Internet connection required
Another rumour on IGN about requiring an always on internet connection to use it. I hope these are wrong, otherwise my 360 is going to be sitting in my living room for a few more years yet.
The next Xbox will be called the Xbox Infinity, if a piccy of an allegedly leaked logo is to be believed. Or perhaps it’ll just be plain Xbox, as a separate, equally unofficial, just as questionable logo suggests. The Xbox Infinity - not actually a name, just the word XBOX with an infinity symbol superscript - and the tagline …
It cam fast in the tracks of the Always On DRM in SimCity - which was universally hated - I think a lot of people didn't distinguish.
The question should be - Why does a box you play games on need to be online all the time? What else is it doing? If it is set up download the 2 hour long patch for online gaming for a game I am using, then fair enough.
I dusted off a PS3 to play Little Big Planets, and gave up because of the download times... so that is one thing.
We had a lightning strike in our village that took out the mains power for half a day (I think,) and phone lines for over 3 days. (Also destroyed someone's chimney in quite spectacular fashion.) If you can't use the Internet, it would at least be nice to use your console. Granted, it's an unlikely scenario, but ...
Because it's entirelyt unnecessary for any reason that's of benefit to me, it's only a benefit to microsoft.
And it's part of the slow erosion of ownership . I will own my xbox but I won't be able to use it without it checking in to microsoft's servers for no reason other than to enforce the fact that they control what can be done with the machine, not the person who bought it.
It's not an terrible thing in ittsself, it's what it represents. Would you buy a washing machine where every time you wanted to use it you had to call the manufacturer and ask their permission to do so, and the could at some point just say no you need to buy a new machine? Of course you wouldn't, it would be terribly intrusive and of no benefit to you, so why accept this?
Because penetration of high-speed broadband is terrible, especially in the United States. Even in major metropolitan areas you can't always get a good, reliable connection. There are tons of internet dead zones where you just can't get any sort of reasonable hookup.
Me, for instance. I don't live in the middle of nowhere; I'm in a suburb of a small city. There's no wired internet on my street. No cable, no DSL, no nothing. All the streets around have it, just not this one. (Cable won't run up here because 'everyone already has a dish for their TV'.)
This is a lot more common than people think.
(My choices for internet are 3G cellular, at $70 a month and they recompress every single jpeg that coms over; Satellite, at $400 install and $80 a month for a tiny cap and latency so terrible you can barely run a shell terminal, much less play a game; ISDN at $700 a month; or a T1 at $2600 a month.)
I already have enough problems with Steam deciding I can't play my games because it can't phone home. I don't need that on my consoles, too.
Had a problem with BT Infinity + two weeks ago due to the weather. Loaded up Fallout with some DLC. Because the game couldn't connect to the internet (ok it did warn me I wouldn't be able to play the DLC but didn't fully appreciate what that meant) it stripped me of all my DLC perks (including those I picked during level up) and gear I had earned in them (though not the levels thankfully). I only had the autosave as I don't want to have the old I'll load twenty saves ago and it it this was instead trick as I wanted a bit of a challenge.
Every time I fire the xbox up it kicks every other device in the house off the broadband and they have to reconnect so now I generally play off line unless I want to play multiplayer (or need to prove I paid for dlc (bloody DRM)). If the next one makes even bigger demands on the bandwidth and needs it or it won’t work, there’s just no point. BTW I live in a fairly decent sized town about four or five miles from two exchanges and the broadband service from every provider is pathetic. Only BT fibre offers me faster (only just) access than on my phone no one else is going to pay to install or upgrade equipment here.
Maybe you are.
Your internet connection breaks. Your ISP says it will take 6-10 Working days to fix. You decide to sit down and play a singleplayer game to take the edge off.
The game, and I stress this again, is singleplayer. it runs completely on your console, not some remote server. It uses no online content at any point.
But you can't, because some idiot decided that your console shyould always be online.
A few months later, you decide to visit some relatives. These relatives live in a rural area where internet connections are spotty... so they never bothered with one.
You thought you might take your console to play a few party games that have no online component
But you can't, because some idiot decided your console should be online only.
When it comes to "online only", the question shouldn't be "Why not", but "Why the hell should it be?".
"I see lots of posts about this but I don't really see an issue these days with high penetration of broadband and high speed services now. Maybe I am missing something though!?"
#1 Reason: Power Failure: Can't access internet or work from home. But hey I've got plenty of juice in the laptop battery so I'll play a SINGLE-PLAYER game.... No Sorry! Always-on DRM, prevents you from playing an offline single-player game!!!
Power failure is relatively easy to work around. Few 12V batteries + car adapter can power a laptop for days. And it's probably not too geeky to possess such artifacts.
Resisting all that newfangled onlineware is a much more daunting task. This will certainly draw lots of suspicion, accusations, insults. From relatively mild "what's wrong with being online" and "that's where the technology is evolving", to more hysterical accusations of general backwardness. Eventually reaching for the accusations of evil geekery.
/a no-line coat, thank you very much/
"Can I ask why?" :-
I posed this before... As a games designer not living in perfect Stepford-Silicon-Valley... I can think of 6 quick reasons connections to games servers can be routinely interrupted or severed :-
1. Laptop power failure: i.e. Auto-sleep mode triggered due to power cable slipping out of laptop unnoticed.
2. Power outages: i.e. Total power loss to your Router after a storm even if the laptop runs off its battery.
3. Wi-Fi signal temporarily goes out of range / Router crashes / Router resets itself or changes channel.
4. Wi-Fi interference from 3rd party devices in nearby dwellings operating on same gigahertz freq.
5. Regional problems: Telcos exchange maintenance / capacity upgrades / Utility accidentally severs cables.
6. Local problems: Office building re-wiring maintenance / nearby apartment building rewiring maintenance.
"There were rumours the PS4 would be like that too. They are merely rumours."
Sony officially denied those rumours. The PS4 *WON'T* require an always on connection.
The funny thing is, despite the UBER backlash since the "Orthgate", Microsoft never did any damage control to officially deny the always on requirement on the next Xbox. This is so negative to their business that they would have denied it if it wasn't true.
"Microsoft never did any damage control to officially deny the always on requirement on the next Xbox. This is so negative to their business that they would have denied it if it wasn't true."
Microsoft hasn't released ANY details about the new XBox. Are you suggesting that fanbois are getting so angry about this whole notion of "always on" that they will refuse to buy a new Xbox even if it turns out that it can be used offline? You won't be able to buy one of these boxes for months after the May 21st reveal anyway, so how damaging can it really be to wait until May 21st to address this issue?
> Give how many people are obsessed with online play you obviously realise that the majority of serious gamers would laugh at any system that was completely offline?
The issue is not either on or off. It is requiring online connection for games that are single player.
The way our PS3 is now is fine. If you want to play online, you can, but you don't need an internet connection to play an offline game.
It's all about more control for the manufacturer / content provider and less for you, the customer. Simple as that.
Potential problem with Microsoft business model for the new Xbox:
1- Your console, games and accessories has an expiration date on them. Because it's always on, the day Microsoft eventually / inevitably discontinue server support is the day they decide ***FOR YOU*** it's time to upgrade.
2- You don't own anything anymore, you rent the right to use. So when MS pull the plug on the server connection, you'll be the proud owner of a useless >1200.00$ paper weight with no resell value whatsoever.
3- If ANYTHING of the following fails for 3 minutes and the problem persist for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week or 1 month, no gaming for you until it's fixed: Xbox network card, router, modem, ISP connection, anything between your ISP and Microsoft server, Microsoft server themselves or even humans error on MS end.
4- 500GB hard drive on every model and game full install on hard drive for every game imply controlling and blocking second-hand game. Not only your game will have ZERO value when the console become unusable as per point 1, but the game you just bought an hour ago has zero resell value on DAY 1, reinforcing the renting philosophy of point 2
5- Point 4 also indicate that MS will completely discontinue physical media distribution (DVD/ Blu Ray) to force you to purchase and download all your content directly from the Microsoft store. That fit with their recent massive cloud / online push with Office 365, Windows 8 Metro store for PC, phone and tablet and now the new console. MS will control everything from top to bottom with no competition to drive the cost down. A digital gulag with Balmer as its master.
6- At least a gold subscription is mandatory for EVERYTHING, even to use something as insignificant as Youtube. That would obviously include access to the MS store to purchase your other stuff!!! You need to pay Microsoft in order to have the right to buy stuff. Isn't that great?
7- Pay to win. More and more games have payable "DLC", some borderline necessary to complete the game. You end-up paying many times the original price of the game. This is not a problem exclusive to Microsoft, but they didn't addressed it either, they encourage it. Especially now that everything will go through their MS store.
So basically, MS business model is the following: "We don't give a f*ck, we got you by the balls anyway, we control everything, shut-up and give us your money".
They want to create a closed ecosystem concentration camp where you have no power, where you pay for everything but own nothing, with a recurrent renting scheme where you are never done sending them money over and over again, for the rest of your life.
Even if only half of this is true, Sony is 12 billion percent guaranteed to get my business this round.
Don't forget there are two separate but linked products carrying the xBox name - the console, and on-line gaming service/app store. Something about the colour scheme and font makes me think that perhaps the second photo refers to the on-line service, which has been referred to as plain "xbox" for a while now.
GJC
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Piro, I'd say the same about Inifity, its sound like Buzz Light Years games console - but that is a personal opinion. Now if you can't offer a reasonably intellectual answer, please don't bother posting, or at least do yourself the favor of posting AC to avoid making yourself look like a moron.
... the new console will be called the "XBox London Underground" at launch. Untold millions of dollars will be spent building brand awareness and generally pumelling the name into the heads of teenagers everywhere.
Shortly before actual shipping the name will change to "XBox splendid" and Microsoft will claim "London Underground" was only ever a development codename.
Y buy one? I've always hated console controllers. Y design a controller that uses the LEAST dexterous of our five digits as the primary controller? It's nearly as bad as the controls in a car. Motorcycles have a much more sensible layout. I'd far rather have a keyboard and mouse any day of the week. As for Kinect,... watching my neighbour dance, twitch and fall over is moderately entertaining, until he notices me laughing at his epileptic spasms and closes the curtains.
Personally the always on idea doesn't bother me that much, I have a couple of Virgin Tivo's and they are effectively always on, to virgin anyway.
What concerns me more is the fact that the onboard Kinect v2 can theoretically examine a room and determine how many people are in it when watching a movie and duly charge for each person watching. If this turns out to be true, Virgin media will be getting my money for latest releases even if they aren't in full HD.
I know im old fashioned but I enjoy having a few mates round, getting some beers and pizza and playing split screen, it used to be a case of a range of titles and types could be played, everything from fighter jets to FPS, to RPGs, now if I want to play anything other then Fifa or Call of Duty with my friends we have to do it online, its taken to social aspect of gaming away completely.
Pretty sure these are both fan art. Microsoft is going for a more unified branding across products and these don't fit.
My broadband isn't particularly reliable at the mo (damn you Sky), but I don't really care about always online. If I buy a new console it will be the one offering something new and interesting. From what is rumored from MS and Sony so far, it might be a Steam box with an Oculus Rift.
Surely it would be the other way around.
Most people (if not all) who have an xbox already have an internet connection - I don't see many new broadband customers from the always on feature - but I can see Virgin/BT etc getting annoyed at a jump in bandwidth utilisation.
Remember that when BBC introduced iPlayer the ISPs weren't happy, as they rely on you not using the bandwidth you pay for.
I didn't see anyone mention forced advertising and Kinect integration ala http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/15/interactive-nuads-xbox-360-kinect/
That's why "always on" is going to be mandatory. DRM is already good enough against the majority of gamers.
Should be interesting to see how this goes down in the EU and other areas with some semblance of privacy protection.
Someone pays for that internet bandwidth. I remember when my plan limited the # of MB (not GB). The early internet aware games had a local mode and and internet (network) mode. Why is this so difficult to understand.
However, for all of you complaining, why did u buy the stupid game anyway? I personally don't buy anything with a subscription or that requires on-line connections. If consumers revolted en masse, do u think MicroSucks would adapt? What about EA games?
Fort those of you that say it is no big deal to have the internet on always requirement, I liked the washing machine analogy in another post. Why would I call the maker to get permission to do laundry and buy a new machine after 3 years of use because they don't support it?
In general, I think those who disagree with their policy but buy their games promote the environment they curse.