Xbox One: Installs and Always Online

With E3 only a week away I thought it pertinent to talk some more about the Xbox One. I've already talked in depth about the reveal itself and what I thought Microsoft is actually trying to accomplish with the strategy it seems to be using so far. Since the reveal there has been uproar, confusion and now the internet has returned to a relative calm again, but I'm sure the waters will become turbulent again in just a few days. Before that happens I think I'll recap some information and my thoughts on the issues that got everyone riled up in the first place.

No need to worry about scratched discs anymore

Firstly lets start on a positive, or at least I see it that way; mandatory game installs. If you didn't know Xbox One will force you to install any game you want to play. Personally I already install whatever game I want to play to my HDD, this results in quicker loads and better texture streaming just for exercising a couple of minutes of patience once. If this process is now guaranteed and all users will be forced into this practice then developers can take advantage of this and improve the graphical fidelity of their games by coding them with this increased data transfer speed in mind. In what I thought to be a surprising move Microsoft will also use this install  to make your games playable without the need for you to have your disc in drive. Now it's not a big thing to get up off your ass and switch a game disc, but things for the end user have now been simplified again. This results in a new problem however, one publishers have been struggling with for years on the PC - authentication. Now obviously they don't want someone to buy the game, install it and then just pass the disc around to their friends - giving everyone access to a game one person bought. This leads us to one of the things the internet seems to be really down on - always online.

Use that Ethernet port, or the inbuilt wireless, just get it connected. It's not really that big of a deal.

Much ado was made about the Xbox One's supposed need to be always online. To me this is a non issue, my Xbox 360 is always online, as would most serious gamers I would think. I think this is just the way of the future, more and more devices will be always online, not less, and when a huge part of a devices feature set is online then it more than makes sense to try and incentivise this. Your PC is always online, your phone is always online, your laptop and iPad; they all offer services that require a connection. The internet is slowly becoming new technologies life stream. The Xbox One will offer a huge amount of online functionality, not the least of which is multiplayer gaming but add to this the new achievement systems (more on that in another blog entry), augmented TV, internet browsing, background updating and (if the hype is to be believed) cloud computing then online is pretty much mandatory anyway.

What about the user? As always the internet is prone to assumptions and great exaggeration while seemingly refusing to use any critical thinking. Something an exec says gets taken verbatim and applied as a blanket statement over everything. That brings me to what seems to be the widely accepted fact that you'll need to be online at least once every 24 hours otherwise your Xbox One might as well be a big black brick. This comes from a comment that was made in regards to how the Xbox One verifies ownership of games. To make sure you and you're friend aren't both playing the same game, your Xbox One needs to report to a server. Say you don't have internet for whatever reason, or you're away from internet access and you just want to play some single player you're stuffed right? Well I don't know what's officially been said but there seems to be an easy answer here; if you aren't able to be authenticated online you must have the disc in your drive to be able to play it. Easy right? That's the way your Xbox works right now, and this is the exact way DRM is managed on the Xbox 360 right now. That's right, your Xbox 360 has DRM and the way it's managed is widely accepted and is fairly reasonable.

When you download something on the Xbox 360, you get a license for the console you downloaded it on, and the profile you downloaded it with. This lets any user play the game on the original console, and it lets you go to a friends house and play the game there if you bring your profile. If you're being nefarious about it you could have a friend come over, buy a game with their account on your console giving you access when they leave, and then they go home and redownload it on their own console and their profile license would let them play it aswell. Lets think about how this would work with the Xbox One. You install the game onto your console, if it's online you can play without a disc, this is your profile license. It gets authenticated online and you're good to go. If you aren't online you must have the disc in, this would physically authenticate that you own a copy of the game this would be the console license. As you can see this is very similar to the way your Xbox 360 works now. This could also lead to a situation where two people or profiles could use one copy of a game to both have the ability to play it and I think that's where the problems arise. Microsoft obviously doesn't want this to become the norm, with two people basically buying half the games and sharing. They want them both to buy all the games, this is why they are sticking with their story so far and claiming online authentication is mandatory.

There will obviously be a way to play games while the system is offline, you'd be crazy to think otherwise. Microsoft doesn't want to alienate their customers and run the risk of losing sales. They are working on a way to reveal this while hiding the fact two people can share a game, with the caveat of one person having to be offline. By convincing everyone that they have to be online they lower the chances of people being able to share a game like this, they will then reveal a way that people can play offline and spin it in a way that won't immediately make people think they can share a copy of a game. Of course this is my theory, and I have no concrete evidence yet, but I'm putting it in writing now to be either proved wrong, or to point back at it in the future with a bit I told you so.

Again E3 is just around the corner and there are a few more Xbox One speculations I'd like to address and speculate on myself so expect Xbox One ramblings over the coming couple of weeks. That's it for this post, let me know what you think and leave a comment below. See you guys later.

Xbox One Reveal Thoughts

We're going to do something a little different that the normal review today. The Xbox One was announced last week and I refrained from making any real comments about it because there was a lot of conflicting reports on a whole range of issues. I wanted to get most of the details ironed out before I would commit a few thoughts to paper just to make sure the opinions I had were based on actuality and not something that wasn't a reality. I've got a lot to say so there will be more Xbox One features leading up to E3.

I'm digging the new gamepad. The new analog sticks
and the D-Pad look like improvements.

The big reveal was much maligned and disparaged by nearly everyone everywhere I went on the internet. I couldn't really understand why. That's a lie, I know why, it's the same why behind nearly every goings on in the world - people are self centered, selfish and arrogant as a whole. I'm not trying to insult what seems like nearly everyone on the internet but if they would take the time to step back and look at the reveal objectively I think it was pretty successful in what they were trying to do. This was a nationally televised conference in the United States and as such Microsoft wanted to reach out to the every man. This was not a reveal for the gamers.

Everyone complaining about the Xbox One is deep into games. They love them, it's a major part of what they do with their free time and they enjoy it. Microsoft knows this audience, they know what matters to them is games but lets face it, games are still looked down upon by most of the mainstream. Games are seen as a waste of time, and gamers are still maligned as geeks, nerds and social incompetents. Microsoft has since come out with the lofty sales goal of 1 billion console sales, which gamers have reacted to with bemusement, seeing it as proof Microsoft have gone batty and they would have, if they were targeting gamers. A quick look for Xbox 360 sales figures found that 77 million were sold worldwide, well short of the billion mark. Looking at their 1 billion aspiration and the previous super popular console sales number, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Microsoft might be losing their mind, but then remember the Xbox One reveal.

What's more mainstream than TV?

That's right, they weren't targeting gamers. They know most gamers will buy an Xbox One or an Playstation 4, and that's a battle they probably think they can win at a later date, say E3. This reveal they were targeting the mainstream. This is the first time anyone has seen the console, and they are televising it nationally. If they come out and reveal the console as just that, a console, the mainstream market will nod, put it in their collectively looked down upon console box and won't give it another thought. If they come out and reveal the console for something the mainstream market can use and position it as such, with games being a bonus feature, then all of a sudden they're a lot closer to that 1 billion sales mark.

Bundling a motion controller device with the new Xbox One
may be a play to recapture more of the Wii buyers.

Do I think Microsoft will hit their 1 billion sales mark? No, probably not, but they're fighting in a much larger area now. Collectively the sales for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii console total under 300 million (with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 both selling around 77 million each while the Wii reached 100 million). Now some people bought multiple consoles, and the Wii sales were mostly to people who don't buy consoles and the Wii ran away with it. I think Microsoft saw this and thought "Wii killed it by selling to the mainstream, and it was a dedicated games console. Imagine what we could do if we convinced the mainstream that this box enriches something nearly 100% of people do - watch TV, playing games is a bonus".

Now I hope I don't have to point out to people that companies are in business for one thing, and one thing only, money. Microsoft positioning the console this way does something they want - it gets their foot in the door for mass market adoption. This isn't guaranteed obviously and as such they need to be able to rely on their already established market to catch them if they fall. It's because of this that I find it funny people have been saying Microsoft has forgotten about the gamer. They need us, we're their safety net! They haven't forgotten about us - they're banking on us saving their ass if they fail. Obviously Microsoft has been putting the effort in to make a games console for us. They've been securing exclusives and trying to give us the best gaming experiences they can deliver. This just wasn't the time for them to show it to us, Microsoft knew this and tried to temper expectations. Microsoft came out and said before the reveal that it wasn't going to show games or talk to much about anything gamers would find particularly exciting and they're saving E3 for that.

E3 will govern if I return to the Playstation brand for the first
time since the original Playstation or if I forge ahead with
the Xbox path I've blazed the last 8 years.

Will this gamble pay off? Only time will tell, Microsoft obviously thinks they have a really strong E3 line up and maybe they do. Personally the Xbox One reveal was exactly that, they revealed a box, it's called the Xbox One. The other stuff they talked about did nothing for me. I learned a little bit about the console and learned a lot about how they are trying to sell this console to people that aren't me. E3 is coming and coming soon, and E3 is my time. E3 is when I make my decision on what this console holds for me. They will show games, people will be talking about games, and developers for the first time will be able to talk about working on the next generation of games a little more openly. E3 is games and games are what I enjoy, the Xbox One will play games, in fact, contrary to popular internet opinion, it's main focus is games. How they advertise the Xbox One to non gamers is just that, advertisement. Advertisement's job is to bend the truth and sell things to people that they wouldn't otherwise buy, and it's the mass market Microsoft is really trying to hoodwink here. The Xbox One is a games system and I can't wait for E3 to roll around so I can make a more informed decision on which game system is really for me.

Wednesdaily Update

Urgh, just go away Rad

Man Bionic Commando must be the most talked about game on this blog. Yes I'm still playing it. Yes I've made some more progress. Yes, it's still hard. Bionic Commando: Rearmed is almost infuriatingly hard, I can only play it in 30 minute chunks before I'm swearing and punching things. This has stifled my progress a lot as I can't just sit there and play for hours, but the end is slowly getting closer. I managed to pass another level today and I do feel things are getting easier, but not by much. There are 3 more levels to go and once again I'm here hoping to finish it very soon.

Xbox One, the future is coming real soon!

This hope is expedited because of last nights Xbox One reveal. The next generation now has a name and it's deadline is looming over me. I turn around and take a peak at my stack of unplayed games then think about the many other games I haven't even bought yet that I want to play and I don't know if I'll be anywhere near finished by the time Xbox One comes about. I'm not sure if I'll grab the Xbox One on launch, as I still will have a whole bunch of games to play, but then again I think I'm in this situation because I waited about 2 years before I got my Xbox 360 and I tried to catch up on that 2 year period, which never happened. To this day I think I am about 2 years behind on all the games I want to play. It's this thought that makes me not want to repeat this process again, but what about all the games I haven't played yet. Having two systems on the go just means needing even more time to devote to gaming. It's a tough spot to be in, but most first world problems are lol.

Used games always seemed like a rip off to me anyway.
Shops offer you less than you'd get if you sold them direct
on eBay then turn around and sell them for 5 dollars
cheaper than the new copy.

I've seen a lot of negativity over the Xbox One on the internet but I'm still pretty optimistic. The presentation didn't really offer much to the hardcore gamer in me but then again it wasn't aimed at me. The presentation was televised nationally in America, and catered towards mums and old people to let them know the reason they should buy an Xbox. Of course it still does games, it will do them better than the Xbox 360 but with all the hate I've been seeing online people don't seem to realise this. I've seen people saying consoles are over, mostly in relation to the way Xbox One will handle used and traded games. You can't trade in or buy used games on the PC anyway, they've had single use serial codes for years. The TV stuff is an addition, the internet and Skype functionality is an addition. I think come E3 there will be a whole heap of gaming news and everyone will be flocking back into the fold.

Xbox One drama aside, I've been spending some more time on my PC lately due to Bionic Commando: Rearmed infuriating me so much. I finished Evoland, which was an awesome game and you should really check it out. I'm not sure if I'll review it as it's not an Xbox related game, but if I ever find myself with nothing to talk about I might. Say something in the comments if you'd really like to hear something about it. I moved onto another PC game called Cook, Serve, Delicious which is a great game to play between spurts of Bionic Commando: Rearmed to compose myself. Cook, Serve, Delicious is an restaurant sim/action management game. You manage your restaurant, choose what food to serve and what to use your hard earned money on at the end of each day but you spend the bulk of your time serving orders to your customers in the form of many different fast paced minigames. It's pretty much a restaurant themed Warioware with a higher level macro sim game being played over the top in the down time between serving. It's a lot of fun and you should check it out. Cook, Serve, Delicious is perfectly paced to be played in 10 minute sittings, like breaking up your frustration playing Bionic Commando: Rearmed for example.

These last couple of blog entries have gone up pretty late, I apologise for that and I'm going to try and get back to my normal posting times. Especially now with my new found enthusiasm to push through and complete as many games as I can before the Xbox One comes out. I'll hopefully be online and gaming a lot more. Leave a comment, and I'll see you all Friday.