I keep seeing people try to defend the Xbox One, and their
hilariously anti-consumer policies, and it is adorable. Ignoring how ridiculous
it is to defend a multinational corporation on a personal level, most of the
defense points I commonly see are flat out wrong. More often than not, when I
see someone defending the Xbone, they aren't actually pointing out any
benefits, but rather trying to justify the problems. Here are some of the most
common defenses of the Xbone, and why they don’t work the way you think they
do:
- The new DRM is no worse than Steam, and everyone loves
Steam!
First off, The Xbone DRM is demonstrably worse than Steam,
since Steam doesn't require a constant connection. Steam has a full offline
mode, and can play most games without
an internet connection, any exception to that is the responsibility of the Publisher.
The Xbone, however has the 24 hour check in at the system level, so
Publishers/Developers can’t disable it if they want to. More importantly though
is that Xbone and Steam are totally different, and can’t really be compared
like that. Steam, when it was released was actually a very good thing despite
the DRM. At the time, piracy of PC games actually was a really big deal, and
publishers were coming up with their own versions of DRM to combat this, which
actually made piracy worse because
much of that DRM was intrusive and didn’t work properly. Then Steam comes
along, and offers an easy, unified way of having DRM that wouldn’t break your
games. Steam became a positive direction for PC gaming, which revived the
platform, and led to the open marketplace we have today. Valve is kept honest
by the fact that they can’t simply implement policies that make Steam
inconvenient, because they could be replaced by Origin, or GOG, or any other of
the dozens of PC game platforms. Microsoft on the other hand has no competition
on their closed platform. No one can open up their own store on the Xbone, so
their prices and their policies don’t answer to anyone but themselves.
- The new DRM will kill used games which cost publishers
money, so now games will be cheaper/have sales
Used games costing publishers money is just the latest
scapegoat thought up by big corporations who are hemorrhaging money to appease
their angry shareholders. EA has been starting to financially tank for a while
now, but instead of reevaluating their company policies, or attempting to
expand with risky ventures, they cut their budgets to the bone year after year,
and beg for more money by blaming boogeymen like piracy and used game sales for
their failures. The truth is that modern AAA titles cost a small fortune to
make, and no shortage of luck and skill to make well. They cost a lot of money,
and in many cases lose money overall, but instead of trying something new or
admitting defeat, it’s easier to blame something else. Why, in this
environment, would those same companies then voluntarily make games less expensive? Even if these policies
did save the company money, why would they lower prices that people are willing
to pay? Again, a Steam comparison doesn’t work here, because those sales are
the result of multiple retailers competing with each other, which won’t happen
on a closed system.
- The Xbone has exclusive games I want!
It’s hard to argue with this one. If a game you want to play
is exclusive to the Xbone, then it really comes down to how much money you are
willing to pay, and how much abuse you are willing to take in order to play
that game. The biggest (and only) games I see people clinging to are Halo and
Forza. Forza is a driving game, a realistic driving game, and while I don’t
claim to be a connoisseur of that genre, there seem to be many of them out
there, what it does isn’t exactly unique. As for Halo, let me make one thing clear: I
have been playing Halo games for over a decade, I have nearly every achievement
in every Halo game, my 360 is the Halo Reach special edition one, I still have
the Halo Reach legendary edition statue on my desk, and I have put literally
thousands of hours into this franchise. I love
Halo, and I won’t be getting Halo 5 because I’m not willing to put up with Microsoft’s
bullshit.
- I actually like the TV/Cable Box/Snap features, and would
totally use them!
Anyone who wants those features should look at this. The Samsung smart TV does everything the Xbox One does
except play Xbox games. It has voice and gesture controls, picture in picture,
facial recognition, internet browsing, everything. It’s actually better than
the Xbone, since you get access to Netflix, Hulu, etc without having to pay for
Xbox Live Gold on top of the normal subscription cost, and it also doesn't spy
on you for the government. Best part? The 32” version (same size as my TV) is
less than the Xbone.
- Well I have good internet and don’t sell my games, so this
stuff doesn't really affect me!
In order to think that this is a reasonable thing to say you’d
have to be some sort of high-functioning autistic that can’t recognize
patterns. Xbox live has been down for weeks at a time in the past, as has PlayStation
Network. Remember how badly Blizzard botched the launch of Diablo 3? Or EA with
the new SimCity? These things happen sometimes, and there isn't anything you
can do about it, but now you can’t play ANY game on your console if it happens,
for literally no reason. You live in an area of the world with consistent
internet and an ISP who will fix problems in a timely manner? Good for you, but
you may not forever. You may have to move to a new home that doesn't have good
internet service, or your ISP may go out of business and be replaced by one
that doesn't give a rat’s ass about you. There are so many variables here it’s
staggering, especially when you consider that the 24 hour check in is a totally arbitrary requirement in the first place.
It does not offer any functions or security at all that could not be
implemented in less obtrusive ways.
The biggest argument against the Xbox One is this: even if
these things don’t bother you for some reason, why should you put up with them
at all? They clearly offer no benefit to the consumer, and only stand to make
Microsoft more money through advertising and fees, so why? If there was no competitor
then maybe I could understand, but the PlayStation 4 has better hardware, 99%
of the same features, doesn't have these ridiculous restrictions, and is $100 less. We all need to stop
and think for a minute before blindly following any company down a road like this.
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