Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

[japlytic]

http://www.myce.com/news/microsoft-w...xt-xbox-66069/

Another problem is when your Internet connection drops out, so does your game.

Has Microsoft become complicit in anti-competitive conduct?

[kaboom]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

The steam addicts will just think it's normal. After all, their 'service' already does this.

From Micro$haft, with love.


To answer your q, yes they have, and were doing so for a while.

[lti]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

I think Sony is doing the same thing.

It's strange to see Sony and Microsoft using low-end PC hardware, but that might be a good thing. The developers might start making games that don't overuse visual effects to force people to upgrade their computers. Some games actually look more realistic at the lowest quality/detail settings.

[momaka]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

The way this is going, I forsee in the not-so-distant future M$ trying to enforce a system to charge the end user every time they turn on their console. Maybe they'll do the same with Window(s) too.

The steam addicts will just think it's normal. After all, their 'service' already does this.

I hate Steam with a passion as well. I don't even want to talk about it - that's how much I hate them.

I still have my original Half Life and Counter-Strike CDs - now those didn't even have SecureROM or any other type of disc-copy protection. 15 years later and where are we now? :P

[earnold25]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

GameStop will def take a hit if this happens.

[Shocker]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

I'd like Microsoft to tell me what they're smoking.

I don't know if I'll EVER buy another Microsoft product.

(Side note: I think there should be an industry-standard filesystem. Having to use different programs is something I can accept as long as they are compatible with the same file formats. Incompatible filesystems are not something I approve of. I might start another thread with a poll.)

Anyway, you can be assured that I will NEVER buy the next Xbox (whatever it's called).

[Topcat]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

<-- Has never bought a game console....so I don't have to worry about it....

[momaka]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

Anyway, you can be assured that I will NEVER buy the next Xbox (whatever it's called).

Add me to that list.

And speaking of Steam in my previous post, just a day or two after I posted that, I tried to play some oldschool HL DM online again. As soon as I loaded Steam, it gave me a message about HL that read something like "this game now uses an old unsupported format and needs to be converted/updated. This may take a few minutes' time."
My reaction: FUCK YOU STEAM, this is my game! Of course, I wanted to play online so I had to update it. After the update, the in-game menus in HL no longer work properly (many of the buttons are missing or have white squares instead of text all over them). That aside, at least they made it so that if your game is running the same resolution as your desktop, the refresh rate won't be forced to 60 Hz - which is nice since I am using a CRT monitor set at 85 Hz and before HL would force me in 60 Hz mode. But I wonder what else the update broke. I haven't had much time to play, so I guess I will see as I go along.

[Rulycat]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

I know I can go on about it but the EU Commission will be all over this like flies over excrement. They love fining Microsoft and making them jump through hoops.

[shovenose]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

<-- Has never bought a game console....so I don't have to worry about it....

Same here! If I play a game at all, it's on the PC - where I can do whatever I want with it
GTA IV has an annoying integration with Windows Live Games though

[lti]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

<-- Has never bought a game console....so I don't have to worry about it....

I haven't bought one either.

[Heihachi_73]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

The only thing keeping consoles in business is marketing and lock-in licensing, and ignorance if anything. I wouldn't be surprised if all of the major game companies happily ported their titles to AppStore (= $$$), smartphones and tablets, but completely ignored the PC.

Your above Grand Theft Auto maker Rockstar Games has been doing that since GTA 3 in 2001, despite Grand Theft Auto having its roots as a PC game from the beginning (GTA 1 and 2, and two London mission packs for GTA 1). For the modern games, it's always been PlayStation first, Xbox second, Windows a year later (ironically, they have ignored Nintendo each time, only giving them lower quality top-down and 2.5D games specifically designed for their handheld systems rather than the GameCube, Wii or WiiU).

I say Windows when talking about PC games because 99% of games that ever end up on PC will be for Windows and Windows only, locking out anyone with a Mac or Linux system. Blizzard went one step further with the PC, remember when people were running World of Warcraft through Wine on Linux and having their accounts banned for doing so?

But yes, boycott anything which can even detect a second hand item to start with. Refusing to accept a second hand item (e.g. a DVD) is as ridiculous as Obama's Cash For Clunkers program. "Who needs a second hand car, or second hand parts for their car, when they can simply go out and pay $30000 for a new car, and then $30000 again for a new car when that car needs its first service." News flash bureaucrats and politicians, Average Joe doesn't make $60000 every 6 months in 2013. Yes, you might be able to buy a cheap and nasty car for under $10000, but do you want a Proton or Lada or Great Wall/Chery as your daily driver?

[cheapie]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

I only play FOSS games on PC.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

Blizzard went one step further with the PC, remember when people were running World of Warcraft through Wine on Linux and having their accounts banned for doing so?

What does Blizzard have to gain from that? Did Microsoft buy Blizzard?

[japlytic]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

Microsoft listened to critics: http://www.myce.com/news/microsoft-h...allowed-67561/

[c_hegge]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

Kinda saw that coming. M$ will usually change their rules if they get enough backlash.

[cheapie]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

I only play FOSS games on PC.

..and now I play much more than just that. I'm rather inconsistent. Still just PC though.

[Elysarian]

Re: Next Xbox blocks secondhand games

Maybe I'm a cynic but my thought was along the lines of "They probably planned it this way all along to get a massive free publicity boost" when I heard about the U-turn...

My next console will still be a PS4 but it's unlikely I'll be an early adopter (we waited almost a year on the PS3)

Never owned a M$ console and never will, only microsoft-based gaming I do is on PC - the consoles in our house are: PS3, WII, DSi and 3DS with two gaming PC's for her indoors to play Sims 3 and myself to play Skyrim and some retro games.