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Microsoft Studios' creative director has some choice words about always-online

P

Psi

Member
Dead Man said:
yZXd0cY.png


Can we call him a clown yet?
Click to expand...

How much more of a tool can you be, Gies?
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Chief Icaroc said:
I agree that a 3 minute timeout would be atrocious. Very large penalty to the consumer. I have to say that if the nextbox does this, then it will not be popular in anyone's book. Mine included. Did that get confirmed by stating always on? I must have missed that part.
Click to expand...

Nope. What we know is still sufficiently ambiguous.

Durango XDK said:
[This documentation is preliminary and is subject to change.]

The Durango console is designed to offer developers modern hardware that is more powerful than the Xbox 360. It uses a familiar x64 architecture and tools, and compared with Xbox 360 development, will reduce development time and effort spent on performance optimization. Hardware accelerators, including “move engines” for common tasks, will be added to the console. Move engines can perform common game tasks like compression and decompression while moving data around the system. The console also has dedicated hardware support for common audio processing tasks that reduce the amount of CPU time that must be devoted to audio. The GPU provides considerable computing power, and supports Direct3D 11.

Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use. The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that console software and games are always current. With this “Always On, Always Connected” design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates.

Every Durango console will be sold with a new high-fidelity Kinect Sensor, which will be required for the system to operate. The console will provide HD video, and will use new depth sensor technology to provide better screen resolution and less noisy depth data. Active infrared illumination will provide high-quality monochrome images even in low ambient light conditions. A wider field of view allows play in smaller spaces, and removes the need for a tilt motor.

System software will offer a full set of system API for Natural User Interface (NUI), and the API set will be an improvement to the corresponding API used by Xbox 360. Skeleton tracking, identity and other NUI functions will be performed by the system, and for that reason, titles no longer need to allocate title resources to NUI.

The Durango controller will make the best-in-class Xbox 360 controller even better. It will have low-latency wireless connectivity to the console, and improved ergonomics. System interaction that use the controller will be simplified to make them easier for noncore gamers.

Every Durango console will have a hard drive, although its exact capacity has not been chosen. It will be large enough, however, to hold a large number of games. All games will be installed on the hard drive. Play from the optical disc will not be supported.

Durango consoles will have a Blu-ray Disc drive. Disc media will be used for distribution, but during gameplay, games will not use content from the optical disc. An installation system is being designed that will allow gamers to begin playing while the game is being installed on the hard drive rather than waiting until installation is complete.

Audio output from Durango will be all digital – 7.1 discrete PCM output through HDMI and S/PDIF. Hardware accelerators will be included for decoding and decompressing common audio formats. There also will be a dedicated sound processor to perform common signal processing in hardware.
Click to expand...
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
Tripp Daily said:
I'm not nearly smart enough to forecast that. If it does not directly contribute to the consumers experience then it will be labeled a bad decision. It indirectly could help consumers by helping developers/publishers directly in some way, but we as the consumer would still cry foul. IMO
Click to expand...

If it doesn't make money it will be labeled a bad decision. That is entirely separate from whether it is good for consumers. And while it's not on you to come up with a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation by tomorrow afternoon, it seems like there should be some reasonably evident benefit for consumers that someone could hypothetically come up with. The only thing I can imagine is an OnLive-type game buffet service that actually works--and that is VERY arguable and up to personal preference as to whether that is better than individual game ownership, even assuming the technology worked perfectly, which it surely doesn't at the moment.
 
A

Arkham

The Amiga Brotherhood
Chief Icaroc said:
Until your PS+ subscription is up. Which has to be verified. Somehow.
Click to expand...

You're correct. It takes maybe 3 minutes a year online to verify your membership so you're not prohibited from playing for a year.

Compare that to the 3 minute offline limit all the time.
 
P

Pillville

Member
Chief Icaroc said:
I agree that a 3 minute timeout would be atrocious. Very large penalty to the consumer. I have to say that if the nextbox does this, then it will not be popular in anyone's book. Mine included. Did that get confirmed by stating always on? I must have missed that part.
Click to expand...

All of this is still rumors. All 125+ pages here are "If this is true then _________!"

Which will be funny if all of this turns out to be false and everyone is bitching about nothing.
 
G

GiantBreadbug

Member
Speevy said:
S3SrRSa.png



There's a guy who works two minimum wage jobs. He just saved up enough money to buy the new 720 because he loves Madden. It's the only game he buys every year.

The problem is that he just moved out of his mother's house, so bills are tight. He doesn't have broadband because

1) It's expensive
2) Where he lives, the internet service providers don't have plans he can afford.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.


Another guy just started college. He loved Xbox when he was in high school, but the college doesn't allow you to hook your Xbox up to the internet.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.


There's a child who got a new Xbox for Christmas. His parents can't be bothered to set up the console so he can get on Xbox Live.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.

There's a place out in the country that doesn't have any means of reliable broadband access. A family has scraped together enough money to buy a new Xbox.

You just kept them from playing games with your always-on connection.


Thunderstorm? No video games.

Poor people? No video games.

Not allowed? No video games.

Not tech savvy? No video games.


I don't know if Microsoft realizes this, but their brand was built on college-age males who aren't rich.

You're punishing them.
Click to expand...

This post should be every other post in every thread that has to do with always-online.

Thank you for articulating what is so disgusting about this model.
 
Evolved1

Evolved1

make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
Speevy said:
S3SrRSa.png



There's a guy who works two minimum wage jobs. He just saved up enough money to buy the new 720 because he loves Madden. It's the only game he buys every year.

The problem is that he just moved out of his mother's house, so bills are tight. He doesn't have broadband because

1) It's expensive
2) Where he lives, the internet service providers don't have plans he can afford.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.


Another guy just started college. He loved Xbox when he was in high school, but the college doesn't allow you to hook your Xbox up to the internet.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.


There's a child who got a new Xbox for Christmas. His parents can't be bothered to set up the console so he can get on Xbox Live.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.

There's a place out in the country that doesn't have any means of reliable broadband access. A family has scraped together enough money to buy a new Xbox.

You just kept them from playing games with your always-on connection.


Thunderstorm? No video games.

Poor people? No video games.

Not allowed? No video games.

Not tech savvy? No video games.


I don't know if Microsoft realizes this, but their brand was built on college-age males who aren't rich.

You're punishing them.
Click to expand...

Gies will never respond to this.

Edit: Actually, one caveat: if ever did respond it would be snarky and dismissive.
 
R

ReturnOfTheRAT

Member
I log in to Twitter thinking that I should reply to him, but then I log out thinking fuck that guy because I don't want to get sucked into his personal vortex.
 
F

fader

Member
Speevy said:
S3SrRSa.png



There's a guy who works two minimum wage jobs. He just saved up enough money to buy the new 720 because he loves Madden. It's the only game he buys every year.

The problem is that he just moved out of his mother's house, so bills are tight. He doesn't have broadband because

1) It's expensive
2) Where he lives, the internet service providers don't have plans he can afford.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.


Another guy just started college. He loved Xbox when he was in high school, but the college doesn't allow you to hook your Xbox up to the internet.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.


There's a child who got a new Xbox for Christmas. His parents can't be bothered to set up the console so he can get on Xbox Live.

You just kept him from playing video games with your always-on connection.

There's a place out in the country that doesn't have any means of reliable broadband access. A family has scraped together enough money to buy a new Xbox.

You just kept them from playing games with your always-on connection.


Thunderstorm? No video games.

Poor people? No video games.

Not allowed? No video games.

Not tech savvy? No video games.


I don't know if Microsoft realizes this, but their brand was built on college-age males who aren't rich.

You're punishing them.
Click to expand...

OH! Mah Brotha! TESTIFY!!!
 
Forsythia

Forsythia

Member
Microsoft really needs to make a statement about this, it's spreading like wildfire. But most likely they'll wait until the official reveal. :/
 
H

hirokazu

Member
RetroStu said:
He's a bit of a twat really isn't he?, he also seems to be towing the 'always online' line now even though he's always said that it pretty much won't happen.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I just noticed his previous tweet is like "Always-online is stupid! So don't buy a console with always-online (and STFU)!" and now it's like "Prove to me that always-online is a stupid idea! I challenge you!"

So which is it?
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
This has also been brought up several times in threads like this, but most of the deployed armed services would not be able to use the next Xbox if it requires an online connection.
 
C

Chief Icaroc

Banned
Zen_Arcade said:
That portion of PS+ is essentially a rental service. I don't want to rent all of my games.
Plus I'm actually BUYING the games not paying a monthly fee to rent them. If I'm buying them I should be able to play them whenever I damn well want.
Click to expand...

First fair counter to the original point I was trying to make. I'll go back to my Junior Status now.....

Go Consoles!
 
M

Mikro

Neo Member
Just want to say I have spent an extraordinary amount of time reading this thread, from seeing it as a twitter spat, to reddit, to twitter conversations, to spreading to mainstream media.

Sweet Billy, Fucking Hell.
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
Dead Man said:
yZXd0cY.png


Can we call him a clown yet?
Click to expand...

Here's a quick answer:

Halo 2's online mode has been turned off. We can't play it anymore.

However, we can still play the halo 2 campaign, and multiplayer on LAN and splitscreen.

If that had been the Durango, we couldn't load up Halo 2 at all. Heck, we couldn't even play Halo 1 now. If you wanted to play Halo 1, you would have been forced to buy Anniversary.


An always online connected console is a terrible omen for the preservation of games and the games industry. Years from now we'll have a big ol' donut hole of history because nobody will be able to play anything created on that generation of hardware.
 
T

tusken77

Member
Apparently this thread full of concerned gamers is actually full of "vomit and diarrhea." Charming. But hey, there might be "one good post" amongst it all.

dxQEs5k.png
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
dragonbane said:
Microsoft Game Studios apparently has 3 Creative Directors:

microsoftt3ubg.jpg
Click to expand...

As I stated on the last page, "Creative Director" apparently doesn't mean anything important. And I'm sure there are a hell of a lot more than 3 of them.

dLMN8R said:
This guy is 6+ levels away from Ballmer, works on "2WAY TV", and has one person reporting to him. He's a nobody, and after today, will probably be less than a nobody.

But his thoughtless tweets on his personal Twitter account and his "Creative Director" title are making people think he's actually important and influential. Thankfully he's not.
Click to expand...



JaggedSac said:
Is this big news in the office today?
Click to expand...

Kind of. Lots of angry people on the mailing lists - both because of the alleged internet requirement (which no one but those who need to know would know about) and because of how tactless this guy was.

Looking at his position in the hierarchy, he probably wouldn't even know if there was an internet requirement if there was one.
 
Evolved1

Evolved1

make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
Neuromancer said:
Gies is trying to have it both ways. Out of one side of his mouth he's saying he thinks always online would be stupid for the next Xbox; out of the other side he's ridiculing people who also feel that way, telling them to deal with it or buy something else.

Now he's challenging people to write a well-thought piece on why always online is a bad idea but it can't be a post in this thread (as he is clearly taking a jab at us).

Hey here's a novel idea, Arthur: you're the 'journalist', why don't you write one?
Click to expand...

He is so fucking oblivious that he doesn't realize having to ask the internet to explain to him why this is bad for consumers is damaging his own credibility as an industry guy.

You don't ask that question... you should already know the answer.

Whose interests does this guy represent? Who does he speak for?
 
S

sflufan

Banned
dLMN8R said:
The most frustrating part of this entire thing, as a Microsoft employee, is that "Creative Director" apparently doesn't actually mean anything.

This guy is 6+ levels away from Ballmer, works on "2WAY TV", and has one person reporting to him. He's a nobody, and after today, will probably be less than a nobody.

But his thoughtless tweets on his personal Twitter account and his "Creative Director" title are making people think he's actually important and influential. Thankfully he's not.
Click to expand...

Hence, the best response for your employer is to do exactly what they're doing right now: absolutely nothing.
 
Ploid 3.0

Ploid 3.0

Member
Tripp Daily said:
Do you also boycott Steam? If valve were to hit some financial problems and were forced to shut down steam how many games would you lose?
Click to expand...

Didn't Valve say they would enable all steamwork games that require you to be online, or other games that require steam online to work offline if steam went under? Like a final act that made people's games work as if it was a non drm CD.
 
staticneuron

staticneuron

Member
-Pyromaniac- said:
What does Arthur not get, jesus.

1) You won't fully own your games. MS shuts any server down and you're done. You're playing on the console you bought, using a game that you bought, but on their terms. Where is that ever not a bad thing.

2) Alienate people who don't have access to reliable broadband (or any at all)

3) Even if you have a reliable and great internet connection, there's 2 sides to the coin. Something might happen on their end. And it will happen. Every time a big game is released. This has been shown in the past. Diablo 3 and sim city being the most recent examples. These never go well, ever.

4) Then there's the obvious slippery slope they'd be getting on.
Click to expand...

You normally are playing a game on the pubs terms. Hence the license agreements on the box or linked to on the products.

This is not an issue for one main reason.

It will be a business decision that they made whose terms are disclosed upfront.

If you do not have access to internet, if you have any fears of servers being shut down or launch errors, simply do not purchase the product.

It is up to MS to put whatever feature they feel is necessary. Your response is to either support them or avoid them like the plague. I have not and do not have any plans for purchasing Diablo 3 or Sim City. That is my way of showing displeasure at the choices made releasing those products.
 
I

i-Lo

Member
Hey, here's an idea:

He is the "journalist". Isn't it HIS job to inform potential readers as to what the pros, cons and caveats of always online are and provide valid reasons for his obvious support for it?

Why should the people who have suffered at the hands of Diablo and Sim City (and others who can comprehend the inherent caveats) and are justified in their scepticism of this system owe HIM an explanation?
 
F

fader

Member
I think what the problem is that they are living in their own bubble where they think everyone has a 9-5 70k salary job and should be able to afford internet...
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Evolved1 said:
Gies will never respond to this.

Edit: Actually, one caveat: if ever did respond it would be snarky and dismissive.
Click to expand...

And still wouldn't come back here because he owes a poster $10.

Hey, Arthur: Why don't you already pay up and come back? Jason took his licks, is improving Kotaku (shock and horror) due to GAF's feedback in Kotaku threads. We could help you out with your misunderstanding problems. Or: You could quit Polygon along with the rest of the jokes that are the editorial team, find replacements and maybe Polygon would be less a joke because they "get" why there's backlash over this and other things you actively dismiss as non-news before going back to regurgitating press releases.
 
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