Microsoft reverses Xbox One DRM features: Xbox One-80

[Avitar]

It's official, Microsoft just published a complete reversal on Xbox One DRM Policies.

The important parts:

- No more always online requirement
- The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
- All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
- An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
- All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
- No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
- Region locks have been dropped

Because of this, the new console should now be called "Xbox One 80".

Statement from Don Mattrick, President, Interactive Entertainment Business:

Last week at E3, the excitement, creativity and future of our industry was on display for a global audience.

For us, the future comes in the form of Xbox One, a system designed to be the best place to play games this year and for many years to come. As is our heritage with Xbox, we designed a system that could take full advantage of advances in technology in order to deliver a breakthrough in game play and entertainment. We imagined a new set of benefits such as easier roaming, family sharing, and new ways to try and buy games. We believe in the benefits of a connected, digital future.

Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback. I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One.

You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world.

So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console -- there will be no regional restrictions.

These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.

We appreciate your passion, support and willingness to challenge the assumptions of digital licensing and connectivity. While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds.

Thank you again for your candid feedback. Our team remains committed to listening, taking feedback and delivering a great product for you later this year.

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/19/xbox-one-80-microsoft-reverses-xbox-one-drm-features/

[shamu726]

Back to reality: Microsoft's new Xbox One policies retreat from the future

Careful what you wish for

Last week at E3, in a private room inside Microsoft's massive, green booth, Marc Whitten spent most of our interview talking about the future. "As we think of the next five to ten years of innovation," he said, "we're going to be able to drive really great new experiences. I'm personally most proud of the Xbox 360, and how different the 360 is from what it was in 2005. And that's all about making really big platform bets and bets about the future of entertainment." Whitten would talk about the launch experience at times, but he was much more interested in finding ways to guide Xbox users to the brave new connected world of gaming and entertainment.

Which made today's abrupt about-face all the more surprising. Microsoft announced that the Xbox One will no longer check to see if you're online every 24 hours, and it won't impose any restrictions on disc-based games. The changes address two of the biggest criticisms with Microsoft's plans — points Sony rammed home during its own E3 press conference — and Whitten said it's all about listening to users. "What we've heard is that people love our games, love the entertainment experience," he said in an interview after today's announcement. "Frankly they love the vision of what Xbox is. But they've also told us very clearly that they want choice. They want the choice to use their games on physical discs just like they always have, and they want to be able to use their Xbox when they can't connect to the internet. And we listened."

The changes aren't completely terrible — today's move breathes life back into the used game market and, perhaps even more importantly, makes the One usable without a stable internet connection. But in reality, Microsoft may have listened a little too hard. Its policy changes are drastic, and they bring a couple of problematic consequences. If you buy a game on a disc, you'll always have to have the disc to play the game, and the Xbox's family sharing plan that would have allowed up to 10 people to share a game library is now pretty much defunct. Fast switching between games is also dead on arrival, unless you've downloaded massive digital titles to the console's hard drive. You'll still be able to access games you downloaded from any Xbox, of course, which Microsoft seems to hope means you'll download a lot more games. The sharing service could be similarly tied only to digital downloads, and why it's gone completely isn't exactly clear.

Whitten talked constantly about giving users "choices," but in doing so Microsoft has brought its futuristic vision crashing back to the present. The company so intent on moving its users into a world full of online single-player games and driveatars now offers gamers a way to use their One almost exactly like they used an Xbox 360. Whitten hopes the advantages are enough to drive people online, though. "We're still very excited about those features, and we think most people are still going to play in this digital, connected experience. They're going to play games like Titanfall and Forza that take unique advantage of the cloud to really change the experience."

Most gamers will still buy into Microsoft's vision, he said, and that vision hasn't changed a bit. "We believe most people will choose to be connected, and play online, because just what they can do is so powerful with the architecture of Xbox One."

One rigid, controversial requirement Microsoft's not changing its mind about? The always-on Kinect. "Kinect is a core part of our architecture," Whitten said, "and how we believe the experience can be transformed. When people get a chance to see how Kinect can transform gaming even with a gamepad in my hand… they love it. And we want to make sure there's a consistent experience that goes along with it, so that anywhere I am I can say 'Xbox TV' or 'Xbox Home' or 'Xbox go to Halo.' And that we believe is critical to the evolution of the gaming experience in the living room."

Only a week ago, Microsoft seemed to believe that an always-on, always-listening, always-connected expereience was also critical to the evolution of the gaming experience. But now, by offering buyers the option to game nearly the same way they did in 2005, it's turned a bold, next-gen console into something that feels all too familiar.

Source: The Verge

[alaindc]

PS3.5 and Xbox 360-2 will be the nextgen offer.

The Futur of gaming just die in the present...

Again, developpeurs wont have money for used game.

[bwop]

That article posted on The Verge might be the single stupidest thing I've ever read.

[Avitar]

PS3.5 and Xbox 360-2 will be the nextgen offer.

The Futur of gaming just die in the present...

Again, developpeurs vont have money for used game.

[Avitar]

That article posted on The Verge might be the single stupidest thing I've ever read.

Agreed. Someone just had to come put an article like that up after mine. As if to say mine wasn't good enough... even after I summarized it all.

[Matsuda]

[MidnightDistortions]

Physical gaming has always been my preference. It's the same as buying music on a cd rather than on the internet. I rarely buy digitally. It makes sense that many gamers feel this way. Maybe when humanity stop being so greedy that's when moving to digital format would be fine.