With the changes announced yesterday for DRM and sharing

[mcb155]

Since I can borrow/lend/trade-in my game discs now but can do nothing with a digital copy of the game, will digital games cost less? If I can get even $10 back when I trade in a game, what incentive do I have for buying a digital copy other than convenience? It's not like I never leave my home. I can always swing by a store to pick up a disc if I know in the long run I can trade it in towards my next purchase. I'm a little sad knowing that MS let all the whining change their plans.

This story helps to summarize some of the things that will be lost now.

https://medium.com/adventures-in-consumer-technology/a849a9d4d530

 

[martinmc78]

If you buy physical disks of all your games you cant use the hot swap feature to seamlessly change between games - so no more playing on one game while waiting for matchmaking to find you a match on another - now you'll have to put in the disk - load up the game - sit in the matchmaking lobby and wait... and wait...

Welcome to the future.

 

[mcb155]

It's a question of balance though. I liked everything that was presented at E3 and prior to that about the features of the Xbox One. But I don't swap between games all that often to make it worth paying an extra $10 everytime I buy a game for this nice feature. I liked that MS was pushing people into the future, as you put it, but now they have a choice not to go and I feel like the whole ecosystem has been damaged by their capitulation.

 

[martinmc78]

It's a question of balance though. I liked everything that was presented at E3 and prior to that about the features of the Xbox One. But I don't swap between games all that often to make it worth paying an extra $10 everytime I buy a game for this nice feature. I liked that MS was pushing people into the future, as you put it, but now they have a choice not to go and I feel like the whole ecosystem has been damaged by their capitulation.

The thing is the hot swap feature was never an option before so you had to get up to switch games change that and you may well have changed the way you played your games - like all the advancements with the xbox one - none of it had been done before. It should have been a whole new way of doing things. Now half the good stuff is gone before anyone even got to try it out.

That's what's really got on my nerves with all this. No one had even given it a chance and now its gone.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Half of the good stuff is gone? I'd argue that it ALL is. Honestly, what is still there?

However, I think that Smart Match will remain unchanged, for the most part. What are the odds that you would ACTUALLY play one game while looking for a match in another. If Smart Match is so slow that you'd have enough time to make meaningful progress in RYSE while waiting for a match in Forza or something, then that system is too slow to work out well. Now, waiting a couple of minutes while watching TV with it running in the background? That would make sense, and it is still possible, as you'd have the disc for the game you want in. It would be silly to start up Smart Match, switch to a game, and have the match pop as soon as you start playing.

 

[coip]

I was really excited about 3 things of Xbox One:
1) not having to load discs into trays
2) being able to digitally share my games with 10 friends
3) being able to access my library on any Xbox One

My understanding is that we have two methods to buy games: go to a store and buy the actual disc or buy the game digitally (i.e., a massive download). If we do the former, the disc must always be in the tray if we want to play it. This means, no easy swapping between games using the Kinect (Xbox: play ____) as I would literally have to open the disc tray, remove the disc, and insert a new one like it's 1995. The pros are that I don't have to wait for a 50GB download, and I can resell or lend the game. Is that right?

However, if I buy the game purely digitally, I cannot lend or resell the game at all (much like buying an app on a smartphone), but I can easily swap between games using the Kinect voice feature. I never have to deal with any discs at all, but I can still access my library on other consoles, right? (but we lost the family sharing option).

I do not want to do physical disc swapping every time I want to change games on my Xbox One. So, if I only do digital I can avoid that, but I basically lost all the other benefits of buying a game (sharing and reselling). I sure hope the digital copies are cheaper, otherwise anyone who buys a digital copy is literally subsidizing the obtuse morons who forced Microsoft to bring back physical discs.

The questions, then, are
A) will all games be available for digital download on the day they are released, and
B) what will the price difference be compared to the physical discs (if it's more expensive or the same price, digital buyers are getting screwed).

 

[martinmc78]

The thing with downloading hasn't changed as far as im aware - if your xbox is connected to the internet you can set up the game to download overnight or while your at work and it be there ready to play when you get home.

 

[Robert Carpenter]

The thing with downloading hasn't changed as far as im aware - if your xbox is connected to the internet you can set up the game to download overnight or while your at work and it be there ready to play when you get home.

I'm pretty sure they have stated that for digital downloads, just like installing the game from a disc, you could play the game as it installed. The game will download the initial data required to run the game, like the .exe file. When the game is running it will download the game graphics models and other data in the background. When the game goes to load a part of the game (a vehicle, character, weapon etc.) that it hasn't downloaded yet, it will put all priority on that specific item.

So everything is pretty much in the background, with an occasional 2-3 seconds delay when the game gets to something it hasn't downloaded yet. There are a lot of current PC games that use this streaming model. World of Warcraft is one of them.

Also, keep in mind that while games will be large, most of them will not be anywhere near 50GB for quite some time.

 

[martinmc78]

Half of the good stuff is gone? I'd argue that it ALL is. Honestly, what is still there?

However, I think that Smart Match will remain unchanged, for the most part. What are the odds that you would ACTUALLY play one game while looking for a match in another. If Smart Match is so slow that you'd have enough time to make meaningful progress in RYSE while waiting for a match in Forza or something, then that system is too slow to work out well. Now, waiting a couple of minutes while watching TV with it running in the background? That would make sense, and it is still possible, as you'd have the disc for the game you want in. It would be silly to start up Smart Match, switch to a game, and have the match pop as soon as you start playing.

I thought that smart match was a bit more involved and could take a while to sort out depending on the game - if I set it running to find my friends playing halo it will run in the background and pair me with them when a slot comes available or when they finish a game so that could be a 10 minute wait. That's pushing the example to its maximum probably but 10 minutes is easily enough time for a few rounds in killer instinct while im waiting

 

[martinmc78]

I'm pretty sure they have stated that for digital downloads, just like installing the game from a disc, you could play the game as it installed. The game will download the initial data required to run the game, like the .exe file. When the game is running it will download the game graphics models and other data in the background. When the game goes to load a part of the game (a vehicle, character, weapon etc.) that it hasn't downloaded yet, it will put all priority on that specific item.

So everything is pretty much in the background, with an occasional 2-3 seconds delay when the game gets to something it hasn't downloaded yet. There are a lot of current PC games that use this streaming model. World of Warcraft is one of them.

Also, keep in mind that while games will be large, most of them will not be anywhere near 50GB for quite some time.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that's how it works too - although personally I'm far more likely to wake up Friday morning get the download going, go to work and have it fully installed for when I get home

 

[Keith Wallace]

So, something that has me curious: IS your library going to still be accessible anywhere? I mean, can I start an install of a game in my library at a friend's that will require a disc check while I am playing another game? I think that they should make that possible--allow that anywhere access still, just make the disc required for startup. IF they change it to all games need a disc install, that's a bit annoying.

 

[stevearsenault]

So, something that has me curious: IS your library going to still be accessible anywhere? I mean, can I start an install of a game in my library at a friend's that will require a disc check while I am playing another game? I think that they should make that possible--allow that anywhere access still, just make the disc required for startup. IF they change it to all games need a disc install, that's a bit annoying.

Digital games will be accessible, provided you're signed into your gamertag, but that appears to not be the case with discs. It's basically the same system that we have now with the Xbox 360.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Digital games will be accessible, provided you're signed into your gamertag, but that appears to not be the case with discs. It's basically the same system that we have now with the Xbox 360.

IDK, I'd think that they would be smart enough to just let your whole library go with you. Just mark the physical games as physical and ask for the disc.

 

[ncxcstud]

IDK, I'd think that they would be smart enough to just let your whole library go with you. Just mark the physical games as physical and ask for the disc.

I think that'd only end up confusing people. "Dude look we can play your copy of Ghosts! See its shared right here!" *clicks on Ghosts* 'We're sorry please insert the Ghosts disc in order to play this game.' Did you bring your disc? Nah man sorry. Jerk...

Also, I thought these words were pretty smart (though watch for the language...)

http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/53457606850/brutal-honest-thoughts-on-this-whole-debacle

 

[Keith Wallace]

I think that'd only end up confusing people. "Dude look we can play your copy of Ghosts! See its shared right here!" *clicks on Ghosts* 'We're sorry please insert the Ghosts disc in order to play this game.' Did you bring your disc? Nah man sorry. Jerk...

Also, I thought these words were pretty smart (though watch for the language...)

http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/53457606850/brutal-honest-thoughts-on-this-whole-debacle

Nah, it's not complicated. You'd just color-code it or something. That, or put it into tabs. IDK, I think it's doable, if they want to do that, but as we've seen, they're not about putting forth meaningful effort.