Please Don't Buy the Xbox One

I’m going to be doing blog posts about E3 for the next month, just so you know. This stuff is a really big deal to me, and to a lot of people, and the industry is changing in ways that we have never seen before. Next week I’m going to do a full rundown of all of the presentations, but for now, I present a little segment I like to call “Please, for the love of all things humane, do not buy an Xbox One”.

We've all heard the news about the Xbox One (hereafter referred to as the “Xbone”), about how it has to call home once every 24 hours, or it locks you out of your games, about how used games will be a thing of the past or at best price locked through “select retailers”, about how you can’t lend games to friends, since all transfers are one way and permanent, the list goes on. Obviously this thing is shaping up to be a hot pile of ass to actually use, but I still see people who are determined to buy one. I hear a number of arguments on this front, but I’m here to lay down some facts, and also to debunk several of the most commonly used defenses of the system. First, let me make my point crystal clear:

Please, please, as a consumer of products, as someone who supports a free market, as a member of a society interested in things that are beneficial to us all, do not buy the Xbox One.

This isn't about brand loyalty, this isn't about console wars, and this isn't about “winning”, this is about freedom. That’s right, freedom, freedom to play games and enjoy artistic talent without having a multinational corporation nickel and dime us every step of the way. These “features” in no way benefit the consumer; that is a fact. You can go on and on about how these restrictions don’t bother you, but that’s not the issue, the issue is that you are being asked to tolerate them for no reason. These restrictions offer no benefit to you, at all, and Microsoft is banking on the fact that the masses want to play Halo and Forza so badly that they will just eat it up anyway. They are hoping that people are literally willing to put an always on, always connected, webcam that can be mined for advertising data and recorded for the government in their living room, just to be able to play the new Halo. This is 1984 people, and if you buy into it all you are doing is proving to corporations that you will gladly hand over your rights, your privacy, and your money out of sheer, blind loyalty to an entertainment franchise.

If the Xbone doesn't fail, and I mean fail spectacularly, there is no reason why every company wouldn't start doing it. These policies make corporations money, that’s why they are implemented in the first place, and if Microsoft can get away with people not caring about these things, then Sony will do it next generation, and Nintendo the generation after that. Why wouldn't they? If a company can institute hilariously anti-consumer policies and still make just as much money, more money even thanks to those policies, why shouldn't they? This is a very slippery slope, we already have Apply tracking our movements with GPS and Google tracking our searches for advertising and Target tracking our shopping habits across the country, when does it end? When do we, as a society put our collective feet down and say enough is enough?

Please, I’m begging you, don’t support Microsoft in this madness. If you buy an Xbone, you are paying Microsoft to take your rights away, when you could just buy a PlayStation 4 and get a nearly identical experience without all of the hassle. Get informed about this stuff, and talk your friends out of it too if they are leaning towards the Xbone in November. Everyone needs to know how horrible this is, because as hilarious as it will be to see the backlash on Christmas day when Timmy takes his brand new Xbone over to Grandma’s house for dinner, but can’t play because she doesn't have internet, or when one smartass kid decides to log on to his friend’s Xbone and transfer all of his friend’s games to his own console, effectively stealing them, but when he is found out he can’t just give the games back, because the transfer is one way, those people still gave Microsoft their money, and no amount of bad press is going to take that money away. 

How to Respond to Xbone Arguments

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.

Three E's

This one isn't going to be super long, but I thought I’d give my predictions for this year’s E3.
Announcements are already starting to roll in. Harmonix announced that they are making a new music
game in Disney’s Fantasia universe. That could be really awesome, but it’s strange that they are insisting
that it is not a dance game, but the music shown so far has all been dance/club remixes of top 40 songs.
It’s also Xbox exclusive, but will be on both the 360 and the One. That whole project just confuses me,
but let’s move on to some predictions.


Nintendo:


Nintendo has already leaked a lot of what they are going to be announcing. We’re going to see Smash
Bros 4, new Zelda, new Mario Kart, a new 3D Mario, and more info on the Wind Waker HD remake
at least. There will probably be more information about titles that are coming out sooner as well, like
Pikmin 3, Bayonetta 2, and Pokemon X & Y. In lieu of a full presentation, Nintendo is doing an hour long
Nintendo Direct video that they will air on Tuesday morning. This has the benefit of being prerecorded,
so we won’t have to deal with any embarrassing stage-flailing that we tend to find at E3. I’m predicting
that Nintendo will have at least one out-of-left-field announcement, probably whatever Retro Studios
(the team that made Metroid: Prime) is working on. The thing that Nintendo needs to do however, is
give us concrete info on their new unified account system for the 3DS and WiiU. The WiiU’s biggest
weakness is its incomplete online system, and lack of account tracking.


Microsoft:


Microsoft is easily investing the most money into the event, and stand to lose the most after their
laughable Xbox One announcement. Their reps have been talking to the media, and calling the current
information about the Xbox One “Incorrect and Incomplete”. This seems to imply that their policies
may be changing, in lieu of the public outcry, but I doubt we’ll see too many of the “features” removed,
rather they’ll be rebranded. Microsoft is claiming that they won’t be talking about TV features in their
90 minute presentation, but let’s face it, they don’t have 90 minutes of games available to show without
some serious padding. I’m willing to bet that most of their exclusive game announcements are going to
be Kinect minigames and uninspired sequels, but I guarantee that they will use the hype wave caused
by the announcement of Halo 5 or whatever to slowly sneak in details about their awful DRM and
advertising plans.


Sony:


Sony has been a tough nut to crack this year. We haven’t really heard much from them since their
console announcement conference back in February. We know about a bunch of new features of the
console, and several exclusive games, but most of the details are missing. At E3 we’re definitely going
to get a full reveal of the console and its features. It’s possible that Sony is planning to implement DRM,
security, or worse in line with what Microsoft is doing, but has been keeping quiet about it. Sony’s
presentation is a whopping 2 hours long, and they’ll need something to fill that time, so new information
is going to be plentiful. A new, slim version of the Vita maybe?

More Xbox One Nonsense

I've seen a lot of people lately defending Microsoft and the Xbox One. Mostly this defense comes from fanboyism or console warrior nonsense, which makes no sense to me. Microsoft (or Sony or Nintendo for that matter) doesn't need you to defend it on message boards around the world. They have a multi-million dollar PR department whose sole purpose is to make their company look good as a whole, if they can’t stop their executives from calling their fans “Backwards” then there is no reason for you to step up to the plate and take a shot at it. More importantly though, is a trend that I’m seeing a lot of with regards to the Xbox One, and that is the “I don't use it, so the console doesn't need it” defense.

It works like this: There are rumors floating around that the Xbox One will lock games to your account when you buy them, and if you give or sell the disc to someone else, they can’t use it to play the game, and must buy the game online at full price, making the disc alone totally worthless. This is a really big deal, and will change the shape of how digital “goods” are perceived, even if only a little bit. The EU courts have ruled on a case where, it was deemed legal to resell digital content, even if it violates the digital EULA, because the person who bought it “owns” it, and can do with it whatever they see fit. The new DRM for the Xbox One laughs in the face of that idea, and basically says that even though you “bought” the game, you don’t actually own it or have any rights to it, and that Microsoft gets to control what you can do with it.

That’s what DRM is, essentially, a company dictating what you can and can’t do with their product, but DRM alone isn't the problem. No one would care if the DRM was totally invisible and would only matter if you did something actually illegal with the software, but it isn't invisible, and is in fact actually quite obtrusive, hence the whole reselling used games problem. Then, when this multi-billion dollar company does this, people come out of the woodwork to defend those actions, and when pressured for reasons they say “well I don't sell my games, so it doesn't matter to me”.

How selfish do you have to be to think that is a reasonable line of thinking? “Oh, well I don't use that thing, so it might as well not exist! What are other people? Am I not the center of the universe?” Do these people also thing that any food they don't like shouldn't exist? I don't like seafood, but that doesn't mean I think the fishing industry should shut down because “who eats fish anyway amirite?” Just because YOU don’t use something doesn't mean it shouldn't exist, someone else may love or need it. This argument can be used to justify the existence of the TV and Motion features of the Xbox One as well, but the counter-point there is that those features are being implemented in lieu of features that make gameplay better, and will drive up the cost of the system. This new DRM provides no benefit to the consumer and is totally negative. The system and the games will not be cheaper, or better as a result of this system, and even if it doesn't affect you personally in any way, things like cheaper used games are one of the major driving factors of price drops and sales for new content. There may be some argument out there in favor of this new DRM, but “it doesn't bother me” certainly isn't it.

For the record, I used to trade in games and buy used copies, but I don't anymore. At the time I didn't have the money for every new release I wanted, and selling games was a great way to overcome that. I no longer need to sell my games, but that doesn't mean that I approve of this new business model in any way.

Hell Status: Frozen Over

Wow Microsoft, just wow. The new Xbox conference just ended, and I’m kind of in shock. APPARENTLY the future of gaming does not lie with games, but rather with “Interactive Entertainment Experiences”. To this end, they are offering a “Dynamic Home Screen” that allows you to switch between web browser, Skype, live TV, games, movies, music, toaster, washing machine, and a live webcam feed of puppies very easily. This is supposed to create a “Seamless Entertainment Experience” that will make the “Xbox One” the new centerpiece in living rooms around the world. The only problem here, of course, is that I, and everyone else, ALREADY HAS A DEVICE THAT DOES THAT:

Seriously Microsoft, you spent how many years, and how many dollars to solve a problem that television manufacturers solved decades ago? When you have a TV with multiple things connected to it, you don’t have to unplug and plug in things every time because the television has multiple inputs. “Oh” I hear you say, you Xbox fanboy in my imagination, “but the Xbox One allows you to do multiple things at once, by offering multiple windows”. Really. That’s the best you can come up with? News flash, televisions have had that feature as well since 1983. I’m just going to go ahead and list all of the big, glaring, obvious problems with the system as it has been shown so far:

1. Stop focusing on what the console “can” do and start telling us what it “will” do.

All of these features are nice, no one will ever use them, but I suppose they are nice to have. The problem is that if you don’t use them, then what does this console offer? Let’s say I don’t give a damn about using Facebook or Skype on my Xbox One, and I just want to play games, what drives me to pay the premium for this brand new console that I can’t get anywhere else? The WiiU offers unique control styles, and the Playstation 4, while it also has a case of the “features” at least has some of those features tailored to gaming like live streaming and content sharing. According to this reveal, all the Xbox One offers to people who actually play games is better graphics and more processing power, which leads me to my next point.

2. It really doesn't look that good.

I can’t be alone here. When they were showing the new and old Call of Duty games side-by-side I really didn’t see that much of an improvement. Sure the images looked better, but that’s because the “old” screenshots were flat, in-game angles that you see all the time during gameplay, while the “new” shots were dynamic angles used for the trailer. Even if those images were rendered using the in game engine, they aren’t gameplay, and it isn’t running in real time. If you compare the CoD: Ghosts trailer to the CoD: MW3 debut trailer, they look pretty darn similar. Whenever a new console comes out, you can’t judge its power on the launch games, just look at Perfect Dark Zero vs. Halo 4, it’s like night and day, but this definitely doesn’t make me want to jump up and spend half a grand on a new console.

3. It's not backwards compatible.

To be fair, nether is the Playsation 4, but seriously, this is such an obvious thing to include. This, mystifyingly includes Xbox Live Arcade games, so not even your downloadable titles will work. If the console’s purpose is to connect all of the devices in your house into one box, then why can’t we play as many games as possible on it?

4. You’ll have to pay a fee to play used games.

Remember when I made a whole big post about how it would make no sense to have games that require physical discs anyway to have additional DRM on top of that? Well, I have egg on my face because apparently I underestimated just how incompetent Microsoft is. Let me get this straight: The console requires the installation of every game to the hard drive, but the game disc doesn't have to be in the drive in order to play it. Instead of requiring the disc, the game will be locked to your account, and if anyone else tries to play it, they will have to pay a fee. The problem here, of course, is that if the fee is less than the cost of the game, people will just pass discs around instead of buying it at full price, because you never actually need the disc in order to play, and if the price is the same or higher than the actual price then the used games market is literally dead for the console, which will cripple its market share. If it is the full price of the game, Microsoft will also have to keep up with all sale prices everywhere, otherwise the entire market falls apart due to conflicting values. Huh, sounds reasonable.

5. It requires the Kinect to function.

I keep trying to type something informative here, but I can’t stop laughing long enough to get words out.

I could keep going forever, but by far the most telling this is that over the course of the presentation, Sony’s stock prices shot up almost nine percent.

That’s ominous.

I Just Want Virtual Reality Already

There is some really cool new technology being developed right now. Motion controls and touch screens have dominated the gaming landscape for a while now, and I remember a time when those things were considered to be the cutting edge of video game technology. Now though, most of the tacking on of motion controls has stopped, and anything that can fit in your pocket has a touch screen, leaving room for exciting new game control technology. One day, ONE DAY, we’ll be able to jack into Matrix style virtual reality worlds to fight monsters and bang chicks, but until then we’ll have to be content with some feasible alternatives. I’m really excited for the future of computer control, and it’s coming sooner than you think.

Leap Motion is some fantastic new 3D motion tracking technology that, in addition to working really well, makes you look like Tony Stark, which is always a plus in my book. It’s similar to the Kinect, but significantly more accurate, down to 1/100^th of a millimeter, and because it’s so accurate you can use it to paint pictures and control games. Gone are the days when Kinect promised us interactive gameplay without a controller, considering that’s not what we got at all:

This thing is amazingly precise, and tracks all of your fingers independently, which means it can be used as anything from a teaching tool, to physical rehab, to gaming, to artwork, and more. The Leap Motion controller comes out next month, and has had software being developed for it for months. Combine that with this deal to bring the Leap Motion to laptops, and we may just have a whole new sub-genre on our hands.

Then we have this game, Son of Nor, coming to PC, Mac, and Linux. At first look it seems to be a fairly standard third person action game, but then you watch the development videos, and realize that you control magic in the game with your mind. Using the EPOC headgear you can cast spells and alter terrain with thoughts, rather than actions. The technology requires you to “teach” your brain how to activate the abilities, but once you are immersed all of the actions just become effortless. This is the kind of technology that could easily be integrated into nearly every game genre, imagine being able to reload with just a thought, or not having to navigate maps and menus, but rather just thinking of the item or location you want, and having it pop up.

The future is here people.

"Gaming Journalism" Is the Only Punchline You Need

I’m sure you've seen this one; Katie Couric did an hour long exposé on the dangers of violent video games, and video game addiction. In short, she found some particularly gruesome cases of violence and tragedy, and tries to frame them in the context of being caused by violent video games. The prominent case on display is the case of Daniel Petric, the so called “Halo Killer”, who shot both of his parents in the head when they took away his copy of Halo 3. Petric's father survived the gunshot, while his mother did not, and after facing trial was sentenced to life in prison, with possibility of parole after 23 years. I could spend literally 12 hours typing up all the reasons why this piece of “journalism” is a complete farce, but I’m going to try to do it in 8.

I would like to point out that I am in no way trying to undercut this tragedy. Petric snapped, and in his rage committed a terrible act of violence. As a society, it is up to us to protect the members of our society first and foremost, even against other members. Petric is a murderer, and no amount of justification or science will change what he’s done, or what punishment he will face for it. However, the way that Katie Couric is presenting this tragedy is nothing short of exploitation.

I could go on a rant about legitimate mental health problems not suddenly appearing in 1972 when Pong was first released, or in any other year when your game scapegoat de-jour came out. I could talk about the fact that, if we assume that video games cause these behaviors that the actual violent events are statistically insignificant compared to the number of people who actually play video games (about 70% of the entire world). I could also point out how this report is framed and shot like a horror movie, with the sole intent of scaring its audience. How about I go on a rant featuring all of the well documented positive effects of video games? I guess the most convincing evidence is that this is just a repeat of history. Before video games, rock music was going to get our kids to worship Satan, and before that comic books were ruining our children forever. Video games are just the latest in a long list of parental scapegoats, and if history is any indication, we will irrationally discriminate against something that our kids like.

Instead of all of that though, I’m going to talk about something I didn't even know about until I was doing research for this article. The Petric case took place in 2007, so the trial and sentencing have come and gone, and during the trial, the defense attorney claimed that Petric was housebound for nearly a year due to a staph infection that resulted from a snowboard injury. The defense went on to say that due to these conditions, he was “more prone to be influenced by the game's violent content”.  

What.

What does that even mean? Is this lawyer literally implying that boredom can lead to murder? Is he saying that Halo 3 encourages matricide, but unless you have sufficient time to play it doesn't affect you? They were going for an insanity defense here, but that means that they were trying to prove that playing video games for a long time causes insanity. Not even the “sleep deprivation causes insanity remarkably quickly” defense, literal, balls to the wall, insanity. While he was still found guilty, and his sentencing was lighter than it could have been on account of Petric being a minor, the judge admitted that he believed that “[Petric] had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents, they would be dead forever." 

What the hell? I’m not about to go on a personal accountability rant, but this is not rocket science people. When someone does something that they like to do over and over again, it isn't an addiction, it's just something they like to do. When they get to the point of neglecting other elements of their life for it, it becomes an addiction. Petric had legitimate mental problems, and the event of his parents taking away his copy of Halo was just the trigger that led to this awful incident. That trigger could have been anything else just as easily, any other confrontational act with his parents where he had to choose between them and something he wanted. I’m willing to bet that a gun wouldn't have even been involved if his father hadn't locked the game in the same lockbox where he kept his 9mm handgun.

But that’s a whole other issue.