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Turns out the internet is not quite as united on the issue of DRM as we were led to believe. A fan by the name of David Fontenot has started a petition on Change.org claiming that “consumers were uninformed” during the initial outcry against the DRM policies that were announced with the new Xbox One.
To review, when the Xbox One was initially announced at E3 in June, it was also announced that the Xbox One would have to log in via internet connection every 24 hours to verify ownership. If a log in was missed, gamers would not be able to use their consoles to play games until a connection was re-established. Microsoft also talked about their game sharing and trading policies, stating that games used games could be resold, given as gifts, and even resold to retailers, but this could only be done once per game license.
And as they are wont to do, gamers got a bit upset.
After about two weeks of listening to their fans’ rage, Xbox announced that they would be repealing their DRM policies on the Xbox One, and the system would operate largely the same as the 360 does currently, with no online requirement and infinitely resell-able games. Unfortunately, along with the removal of DRM, came the loss of several features that were announced with the Xbox One, namely the ability to trade and resell digital licenses for games, and play your games on any Xbox One.
What really needs to happen here is that both parties need to step back, take a deep breath, and really look at what each side is asking for. Xbox made a serious misstep in their initial release statement by claiming that “every Xbox One owner has a broadband connection”, and not highlighting that it is the DRM policies that allowed several of their notable new features to operate. This situation exacerbated by Phil Spencer’s sarcastic claim that “We have a product for people who can’t access the internet, it’s called Xbox 360”.
The fan response could have been a little more controlled as well. Any appearance of the letters DRM these days seems to cause an immediate, visceral reaction in gamers, leading to copious quantities of “nerd rage” and not a lot of well thought out research and reasoned discussion. Perhaps a calm complaint would have elicited a more informative response from the executives at Microsoft, than the wave of outrage that was put forward.
So where do you stand on the Xbox One DRM policies? Do you want the many-featured, but DRM restricted Xbox? Or are you in the DRM free, but less innovative camp? Let us know in the comments below, or over in the forums. To check out the petition, head over to http://www.change.org/petitions/microsoft-give-us-back-the-xbox-one-we-were-promised-at-e3-2
When the XBox One was revealed at E3 earlier this month, many details were revealed about the console that caused widespread criticism of the console by both players, press and gaming journalists alike. I’m sure by now you’ve read the myriads of articles about it; but if not, here’s a quick recap: The console would require an internet connection every 24 hours to check validity of licences to play any games stored on the console (possibly being unusable for gaming if a connection could not be established); used games could only be transferred to a new owner once; reactivating a third-hand game would cost a fee and games could not be resold for less than 90% of their original value (meaning buying used games could end up MORE expensive than buying them new); and so on.
After soon being followed by Sony’s announcement of the PS4 allowing full sharing of disk-based games just by giving the game away like you would do today, lack of online requirement and £100 lower price tag, Microsoft were looking like real losers in this year’s “console wars” (an endearing term given by the media to explain the concept of gaming consoles battling for control of the market by selling the most consoles). Even Nintendo got a pot shot in, with Satoru Iwata revealing in an interview his view on controlling the trade of used games:
“The best possible countermeasure against people buying used product is making the kind of product that people never want to sell. Taking as an example Mario Kart or Smash Bros., even though you might think, ‘I’ve done enough with this,’ you’ll still have second thoughts. ‘Wait a minute. If one of my friends comes over, I might need this again.’ You’re never going to want to sell these games. That’s something that always occupies our minds. We need to make software that players don’t want to sell.“
It seems Microsoft have finally thrown in the towel and admitted their plans to control usage of their console AND trade of used games just isn’t going to work. On Wednesday, in an official posting on XBox Wire, Microsoft announced a complete reversal of their strategy, ditching the online requirement and removing control over used games.
Maxis has been busy patching up SimCity once again, this time readying it’s latest fix in version 5.0.
There is certainly plenty new to been seen in version 5.0, such as better trading, improvements to great works and fixes for garbage and recycling trucks.
Here’s the patch notes.
SimCity Update 5.0 patch notes
New: Historic Price charts for Global Market resources are available from the SimCity World button on the main menu.
New: The Region Wall chat has been completely updated with a new look and new functionality! Chat functions more efficiently and it’s much easier to communicate with other players. Time stamps show on chat messages on rollover. Regional events are easier to read and can be toggled on and off.
New: Added a filter for friends’ regions in the join region section.
New: Trading control. Added feature to give players more control over their utilities. Players can now choose whether or not to keep their power, water, or sewage local. This setting can be found on the information panel accessible by clicking on the power plant, water tower, or sewage pipe or plant. Sharing with the region is on by default.
New: Regional Missions: Added seven new regional missions: Drink It Up!, Plug In, So Stoked, The Wheels on the Bus, Ferry Dust, Station to Station, and Riding Coach.
New: Regional Achievement: Added a new regional achievement, Field Trip!
Gifting Improvements: Cash gifts are now delivered electronically, not by truck. This should improve the efficiency of gifting.
Resource gifts: Resource gifts will happen more reliably. Multiple trucks can make deliveries at once if they are available in the sending city and the truck capacities have been increased.
Great Works Improvements: Delivery trucks will mark their resources as dropped off as soon as they reach the Great Works, instead of when they arrive back in the city. This will make tracking time more reliable.
Great Works Improvements: Update to have all resources at Great Works handled at the regional level. This will address players in different cities seeing different resources once the server has processed the region and cities.
Great Works Improvements: Fixed an issue where an Arcology would maintain power from the region and fixed an issue where shoppers would not increase at the Arcology as it was leveled up. This will update in both existing and new Arcologies.
Great Works Improvements: Tuned the Solar Farm.
Regional Unlocks: The advanced coal mine unlocks regionally. Fixed issue where the Trade HQ sometimes did not unlock.
Fire Advisor Trading clarity: Tuned the Fire advisor so they do not tell you that neighbors are sending fire trucks when your neighbor has no fire stations.
Trading: School buses that travel from a neighbor’s city will show that city’s avatar.
Regional Commuting: Fixed an issue where Sims would not be able to take transit out of cities with lots of streetcars or shuttle buses. This could cause some cases where commuting Sims could not return home and their homes would go abandoned.
Garbage Trucks and Recycling Trucks: Fixed an issue that some cities experienced where garbage and recycling trucks do not leave their buildings or disappeared when trading service with neighbors. Existing cities who have trucks that have disappeared will have to demolish their missing trucks’ garages and plop new garages.
Text Clarification: The “Out of Money” message now says “Can’t find work” when appropriate in rollover feedback and the approval rating UI. This is to clarify your Sims’ actual need.
I just love the survivability and the damage you can cause linking the right move mechanics. Not only does the warlock kit look wicked through almost all Tiers and PvP sets but their spells also look intensely strong when casted on a target.
I am also playing a fire mage which I’m becoming really partial to but only being level 55, I still have a lot to learn about them and their capabilities. Any feedback would be great although I have seen many youtube footage about ‘How to play mage’.
Let me know your favourite PvP class and why! Tell your mates to reply so we can get a good discussion on our hands!
Check out the trailer for the new Guilty Gear right here!
Now you can drool!
Arc System Works is proud to announce the upcoming Guilty Gear title at their “Arc System Works Festival”, which took place in the Yokohama Pacifico venue on 5/19/2013.
Be sure to stay tuned, as Daisuke Ishiwatari takes the director’s chair once again, to bring you, THE latest installment to the beloved fighting franchise:Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-!
For questions and comments : support@arcsy.co.jp
Guilty Gear Xrd Portal Site : http://ggxrd.com/
