Angry Joe did it!!!

[Zarkes]

This video is exactly what just happened to Microsoft. Okay so this is one of my favorite guys when it comes to game reviews. Watching his channel these past few days he ranted and rambled about the Xbone did some ambush interviews and because of him and every other ****ed off Xboy Microsoft will not be supporting DRM, region locks, always online, and authentication checks. Literally every feature of the new Xbox was a restriction and I'm glad to say that won't be the case anymore. I can't believe they let Sony get away with that. Joe is my friggin hero right now.​

 

[Necromancer]

I'd still prefer enabling backward compatibility to getting rid of any of these distasteful features. At least it's a large step in the right direction though. Having an Xbox One won't be so bad now.

 

[Quistrix]

There's still so much off-putting about the console. No backwards-compatibility, no third-party headphones, no detachable HDDs, $100 more expensive, bigger(and possibly heavier) and less power. Zero benefits, unless you count the Kinect. Bearing in mind that the PS4 will have the same thing, it's just not a necessity. I'm not a huge fan of the Kinect, it's not my thing. And having it built onto the console is a huge put-off for me. It's exactly what's put up the price and it didn't need to be that way.

Anyway, I'm glad they did this. People can enjoy their exclusives without the huge restrictions now. It's a shame they got rid of the family-sharing option however, it would've been a nice addition when applied to digital downloads.

I get the feeling they made this change, not because of user feedback but because of their horrible pre-order percentages. If Sony had done the same thing, this wouldn't be happening right now. History might repeat itself for next gen. And who's to say they don't sneak in tiny pieces of the restrictions over the course of the next few years. Baby steps.

I can almost see EA annoucing the swift return of the online passes after MS made these changes.

After great reconsideration and recent statistical studies, we found that you as consumers have spoken, and we would like to re-introduce our Online Pass plan. Your feedback is very important to us, and we're happy to be bringing back our beneficial service to you.

 

[Tsuyu]

I'm putting my tinfoil hat on and saying that it was all a publicity stun when they announced the Xbox One's horrible "features". There was no way in hell they would've gone through with those "features" on their new console, it would've been financial suicide.

"Okay, okay. We've listened to you consumers and because we love you sooo much we're removing the module that emits a stench similar to animal droppings."

 

[Dark Drakan]

And having it built onto the console is a huge put-off for me. It's exactly what's put up the price and it didn't need to be that way.
I can almost see EA annoucing the swift return of the online passes after MS made these changes.

Its technically not built in or required according to reports & isn't actually required for the console to work, its just being included in the package. Rumours are floating around that they could release a console without it in the future if sales aren't great with the full package. I can see why they are trying to get most users to have it, as having different variations of consoles floating around is a nightmare for developers. If everyone has the same access to every feature then they can build more features in their games that make use of it. If 80% of people don't own a Kinect then why waste their time including those features & whole sections that make use of it.

EA have also confirmed that the online passes will not return after Microsofts policy change.

 

[Quistrix]

Its technically not built in or required according to reports & isn't actually required for the console to work, its just being included in the package. Rumours are floating around that they could release a console without it in the future if sales aren't great with the full package. I can see why they are trying to get most users to have it, as having different variations of consoles floating around is a nightmare for developers. If everyone has the same access to every feature then they can build more features in their games that make use of it. If 80% of people don't own a Kinect then why waste their time including those features & whole sections that make use of it.

If it's not technically built-in nor required then I really don't see how it was a good idea to include it in the package. They knew fine well they would have to jack up the price for it and that itself is off-putting for a lot of people, including myself. Doing this as a launch package is very risky. This should have been something that had come later on. I know Kinect isn't selling well now, but forcing it on gamers when most of us don't want it, and don't want to use it seems off. Most of the developers that have utilised it so far haven't utilised it in any interesting ways. Even with Betheda's voice-controlled dragon shouts. Yelling FUS RO DAH at my TV is something I wouldn't ever feel comfortable doing. Let alone yelling Xbox off.

EA have also confirmed that the online passes will not return after Microsofts policy change.

Maybe they really have learned their lesson. Especially after that whole fiasco where they refused to make games for the Wii U because it supported used games. After a while they gave up and made games for it.

 

[Dark Drakan]

If it's not technically built-in nor required then I really don't see how it was a good idea to include it in the package. They knew fine well they would have to jack up the price for it and that itself is off-putting for a lot of people, including myself. Doing this as a launch package is very risky. This should have been something that had come later on. I know Kinect isn't selling well now, but forcing it on gamers when most of us don't want it, and don't want to use it seems off. Most of the developers that have utilised it so far haven't utilised it in any interesting ways. Even with Betheda's voice-controlled dragon shouts. Yelling FUS RO DAH at my TV is something I wouldn't ever feel comfortable doing. Let alone yelling Xbox off.

It is risky but like I said, having gamers have different variations of consoles is also a pain for developers. As they cant build games that incorporate Kinect in various parts of normal (not Kinect games) if the majority of gamers dont have Kinect. It would be like the fiasco they had when they released consoles without hard drives & certain save games for some games were larger than the memory card memory (though I dont know why any gamer would own a console without a HD). Then they had the Elite & Slim with a HDMI port & some games were designed in resolutions that made use of that, but then anyone with standard TV's or who used component cables had issues with text size & some colours. Having lots of variations of console configurations is a pain for everyone as you have to take into account every variant when developing a game. This was a bold move to make sure everyone had access to the same setup & features which would help resolve these issues for a while at least. Until the inevitable release of another variation of the console down the line, just hoping they dont do as many variations this time around.

I dont like Kinect either or any motion device really as they are too inaccurate & temperamental & I will never be jumping around in any games that arent party games im forced to play in social situations. However if they could incorperate the voice controls into games in a more natural way then I would maybe make use of that (though not shouting FUS RO DAH at my TV either) :lol:. If it picked up on statements I was saying while playing on something like Fifa & me doing the natural yelling at the AI to push up etc then I guess I would get used to it being there more & it would become second nature. I could only see it being useful in team based scenarios with AI team/squad mates.