Xbox 720 games tethered to one console, require online code activation – report

@90
This was the context of that quote …

“Because there is so much variety on Steam(and PC in general). You are not stuck with pricy big budget AAA games. MS has already announced they will be shuttering XNA suport. And reports have them not including Indie games next gen on Live. That removes a cheaper alternative to buying games.”

How are you stuck with pricy big budget AAA games if you go console only? The fact some of the titles also appear on PC doesn’t negate the fact they also appear on consoles.

“Go look at the recently released list and their time lines for XBLA.”

In the last couple of weeks we’ve had Skulls of the Shogun and The Cave. What’s your point? I could have survived the majority of this generation on XBLA titles if I wanted. It’s been great.

Is it just me, or do people who exclusively play PC always seem like assholes?

@85
|The games wouldn’t be worth selling as they were bought so cheap in the first place.

That’s not what I asked.
Also, I don’t resell any of my games.

@102 I think its fair to say ‘anyone’ who plays one system exclusively is an asshole. They are so fixated that it can’t be possible for anyone to enjoy anything on another system. I’m almost exclusively PC at the moment, but that’s my choice. Gaming for me is a hobby not a job so I’m not defending/offending any bloody company/product.

Edit: Its not FAIR to say anything above actually lol, and I’m being disingenuous but some people (namely PC_PB) really need to lighten up a little (a lot)

Why do you always nit pick my posts Doc?

I never said XBLA hasn’t been great this gen.

I am saying there is happening developments in that comunity. XBLA has been a major draw this gen. But I think that could change next gen.

This doesn’t bother me all that much… I mean I buy all my games new for the most part so it really doesn’t affect me. What does on the other hand is the always on internet connection. What if your service goes out? What if you can’t pay the bill that month… or for what ever odd reason, I’m just saying. It would suck to have a video game console you couldn’t play because it couldn’t get on to the internet.
Didn’t the same thing happen with Diablo 3? Totally sucks to buy the game so you can take it home and not be able to play it…
If you ask me the game industry is telling us to adapt, and deal with it, but I really think they are shooting themselves in the foot with this one.

So its okay for people to go around calling others cretins, assholes, scumbags, etc. etc. all the time?

Yeah, okay. I think I’m finally done with this place.

Have fun being swarmed by countless illiterate, condescending trolls whose sole purpose is to insult everybody and treat the entire community like shit. Because they know full well they can get away with it.

Personally, I can’t be fuckin’ arsed with that kinda bullshit anymore.

*logs out*

@106 you find them everywhere and I would try to avoid letting them stop you from sticking around.

I don’t have anything deep or meaning to say about this, other than bollocks to that malarkey. If not for subsidising my gaming habit with a handful of second hand titles each year, then I wouldn’t be able to afford to game at all.

why is PC_Playboy such an idiot?

The whole reason for console gaming is the ease of use factor that PCs DONT have.

Why do you think Apple is so big? Consistent, working models. It’s a charm if only you could wrap your brain around that concept.

All digital mediums will never exist so long as they’re consumers who purchase physical mediums.

The rumor seems to be not true, because in Europe there is law that customers have the right to sell used software licences so as games. If this is true MS will have a problem with the EU government.

@110

It wouldn’t violate any laws you would still be able to sell the game, they would just be as useful as a paper weight. MS/Sony can do whatever they want within their system.

Did you know that there are people out there who still believe that closed architechtures are selected for their benefit?

Lulz!

Thanks MS but no thanks.

Was almost exclusively Xbox from launch day until about a year ago. But it’s been going downhill rapidly for years. Just playing on my PS3 now.

Been wanting to get into PC gaming for years now, I think next gen I’m gonna forgo buying all major consoles and just get a decent PC instead. Steam makes XBL and PSN seem like a complete fucking joke.

@113 Likewise, this last gen was a huge success for all the companies and for me, I was hoping to get a PS4 and a 720 but all of them systems seem dull to me now that I am a PC gamer mostly :/

UNLESS, Orbis or Durango actually allows us to make what Xi3 will do: buying new parts whenever we like it to

I don’t think that this is true. I don’t trust EDGE anyway.

@114

Because paying upwards of a grand for a system tat allows you to upgrade ram and Hard drive is such a great idea…..Oh wait its not. In fact its moronic.

@116 Wheras it’s virtuous to pay a grand for online services that are free on any other device.

@117

What are you talking about? X13 is a restricted PC that only allows you to change out the ram and hard drive. the cpu,gpu and motherboard are fixed. If you are going to pay for something that is going to be 1grand to act like a PC. You are better off just getting a PC instead of letting the fear of maintaining a PC dictate you purchasing one.

@106:

Come back!

We miss you!

@118 Haha, I completely misunderstood. My bad.

I agree, but I think Xi3 falls short because it doesn’t actually focus on the experience itself.

The hardware just needs to be functional and cheap.

I do think there’s a market if someone actually brought a cheaper box than a Xi3 with an interface that was every bit as easy as the one on consoles.

If true, i’m not touching it. The entire gaming industry has turned to shit, nearly every game released has entire chunks purposely removed from launch date to then be later resold as DLC. This is why I strongly support the indie developer movement, as well as the PC/modder communities which are on the cutting edge of game development.

True innovation relies on those willing to take risks… juggernaut corporations despise risk taking, thus they regurgitate the game annually released content.

if true, then that will force me to buy a PlayStation.

so wtf Microsoft?

The Reason I like the PC Most are Mods, there are great Modders out there. And stuff like Choice, what do I want? Spent as much money I can to play all on Max? Pay a little less and Play on Medium? Do I wanna put more Hardware Power in Textures or something other? Its up to me, I can do all very Individual, what is of course not Possible on a Console.

Is the PC now better then a Console? Hell no.
Is a Console better then a PC? Hell no.
They are just diffrent and thats it.

PS4/720, old PC tech duct-taped together and called “next gen” for the casuals i.e. you lot.

Hey everybody, look at me!

I want some attention!!!

@106 Yay We finally killed lolconnor. Bet he comes back

@126:

I’m sure he’ll be back.

He’s got nowhere else to go…

@109: It’s a charged subject, particularly here, it seems. I don’t understand the stupidity. The choices both have merit and both have problems: open architecture and constant upgrades, or standardized snapshots in the tech space for a number of years, guaranteeing quick tech obsolescence, but taking away software-compatibility pains. The first is expensive and is filled with uncertainty. (Will this game work well on my rig? What hoops do I jump through to make sure it does?) Its up side is that it features the most flexibility and consumer choice, not to mention the best possible tech. The second has a fairly low entry price, and is guaranteed to work well with properly crafted software. (If the game chugs or crashes, you know it’s not your fault.) But you’re locked into not only the frozen tech, but also one company’s policies and licensing. Software availability and prices will suffer, compared to the open PC.

That’s about it, really. Is it worth frothing at the mouth, for page after page? Not to me. I’ve experienced everything videogaming has to give as far back as it matters. There’s too much good about all of it to go on a hate-fest over the flaws . . . except forced online connections. >:( That I’ll gladly rage over.

Excuse me, but shut the hell up PC_Playboy. You obviously have zero comprehension of hardware and what makes them useful: the software. REGARDLESS if the Durango/720 whatever the hell it’s going to be called, won’t be bottlenecked by a resource hogging OS, even if it is, there will still be specialized, superior drivers designed for its hardware to use.

Now I’m not saying a closed system is necessarily perfect but what you PC guys that get on here and go all gung-ho on whoever has the biggest baddest PC probably doesn’t want to acknowledge the fact that they’re not getting but half of what the hardware to do. IF the PS4 rumors ARE true, (AMD-8000GPU/4X2CPU) then it will indeed, factually be able to run any game better than it’s PC counterpart. THIS IS DUE TO HAVING A CONSISTENT PLATFORM and LOW_LEVEL GPU/CPU access WITHOUT a buggy, memory hungry OS dragging it down.

Do yourself a favor, keep your topics in your area of expertise. IF in fact you have any. I swear to Barbara Joe if you’re one of those stupid kids that buys the latest and greatest Alienware or XPS, then by all means continue to justify you’re stupidly overpriced and under-utilized hardware, but remember this. I WILL CALL YOU OUT.

Want further proof? How about the fact that these 7+ year old consoles run the latest Crysis games that comparable PC hardware COULDNT from even a year AFTER the consoles have hit the market.

Gaming is gaming, regardless the medium, attempting to justify your purchase in a more mature manner is what our community needs. @Cobra951 You’re absolutely correct good sir.

@129 Going on and on about cheap chinese sillicon is all well and good, but what about the actual experience?

What kind of prices are you getting, what kind of services are you getting, what kind of design are you getting? What about the digital offerings?

Consoles are several years behind the curve. Maybe pick up an iPhone and learn how it’s done.

That’s certainly one problem with closed architechture. Unless you happen to have guys with as much talent as the designers at Apple, you’re literally stuck with mediocrity.

@OG
Sorry didn’t mean it to come across that way, you do tend to pack a lot into a post and have fairly strong views to boot. The reason I respond though is that I know you will actually discuss rather than dismiss. .

I think there are changes in the mid to low priced stuff on consoles too, but i see it strengthening. A lot of titles which weren’t AAA but released into the market at AAA prices without the marketing behind them have floundered this generation. Squeezed from both sides, the AAA with their massive marketing budgets from above and the quality of the cheaper titles from below. These titles are going to be able to retake some ground with the flexibility in pricing and lower risk and greater acceptance of a digital only release.

Yes there are problems with the model too, devkits, costs of certification, patching etc, but the PC and Mobile markets have their own issues too. Getting noticed and being able to charge enough to cover development to name a couple. Why buy a new budget title when you can get yesterday’s AAA for the same price?

Am I the only one who thinks ‘leaks’ like this are just FUD.

I can’t see this happening for every game, I could see this happening per a developer or publisher’s wish though. One dev might not go this route but certain publishers (Activision) could force you to buy the title of a specific very popular game rather than buy it used, so they could enforce the purchase like a subscription.

Doing this to every game would be a a bad idea as they would really knock out games that people buy on a whim, and it would effect new IP. If I know that I will spend $60 on every title I buy, then I will buy very few titles, only proven titles or ones that have had many good reviews and word of mouth.

I am a gamefly member and Have bought many used titles from there and later bought new games from some of those developers. I buy many games on a Whim on Steam, I wouldn’t do that if every title was $60 and I have a hard time believing MS and Sony don’t realize that. I wouldn’t doubt that certain publishers have pushed for this feature so that they could control used sales on very popular titles only.

It just makes me love the idea of Steam even more. yes I cannot sell my Steam games or trade them in, but I bought 70 percent of those games for $5 to $20, which makes the purchase not a big deal. The question is, if Activision can require a activation code for a COD game, will they lower the price accordingly? I highly doubt that and I would imagine that their would be some blowback for that, but then again people buy Madden every year and COD every year, and so why not then?

These people probably don’t sell those copies of their games, they buy a ton of DLC, and so why not require an activation code in those games?
It wouldn’t be so bad in those games if they lowered the price on the game and made DLC free in that case, but yeah thats not going to happen.

I hope, Microsoft will reject the idea. There are still some area where gamers do not have any or proper internet connection, and who will pay charge plus a Gold to start a single player? Remember for Ubisoft’s DRM plans before releasing Driver: San Francisco for PC. And I think, the market of pre-owned games is necessary. The developers may do not get a profit after these sales, but lot of gamers will not buy unknown or less-famous games, if they cannot sell them. If there are not any loopholes, they do not buy a pig in a poke.

Alexandra. even though Alexander`s remark is astonishing, last monday I got themselves a Smart ForTwo after having earned $7531 this last four weeks and-over, ten-k this past munth. no-doubt about it, this really is the most comfortable work I’ve had. I actually started 3 months ago and practically straight away began to earn more than $87, per/hr. I work through this website,. pay check

THEY DO THIS AND THE SYSTEM IS DOOMED FROM DAY ONE.

Guy uses his time to try and antagonise people over the Internet about games consoles then calls people cretins

Now that’s a “lol”

Michaels got a point , it’s N4g level here most of the time

Oh I hope they do this single game tied to a console crap so I can laugh as their sales tank since only the biggest diehards will put up with that crap.

I don’t buy used games yet I know people out there do and they do so not simply because they are cheap but because they don’t have ENOUGH MONEY to pay full price. Do companies actually have any clue about reality? It is as though these execs at these huge companies making their 6/7/8 figure salaries think everyone has their income. What will happen if they do this is many will simply wait for the game to drop in price or just pass in general and new game sales will take a hit and the companies will probably wonder why and find lame excuses instead of realizing their greed was the reason why.

For me though, this would affect me since I have multiple xboxes in my home as do many others and I live with my brother so it is idiotic to think we would each buy a copy or pay for some extra license crap to each play it on our own xboxes.

Needless to say I sure as hell won’t be buying the next xbox if this is true nor will I buy the ps4 if Sony is as clueless as MS is. If both do this then you can pretty much kiss the console gaming industry goodbye and then laugh when they try and blame tablets and smart phones and piracy for the reason why instead of their own stupidity.

The mentality behind this truly is mind blowing and the ever increasing greed and stupidity (welcome to the idiocracy which every day shows is getting worse) of the humanoids is incredible. How about companies make it so blu-ray movies will only play on a single player since hey, need to stop borrowing and used movie sales. Then let’s ban used car sales by making them require biometric recognition to start. Just totally get rid of the second hand market in general and be sure to jack up prices of everything to screw people even more since salaries for most are not increasing at all. Brilliant!

The ever increasing insanity of this world is wonderful and the ever increasing greed and desire for control of corporations and companies is going to pretty much set this world back a few decades as they WILL go too far and even the most brain dead sheeple will clue in and push back and things will go to hell.

Humanity truly is an embarrassment.

I think its true and I believe SONY will do the same. Too many studios have closed this gen basically for two main reasons (well actually 3). 1. Used games market, 2. COD, and 3. Devs/Publishers refuse to price their games accordingly to quality trying to sell a shit Disney game or sport title for $60 every time.

Ultimately without the devs(software) these consoles(hardware) are going to fail. SONY and Microsoft don’t want to end up like Nintendo only staying alive in the game because of their 1st party titles. And we all know Microsoft needs third party devs the most as they have the weakest 1st party line up.

No way a Halo every year will justify their existence. Games are getting locked they have to I’m afraid to ensure the survival of the industry. Only way this not happening is if Gamestop/Gamefly gives back some type of percentage to the devs/publishers. But I don’t see this happening this is America. The almighty dollar is a curse of greed you can’t get rid of.

Something has to give, reasonable pricing structures for the hardware and the games, better release schedules instead of cluttered months then gaps during June-August. It’s sad that it comes this although it would be ballsy of Sony to say no by backing the consumers which could change publishers ideas and leave MS right in the shit

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that any company that puts out a console that still allows for the use of used games is going to be the most financially successful. If the Wii U doesn’t have a block on used games and can still get the same games as what Sony and Microsoft will get, I think that may end up becoming Nintendo’s main market advantage.

From an average consumer perspective, being able to play used games brings two positives. One: you can get games you’re not sure about for a price that is actually reasonable, and rent games from rental stores besides. Two: you might really want a physical copy of a game, and after several years, a used copy may be the only thing that’s actually available.

But even from a broad concept, the whole concept of making these games so you can’t buy or play used copies is as aggressively stupid as trophies and achievements you can only get from online play.

Let me give an example. I played and beat Quantum Theory. Most people thought it was bad, I loved the world it presented and thought the gameplay was okay. It has trophies where you have to play online to get them. Problem: nobody plays the game online. I can’t get the online-only trophies, which means it’s impossible for me to ever get a Platinum trophy for the game.

Now let’s look at the video games. If the game requires a one-time activation code which only the company can provide, this means: 1) the game can ONLY be played on one system; if you get a new system, you’re screwed unless you somehow pay for another code (or the company allows use on multiple devices), and 2) if any companies involved in the generation and transmission of the code go under or the tech is taken down then you may never get to play the game.

This is in addition to how it would literally screw over any games that could become break-out successes and cult classics at a later date but aren’t huge big-selling blockbuster releases. With the PS3, backwards compatibility and no one-time-use lock means I can pop in my copies of games like Granstream Saga and play them just fine. And if the PS3 couldn’t play it, I could find ways online to play the game using my computer.

And this isn’t even taking into account how selfishly greed-oriented this approach is at the expense of the cultural good. Are they going to make special versions that don’t have a one-time-use aspect that rental stores and libraries can use? If not, they’re doing the equivalent of putting a lock on a book. They’re essentially holding culture ransom to make sure they can pinch out every penny possible. “Sorry, you have to use this key to read 1984, and if you lose the key, you have to hope the company that printed the book is still making extra keys to buy that fit your lock.”

I’ve bought every Sony console since PS1, but I have to say that if they go through with this anti-used games approach out of desperate greed, then PS3 may be the last console from them I ever buy. I’m usually happy to buy games I’m excited about brand new, even in special edition packs, but if I’m interested in game enough that I want to buy a physical copy of it, I want to know I can actually access the content decades from now. Unless they have a policy where activation codes aren’t needed after X number of years and it takes into account things like rental stores, locking a game behind an activation code to prevent used game sales is asinine.

If true, one word. FAIL.

If I can resell my home and my car…even a DVD, why can’t I resell a game?

So the model works perfectly well for Steam, but it won’t work for consoles?

Can you sell XBLA/PSN games? No.

Did it stop many XBLA games selling millions? No.

Are non-resellable digital sales taking over retail at a phenominal rate already? Yes.

Will this fake indignance disappear without trace as soon as people see it isn’t anywhere near the doom being predicted? YES.

Some people are just shit-scared of the future.

@141: EXACTLY. Spot on

@144: there’s a HUGE difference between paying a 5-15$ game on PSN/XBLA and a 60$ game. Steam sales work well because you have VERY interesting offers, for cheap. The risk is low.

There are dozens of games this gen I would NEVER have bought at 60$. But I took opportunity to “give it a try” when they were at 20-25$ (either on second hand sales or on Amazon). If Sony/Microsoft “lock” their games, they will keep control over the prices and they won’t lower them. Look at their pricing policy on PSN/XBL!

@146
No they never have sales on PSN/XBL, didn’t have one over Christmas, they don’t currently have one for Vita’s birthday. They never have summer promotions. They never reduce prices. Oh wait, yes, yes they do.

Oh and see also PS+.

#146

Downloaded AAA pricing is artificially high because the platform holders don’t want to undercut, and hence alienate, retailers.

Remove retail from the equation and digital pricing will drop to what the market will bear (i.e. a bit less than RRP at launch), and special offers/aged stock pricing will lower.

Do you honestly think Sony and MS have not raised the same concerns as you internally and fully thought it through? These aren’t pissant startup operations. They have sizeable R&D departments constantly appraising pricing.

They know what the market will bear with and without retail.

@147: I was talking about AAA games, not PSN/XBLA games.
Take ANY retail game on those digital services and even months after, you’ll still find some of those games selling at 40$ when they can be bought for 10-15$ in stores (second hand sales) or on Amazon.

@148: Because you honestly think that if retail stores and second hand games are destroyed Sony and Microsoft will generously lower their prices when absolutely nothing would oblige them to?
You say they haven’t done that until now not to alienate retailers? What the HECK you think they would be doing by preventing second hand sales, if not alienating (and destroying) retailers?

My point is concurrence is a good factor. 3 console manufacturers is good and healthy for the industry. Retail market is also good for the industry, because there are several distributors. Steam offers cheap prices because they (also) compete with retail.

@149
“Sony and Microsoft will generously lower their prices when absolutely nothing would oblige them to?”

The crucial point here is that prices are set by publishers too, not just MS & Sony. So in terms of competition they are competing with other publishers for your money.

They will lower their prices because by doing so they will get more sales and more money.

Put it another way, whilst competition between rival game sellers is beneficial on the PC what is the real driving factor behind sale prices. Steam can’t sell games for a sale price without the publisher agreeing to it. The publisher agrees to it because they will make money from it. If the returns at a higher price drop significantly then they will lower the price, or put it in bundle deals (again see PS+). These sort of market forces still apply where there is one shop or three.

MS/Sony aren’t the sole producers, publishers and sellers on these closed systems. They are also in competition with each other.