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Major Nelson alludes to Xbox One games being playable long term

"That's certainly something that we would not do."
"That's not the way the system is designed."
"The system is designed for flexibility."

Those quotes are a tad bit more profound than mere deflection. You can call them incomplete and open ended, but it's definitely not deflection.

It's like you've never heard PR speak before.
 
Translation: "we have no plans nor ideas whatsoever for what to do at the end of the Xbox One life-cycle. Please trust us and buy our games anyway".

The whole problem is that this "long term" will always be subject to "Microsoft's terms". Even when they shut down the original XBLA, the single player component of (most) downloaded games would continue to work because they didn't depend on the existence of a server somewhere.
 
Anyone thinking that a huge portion of games on the PS4 or Xbox One will be exactly the same when they pop that disc in 10 years from now is going to be disappointed I think.

Many games will many have online features, therefore making the game either useless when its servers go down or (possibly) unplayable.

No matter what you choose in terms of games (physical or digital) this is how MANY games will be next gen.

Heck, that's already the case now for some PS3/Xbox 360 games -- and that's within the gen.


But, I could be wrong. We'll see.
 
Cloud gaming is the future of backward compatibility and they've made such a big deal about users having a games library, I would hope they have the foresight to have the check in as standard for their games from here on out. If they do, you should be able to play your games well after x1's successor comes out.
 
Major Nelson also said MS was listening.

He's a PR figure. Nothing more, nothing less.

Take anything he says with a grain of salt.

This. CBOAT himself said not to annoy Nelson with this stuff. If anything it's Don who deserves the hardball questions.

A big reason I'm scared of the Xbox One though seems to be Microsoft's attitude towards the whole situation. If you're going to announce an always-online console, one of the first things you should make clear is that at some point in the future, you won't need to connect to the internet to play your games once those servers go down. Microsoft never announced that. The fear is still there. And furthermore, the "If you use backwards compatibility, you're backwards," statement really struck me as disrespectful to anyone who plays any games other than what's on the current-gen consoles, and seemed like a really odd answer to say instead of the obvious (and somewhat justified) "Our hardware architecture differences don't allow for backwards compatibility without many complications" answer.
 
That quote is like: I am going to vaguely tell you what I think you want to hear now, and later MS is going to do whatever they choose to do to make the most profit for themselves at that later time and who knows if I will even work for MS then...
 
It's mildly reassuring that he mentions the "something we would not do" part. But like he says, it's way too early to think about it now, right? The problem lies in the fact that MS needs people to start buying it this year. If MS wasn't being dumb about policy it wouldn't be a concern.
 
Anyone thinking that a huge portion of games on the PS4 or Xbox One will be exactly the same when they pop that disc in 10 years from now is going to be disappointed I think.

Many games will many have online features, therefore making the game either useless when its servers go down or (possibly) unplayable.

No matter what you choose in terms of games (physical or digital) this is how MANY games will be next gen.

Heck, that's already the case now for some PS3/Xbox 360 games -- and that's within the gen.


But, I could be wrong. We'll see.

You do know that many games have single player... right? Or even splitscreen?

See, if microsoft goes ahead with what they plan to do, once they shutdown xbox one servers you won't even be able to play the singler player portion of those games.

I'm surprised that no moderator has given you a "Major Nelson's Lieutenant" tag.
 
He didn't say fuck all. We're not talking 8 years from now Nelson, were talking 25. You're telling me that the servers required to play games will still be up then?
 
You do know that many games have single player... right? Or even splitscreen?

And there were a decent number of single player games this gen that were unplayable before getting online patches right (either day 1 or post launch)?

And split screen? Isn't that pretty rare in today's games? We're going back to the 16 bit days in which "split screen" is a back of the box feature since so many games don't have it these days.


See, if microsoft goes ahead with what they plan to do, once they shutdown xbox one servers you won't even be able to play the singler player portion of those games.

So they are planning to shut down the Xbox One servers as soon as the gen is over? I don't get what you mean -- what did they say that they're "planning to do"?


I'm surprised that no moderator has given you a "Major Nelson's Lieutenant" tag.

lol, why? I mentioned both systems so how is what I'm saying pro-MS? Just because you don't agree?

Some of you guys are really silly.
 
Anyone who thinks Xbox One games aren't going to be playable long term are delusional. They'll just patch the DRM out of the console once it gets to the point where they're no longer supporting the system. Using the original Xbox as an example of why they'll simply let the platform be unplayable in the distant future is completely misguided. There's a big difference between having to host servers for games with little to no active users, and allowing consumers to play the games that they've purchased 10-15 years down the line.

They'd need to patch out the Internet drm and patch in a disc based drm. So keep your discs after you've installed your games.

If they don't put in a disc based drm then any disc could be installed multiple times to lots of machines (since the online check would be gone) and a publishers catalog of titles on that console would lose all value. Can't see that happening.

But it makes me wonder that If MS is willing to make the Xbone of 2020 work like the ps4 of 2013, why don't they just do it now and save themselves the grief they're going through?
 
I suspect at some time in the generation the restrictions will be eased up or removed. When next era of consoles come out they will patch out the check-ins. Hopefully. For now a lot of the features sound cool.
 
Major nelson sure has a weird definition of "flexible"


I don't really see how offline play can be patched in without causing lots of licencing issues. since there's no authentication, people could just sell off their disks and still have the game on their machine.
 
Let's not delude ourselves. Regardless of what justification you use for the always-online DRM, one thing is clear; it will be rather meaningless come 10+ years from now. Or, at the very least, the value of disabling it to allow the Xbox One library to work will far outweigh keeping the authentication in place.

Microsoft will almost certainly remove this restriction/feature when the time comes.

Is it that simple? I feel like there are legal issues with doing such an action. Wouldn't publishers be able to force Microsoft to shut down the servers since they own the licenses for their games?
 
The funny thing is there is a perfect test of microsofts intentions with DRM in the future that we will see with the next few years.


What will be their solution for XBLIG when they stop supporting the 360? When you see that, you have your answer.
 
If anyone wants to roll the dice on this they are welcome to.

As someone who still plays NES games on real hardware among other retro systems, I won't be. I simply don't trust them and won't buy a console that potentially means all my games become coasters 10-15 years from now.

Yup. My thoughts exactly.

Xbox One is a god damn disgrace to gaming and to collectors.
 
And there were a decent number of single player games this gen that were unplayable before getting online patches right (either day 1 or post launch)?

And split screen? Isn't that pretty rare in today's games? We're going back to the 16 bit days in which "split screen" is a back of the box feature since so many games don't have it these days.




So they are planning to shut down the Xbox One servers as soon as the gen is over? I don't get what you mean -- what did they say that they're "planning to do"?




lol, why? I mentioned both systems so how is what I'm saying pro-MS? Just because you don't agree?

Some of you guys are really silly.

*sigh*

Seriously? That's your counter argument?

You do realize that every patch you download to your HDD stays there unless you manually delete it, right? So why even bring that up? And how does that even tries to counter the fact that you can play the single player portion of a game?

Irrelevant. Some games could have the feature. Doesn't matter if developers implement it or not. If it's there, you can play multiplayer offline.

You expect Microsoft to keep the xbox one servers online years after the gen as ended or even if the console tanks so hard that it's discontinued.

Go play Halo 2 now on the original xbox. Tell me what a great MP match you had.

You fool no one. You're as pro-microsoft as they come.
 
And split screen? Isn't that pretty rare in today's games? We're going back to the 16 bit days in which "split screen" is a back of the box feature since so many games don't have it these days.

Wow..just wow., um wow!

Just played halo 2 spilt screen with my kids like three days ago. So much awesome.
 
Alludes?? That is basically

"Oh hey, we haven't even thought about that but don't worry about that, just buy it and we will figure it out later. Trust us."
 
Major Nelson: "The console isnt even out yet, so lets wait til the end of its life cycle to talk about this."

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Once they release the games it should be easy to check if there is copy protection. If they are 100% committed to DRM it would be meaningless to have it on the disc.

I'll agree that it's ridiculous to not have a prepared statement to address this issue. It seems like such an obvious concern that potential customers would have. MS has allowed far too many shooting from the hip explanations for genuine concerns with their new DRM.

I am not to concerned about the issue myself. The Xbox brand is far too important to walk away from in than manner people in here are trying to suggest. They also have proved that they handle their mistakes with the RROD.
 
You fool no one. You're as pro-microsoft as they come.

Before you guys continue to argue with him for 2 pages, just read this post:
No offense but your prognosticating track record recently isnt so great recently since you thought it was "obvious" that Sony was also going to have an online requirement, "pretty sure" they would have used game restrictions after Xbox's polioces were announced, thought the Xbox One was going to be $400 and the PS4 $450, and stated that a price point above $400 would hurt them significantly and previously stated of used game restrictions in general:

Funny how the things you previously stated in various threads were weaknesses of PS4 (theoretical higher price point, lack of backwards compatibility) and things would be alienating features of any system (restricting used games) are now moot points when it turns out that the Xbox One has all those problems because it has this arcane "family" sharing thing that apparently negates all of those weaknesses...

He is the spin-master and to engage with him is fruitless. He'll just leave the thread and crop up in a new one with different posters.
 
Before you guys continue to argue with him for 2 pages, just read this post:


He is the spin-master and to engage with him is fruitless. He'll just leave the thread and crop up in a new one with different posters.

I'm done with him. I have him on ignore because every post he does irks me off. I know I will eventually insult him and I don't want to risk a ban because I love this forum.
 
You do realize that every patch you download to your HDD stays there unless you manually delete it, right? So why even bring that up? And how does that even tries to counter the fact that you can play the single player portion of a game?

It was me bringing up the fact that single player games are being impacted by online and that the trend will continue as more games will more than likely have features that will get updated instantly via connecting to servers instead of making users download patches.

It should be true for both systems pretty soon -- Xbox One more so for obvious reasons.


Irrelevant. Some games could have the feature. Doesn't matter if developers implement it or not. If it's there, you can play multiplayer offline.

Wouldn't say it's irrelevant. Many games don't have split screen and I'm pretty sure that that trend will continue next gen as things get even more internet connected.



You expect Microsoft to keep the xbox one servers online years after the gen as ended or even if the console tanks so hard that it's discontinued.

Who knows what they will do in those situations? Your statement made it seem as if they stated what their plans were -- hence why I was honestly asking what they said.


Go play Halo 2 now on the original xbox. Tell me what a great MP match you had.

Okay? Doesn't negate the fact that many games this gen removed split screen -- hence, I won't be able to play as many games from this gen for split screen years down the line.


You fool no one. You're as pro-microsoft as they come.

Or maybe I simply have a different opinion than you and feel that since many games on both systems will be online connected next gen that they will probably be different 20+ years after release?

So silly. Grow up.

I'm done with him. I have him on ignore because every post he does irks me off. I know I will eventually insult him and I don't want to risk a ban because I love this forum.

Haha, sad if someone's (different) opinion on video games makes you feel that way. Wow.
 
He is the spin-master and to engage with him is fruitless. He'll just leave the thread and crop up in a new one with different posters.

Oh please.

FYI -- I made a reply to that post in the original thread it was in. So instead of bringing that in here, how about you just keep it in it's original thread?
 
No, it's not too fucking early to talk about it. Early adopters need to know if their games will work beyond the next generation. Goddamn.
 
A completely vague statement from the bullshitter in chief. I'm relieved!

MS is sending such mix messages it's ridiculous. If Xbone is really relying on the "infinite" power of the cloud, then quite obviously when the servers go down after this gen is over the games that are at all dependent on the cloud to function properly won't work anymore.
 
While its not quite official confirmation, it's good to know they're aware and will look into allowing us to use this thing well past its end cycle.

This was my only concern about the console, so its good to know it most likely won't be an issue.
Of course they're aware, but looking into it doesn't mean it most likely won't be an issue. "But for now, just shut up and buy our console." People can either trust that Microsoft will patch out DRM or they can skip the worry outright. The decision is easy for me, at least.
 
Oh please.

FYI -- I made a reply to that post in the original thread it was in. So instead of bringing that in here, how about you just keep it in it's original thread?

You do have a reputation. If you had to choose.... X1 right? Come on just let us know...
 
There is no reason to trust that they will continue running these servers or incur any cost to keep these games playable when the company answering this question cuts off support of their console at the first chance they can and the person running the division says that wanting "backwards compatibility is backwards" thinking.
 
They could do that eventually anyway. The protection will be built into the machine not the disk.

Just because you lock a door doesn't mean people can't break in, but it will keep things a bit more safe than leaving the door wide open. Every bank has a safe, doesn't mean they will let you just walk in the building at night.
 
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