Pretty sure the TGS podcast just killed Giant Bomb.

This is a pretty cool thing, competition is always a good thing. Don't want another dominant Sony being arrogant like back in 2006.

Apparently it's confirmed on the official Xbox website but the link provided for the Q&A update doesn't work.

EDIT: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/06/19/microsoft-reversing-xbox-one-internet-used-game-policies

 

This makes me pretty happy. Maybe there's a sliver of a fraction of a percentage of hope for the Xbone

 

It's official, they've backpedaled.

The Kinect requirement remains, of course.

EDIT: According to this tweet, Patrick Klepek (who posted the GiantBomb article) will have an extremely short interview with Marc Whitten about it. I'll post a link to that when it's up.

 

I honetly didn't expect them to backpedal at all.

 

Great, they've stopped blowing huge gaping bloody holes in one foot. Now the other. C'mon, Microsoft, you can do it. Make Kinect an optional accessory and drop your price a hundred bucks and maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to avoid getting absolutely reamed by Sony.

Edit: And release in more than the 21 countries you'll support at launch.

Edit2: And raise the speed of the hardware like 40, 50% to match the PS4.

Edit3: And get some decent exclusives outside of Halo and dudebro FPSes and sports games.

Edit4: And somehow sidestep the giant nightmare scenario of bugs and hardware failure you're setting yourself up for by changing shit five months before launch.

Edit5: And drop the mandatory connection thing altogether, since there's 16 million 360s that have never touched the internet.

Edit6: And stop leaning so heavily on Netflix when it'll only be available to American Gold subscribers.

Edit7: And... oh fuck it, scrap the entire thing and buy Sony.

Almost forgot! Edit8: Stop demanding that indie developers either sign an exclusivity deal or have a major publisher publish their shit just to get on the Live Arcade because holy shit they all hate you with the burning fury of a thousand suns right now.

Chris Rock has a message for Microsoft.

Edit9: Reading between the lines, the 'family sharing' thing is gone. Jesus Christ M$ can't even make the smallest of concessions without taking some shit away what is wrong with their brains have they been infiltrated by robots sent by the future to make sure Microsoft collapses before they invent the anti-robot gun

RIP green luchadore game-sharing guy



Almost forgot! Edit10: STOP CHARGING DEVELOPERS FOR PATCHING THEIR GAMES WHAT THE DICK IS WRONG WITH YOU BROKEN GAMES ARE THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU WANT YOU FUCKING RETARDS YOU'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS

 

Meh, I never enjoyed xbox. and this entire debacle has not endeared any confidence in me at all.

Sony all the way!

 

I think the lesson we can all learn from that image is that having your friends scattered across the country is really stupid.

While it's good that they're dropping the online check-ins and used game limits, I'm still not getting an Xbone. Any of the console-exclusive games that I'm interested in like Metal Gear or Destiny are also coming out for the PS4, which still has better hardware and is cheaper, and I've got a PC for everything else. The only thing that's Xbox exclusive that I'd be interested in is Halo, and I'm not paying hundreds for one game.

 

But you guys are my friends...

---------- Post automerged at 07:50 ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 ----------

Ahahahahahaha the change is going to be a day-one patch their console has a day one patch

I'll repeat that - to stop your console from having to connect to the internet you will have to connect to the internet

This is real, it's happening.

This is more fun than a frog in a glass of milk.

 

As a PC gamer who has no plans to ever buy any of these systems (because I "socially" game with LoL with some RL friends and go straight to board games like 7wonders, Catan, or Powergrid with the rest), I think it's sad.

I thought what they were trying to do with the DRM was to create steam for the console. The first way to cut down on game prices is to fuck used game sales. Yea, you save 20 bucks buying your copy of the game 3 months late, but the guy who sold it made like 10, or in store credit. Without resales, it opens up better pricing for games which was the first step towards an amazing gaming experience like Steam.

W/E, stick to the same old stuff I guess.

 

I'm gonna say it: Well done, MS. You're not the assholes you made yourselves out to be.

Still not buying an xbone. :/

 

I'm buying an Xbone. Not sure why, morbid curiosity or mind controlling brand loyalty, I dunno.

 

If you have a driving need to feel agony, you can get a lovely young lady in latex and stilettoes to help you with that for a whole lot less than the price of a 180.

 

Maybe this was their plan all along.

Still PS4 for me though

 

Yeah, I'm buying both a ps4 and xbone - I don't really care who 'won' whatever. I didn't like the Wii (seriously, there's only like 5 games on it that seem decent, and they all have something to do with Mario), so I won't be buying a WiiU either. I guess it all depends on whether all the gimmicky bullshit packed into the systems are tolerable.

 

Okay realtalk guys, putting aside the pure liquid schadenfreude being pumped directly into your veins for a moment: the fact that Microsoft has not made a single iota of effort to salvage the game-sharing system or the discless play makes it crystal clear that the DRM was not about innovation - it was a straight-out attack on the used game market with those things added as a spoonful of sugar to try to cram that medicine down everyone's throats.

The fact that they backed off from shitting in your open mouth should not be reason to praise them. Again, Chris Rock.

 

You were wrong. Full stop. This was never about creating console Steam, no matter what they said about it. It was entirely about publisher greed.

The thing you need to realize is that you can separate disc and digital-based games. Steam exists in the same world as console games; the same games exist on both disc and on Steam, and those games sell for really fucking cheap on Steam very fucking frequently. Additionally, PS+ straight-up gives away modern fucking games for free, and that exists in the same console that runs disc games. For example: I could go to Gamestop and buy a copy of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for my PS3, or I could just go to my PS+ Instant Game Collection and fucking download it entirely for free because I paid for that service.

If Microsoft wanted to create fucking Steam, what they needed to do was to differentiate between digital and disc-based gaming, and say "yeah we're going to start selling games with huge discounts during these time periods on our digital storefront. The disc-based ecosystem isn't going anywhere for those who want to buy, sell, and lend games to each other."

What they were doing is not that.

EDIT: In short: if Microsoft wanted to create console Steam, all they had to do was turn their digital storefront into Steam. It's really not that hard to understand.

 

Nintendo saved the Bayonetta franchise and has exclusive rights to it, Platinum is publishing The Wonderful 101 on the WiiU, is probably going to acquire the Darksiders franchise, and might potentially revive the Viewtiful Joe franchise later on, and Nintendo has picked up freaking Mega Man for Smash Brothers.

Why you'd want a Bone over the U I have no idea. Color me retro, but I'll take my chances with Nintendo and their partners and collaborators over Microsoft any day. The guys over at 343 cry themselves to sleep at night for leaving Bungie to stay with Halo, and you know it.

 

...I don't think Platinum is actually going to acquire the Darksiders franchise. Some European company owns the rights to that (and a bunch of other random former-THQ properties) now.