What a clusterfuck.

A console that pretty much requires always on connectivity.

You can't play borrowed used or rented games at all (unless you pay - ie buy the rights to the product through the console at full price).

Kinect comes with it and is required, which means if it breaks down your entire console is fucked.

You can watch tv on it.

Gates has been working towards the Shadowrun trid (your one stop device for all home electronics) for decades.  Unfortunately, consoles are always going to be shit, because they're years behind normal PCs in hardware.  The console might win, but it won't be through the free market deciding, it will be through Microsoft, Apple, Google, Sony etc strongarming the public by having no choice.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;657134You can't play borrowed used or rented games at all (unless you pay - ie buy the rights to the product through the console at full price).

Isn't that pretty much the Steam model?

Quote from: flyerfan1991;657160Isn't that pretty much the Steam model?

I've no idea, but it's the death knell for this console before it's even been released. The stupidest idea ever, I can't lend a game to a friend! Get to fuck Gates you greasy cunt.

All in the name of War on dr- Piracy, of course.

Quote from: flyerfan1991;657160Isn't that pretty much the Steam model?

it depends whether it tied to an account or only to the console. With Steam and you get a new PC, you can re download your games.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;657134You can't play borrowed used or rented games at all (unless you pay - ie buy the rights to the product through the console at full price).

Eventually this will be cracked.

More generally, pretty much just about every second DRM system has been completely hacked.  Even if it takes more than a decade to succeed.  (Some happened very quickly, like how fast the dvd and hd-dvd/bluray encryption systems were cracked).

None of the upcoming consoles look particularly attractive.

So far no dealbreakers.

Anybody else here who may considering the possibility of sitting out on this generation of upcoming consoles?

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;657177I've no idea, but it's the death knell for this console before it's even been released. The stupidest idea ever, I can't lend a game to a friend! Get to fuck Gates you greasy cunt.

Well, when I bought Skyrim for the PC from a big box store, imagine my surprise when I put in the DVD and discovered that all it did was install Steam and download Skyrim onto my PC.

I've a feeling that this is the direction that most game companies are going, because they're greedy.  They saw the model with Amazon's Kindle and said, "Hey, we can get that to work for us!"

They want to completely destroy the "first sale doctrine".

Quote from: ggroy;657194They want to completely destroy the "first sale doctrine".

The most bizarre thing is customer's support for this sort of thing. You can resell a book freely as you desire, and while it may be tarnished around the edges, the contents are still there, and that's what matters to most readers.

Steam works because, eventually, the prices come down to everyone's price level. Think a game is worth full price? Buy it at launch. Think it's worth less, fine, eventually that price will change. If you're interested in anything outside the AAA market, the developer will likely also sell it DRM-free somewhere.

The AAA market tends towards overpriced rubbish, but then again, that's what people have been buying, so that's what gets developed. The budgets are unsustainable and have been rising for years, hence the DLC pushes and restrictions on resale, because the market hasn't increased quickly enough to cover the budgets. When it collapses - and it will - it'll be the gamers who refused to look past the big-bidget titles that will truly be to blame.

I wouldn't buy a PS4 or an Xbone. Wii U, maaaaybe, I like Mario games, but I'm quite happy gaming on my PC, iDevices and 3DS.

Quote from: Rincewind1;657195The most bizarre thing is customer's support for this sort of thing. You can resell a book freely as you desire, and while it may be tarnished around the edges, the contents are still there, and that's what matters to most readers.

Which is the interesting thing; why should second-hand games cost any less? The data's the same. Maybe there's a tattier-looking booklet in the box, but who cares about that - you're paying for what's on the disc.

The majority of the market, though, just don't care.

Quote from: Ladybird;657202Steam works because, eventually, the prices come down to everyone's price level. Think a game is worth full price? Buy it at launch. Think it's worth less, fine, eventually that price will change. If you're interested in anything outside the AAA market, the developer will likely also sell it DRM-free somewhere.

The AAA market tends towards overpriced rubbish, but then again, that's what people have been buying, so that's what gets developed. The budgets are unsustainable and have been rising for years, hence the DLC pushes and restrictions on resale, because the market hasn't increased quickly enough to cover the budgets. When it collapses - and it will - it'll be the gamers who refused to look past the big-bidget titles that will truly be to blame.

Sounds very much like the tv/movie business.

From what I saw, and mind you I'm not a die hard gamer - that'd be my wife, I almost got the impression that all you can do with Xbox One is watch television, sports and play Call of Duty... none of which hold any interest for me.

My wife says that if there's not going to be any intertesting exclusives, she'll skip on Xbox One. And coming from her, that says a LOT.