The Big Bad Console Thread - Sway your Station with an Xboner !

Zombie Thorne_sl

shitlord
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I still don't believe it. Maybe im just retarded, but what advantage would requiring a connection bring? I don't know, if it is true there must be a pretty amazing reason for it because the negatives are huge. I do wish they would just announce the damn thing so we know for sure.

Like I said earlier, I could dont have a dog in this fight. My money will go to whatever product meets my wants/needs.
 

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
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everyone shits on Nintendo's terrible online integration. where is your god now? ha.
 

Saladus

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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I still don't believe it. Maybe im just retarded, but what advantage would requiring a connection bring? I don't know, if it is true there must be a pretty amazing reason for it because the negatives are huge. I do wish they would just announce the damn thing so we know for sure.

Like I said earlier, I could dont have a dog in this fight. My money will go to whatever product meets my wants/needs.
There's a shitload of advantages, but NONE are for the consumer. On Microsoft's end, with "Always online," they can probably track-

-Average amount of time any individual plays
-Average time any individual logs on
-Your favorite genres to play
-What you use your Xbox for more often, gaming or media
-What you like to watch
-Who you play with often
-Insert any other stat tracking ability here...

They could use these stats all to their advantage, whether it be for advertising or to throw any other cash grab in your face.
 

Zombie Thorne_sl

shitlord
918
1
There's a shitload of advantages, but NONE are for the consumer. On Microsoft's end, with "Always online," they can probably track-

-Average amount of time any individual plays
-Average time any individual logs on
-Your favorite genres to play
-What you use your Xbox for more often, gaming or media
-What you like to watch
-Who you play with often
-Insert any other stat tracking ability here...

They could use these stats all to their advantage, whether it be for advertising or to throw any other cash grab in your face.
I totally understand that, but none of that is worth the loss of sales that would result in a required connection. Right?

From a simple business perspective, any potential loss in sales would have to be vastly outweighed by the advantages. So far I don't see a single advantage that even comes close to making up for the loss of potential sales. I see so many people just assuming MS wants to shit all over the consumer just for the hell of it... I don't buy that. MS hasn't always made the best decisions, but they are a very smart company and I don't see them doing anything like this without one hell of a reason that all but guarantees them sacks of money. None of the advantages of connection required will generate a large enough revenue stream to outweigh the negatives. Right?
 

fanaskin

Well known agitator
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it depends when you get very large you are in a position to shape trends instead of following trends, this is one of those times Microsoft decided to test what we would accept, because the upside is worth it for them in the long run, even if this goes away they will try again later eventually.
 

velk

Trakanon Raider
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The PS3 also works as a great media server
Did something change with this ? The PS3 used to be a horrible media server, interface functionality aside, it would only play a tiny fraction of media formats, including none of the popular ones - it was pretty much a case of needing a PC with some shitty on the fly transcoding software to play anything.
 

ZED_sl

shitlord
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0
But seriously, when does your internet ever go down for any longer than it takes to just reboot your modem/router? My internet is only down when my power is out, which is maybe once every few years.. and if your power is out you aren't doing shit, regardless.
Obviously, you don't have Comcast as an ISP.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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AT&T uverse is rock solid for me, that's for damn sure. At my last place I had comcast and it was garbage.
 

Fuya_sl

shitlord
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I find it comical that people are hating on a product before any announcements are even made on what it can or can not do. FFS there were still rumors on how the PS4 would have 4 gigs of ram up until the showing of the system. It's like you guys want drama. If you want to know if Johnny like Susie then why don't you ask the guy.
 

Falstaff

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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AT&T uverse is rock solid for me, that's for damn sure. At my last place I had comcast and it was garbage.
I've had U-Verse in 4 different houses (my parents + moved three times) and it's fantastic EXCEPT for the first week or two you have it. The connection constantly goes in and out and necessitates a router reset once or twice a day.

After that? Not a hitch. This has happened every single time to me.
 

Wombat

Trakanon Raider
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What's especially odd is that one of Gamestop's biggest growth sectors is codes for DLC. Sure, there are some paranoids that won't use credit cards online, but I have to believe the overwhelming majority of those people just don't have credit cards.

If they don't have credit cards, do they really have always-on internet? Requiring internet connections gets MS a lot of usage and ad data (imagine if Kinect 2 is allowed to phone home with gender/age/number of people recognition back to MS), but I think they are going to lose a lot of lower-income users. Whether MS cares (if MS sells the system at a loss for $100 and these people buy 3 games a year, how long does it take MS just to break even) remains to be seen.

I dunno, maybe MS and Sony can fumble their way into propping up the Wii U. Sony puts out an expensive, "high-end" console, MS puts out an always-online, no used/rental games console, and Nintendo sweeps up the Nintendo fanboys, the my first console batch, and the low income buyers.
 

Zombie Thorne_sl

shitlord
918
1
I think poor Nintendo is on the path to being irrelevant, at least in the console space. My 8 year old and all of his buddies could care less about the Wii U and don't care about Mario this or Zelda that. His entire class are Minecraft addicts... I think that says a lot about the company that once captured children's attention like nothing else.
 
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i can see the steambox being bundled with the oculus rift(OR) but only if it ships with hl3.
no word on ms/sony's end for OR support. ms mentioned some AR glasses in their patent and valve seems to be researching alot in that direction. would be great if they all had support for OR output instead of each company having their own proprietary vr headset ...at least, initially.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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I find it comical that people are hating on a product before any announcements are even made on what it can or can not do. FFS there were still rumors on how the PS4 would have 4 gigs of ram up until the showing of the system. It's like you guys want drama. If you want to know if Johnny like Susie then why don't you ask the guy.
I saw no outcry for the 4GB rumors that compared to the always online DRM.
 

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
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I don't give a shit one way or another.

If Microsoft blocks used games I'll gladly buy the competitors product. I get a ton of stuff either via Ebay or through gamefly (depending on my mood) and if they block that while the competitor still offers it I'll drop the 720 like a bad habit.

Same with always on DRM.

If both Sony and Microsoft go full retard at the same time then I'll dump consoles all together and just play on the PC.

Your serve Microsoft.
 

Lithose

Buzzfeed Editor
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But seriously, when does your internet ever go down for any longer than it takes to just reboot your modem/router? My internet is only down when my power is out, which is maybe once every few years.. and if your power is out you aren't doing shit, regardless..
I think most people here are NOT indicative of the greater U.S. Some of us are so hardcore we actually chose our housing based off of internet availability (It was a question I asked before my wife and I bought ours, lol) The fact is, the reason why his comparison to electricity was idiotic is because electricity has had 70+ years of heavy government subsidized infrastructure building behind it. You get stable power almost everywhere, even in the boonies because of this.

The internet, on the other hand, has only been laid for 20+ years? Not even...and it's been done mostly through highly monopolized subsidies pushed through private hands. And these companies have a rational reason to make sure their lines stay in a duopoly controlled market (So larger broadband expansion is not on their agenda--even though every other fucking western country has it and it's cheap as balls.)....They see the internet as the death of their middleman status with the media companies--right now, they make money hand over fist by controlling the largest market (TV) and making deals with various media control groups (IE you rub our backs, we'll assure your movie/show goes out to our TV market)--an open internet defeats that middle man status (Which is why Google wants these companies dead--they see a huge expansion in market potential by eliminating them), and so they purposely throttle their networks and keep line infrastructure at the bare minimum needed. They see the future and the future is companies like Netflix or Amazon Prime allowing independents to bypass them and release their shows online, which lets companies like Google make bank selling ad revenue (Which is the providence of these companies).

That is why net infrastructure in the U.S. is shit--and any comparison to electricity shows a SEVERE ignorance in terms of the U.S. market (And really market economics in general--utility delivery comparison to media delivery?). Frankly, I wouldn't buy from this guy just because he is showing his extreme lack of understanding about how the market, which he is supposed to be an expert in, is designed. I wouldn't trust him with even a few hundred dollars of entertainment money--he's a fucking moron for making that statement.


I don't need to be outraged at what they are doing, I am sure they have a really good reason for it. Whether that reason aligns with my needs has yet to be seen, but again I am not going to be outraged at what they are doing.
Normally, I'd agree with you...Internet tend to be outraged by everything and most of the time it's stupid. Usually idiotic decisions will be punished by the end consumer not buying things. However, this is a little different. The reason this is outrageous is because it's expanding the last 20 years of slowly eroding property rights by making digital ownership into "licensing". This is a pretty massive pillar of western society, and I'm not cool with Microsoft further fucking it up just to make a few dollars--this is not something we can simply vote with our wallets on, people really need to be educated about this and be active in watching legislation that further erodes ownership rights.

I said it in another thread, but as 3d printing becomes more advanced, and mass production becomes easier to miniaturize, this is going to be one ofthedefining issues of our time. So, outrage here...Is okay.
 

Zombie Thorne_sl

shitlord
918
1
However, this is a little different. The reason this is outrageous is because it's expanding the last 20 years of slowly eroding property rights by making digital ownership into "licensing". This is a pretty massive pillar of western society, and I'm not cool with Microsoft further fucking it up just to make a few dollars--this is not something we can simply vote with our wallets on, people really need to be educated about this and be active in watching legislation that further erodes ownership rights.
And this is exactly why I think the rumor about the required connection is bullshit. I just don't see a way they can monetize the benefits enough to outweigh the negatives.
 

pysek

It Didn't Happen, It Should've, and It Will.
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I certainly am not livid or kicking a dog over it, but if the rumor is true, my next console decision will be easy.