“We have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity,” explained Xbox chief Don Mattrick. “It’s called Xbox 360.”
With those snarky words, Microsoft lost E3. That much was clear as soon as Sony’s press conference started. And it’s not because the Xbox One is a bad system. If we ignore Microsoft’s terrible marketing and judge the Xbox One objectively, it’s a fine system – a home entertainment system built for the future that should provide an unparalleled user experience.
But damn it, Microsoft: stop being a jerk.
Don Mattrick, the head of Xbox at Microsoft, explained to GameTrailers that Microsoft built a system that’s future-proof and if you don’t like it, there’s another option: the eight-year-old Xbox 360.
This is Microsoft’s stance and the company doesn’t care if you complain. That message came through loud and clear during the company’s E3 press conference. Take it or leave it. Microsoft doesn’t care. They know they’ll sell millions of boxes and a group of vociferous web trolls won’t change that – or will they?
Microsoft has a reason to be cocky. The Xbox 360 rules the living room, and has set the standard for media streaming devices in the home. There have been hiccups and mistakes along the way, but overall the Xbox 360 is a fantastic system. Microsoft baked in the best of the Xbox 360 into the Xbox One, that much is apparent. However, after years of piracy and the embarrassment of briefly backing the wrong physical media platform, the company is now working on the assumption that you don’t deserve an Xbox One if you’re not connected to the Internet. It’s a fair assumption – the target market already has broadband – but there are still plenty of reasons someone doesn’t want the One to phone home every 24 hours.
The Xbox One has the potential to outsell the PS4. It has the potential of being a better investment for the casual and hardcore gamer alike. It has the potential to seamlessly bring the best of the Internet and TV to the living room.
Look at it this way: The Xbox One is an always-connected device that interfaces with subscription TV. It’s also a portal to a person’s Windows’ ecosystem, bringing the most popular computing platform on Earth to the main screen in the house. It’s a gaming system, a cable guide, a Skype machine, and a media streaming box that you can talk to. And as David Pierce explains on The Verge, the Kinect could usher in a new dimension of gaming. It’s the most pure all-in-one home entertainment system ever built.
But Microsoft went too far.
The Xbox One treats every owner as a potential thief. By nearly requiring a broadband Internet connection to check a game’s DRM, the Xbox One is locked to a living room. Forget about rigging up a system for a long road trip. Forget about taking the system to the family cabin or grandma’s house. Without broadband Internet, the Xbox One is useless.
This always-connected scheme is even scarier when updates are considered. Microsoft will essentially be able to remotely control all these systems and push updates unbeknownst to the owner. But it gets worse: The Xbox One doesn’t work without Kinect, which is always on as well. Xbox One owners cannot trade or easily sell back games. The console is worthy of a mention in a George Orwell novel.
These downsides put Microsoft in a powerful position with game publishers. It’s all about making money and selling systems. It guarantees that games will not be pirated, theoretically putting them at ease and more likely to publish exclusives on the Xbox One. But once you put making money above the user, you start down a slippery slope.
Then there’s the PS4.
As Sony stated loudly and clearly at the PlayStation 4 press conference, the system doesn’t require games check-in online. Games can be traded like baseball cards. The system doesn’t require an Internet connection.
Best yet, indies can self-publish on the PS4.
Sony won E3 by being the anti-Microsoft. The Xbox One has ridiculous DRM and all Sony had to do is state that the PS4 takes a familiar, old-school approach to gaming. It’s just a new PlayStation. Nothing more.
The Xbox One launch is a marketing disaster even though the product itself is solid. Forgive the hyperbole, but every time Microsoft makes a statement, the hole gets deeper. But at the very least Microsoft isn’t hiding anything. There shouldn’t be anymore surprises. Hopefully.
[pics from /r/gaming]
[Correction: a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Xbox 360 was the bestselling console of the last generation.]
After a very public defense of rumors about the next Xbox’s always-on Internet requirements, a new report claims that Microsoft creative director Adam Orth is no longer with the company. In a series of Twitter posts, Orth defended the move by countering that “every device” is now constantly connected, and then delivered a low-blow when someone responded suggesting always-on connectivity might not work great for customers in rural locations, responding snidely, “Why on earth would i live there?”.
According to Game Informer, which confirmed reports from unnamed sources via a call direct to Microsoft that Orth was no longer employed there (we also contacted Microsoft for official confirmation, but a spokesperson simply said ““We are not commenting further on this issue”), it’s likely that incident led to his resignation or removal. And based on Microsoft’s public apology, it likely is the case that this wasn’t the venue. But the real problem here might be that defending a decision to embrace an always-on Internet connection requirement is bound to devolve into personal arguments, since logical ones that don’t involve owning up to a simple “we want to lock down our product and better control piracy” aren’t readily available.
The original report of how the next Xbox would work included a requirement that a user be connected to the Internet to even begin playing games or apps on the console, along with a 3-minute time out for a connection loss before said games or apps are suspended pending the resolution of the network connection issue. For users who have been burned by the always-on requirements of recent PC gaming titles like Diablo III and SimCity, this rumor (which Microsoft neither confirms nor denies, despite its apology) probably sounds like a total nightmare scenario.
It’s not making things better that a report surfaced this week from the Verge which claims that the next Xbox will interact with your cable box, hence the need for an always-on connection. The timing of that report smacks of Microsoft trying to do some subtle damage control based on these recent leaks, without giving away anything official ahead of its own planned Xbox events, the first of which is reportedly taking place late in May.
Of course, even that doesn’t justify an always-on connection requirement, not for isolated functions like single-player gaming which should have no problem running without an active connection, even if a player has to give up some features like achievements and leaderboard ranking to make that work (you know, exactly the way it works now).
The problem with trying to come up with a coherent argument for why a device or game needs an always-on connection without saying those three dreaded letters (D-R-M) is that it’s impossible to do convincingly. Companies like Microsoft and EA, which have very savvy PR professionals on staff, know that trying to do so without a proper feint like a connected TV service is fruitless. Aside from strongly suggesting that the leaked info was correct, taking to Twitter also meant venturing away from the party line that always-on is value add, not consumer punishment, and that’s not something any company mulling this kind of sensitive and major change to the way it delivers services can afford.
44-year Darren Baldwin got fired from his temporary job at a UK stress ball factory, so what did he do? What anybody in a warehouse full of stress relievers would — punched his boss, then produced two knives and began threatening to stab him in front of the other workers. I sense some hostility.
According to prosecutor Tracy Yates, Baldwin “showed the knives to his colleague and started to shout threats like, ‘I will cut you up’.”
At his court appearance, Baldwin admitted to assault and was bailed on the condition he does not enter the Sycamore trading estate where the company operates.
I like how he showed the knives to a coworker first. Hey man — sweet knives, right? I’M GONNA STAB OUR BOSS WITH ‘EM. Did you hear that, Mr. McGillicutty?! I FEEL LIKE I’M A LITTLE CHUCKY DOLL RIGHT NOW. I’m sorry, but nobody should be threatening to stab somebody in a stress ball factory. That’s like a worker going hungry at the Little Debbie plant.
Thanks to Mnemosyne, who knows a therapist who always starts bawling at her patient’s stories and winds up asking for hugs.
Metal Gear Not So Solid.
This is Pimpri-Chinchwad native and number one stunna Datta Phuge modeling the $ 230,000 22-karat gold shirt he had made to help attract women. It weighs in at around seven pounds but feels much, much heavier on my heart. Datta also sports several additional pounds of gold necklaces and bracelets, hoping to secure his title as ‘The Gold Man of Pimpri‘ and not ‘That Indian Mr. T’ like we’re all actually going to call him. Tough break.
The money-lender, from Pimpri-Chinchwad, says the shirt took a team of 15 goldsmiths two weeks to make working 16 hours a day creating and weaving the gold threads.
It comes complete with its own matching cuffs and a set of rings crafted from left-over gold. “I know I am not the best looking man in the world but surely no woman could fail to be dazzled by this shirt?” he explained.
You know, generally I have a hard time feeling bad for rich people, but good lord — this poor bastard. I wouldn’t trade places with him for anything, and that says a lot because my cable and internet are supposed to be cut off by the end of the day for not paying the bill. Then what will I do for entertainment? SPOILER: hunt and kill bugs around the house. And I still wouldn’t want to be that guy. Just marinate on that for a second.
Hit the jump for an Indian news report.
Microsoft’s chief operating officer, Kevin Turner, took to the stage at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference earlier today to stir up the crowd and discuss Apple’s idea of a post-PC era. “Apple makes great hardware,” admitted Turner, “the reality is in the OS we see things differently.” Turner went on to discuss the company’s upcoming Mountain Lion operating system and some mixed press reaction to the future of OS X. “We believe that Apple has it wrong,” says turner. “They’ve talked about it being the post-PC era, they talk about the tablet and PC being different, the reality in our world is that we think that’s completely incorrect.”
Turner then went on to describe this new era as a “PC+” period, one that Microsoft co-founder Bill…
Note: Space-Bat bravely passed away three years ago today. GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN.
This the Harmless Hunter ‘Killshot’ Camera, a camera built into a fake rifle’s scope and designed to take pictures of the animal you were going to kill instead of actually killing it. It…is not the camera to bring to an inauguration.
Harmless Hunter “KillShot” will allow people of all ages to get outdoors, explore, and discover a recreational pastime that has exisited throughout our history. Hunting and documenting the hunt has become extremely popular. The “KillShot” becomes a digital photo trophy instead of the body part of an animal being kept as a trophy. This can be used year round when game is out of season to satisfy the lust for hunting while getting you ready for the harvest season. The crosshairs will show on the photo where the shot would have been, the background will show if the shot was safe or unsafe. It will help teach gun safety by operating like a lethal hunting rifle, except, it takes pictures and fires no projectiles.
I sneak up behind people and fake stab them all the time, so I can definitely relate to the concept. The gun is currently just a Kickstarter project at the moment, with finished rifle-cams coming out to ~$ 150 if they actually see production. If they don’t make it to production, you’re gonna be left taking pictures of your would-be kill on a regular digital camera with a paper towel roll taped to the end with toothpick cross-hairs. Just make sure instead of yelling cheese you yell– “Let me guess, MEAT.” No. I was gonna say ‘BANG BANG BANG!’ and set off some fireworks.
Hit the jump for an example photo, several more renderings of the rifle, and a link to the Kickstarter page.
Related Posts:Question by : What’s wrong with my iPhone? I have an iPhone 3G and I got a little bit of soda on it about 20 minutes ago. It wasnt much at all. It suddenly keeps having pop-ups that say “this accessory is not made for this iPhone” or something like that. No sound will come out of my phone. I’m freaking out, I just got this phone and we can’t afford to get a new one. PLEASE help!
Best answer:
Answer by ChloeGet it checked out at the shop you got it from and hopefully they will swap it for a new one if somethings wrong with it and they cant sort it out.
What do you think? Answer below!
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Website Allows You To Solicit Exes For What Went Wrong In Past Relationships Without Having To Speak
Wotwentwrong (SPOILER: your spelling) is a website that allows a person to ask their exes for constructive criticism (without having direct interaction) about what went wrong in your relationship so they can better prepare themselves for their next one. Ooooooooor use the info to try to win them back like a f***ing creeper and wind up with a restraining order. Listen, you want to know what and when went wrong in your last relationship? I’ll tell you: Everything, and right from the start. “Yeaaaaaaaah, I’m not sure how that’s supposed to help me in my next one.” AHAHAHAHAHA @ ‘next one’. That’s cute — it’s cats for life for you!
Hit the jump for a promo video about Sally who may or may yes have a problem sleeping with guys on the second date and then never hearing from them again.
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Street magician gets cocky and ends up screwing up BIG TIME. Very funny pay off! Video Rating: 4 / 5
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Maybe it was too thick, maybe it was too heavy, maybe you just didn’t like Honeycomb. Regardless of your reasoning, you may want to keep your eyes peeled on your credit score if you bought and returned a Motorola Xoom between March and October 2011, because your personal information may be in someone else’s hands.
That’s the story from Motorola, anyway. As it happens, the standard refurbishment process that occurs when a customer returns a piece of hardware didn’t go exactly as planned for some devices. Motorola estimates that out of batch of 6,200 refurbished Xoom Wi-Fi tablets, about 100 of them weren’t properly erased before they were resold in batches on daily deals site Woot.com.
Though the odds are in your favor that you weren’t affected, I doubt that same line of reasoning will provide much comfort to someone who was.
Motorola doesn’t go into much detail about how exactly the process went awry. Were the tablets simply not wiped before they were resold? Did some glitch cause user-stored data to remain on the device even after a factory reset? According to them, the “information that may be accessible to the purchasers of the impacted refurbished tablets may include any information that the original user elected to store on the tablet.”
That could potentially include media like photos and video, as well as “user names and passwords for email and social media accounts, as well as other password-protected sites and applications.” With tablets supplanting notebooks and PCs for a growing number of users, this sort of snafu is the last thing Motorola needs as they and bounce back from a disappointing fourth quarter, though they’ve been pretty forthcoming about the whole mess.
If you were one of the people who returned a Xoom between March and October 2011, let Motorola know — they’ll be setting you up with a free 2-year subscription to Experian’s ProtectMyID identity theft alert service. They would also like to have a word with you if you bought a refurbished Xoom from Woot, so mosey on over to their returns site to see if your new old tablet is one of the troublemakers.
