Dropped DRM: Why I cancelled my order and so should you.

[vovakyan]

I have a 3Mbps DSL connection. You can BEAT a disc-based game in the time it would take to finish a 20GB install. 20 GB = 21,474,836,480 bytes. That is 171,798,691,840 bits. I get 3 Mbps, or 3,145,728 bits per-second. That install would therefore take 54,613.3 seconds. That's 910.2 minutes. That's 15.17 hours. I can literally beat the entirety of a game fast than that. In some cases, I could beat TWO games faster than that.

I think you need to call your cable company and check the rates, you might be surprised. Maybe you haven't looked into the pricing lately.

On another note, 20GB = 15 Hours. So is it easier to drive to a store and buy it and not be able to have all the cool DRM features. Or how about this, you preorder it digitally. At midnight your XBOX ONE would do an automatic download and by the time you were home from work the next day, you could play your game. Or if you don't work it would be ready early afternoon, by the time you woke up.

 

[Keith Wallace]

I think you need to call your cable company and check the rates, you might be surprised. Maybe you haven't looked into the pricing lately.

On another note, 20GB = 15 Hours. So is it easier to drive to a store and buy it and not be able to have all the cool DRM features. Or how about this, you preorder it digitally. At midnight your XBOX ONE would do an automatic download and by the time you were home from work the next day, you could play your game. Or if you don't work it would be ready early afternoon, by the time you woke up.

1. No, it's $30 for the first 6 months, then $50 after that. After 12 months, it says "$42.95-$64.95," not sure where we'd fall in that range. However, that's the 25Mbps connection, I forgot that they dumped 15 Mbps connection.

2. I don't work right now, taking summer classes. I also don't sleep until 3 PM. I actually tend to want to play games at midnight, though, as I am usually up until 2 AM or so.

 

[EchoRedux]

So according to this "MS employee", what many call the coolest feature of the "next gen" DRM system is just glorified demo sharing. Family share is a bogus NON-FACTOR.

From the article:

"Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world. When your family member accesses any of your games, they?re placed into a special demo mode. This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a 15-45 minute timer and in some cases an hour. When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game."

This is the "future" many here are trying to defend. I'd gladly give up this worthless feature in order to play my games offline.

 

[michfan]

Cori and everyone else,

I want to clarify a few things. I think MSFT has potential and this was a step back. Like I have said before, I am a MSFT guy. The people that originally preordered the console liked the DRM policy, now that has been changed. If they do not cancel then MSFT won't get the message. If things are launched the way they are, why would they want to change?

As for cloud computing, MSFT said they would still support it. I bet they will, but will developers, if they know that people aren't going to be online? And if people argue that most people are online anyways then we took a step back.

Major changes in innovation do not come with the infrastructure first, but the technology. Did we build the highway system or the vehicle first? Did we build electrical infrastructure or the light bulb? Did we put in a sewage system before we had flushing toilets? The point is innovation leads infrastructure. If we don't let that innovation happen then no one will capitalize on the infrastructure. That's how we have made so much progress in so little time, and also why we might me plateauing. When all of those technological advancement were made it took time for the infrastructure to catch up. There are still places where there are no paved roads should we all use horse and buggy?

MS wants to move in the direction you want them to, but they see that they cannot succeed with such policies right now. Sony and Nintendo do not even aspire for such a vision, primarily because they don't have the capability to do it. I think MS needs to address internal issues right now -- e.g., get a competent leadership and marketing team in place ahead of the XBox One launch. That team should then get to work on finding middle ground that restores widely accepted aspects of the original policy, or offering two paths of membership (new DRM, traditional DRM). Mattrick will haunt this project for the remainder of his time with XBox. People simply won't forget his callous attitude toward the military and people who didn't like/understand the DRM, as well as the extreme backpedaling that came off like "we're going to pick up our toys and go home now".

 

[vovakyan]

1. No, it's $30 for the first 6 months, then $50 after that. After 12 months, it says "$42.95-$64.95," not sure where we'd fall in that range. However, that's the 25Mbps connection, I forgot that they dumped 15 Mbps connection.

2. I don't work right now, taking summer classes. I also don't sleep until 3 PM. I actually tend to want to play games at midnight, though, as I am usually up until 2 AM or so.

1. So that is half of what you said originally. Also, when the promotion expires, call back and they will give you another one especially if you threaten to cancel. I know a lot of people that get that kind of speed at that price for a year. DSL is probably on a contract too.

2. Well you will be in full-time school when the system comes out. And if you do buy a game at midnight, how long does it take to come back home install the game and actually play before 2am. Not much time left. Either way, there are always excuses to not progress.

 

[vertigoOne]

So according to this "MS employee", what many call the coolest feature of the "next gen" DRM system is just glorified demo sharing. Family share is a bogus NON-FACTOR.

From the article:

"Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world. When your family member accesses any of your games, they?re placed into a special demo mode. This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a 15-45 minute timer and in some cases an hour. When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game."

This is the "future" many here are trying to defend. I'd gladly give up this worthless feature in order to play my games offline.

There have already been counterstatements that this was not the case...what would be the point of sharing demo versions?

And why would there be any limitation on the number of people and their relationship with you if it were in fact only demos? Demo versions are already freely available on current platforms, why tout this as a benefit if it was a step backward?

 

[EchoRedux]

There have already been counterstatements that this was not the case...what would be the point of sharing demo versions?

Those counterstatements were to save face. If it was truly unrestricted game play, it would have been a killer feature. Microsoft would have highlighted this fact, and went on about not having to buy the same game 3 times for a family of three gamers. Seeing how Microsoft was so murky in providing details, I am highly likely to believe that the family share feature was nothing more than a gimmick.

 

[vertigoOne]

Those counterstatements were to save face. If it was truly unrestricted game play, it would have been a killer feature. Microsoft would have highlighted this fact, and went on about not having to buy the same game 3 times for a family of three gamers. Seeing how Microsoft was so murky in providing details, I am highly likely to believe that the family share feature was nothing more than a gimmick.

Or, Microsoft was already planning to make the policy change and felt that it would be a waste of everyone's time to explain a concept that they already knew was being axed.

 

[mister2d]

So according to this "MS employee", what many call the coolest feature of the "next gen" DRM system is just glorified demo sharing. Family share is a bogus NON-FACTOR.

From the article:

"Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world. When your family member accesses any of your games, they’re placed into a special demo mode. This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a 15-45 minute timer and in some cases an hour. When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game."

This is the "future" many here are trying to defend. I'd gladly give up this worthless feature in order to play my games offline.

If this is true I absolutely agree with you.

 

[EchoRedux]

Or, Microsoft was already planning to make the policy change and felt that it would be a waste of everyone's time to explain a concept that they already knew was being axed.

I'm not accepting that. If they didn't have everything thought through, they never would have spoken of a policy that would garner distrust and backlash. They could have shown "possible" scenarios and highlighted the cool features. If they knew it was going to be axed, they would have never given any information about it during E3.

 

[vovakyan]

So according to this "MS employee", what many call the coolest feature of the "next gen" DRM system is just glorified demo sharing. Family share is a bogus NON-FACTOR.

From the article:

"Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world. When your family member accesses any of your games, they’re placed into a special demo mode. This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a 15-45 minute timer and in some cases an hour. When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game."

This is the "future" many here are trying to defend. I'd gladly give up this worthless feature in order to play my games offline.

If that was the case than you are right, but are you sure that is accurate. I don't think there are any other sources for that.

 

[Darkgift]

I have to disagree with the OP. I didn't mind the DRM policy either, buy it was a drastic change. Now that they stopped it, and people feel comfortable again, once they have been purchased, Microsoft can now slowly roll out these experiences on an opt in basis. Choice is always better.

 

[PhoenixSoul]

So according to this "MS employee", what many call the coolest feature of the "next gen" DRM system is just glorified demo sharing. Family share is a bogus NON-FACTOR.

From the article:

"Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world. When your family member accesses any of your games, they?re placed into a special demo mode. This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a 15-45 minute timer and in some cases an hour. When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game."

This is the "future" many here are trying to defend. I'd gladly give up this worthless feature in order to play my games offline.

I posted this in another thread. That pastebin post is BS in my opinion.







Credit goes to EvilFiek for this one.

 

[Keith Wallace]

1. So that is half of what you said originally. Also, when the promotion expires, call back and they will give you another one especially if you threaten to cancel. I know a lot of people that get that kind of speed at that price for a year. DSL is probably on a contract too.

2. Well you will be in full-time school when the system comes out. And if you do buy a game at midnight, how long does it take to come back home install the game and actually play before 2am. Not much time left. Either way, there are always excuses to not progress.

1. No, it's not half of what I said. Saying that it's $30 for 6 months doesn't make the fact that it's $50+ afterwards less true.

2. We have no idea what the install time is, so I can't say, but it's under 15 hours, I know that.

 

[vovakyan]

1. No, it's not half of what I said. Saying that it's $30 for 6 months doesn't make the fact that it's $50+ afterwards less true.

2. We have no idea what the install time is, so I can't say, but it's under 15 hours, I know that.

1. Double check with your DSL provider and you will find that you have that low price for only a limited time (12 months). And if that is the case, then admit you will be paying $40/month for DSL.
2. Yes you are right. I never said it was 15 hours. But let me spell it out for you.
12:00 AM: In line to pick up game.
12:30 AM: Paid for game out the door.
12:45 AM: Got home from the store.
1:00 AM: Installed playing a game.
2:00 AM: Your bedtime.
So that one hour of extra play you might get is good enough reason for you?

Instead of maybe going to bed waking up early and sharing your game with a friend and having fun. Wow I really do love your option better.

 

[EchoRedux]

I posted this in another thread. That pastebin post is BS in my opinion.



Credit goes to EvilFiek for this one.

Why should I believe these tweets? Anyways, let's say there's unrestricted family sharing. This gives an added benefit. An extra convenience. But then you have a requirement to be online. This isn't just an inconvenience, or a reduced benefit, this is a complete STOP in function.

 

[vovakyan]

Why should I believe these tweets? Anyways, let's say there's unrestricted family sharing. This gives an added benefit. An extra convenience. But then you have a requirement to be online. This isn't just an inconvenience, or a reduced benefit, this is a complete STOP in function.

Only if you don't have internet. The only major group of gamers this would effect is the military. We should all give up our 4g cell phones, the military servicemen can't access theirs.

 

[EchoRedux]

Only if you don't have internet. The only major group of gamers this would effect is the military. We should all give up our 4g cell phones, the military servicemen can't access theirs.

The proper analogy would be, we should prevent military from owning phones since they have no access to 4G. If you're willing to trust a box that loses all gaming function, even with a gaming disc, I don't know what to tell you. The costs clearly outweigh the benefits.

 

[Coreldan]

The proper analogy would be, we should prevent military from owning phones since they have no access to 4G. If you're willing to trust a box that loses all gaming function, even with a gaming disc, I don't know what to tell you. The costs clearly outweigh the benefits.

My PC is basically rendered useless if the internet cuts off, pretty much instantly with no 24h grace times, cos everything I do on my PC is online. I'm one of those that do not play offline/single player games, at least not on PC.

I havn't had my internet go out for more than a few hours in a decade, I had no trouble trusting the X1 in this case, cos as said, it's not like any of my other devices are any more useful to me if the internet goes out.

I will give you that for some people in some areas the check in is probably really nasty, but don't assume it would be for everyone.

 

[vovakyan]

The proper analogy would be, we should prevent military from owning phones since they have no access to 4G. If you're willing to trust a box that loses all gaming function, even with a gaming disc, I don't know what to tell you. The costs clearly outweigh the benefits.

That analogy would not work, because they can buy one. They might not be able to game on it, but they could use it for other things. Just like a cell phone without data. You can have it, turn it on but it's not that useful.

I am willing to trust it, because I am not paranoid about Microsoft. I know I will have internet, and if I don't have internet their is something horrible happening in the world and gaming won't be my concern.