When I said they were trying to make things more convenient, I meant that about them throwing everything in it and not their business model. My bad I didn't specify that. I still feel like the whole used debacle will settle itself. It's not so much that I'm complacent with it its just that I'm tired of hearing about people arguing about it. There's a lot we still don't know and people just causing a shit storm with rumors but that's just our culture and journalism in general.
Are you referring to the idea that the console is supposed to be an "entertainment" console and therefore "convenient" in performing multiple functions? In a sense it is, but then all devices are pretty much becoming multi-purpose and i'm not sure if it's even so much a convenience as it is a "necessity" at this point. That and the idea that many of the premium services it boasts aren't "readily" available (which technically is rather
inconvenient).
As far as convenience goes, it just strikes me as being "convenience" for Microsoft and other businesses etc that use it for additional profit rather than for the benefit of customers though. It's all presented as convenient features for the customer but ultimately for an additional way to make a profit (on top of likely Gold Membership). Generally most of that entertainment crap is better sought out elsewhere anyway. Maybe that's nitpicking, but to me it's one of many points i'm considering with this new Xbox.
I do agree with you on the physical media. I'd forgotten that over half of the world doesn't even have good network connection. A lot of people still use dial up. I do not mind games on demand feature because some games can be hard to find and I don't want to wait to have a game mailed to me so ill pay $5 extra bucks to get it when I want it. Big wide release games I can agree with as there is really no point to buying them from the Xbox.
It's not just connection though (that was moreso a complaint that people have with the "always online" functionality of it). Pricing is atrocious here. To put it in perspective, US 360 gamers pay roughly $5 for 500 MS points. Aussies pay roughly $3 on top. While $8 may not seem like too much, it really does build up ($15 for 1500 = $24AU), particularly when you consider that unlike a few years ago the Australian Dollar has been consistently better than what it was. Yet nothings changed to reflect that.
While it's been argued that because a country like Australia is smaller and it's less profitable etc and it being the reason why retail games are sold higher in price; why does that excuse online prices where distribution isn't really as much of an issue? THAT is easily my biggest concern. It's been quite clear that Microsoft are perfectly fine overcharging. At least when I import from UK I'm getting games at a far more competitive price. Plus I'm oldschool in that like having a physical game collection.
A lot of other things I don't mind. I couldn't care less about the movie thing because I don't know anyone who would buy movies off of Xbox. Personally a lot of problems people have are just nitpicks to me.
Perhaps. I mean for me it's not like the concept of always online affects me too much since i'm pretty much always online when I play so therefore for me to complain could be seen to be a bit of a nitpick. But it's also on principle. I LIKE having an option to play online or offline for instance. I like the option of sharing with my friends (not allowed without me being present with my profile) and if my friends who'd moved out and not got round to having the net, then I like having a functional console. When I heard rumours that it wouldn't function and more and more rumours supported it (hell there's nothing to say it wasn't their intention until recently) it still annoyed me. It's logical for people to be bothered when stuff like that is potentially imposed on them.
Something like mandatory Kinect is stupid. I got a Kinect cheap as part of a deal like 2 years back. Even if they have improved it, i'm not one to particularly want to be forced to use it. And the thing is I don't see why it's justified, especially if it drives up the cost and I use it about as much as I do my current Kinect (which is practically never unless I set it up for my friends kids to mess around with). That's another rumour that very much bothered people (and still does).
Basically what's annoying me is that I don't like the idea of Microsoft slowly taking away small privileges when essentially some people (even if not myself or even then only in some circumstances) are still reliant on some of the freedoms/capabilities we still currently have with this gen - and especially if they start rescinding those "options" because of some kind of business ideal or to increase their own control in general. In the end we (the people
) lose out.
Theoretically why have "always online"? How does that "feature" benefit the gamer? As far as I'm concerned that concept is more about control than it is a logical step forward. It's easier to catch modded consoles, stop piracy and micromanage services and consumer actions when they're forced to be online. Even if a lot of functions are only useable online, everything I do could be done offline. The fact that Microsoft openly supports that and is slowly introducing such things I believe is still a legitimate concern. I guess what i'm saying is that i'm considering the larger picture here.
