Microsoft Listens: XboxOne Reverses Course On DRM Policies. No Online Check. 1-Time Online Setup Still Required. Lending, Renting, Borrowing Disc-Based Games Same As On Xbox 360. XboxOne Is Region-Free

#Xbox180

Microsoft listened and XboxOne has reversed course on nearly all of the stifling DRM and XboxOne Used Games policies that have drastically hurt Microsoft’s image since they announced the system.

Now however, the playing field between the PS4 vs XboxOne has been drastically leveled, as many of the core issues keeping people from buying the XboxOne have now been scrapped.

But has the damage already been done? Has Microsoft’s reputation already been tarnished?

The XboxOne will NO LONGER require a 24-hour Internet check. In fact, no online checks period are required on XboxOne. The only time you are required to be online is during the initial system set-up. So you will still require an Internet connection to verify your system when you first purchase it. Still, this is a huge change from before.

All games can be played offline forever, no online requirement. You can play offline games without an Internet connection and it won’t ever interfere with your offline game.

You can now lend, borrow, rent, trade, etc. XboxOne games just like you can do on current-gen systems. This is HUGE news, as it means Microsoft has completely abandoned their “verified retailers only” trade-in and used games policies. #consumerwinsbig

Not only that, but XboxOne will be REGION-FREE. Which is huge.

Last but definitely not least, some of the cool XboxOne features previously announced appear to have been scrapped due to these changes. It sounds like you can no longer share your entire game library with up to 10 friends or family from any XboxOne. Although no confirmed, Microsoft simply said some of the cool features previously announced have been altered due to these changes. I’ll bet that is one of them.

All in all, the consumer backlash against Microsoft and towards Sony has forced the American giant’s hand in reversing their strict DRM policies and their draconian control of the Used Games market. This means very good things for GameStop, Blockbuster, Redbox, GameFly, and your ability to trade, borrow and lend games to your friends and family. However it also means that developers will not be getting additional revenue from selling used games. Which means they may have to make cuts elsewhere.

But let’s all be glad that Microsoft listened to fans and changed course. It is proof positive that a big enough outcry from consumers, and voting with the almighty dollar, can indeed move mountains.

Here is the official press release from Microsoft and President of Interactive Businesss for MS, Don Mattrick:

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.

SystemWars Resetted

 

Metal Gear Solid 5 XboxOne Stuns Audience (Microsoft E3 2013 Press Conference). One of the Best Trailers of All Time

Flat out incredible looking.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain for XboxOne made it’s Microsoft E3 2013 Press Conference debut and absolutely stunned the audience with one of the greatest trailers of all time. At least one of the best trailers I’ve ever seen.

Every single aspect of this game (remember Keifer Sutherland Voices Snake) was impressive, from the voice acting and story, to the cinematic nature, to the INCREDIBLE gameplay. Metal Gear Solid 5 takes the franchise into an open-world for the first time and absolutely blows games like Elder Scrolls out of the water when you see the ways Snake can sneak through the environments.

At one point in the trailer he rides on a horse in an expensive desert environment past a group of guards and makes it past them unseen, by hugging to the side of the horse! Absolutely awesome. The gunplay, the close quarters combat, the phenomal graphics… this game just looks incredible.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be released likely in 2014 for Xbox 360, PS3, PC and now XboxOne. The XboxOne version shown is the first time we’ve seen the fact that MGS5 is coming to a next-gen platform, but it will most-definitely, assuredly, be hitting the PS4 as well. It will likely get announced later today at Sony’s E3 2014 Press Conference.

 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt XboxOne Announced. Uses SmartGlass. Trailer Videos (E3 2013)

Don’t forget about Witcher 3!

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is coming to XboxOne with some exclusive features, including full support for SmartGlass support.

The game, which is the latest from Polish developer CD ProjektRED, is the close of The Witcher trilogy and is the first open-world game in the series. This game looks incredibly impressive. Don’t forget about The Witcher 3 which is an easy game to get lost in the shuffle, but is an incredibly well polished and epic title of high pedigree that should not be missed.

And the Press Conference footage of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on XboxOne is definite proof of that!

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be released in 2014 for XboxOne, PS4 and PC.

 

E3 2013 Schedule of Shows

E3 2013 starts today with all of the major publisher Pre-E3 2013 shows! Today is the entire Press Conference focus where all of the companies will announce and show their major AAA titles. Every company except Nintendo. Tomorrow E3 2013 kicks off officially as the show floor is open and we’ll get all the smaller announcements and gameplay video streams from tons of games from the show floor.

Today however are all the major announcements from Microsoft first, then Electronic Arts, then Ubisoft, then Sony. Tomorrow we’ll see Nintendo who won’t be having a Press Conference Show, but will be doing a Nintendo Direct where they will show all their big new games (Including a new Mario, first footage of Super Smash Bros. 4, a new Zelda and much more!)

Here is how the Schedule Breaks down! Take this schedule and try to apply it to your time zone to figure out when the show will actually start.

E3 2013 Press Conference Shows Time Schedule:

Microsoft E3 2013 Show:
Starts First @ 9:30AM

EA E3 2013 Show:
1PM

Ubisoft E3 2013 Show:
3PM

Sony E3 2013 Show:
6PM

Nintendo Direct Show:
Tuesday, June 11th @ 7AM

Pokemon X/Y Panel:
June 11th @ 6PM

 

XboxOne Reveal Event Was Bigger Than 2010 World Cup, Obama/Romney Election 2012 And Royal Wedding 2011. Over 8 Million Viewers Within 24 Hours

Such an awesome view of the XboxOne Controller!

The XboxOne Reveal Event was the biggest, most watched event in Xbox history, and rivaled some of the biggest events that streaming partner Akamai had ever put on… Bigger even than their Election 2012 Romney vs Obama coverage, the Royal Wedding in 2011 and the 2010 Soccer World Cup!

Here is the entire Microsoft XboxOne Announcement Reveal Event Video:

All in all, over 8.5 million people watched the XboxOne reveal event within 24 hours, tripling the viewers of previous most-watched event in Xbox.com history.

Naturally, Xbox.com saw the highest amount of concurrent viewers ever. To quote:

“The XboxOne Reveal event had almost three times as many people watching the livestream at the same time, versus any other major event in Xbox.com history.”

Akamai stated the following:

“The XboxOne event was among the most watched live broadcasts delivered by Akamai in their history, nearly doubling peak traffic records and eclipsing concurrent viewership high-water marks set by events such as the 2010 World Cup, Royal Wedding in 2011, and 2012 election night.”

So in short, it was a HUGE and extremely popular event for Microsoft, one of their biggest of all time. Of course, how much of that turned into negative energy and how much of it was positive? That’s the real question.

 

XboxOne $1 Billion Worth of New Games Provided By Microsoft In First Year

Money buys happiness…

XboxOne $1 billion, eh? There will be XboxOne games aplenty as Microsoft has announced they are pumping over $1 billion (with a “B”) dollars worth of videogame development investment money into their successor to the Xbox 360.

That amount of money will gain them over 15 exclusive XboxOne titles, 8 of which are all-new IP as the company has already revealed. All of these games will be developed by Microsoft’s internal studios.

And contrary to popular belief, many people suspect that these 15 new titles will all be massive AAA games, and not Kinect games, mini-game collections, or XBLA titles. But big hitters meant to sway people to purchase an XboxOne.

This is of course, on top of any third-party exclusive deals that Microsoft has paid for or deals they have developed with other developers and publishers. Something that has already happened with the announcement that XboxOne will get Call of Duty: Ghosts DLC FIRST, before any other system, and with the NFL and FIFA Sports deals announced at the reveal event.

Considering the struggles that the videogame industry has had sales-wise lately, the new consoles including the XboxOne are being banked on to breath some new life into the old bones that the industry is currently facing, when Xbox One Releases and PS4 releases worldwide this holiday 2013!

It’s good news that Microsoft is putting its full faith and money where its mouth is when it comes to the XboxOne. All that’s needed now is to get people to care about it! Of course, at E3 2013 we will see the first real game announcements for the XboxOne. And thus we wait with baited breath!

 

XboxOne Powered By Skype. Big Time. Kinect 2 Voice And Video Chat, Party Chat, Audio Processing All Improved. Remote Play Sessions Possible?

Skypping on Xbox One will be a snap.

XboxOne and Skype are in a bed together, making sweet, sweet love. Thanks to the full integration of Skype built into XboxOne from the ground up, every aspect of voice and video chat is not only seamless, but far and away improved over the Xbox 360. XboxOne and Skype sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G.

Both in-game and dashboard voicechat and Party Chat will be powered by Skype, in both audio and video molds (no microphone or headset required, as the mic is build into the Kinect 2 that ships with the system. Surely you can use a headset if you want to however, I assume), and Skype has vastly improved the audio quality, audio processing and microphone configuration settings available, as well as the voice options available to gamers when it comes to voice and video chat.

And all of this Skype goodness is seamlessly integrated into XboxOne and Xbox Live, allowing you to chat at any time, either audio or video chat, as well as do so while using multiple apps.

And in a very big deal, XboxOne Remote Play Sessions via Skype where you can see the screen (and gameplay?) of your friends whom you’re chatting with may be possible as well on the XboxOne just like on the PC. Although that hasn’t been confirmed.

To quote Microsoft on Skype in an interview with Polygon:
“Skype technologies are used in Xbox One which improves voice quality during multiplayer game sessions. Skype can also be used to call any of your Skype contacts for voice or video chat exclusively or while playing a game. Additionally, we have improved the Kinect hardware, from microphone configuration to dedicated audio processing, which contributes to providing a high-quality voice experience whether you are chatting in a game or through Skype.”

All of these develops are great ones. Unless, of course, you don’t play multiplayer games or do voice chat like me! :P

 

Will Microsoft Stop Supporting Xbox 360 After Xbox One? No. MS Plans 360 Support For Next Five Years With 25 Million More Systems Sold

Keep your Xbox 360 system around. Microsoft plans to support it another 5 years!

Will Microsoft stop supporting Xbox 360 now that Xbox One releases and comes out this year? No! Microsoft plans full Xbox 360 support for the next FIVE YEARS.

This means that the original plan for the Xbox 360 to live and breath for a full 10 year system cycle will actually take place. That is, assuming that Microsoft’s plans to support the system for another five years actually happens in reality. Of course, no one knows whether that will actually happen or not once the new system launches. Time will tell.

Microsoft says they plan to support the Xbox 360 for the next five years and sell an additional 25 million Xbox 360 systems!

As already reported however with my article Can I Play Xbox 360 Games On Xbox One? No. Backwards Compatibility Not Supported. The Answer Is No., you will NOT be able to play Xbox 360 games on the XboxOne. Because of this, Microsoft is actively encouraging people to keep their Xbox 360 around even after the XboxOne comes out so that they can continue to play their vast collection of both hardcopy and digitally downloaded retail Xbox 360 games and digital Xbox Live Arcade titles that they have purchased (none of which will transfer to XboxOne as I reported with my article, Xbox One GamerScore Achievements Will Transfer From Xbox 360. Xbox Live Arcade Games Won’t Transfer. Only your GamerScore Achievements and Live Account will transfer).

To quote Microsoft from a GameSpot interview,
“Downloaded Xbox Live Arcade games will continue to run on your Xbox 360 for as long as your Xbox 360 runs. The box is not backward compatible and we think for somebody who invests in a large digital library that you want to keep your Xbox 360. Keep that as a vibrant part of the ecosystem. That’s why we’ve made sure that your identity, your friends, are constant between both platforms. You don’t have a separate identity on Xbox One or Xbox 360; it’s the same, you are you. My friend’s network is the same on both boxes, my achievements are the same. So we think that service component is an important component to keep constant across both devices.”

It makes a lot of sense for Microsoft to continue supporting the Xbox 360 even after XboxOne, as the Xbox 360 has a huge install base and is an extremely successful platform, particularly in the United States. The Xbox 360 has routinely been the best-selling system over the last several years (especially since the release of Kinect, which truly reinvigorated the platform in terms of sales) and recently become the best-selling console of the month for the 28th time in a row! Quite an amazing feat! This is in the United States, where the Xbox 360 has been beating the PS3 and Wii in terms of sales for a long time now. Wii sales actually trump both systems in all territories. However in Europe the PS3 is the best-selling platform out of the two non-Nintendo systems. It’s also the best-selling platform in Japan of the two. Even so, the United States is considered the biggest territory and having the Xbox 360 system top sales here domestically over the PS3 is still a huge win for the American company.

However sales of the Xbox 360 have indeed slowed significantly, as they have for all of the soon-to-be old consoles (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DSi, PSP). That of course is to be expected as the next-generation transitions into the current-generation and the console/handheld lineup changes to: XboxOne, PS4, WiiU, 3DS, PSVita.

We’ll learn more about Microsoft’s continued and future support for the Xbox 360 at the big E3 2013 show on June 11-13th.

 

Xbox One Games Are Plenty. 15 Exclusives Promised In First Year. 8 Are New Franchises (All-New IP)

All-in-one Xbox One! HEY THAT RHYMES! :P

Xbox One Games (XboxOne as I like to call it) will be plenty, as Microsoft confirmed during their Xbox 720 Reveal Show that a whopping 15 Xbox One exclusive videogames are in development. Of those fifteen, eight are all-new franchises or all-new IP! Which is fantastic news for those of us who are not yet sold on the XboxOne.

Of course, the real question is whether or not any of these 8 new Xbox One games will be compelling software or of the Kinectimals/Kinect Star Wars mold. That is, games that will not satisfy the hardcore.

However Microsoft is banking big on the Xbox One, so while one or two games may be casual, I’d be surprised if the majority are not games that appeal to hardcore gamers.

– Thanks to Techland.Game for the image.

 

Videogame TV End of Consoles Next Generation? So Says God of War Creator David Jaffe. Imagine A Future Where Playing New Games Is As Easy As Changing A TV Channel

Imagine a future where videogames were streamed into your TV. Kinda like OnLive.

Imagine if playing videogames was as easy as changing the TV channel? What if there were no videogame consoles, and instead of a dedicated videogame console from one of the big-three manufacturers (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony), games were streamed to your device?

Does this sound like an exciting future to you? Do you think we’ll reach that point within ten years? God of War creator David Jaffe does, and he recently spoke out about this future in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

To quote:

“Look, consoles are going away. I think in 10 years – probably sooner, but 10 years is always the safe thing to say so you don’t sound like an idiot – but here’s what I’ll say: I’ll go on the record and say that the next generation of hardware will be the last consoles. And they should be. It doesn’t mean you won’t buy a piece of hardware from Sony, but you’ll probably buy a television that streams the stuff. And you’ll still have Sony, loud and proud and strong making these great, big, epic games like God of War and Uncharted, and they’ll be making great little games like Sound Shapes, but they’ll become more like movie studios for video games. I’ll be able to stream in the next Uncharted and Plants vs Zombies and you won’t even think about it. It’ll just be like I can watch a public access show on my TV or I can watch Avatar.”

You can kind of get this already with OnLive, which allows you to purchase new videogames to play using the OnLive Console or your PC; but OnLive has in no way replaced the current crop of consoles…

In this future that David Jaffe is talking about, videogames have not gone away in the slightest, to the contrary they are bigger than ever, but the medium and the way you get them has changed. Imagine if you will, that every videogame was like a movie studio, and everyone’s device, like a TV, can get all the same movies from these same studios. So the focus would be on the brandname of said entertainment (just like the brand name from movies like The Expendibles or TV shows like King of Queens) and its content, and not on the delivery device….

I am not sure that I agree at all with David Jaffe. In fact, I think half the fun of videogames is the console itself… which is probably why I am not in any way much of a big PC gamer… But this is definitely an interesting idea.

It’s also worth noting that 10 years will arguably be the next systems after the next-generation, as Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are doing their best to push the current-generation to last a whole 10 years. I don’t think they’ll quite make it, but they got hella close, as the current crop of consoles launched in 2006, 2005 for the Xbox 360.

What are your thoughts?