Friday, June 7, 2013
6/7/13 3:00PM |
My Two Caps are opinion pieces regarding current events in the gaming industry. They are my personal thoughts, my two cents if you will, but I love the Fallout games, so I made it caps instead. Please don't sue me!
Xbox One: Who wants it?
Last night Microsoft detailed some of the more confusing aspects about the Xbox One. DRM concerns, Used games and trades were all addressed, as well has accessing your content from a different console. The end result has created understandable concerns for anyone who doesn't possess the optimal set-up for enjoying the Xbox One as a gaming machine. Like many of you, I fall into this category with different aspects of their plan.
You're able to purchase games digitally day and date of released retail titles
Of course this is something that Sony has been doing for quite some time now, and PC gamers have been able to do for years, but it's nice that Microsoft is doing this as well. This is also troubling for retailers, as it is much easier to download a game you've been waiting for and start playing rather than driving to a store.
More details will have to be revealed about this as well, since pre-order incentives are the main reason I purchase certain games, and going strictly digital will cost more than simply trading in games or renting new titles. This ability works fine for say the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS because digital games are usually priced lower, and portable titles are always less expensive than console games. My suggestion is to lower the cost of these digital games.
Say Grand Theft Auto V comes out on Xbox One. I know I would go back to it from time to time, so why not make it $49 or $39 to purchase digitally, since you wouldn't be getting a physical disc to add to your shelf. Instruction Manuals have almost become non-existent as a money saving factor according to publishers, so wouldn't it make sense that not having to print a lot of discs and cases would help as well, allowing for them to sell games at a lower price?
You can let up to 10 family members play your games
Sounds cool, right? Anyone who has access to your account can play any game you buy. Only apparently this is for two people at a time, with you being one and a family member being the other. Simultaneous play is allowed for two players, basically. Everyone one else can play when no one else is. That's sort of how it works for Xbox 360 at the moment. I can download a game, say Trials HD from my account, which I have on a friend's Xbox. I can then go home and play the game, granted I'm connected to Xbox Live.
My friend can also play the game, because it was downloaded on his Xbox. We can play together, but only the two of us, unless someone else from his Xbox logs in to play.
The issue about having to be connected at least once a day to play games is in fact true
This is where things go sour, and one of the major negative points being discussed across the net. Microsoft will allow us to play our games offline for up to 24 hours, during which time an authorization check will incur.
According the the Xbox One FAQ, this process is "designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend. Games that are designed to take advantage of the cloud may require a connection." If the console is unable to check for verification, you can't play any game on the console.
I'm usually online when I play my Xbox 360, whether I'm playing a game or not, but there have been times, say roughly 10 or so a year, where I lose Internet for long periods of time either due to a power outage, storm, or simply not choosing to be online. With the Xbox One, during these times I would not be able to play a game. This is not consumer friendly for anyone, but look at this one:
Anyone with access to your account on another console will have to be verified every hour to play
Every. Single. Hour. Once a day you can at least, kinda, sorta, understand... maybe? But Every hour? Now sure, letting friends play your game is cool, but now you have to limit them, Microsoft? This needs to change. But, what if Tazz-E-Boy from reddit is on the money? He wrote this:
"I have a prediction this is a radical new marketing technique. After everyone uncovers all the problems Microsoft will fix 100% of all the problems a month before the release as a demonstration of how well they listen to their consumers. They will pull some lame shit like "You talked. We listened. This is the game console YOU helped design."
Now, that would be interesting.
I don't want this to be too long, so I'll stop here. Well... after this bit. According to the FAQ, Publishers can either say yay or nay to letting you lend games and trade games. Microsoft is leaving it up to them. EA just got rid of online passes for current consoles. Hmm...
Well, I hoped you enjoyed the first of many My Two Caps. Bottom line: Microsoft needs to have have an amazing E3 to garner the audience that is losing interest in their new console.
Source of FAQs: Major Nelson's Blog | Source of Image: Empireonline
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