The final policy reversal...

[kali o.]

I didn't bother confirming, but I am pretty sure it's true...the one last thing MS could reverse since E3, they did. The Xbone no longer requires Kinect to function.

Just to revisit the policy reversals since E3:

- DRM (always online) = now offline with day 1 patch
- No indie self publishing = Indie support
- No Headset = Headset included
- Region locked = Region Free
- Needs Kinect to function = No longer required

I feel like I am missing something...oh well. Anyway, I am still kind of torn here. More than before actually. On the one hand, I am kind of happy the consumer obviously voted with their wallets...the preorders must have been terrible to put MS in this position. I am also worried about the consoles future, because it seems there is no real management behind the Xbone...just two groups of idiots making extreme decisions in different directions (I mean, if you could have controlled what data Kinect could transmit and kept the DRM crap for downloaded games while leaving physical copies like last gen...that would have kept everyone happy).

On the other hand, I kinda want an Xbone now, if for no other reason than the "control my TV by screaming at it and waving my arms around", now that the big brother crap is gone/optional.

Does this announcement change anyone's mind?

[Eric]

Price point is still a stickler, but if the kinect isn't required I don't see why a kinect-free version won't be available at some point.

Microsoft turned it around.

[bovine]

With a game system, the decision (for me) must come down to the one with the best games. Taking a look at the announced - there is only Infamous in the Sony camp and Titanfall and some way off future Halo game that matter to me. When the shoe fell on the DRM reversal, I decided to preorder the Xbone.

Sony still offers some great incentives with a lot of their services not hiding behind a paywall, but I am already both a Gold and PS+ subscriber, so this does not really matter to me. The big weakness, that I think that Sony will not be able to overcome and has not touched on at all, is their Playstation Network. They said that it was a big problem in the past (awful download speeds, terrible store interface and speed, playing online is just not as easy and reliable as the XBLive service), but haven't really articulated to me how they are going to solve it.

I was amazed at how the many drawbacks of the system had pushed me to looking at the PS3 as my primary system next gen, but the many changes to the system that Kali has mentioned, and the stream of information coming out of Microsoft lately has been a pretty good sign.

Was the whole Xbone lead up just Don Mattrick not caring and trying to get out the door? The lead up to next gen is as interesting as ever.

[SineSwiper]

I feel like I am missing something...oh well. Anyway, I am still kind of torn here.

Torn? What is there to be torn about?

Microsoft drives up to your house, kidnaps you, blindfolds you, ties you to a leaky pipe in the middle of nowhere, and is about to F you in the A. But then, they change their mind, and let you go. And now you're considering if you should go out with Microsoft again.

Stockholm's. Totally Stockholm's.

[Zeus]

I've said a ton about this in other threads so I'm not gonna repeat myself. But Kali, 'til they prove to me I need a new system, I ain't getting one. This particular generation is gonna really need to bring it more than the others and I just don't see it, certainly not in 2013

[kali o.]

Torn? What is there to be torn about?

Microsoft drives up to your house, kidnaps you, blindfolds you, ties you to a leaky pipe in the middle of nowhere, and is about to F you in the A. But then, they change their mind, and let you go. And now you're considering if you should go out with Microsoft again.

Stockholm's. Totally Stockholm's.

I'm not retarded. Every company wants to "screw" me. Sony and Nintendo included. You can't have it both ways -- at the end of the day, MS reversed policies. Either that changes something, or it doesn't (and it should -- if listening to your customers, forced or otherwise, isn't laudable, what is?).

I'm only torn because I am of two minds here -- I have no faith in the future of the Xbone (games wise) because I know they pissed off so many people that there is a good chance it will not recover. I do however want to play with Kinect shit for controlling my TV, because frankly it sounds cool (and I am more OK with now that's its OPTIONAL).

I've said a ton about this in other threads so I'm not gonna repeat myself. But Kali, 'til they prove to me I need a new system, I ain't getting one. This particular generation is gonna really need to bring it more than the others and I just don't see it, certainly not in 2013

I don't disagree with you, it's not the correct year.

[Eric]

Zeus, stop being bias and come up with a money sign name for Nintendo like you have with $ony and Micro$haft. ;p

[bovine]

Nin¥endo?

[Flip]

Nin¥endo?

Win.

[Zeus]

Zeus, stop being bias and come up with a money sign name for Nintendo like you have with $ony and Micro$haft. ;p

You guys keep calling me biased yet for the last 3 generations, I own fewer games for my Nintendo systems than I do their competitors (handhelds not included). I may really enjoy Nintendo's games but I slam them when they deserve it. I've been pretty consistent about that. And I still don't own a Wii U.

The one thing they haven't done (yet) is earn my ire over their business practices. Stubbornly, and likely to their detriment, they simply provide a product at a decent price point and their games come complete out of the package. No Ubisoft-style eliminating in-game storyline content to be sold later as DLC, no charging for playing half the game you just paid full price for, none of that shit. They could easily have overcharged for certain VC titles like Mario RPG. But it came out at the standard price point of 800 points, no "premium" shit was established, only on imported stuff that we never got in the first place. Sure, no real sales, ever, on the VC. But no gouging just because they could, either

So I've never had a reason to come up with a nickname for them. What we slam them for is being stuck in the 90s and not changing with the times and having their "if we build it, they will come" mentality. That doesn't make them Microshaft (you guys added the dollar sign there, not me) or $ony.

[Zeus]

Nin¥endo?

Win.

I concur. That's hilarious if undeserved :-)

[SineSwiper]

I'm not retarded. Every company wants to "screw" me. Sony and Nintendo included. You can't have it both ways -- at the end of the day, MS reversed policies. Either that changes something, or it doesn't (and it should -- if listening to your customers, forced or otherwise, isn't laudable, what is?).

I'm only torn because I am of two minds here -- I have no faith in the future of the Xbone (games wise) because I know they pissed off so many people that there is a good chance it will not recover. I do however want to play with Kinect shit for controlling my TV, because frankly it sounds cool (and I am more OK with now that's its OPTIONAL).

I know, but it was the depth of their mistake that gets to me. Sure, they reversed, but given how easy it was to reverse, it's just as easy to implement that shit back on there as soon as they have a decent player base.

I mean, they almost lost the console war before it even began. Sony made a commercial against it, for god's sake. Before anything was released!

[Zeus]

Sine, that's what happens when developers and manufacturers only talk amongst themselves for 5 years. They always believe they can control the market, that's how they act. Microshaft pulled the same shit, and got away with it, when they decided to charge for online play, something that had never been done before. This was just the next step and a more extreme version of that mentality. $ony was just smart enough to let Microshaft do it first and prepared a reaction accordingly.

But don't think for a second $ony didn't seriously consider doing it themselves. They just knew from their marketing data they would never pull it off. Hell, they announced the fact they're gonna relinquish one of their greatest advantages - free online - a few days later so it would fall under the radar while everyone was screamin' about Microshaft, well, attempting to shaft them. Why not? Microshaft had already gotten people used to it this gen, they might as well make the coin too since they can (and there was tons of empirical data to suggest they could). They're gonna try to "realize revenue streams" whenever and however they can. If they thought for a second they could get away with it, they woulda done it themselves, too. But they may as well let Microshaft be their guinea pigs. Worked this gen