective and obstructive region locking.

R
 
meanwhile Cliffy B has seemed to have launched an attack on Microsoft for backtracking.........he seems to despise pre owned games

from eurogamer's recent article
"You cannot have game and marketing budgets this high while also having used and rental games existing. The numbers do NOT work people."

This sounds like good news for gamers, but Bleszinski has a dim view of the future following Microsoft's policy changes.

"More studios WILL close and you'll see more PC and mobile games," he tweeted.

"I have seen the number of unique gamer tags vs actual sales numbers and it ain't pretty.

"I want developers who worked their asses off to see money on every copy of their game that is sold instead of Gamestop. F*** me, right?

"Brace yourselves. More tacked on multiplayer and DLC are coming. You're also about to see available microtransactions skyrocket. HATS FOR EVERYONE.

"You're going to see digital versions of your favourite games with added 'features' and content to lure you to digital over disc based. 'Do whatever it takes to keep that disc in that tray' is the mantra of developers in a disc-based world."
 
What's wrong with there being more mobile games and things people ask for, like tacked-on multiplayer and DLC? It's progress and it's what people want to pay for. I don't like multiplayer at all but every single time I visit a forum for one of my favourite offline-only games there are loud requests from players to add some crummy online deathmatch feature, so there is obviously an audience for that stuff.

Also, not every single decent game series has a massive budget. Being able to resell games creates a perception of them having value and justifies the high cost of a brand new title on release day for a lot of people. This person has a very specific, one-sided view of how gaming Should Work based on his own preferences, nothing more.

Bring on this apocalyptic future of addictive low-budget games aimed at a wide audience rather than big budget clones of the current hits aimed at the exact same demographic as usual.

R
 
I didn't know they'd removed the region lock, that's ace.
Still real annoyed with Microsoft's general attitude.
I've got some serious next gen decision making to do now though.

I wish they'd had that on the PS2, I'd loved to have played Cowboy Bebop: The Game. I heard very mediocre reviews but I'd still love to play it.

I think I’d have to learn Japanese first though lol.

I like Cliff and from a developers POV I understand where he's coming from but he needs to realise that used games market is something that gamers have enjoyed since the Atari, it's part of gaming culture.

We're also living in a recession and not everyone can afford to pay £40 a time for new games.

For example I'm currently playing Wolverine on the 360, I'd never, ever pay £35-40 for that kind of game, but I’m happy to wait a few years and pick it up for under a tenner 2nd hand. Whereas if I had to pay an additional fee I just wouldn’t have bothered at all.

If I pick up a second hand game and love it, when the sequel comes out I’m more likely to buy it brand new. Therefore in the long run the developer is benefiting. If they’d have been a charge I wouldn’t have bothered.

Plus developers still make cash for online passes and DLC, both of which are things I never mind paying extra for.
 
In the current generation most of the games which keep me coming back have been from Sony's Japan Studio (TGC deserve some credit too). Titles like Trash Panic/Gomibako and Tokyo Jungle don't need a massive budget to be ace.

I don't enjoy PC gaming but if the console model is failing then it makes more sense to let things drift that way (and to mobiles) than to keep sucking up to a couple of big publishers at the expense of everyone else. If the publishers need a reality check so badly they should turn their gazes inwards before blaming something which has existed since the dawn of home gaming.

R
 
Lawrence said:
I mean, look at the witcher 2, it was pretty low budget and it still looks rather impressive. Besides which, more games on the PC would only be a good thing. The PC is superior to any games console available now and in the next 12 months, anything a console can do, a PC can do better, so why anyone would actually think it is, in any way tragic that there would be an increase in PC games is beyond me.
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PC is still a niche market in gaming, and will remain so unless it becomes more accessible. Consoles also provide a better, fairer multiplayer experience than PCs, because everyone is playing in pretty much the same way; on PC players are using different specs, different peripherals, etc, and those factors do make a difference. Gaming is best on a sofa in front of a big TV, and even Steam acknowledge that with their recent focus towards that market.
 
Mutsumi said:
PC is still a niche market in gaming, and will remain so unless it becomes more accessible. Consoles also provide a better, fairer multiplayer experience than PCs, because everyone is playing in pretty much the same way; on PC players are using different specs, different peripherals, etc, and those factors do make a difference.
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Isn't that a bit like saying racing teams shouldn't be able to tune their cars to give them better performance in a race? If everyone had to race in exactly the same car then it would be fair yes, but it would also be pretty boring. Tech matters just like individual skill.

Mutsumi said:
Gaming is best on a sofa in front of a big TV, and even Steam acknowledge that with their recent focus towards that market.
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Tch. Casuals.
 
I don't think comparing the experience as a spectator of racing to the experience as a player of gaming really works. Maybe watching a race that was completely fair would be boring (we can only speculate), but maybe it would be far more enjoyable to take part in?
 
Rui said:
What's wrong with there being more mobile games and things people ask for, like tacked-on multiplayer and DLC?
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Because most people are idiots, so they don't always ask for sensible things? The tone of the rest of your post suggests you were playing Devil's Advocate to at least some extent, though.
 
When the specs where released, i laughed at the 360 compared to the ps3 (the lack of bluray and simple rechargable controllers without intergrated litium ion batteries and instead vouched for the using double A's like a 20year old gameboy, no wifi built in and having to pay for online play and simple online apps like bbc iplayer/sky/whatever) with hindsight i'd have guessed that microsoft would pull no punches when it comes to their next gen console but once again they where short of the mark by a long chalk.

Mainly due to their greediness and big-headed, self absorbed ego's they forgot all about what the gamer wants and instead thought about giving us things we dont want and charging us OTT for crap tech. Sony on the other hand played things brilliantly, the controller release was just enough to start the ball rolling (in terms of interest and also giving microsoft the spotlight to see what they will come out with) the specs alone are a simple no brainer; with sony they are giving great memory and capabilities with options at the gamers fingertips and based around community alot more than their ps3 release.... they learnt their lesson and also gave the consumers what they wanted; a price that makes sense.

With Microsoft the guy who lost his job over those outrageous tweets where only a sign of things to come, now if anyone had a brain in the R&D team, they'd have screamed "this is going in the wrong direction" but nothing happened and because of their blatant disregard for their audiences wishes and focused more on how to swindle people out of their money for essentially a box that sits inbetween a skybox and a dvd player but with a large pricetag and more policies to choke the fun out of gaming than any other company have had the idiocy and audacity to even try, it was always doomed to fail. The 180 that the console now stands for is a much better name because it represents not only the direction of the policies and regard for consumer needs but also the direction that microsoft have gone in terms of capabilities when compared to the ps4.

Nintendo will continue to do as they have been for a few years now, just wandering along almost oblivious of the console war and will continue to bring out their new generation of console way ahead of the competition and also live directly off of the flagship games that built the company back from the brink "when the record isnt broke... dont try to fix it" seems to be their motto and i can't blame them, its almost as if they've seen a spot in the market that nobody else wants to consider... being 2nd/3rd place by choice means your young gamers just starting out will probably buy your console first as a stepping stone before they hit their teens and move onto a playstation.

Microsoft will continue to piss on their audience demographic and will never learn from their mistakes in time to truly make a come back but thats okay because microsoft's foundations lie with pc's and OS's rather than gaming, they'll always have that safetynet but will probably become skynet before long.

Sony will become the defacto gamers console company and their other ventures in phones and tv's will all become intergrated no doubt. eventually the smart phone games will be able to stream through to a sony device like the ps4 or a tv and hey presto they will be in the money, they'll continue to listen to their audience and respond to it well and hopefully that will never change.

Pc gamers i'd rather not mention because my personal opinion is that every few years they'll just keep upgrading their sound and graphics cards then their ram and their HDD's and then their cooling system and then a nice new monitor but in the long run waste more time and money... but hey, who am i to talk? I'm a certified technician and i like nothing more than to waste money tinkering and upgrading either a pc, laptop or my car.

All in all i'll be buying a ps4 but perhaps not the first model (that was the only fault with my 60gb, the thermal compound needed replacing every 2 years as sony only used the cheap stuff first turn around with a fan that wasnt up to the task, rectified well in the slim edition)
 
Mutsumi said:
I don't think comparing the experience as a spectator of racing to the experience as a player of gaming really works.
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Where did I do that? I was comparing PC gaming to taking part in a race where by selection of parts and settings you get to tune your setup to your liking. As Tachi says above, PC gaming is I think more appealing to people who are that way inclined and like to customise and have greater control over the performance of their computer. I just don't think you should underestimate the number of these people who exist - There are plenty of us who much prefer gaming sat a couple of feet away from a monitor sliding a nice high precision mouse around the desk than on the sofa struggling with an annoyingly inaccurate thumb-stick.

I have nothing against people who are primarily console gamers at all (Hell, I own a PS3) but I dislike the increasingly anti PC gaming stance both the industry and some gamers seem to be taking of late - We've already had to put up with more crap than anyone in the last few years what with having to wait months for shoddy ports and being the testbed for all kinds of sh*tty DRM.

In terms of these new consoles, I won't be getting either but from what I've seen I much prefer Sony's attitude. It's surprised me a little in fact - They do genuinely seem to understand their customers and are far more relaxed about everything. I might eventually get a PS4 (probably just for Gran Turismo) if I found myself with the cash to spare. I wouldn't have an Xbox One in my house if somebody paid me.
 
Xbox needed to do this to get the audience back, and even then i don't see this being enough to bring most of them back. Some are saying they'll consider either or now, which is a good sign for microsoft, but a lot aren't convinced. For starters, consider the fact that they just did a 180 here, they can do that again once they see the sales come in. They have the power to do that at any point they so desire. Will they? hard to say, but never say never with microsoft. Also the price point, £429 is way to high for the console, day one or otherwise. PS4 is still hella expensive at £349, but at least it is cheaper.

Now the other main issue with the console is games, or rather, lack there off. While this has addressed some of the concerns, my main thoughts still stick to the indie developers. Xbox are still forcing them to get publishers to release their games on the console. There is a reason why only two indie titles where going to xbox one. PS4 has 15, and the WiiU had 22. Throwing away the support of indies now is huge, especially with how big a scene in gaming its becoming. They need only say they can self-publish and remove those ridiculous $40k patch payments and things would change entirely.

On PC gaming, it's not as inaccessible as it once was, and i will continue to defend the PC gaming scene entirely as much as i can. There is a reason why nearly all e-sports are done on PCs(bar fighting games). Sure, having high specced PCs make things run smoother, but the more competitive a person is in a multiplayer game, the more likely they are to put all the settings to low. For those that don't go all competitive, you don't really need a super high specced PC to run everything. Take away the Witcher 2/3, Tomb Raider and a couple others and there isn't anything that can't run on 2-3 year old systems. There is no need to buy parts every 6 months. Anywho, enough of that, i'll leave that for another day
 
Right now, the Playstation 4 is ranked #2 on Amazon, whilst the Xbox One is ranked #69. Enough time has passed since their 180 that the news will have settled in and had all the effect it will do. I think it is going to be fanboys and sheep only on poor old Microsoft's first set-top box.
 
Unless it was a joke about the number 69, that joke has entirely missed me.

Also, I am sure that there will be many Xbones sold to the ignorant masses who, by their ignorance (in the most literal sense) are unaware of the controversy. Best hope the Xbone has a good 'ignore' function for when the 12 year olds start whinging and raging on CoD and other 18+ rated games.
 
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