For digitally downloaded games, there are ways to keep those files to a single hard drive. For disk games, the risk of passing around the game to others/selling it used only for the single player is necessary. There’s no middle ground that I’m aware of.
I think publishers need a push to get something like this moving in the console market. The reason it came easier for the PC platform is because no one felt like they were killing off a large part of their consumerbase in doing so. It’s PC, after all.
Hopefully PS4 developers implement this of their own accord. But let’s face it – after witnessing the crowd reaction to no forced DRM from Sony, are any publishers gonna have the balls to risk the public’s wrath?
I firmly agree with all of this except his always-online argument. Steam, while it requires you to “log-in” before playing, can be played in offline mode as long as there is log in information cached on that computer. Granted, this system is glitch and frustrating as hell, but if handled correctly can be used to play all of your SP games without an internet connection.
DRM is fine, but throwing your offline gamers to the curb isn’t.
I’ll never be in favor of a regular online authentication – at least not for all facets of play.
I support DRM to an extent, and feel it is acceptable for publishers to restrict online play with things like online passes in order to ensure that each player who plays the game is paying the developers for their work. However, in order to do this across the entire game, it would require the penalization of offline only players, of which I know several.
Are you kidding me. The services you listed are INTERNET radio, INTERNET video providers, an ONLINE store, and an ONLINE gaming service that allows you to play your games in offline mode after they’ve been installed.
I believe used games should be eliminated given:
-Xbox accounts, with all their licenses and rights, can be signed onto from different machines, not tied to one.
-Console games depreciate in value MUCH faster. This won’t work when a COD from two years ago still costs fifty dollars. Steam is, obviously, a good model for this.
Those who don’t go on a tech blog every day. These people use Xbox, just like they use windows, but they still indulge in the old anti Microsoft stereotype because they don’t know any better. They see sensationalist headlines and half baked news stories and head for their pitchforks based on that. They’re a volatile bunch.
A next gen console is something that reaches the general public on a fairly large scale, and the general public are the only ones still buying into the Microsoft hate.
Agreed that MS is still out of touch with the reality of the smartphone race. They’re simply not competitive at the moment, and the only thing keeping me with WP is platform consistency and unification.
