Micro$oft has performed a 180
News is popping up from many different sources including IGN and Kotaku that Microsoft has rescinded on basically all of its draconian policies. The XBOX One no longer turns into a brick that only plays TV now when you don’t check in online every 24 hours. The XBOX One will now allow offline video game playing, however you will still require an internet connection to initially set it up. DRM is supposedly dead for now on the XBOX One. Region locks have been removed. It seems for the moment anyway that Microsoft has removed all the extremely restrictive features from their newest creation. The Kinect however, still mandatory for the system to function.
Don Mattrick President of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft basically said this today, “Nobody wanted to buy our system,” (Look it up, a poll on Amazon yesterday had an overwhelming 95% stating they are buying a PS4 over an XBOX One) Don continues, “because no one wants to buy our system the way it is, which honestly may have had some really cool stuff on it but we acted like such arrogant douche bags about the whole thing we never even tried to tell gamers why we we’re implementing this new infrastructure for the XBOX One. We are going to go back on basically everything we said we were going to do. (KINECT STILL MANDATORY) Everyone seems to really, really, REALLY HATE the policies that we have with our new system and Sony isn’t going to do basically any of them. Given the fact that there is an overwhelming disdain for the XBOX One and I am literally sitting on what is and still potentially could be an XBOX One themed landfill. We here at Microsoft have decided instead of proceeding with what is at the moment a COLOSSAL FAILURE in the eyes of millions and millions of wallets world wide, me and my friends stand to lose a lot of cash, I mean ahem, the fans seemed not too fond of some of the XBOX One’s new features and we don’t want to let our fans down so we are going to end DRM”
In an YouTube interview on the Angry Joe Show a representative from Microsoft, “Major Nelson” arrogantly condescended to Joe as he politely asked honest questions about the restrictive nature of the XBOX One. Even going so far as to ask Joe “Don’t you want to come to the future with me Joe?” Joe wasn’t allowed to finish his answer as the interview was cut short but he later said I do want to go to the future of gaming but I want to own my games not rent them from you.
There are so many things to think about now that Microsoft has rescinded on DRM and most of its other restrictive features. (EXCEPT FOR the always on KINECT which supposedly now has a “sleep mode but its still listening for “certain keywords”) For one thing if Microsoft was so sure that there business model for the XBOX One was the “future of gaming” then why not stick to your guns? Another thing to consider now is that even though it appears that Microsoft is rescinding on its policies we all now know what there real thoughts of the consumers are and where there true intentions lie. They don’t care about the gamers at all. What they wanted was a micro-transaction paradise filled with “free to play” titles, “the first one is always free.” A dystopian future where no one owns there games they simply rent them from Microsoft. “Hey I am not really crazy about this game I just got can I bring it back?” No, well that’s OK I will just give it to a friend. “Your not allowed to have friends unless Microsoft says its OK!” “Hey I am a soldier overseas and after a day full of getting shot at and protecting my homeland I like to come back to base and play some video games, its cool I don’t have any internet connection out here right? I just want to play some single player games anyway.” Fuck you! You want to play video games, buy an XBOX 360 the XBOX One is not for you!
Even though Microsoft has rescinded these absolutely despicable policies. It is really hard to forget that Microsoft was willing to enforce such brutal restrictions on its loyal fans, the people who built the XBOX brand. The people without whom Microsoft wouldn’t even be here at this moment to release a third console! To top it off the non-existent effort made by Microsoft to politely explain the purpose of its policies, such as implementing DRM or a system that becomes useless if you don’t plug it in to the internet every twenty four hours, and not explaining these features in a way that is easily understandable to the average person is very unsettling. How can you trust them if they can not give you a straight answer? Instead Microsoft’s approach was very arrogant, very condescending. They acted like people should just “lie back and take it” as is so famously quoted now in there Killer Instinct stage demo during there E3 conference. Watch the interview with Don Mattrick and Geoff Keighley on the Gametrailers channel and also watch the interview that Angry Joe did with “Major Nelson” on YouTube they are pretty telling of the mindset at Microsoft upon releasing this abomination into the mass populace.
The only thing I could really think of when considering how Microsoft could be so disconnected from their core audience is that maybe they never actually polled their core audience. Maybe everyone who tested an XBOX One wasn’t primarily a console gamer but a PC gamer and that is why Microsoft actually thought designing the XBOX One the way they did was a good idea. PC gamers are used to DRM with online gaming however they still have a choice as to where to get there games. Ultimately I think Microsoft is not wrong in thinking that the future of gaming is digital. I do however think forcing it down our throats with a smug disposition really was not a great approach. Sony and the PS4 definitely seem like a better ship to be on these days if your a gamer. How will the console wars end up? That is a hard one to answer but its easy to see that Sony and the PS4 have a strong lead, and rightfully so with its gamer friendly culture it seems a much better place to be gaming right now.
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