lol Microsoft..

[MKJ]

some calming rumours about the always-on thing;

Your modern DVR set-top box is constantly connected to facilitate the steady stream of information being sent back and forth, so that you can power on and get whatever channel or services almost instantly. It also allows the device to know when to record a program that is on when you're away. In order for an Xbox to successfully work as a television device, it would need to have a constant connection.

[Eraser]

Ok, lets define always-on now. You see, the Wii was always online as well, with WiiConnect24. However, it wasn't a requirement to do offline things. As soon as offline content/functionality is no longer available when no internet connection is up, we start having a problem.

[Don Carlos]

Indeed
If the online interferes with my single player experience I will not be buying one

[GONNAFISTYA]

A little known but poorly-kept secret: Ubisoft didn't always use it's "always on connection" only for authentication...they were constantly tracking every.single.thing.you.did in the game and - wait for it - using that tracking data to improve their game designs. Think of it as having a QA manager sitting behind you while you play, taking notes of where you got stuck, what things you missed and your favorite route taken.

In short: alot of times the always-on requirement isn't malevolent.

And, while I despise the idea of forcing customers to repeatedly authenticate online before playing games they already paid for, I have no issue with certain features that require it for gameplay...such as multiplayer, etc. Let's not forget that the upcoming PS4 has a "Share" button and there's no way in hell you'll get that system working smoothly without an always-on connection.

It's a ghey idea, but I can understand why they require always-on.

[MKJ]

Indeed. As I said, the always on as described in the SDK reads like the Wii: an optional low power mode that allows the device to get updates during downtime. Sounds sane to me.

Other rumors suggest that it needs online to function; that it will shut down whatever you're doing after 3 mins of disconnection. Insane.

[GONNAFISTYA]

Other rumors suggest that it needs online to function; that it will shut down whatever you're doing after 3 mins of disconnection. Insane.

Yeah that's fucking stupid and if they lose customers over this I'll smile a little bit.

[bitWISE]

dvr stuff

Yea, cold-booting a dvr takes for-god-damn-ever. The way media center extender works in connection with a PC is a pretty acceptable trade off. I have the option set on my 360 to boot directly into media center so usually once the projector lamp has warmed up it is waiting for me ready to go.

That is my biggest concern with the upcoming xbox... I want to be able to replace my current 360 and still have the same or better support for extending media center. I'm afraid of this push to have "an app for that".

[Captain]

Xbox as an extender is the biggest piece of shit ever. I used it for two years until Shaft showed me the real deal: HTPC + XBMC

[scared?]

after the complete failure of windows 8, i expect this console to be shit...

[Transient]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/10/420991 ... roversy-no

Microsoft creative director who sparked always-on controversy no longer with company

[Eraser]

A little known but poorly-kept secret: Ubisoft didn't always use it's "always on connection" only for authentication...they were constantly tracking every.single.thing.you.did in the game and - wait for it - using that tracking data to improve their game designs. Think of it as having a QA manager sitting behind you while you play, taking notes of where you got stuck, what things you missed and your favorite route taken.

In short: alot of times the always-on requirement isn't malevolent.

And, while I despise the idea of forcing customers to repeatedly authenticate online before playing games they already paid for, I have no issue with certain features that require it for gameplay...such as multiplayer, etc. Let's not forget that the upcoming PS4 has a "Share" button and there's no way in hell you'll get that system working smoothly without an always-on connection.

It's a ghey idea, but I can understand why they require always-on.

That's my point. I don't think anyone's complaining about such online functionality per se. It becomes a problem when non-online content or functionality is locked out if you aren't online.

Besides, all of your examples don't require always online. Tracking data can be recorded locally and sent over as soon as a connection is available. A share button could be disabled if there's no connection, or prompt you to connect first. Same with multiplayer. It's obvious these latter two are inherently online activities so the requirement of an internet connection while engaged in those activities is a given. Other than DRM restrictions, I can see no reason for the requirement of always online.

[MKJ]

yes. A lot of games actually use the tracking stuffs, not just Ubi and their always-online quasi-DRM. Bungie tracked pretty much everything that happened in everybody's game of Halo, wether SP or MP. This included number of kills and deaths, percentage completed, even down to the actual map coordinates of the player deaths. They also made those stats readily available in heatmaps on bungie.net.
Same with TellTale's Walking Dead. Or most of the games available on Steam.

None of those require a constant connection tho. It would simply store the data locally till next time you logged in to XBL or Steam.

re the share button: Xbox has that already, tho only for achievements (globally) and some game-specific stuffs - like Blur's screenshot feature.
if you werent connected to Live or wasn't logged into Facebook/Twitter it would simply prompt you to connect.

[bitWISE]

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/04/08

Xbox as an extender is the biggest piece of shit ever. I used it for two years until Shaft showed me the real deal: HTPC + XBMC

You're not using it to actually watch cable and record shows though are you? I'm running digital cable through my PC and the guide/dvr software in media center is the best I've used (especially if you factor in plugins and extensions). The card has four HD tuners so I could watch a show with each 360 in my house and still be recording two shows centrally (handy for stopping a show downstairs and continuing in the bedroom). I've got one plugin that inserts network logos into the guide rather than just the channel number, as well as giving me control over the number of rows for the guide and on-screen guide. I've got a mobile app from my tuning card company that lets me view and search two weeks worth of TV guide, full management of the dvr, and if I'm actually at home I can use it as a remote control or to directly queue up shows/channels/media. Interesting bit of trivia, Microsoft is one of the original DVR software providers and is still one of the biggest players alongside Tivo. Their core software powers AT&T Uverse (extremely similar to whats in media center) and Verizon FIOS boxes.

As far as media streaming, as long as you don't upgrade to Win 8 64-bit, you can use the shark codec pack and get great playback support.

[Don Carlos]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/10/4209912/microsoft-creative-director-that-sparked-always-on-controversy-no

Microsoft creative director who sparked always-on controversy no longer with company

Just about to post this

[Captain]

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/04/08

Xbox as an extender is the biggest piece of shit ever. I used it for two years until Shaft showed me the real deal: HTPC + XBMC

You're not using it to actually watch cable and record shows though are you? I'm running digital cable through my PC and the guide/dvr software in media center is the best I've used (especially if you factor in plugins and extensions). The card has four HD tuners so I could watch a show with each 360 in my house and still be recording two shows centrally (handy for stopping a show downstairs and continuing in the bedroom). I've got one plugin that inserts network logos into the guide rather than just the channel number, as well as giving me control over the number of rows for the guide and on-screen guide. I've got a mobile app from my tuning card company that lets me view and search two weeks worth of TV guide, full management of the dvr, and if I'm actually at home I can use it as a remote control or to directly queue up shows/channels/media. Interesting bit of trivia, Microsoft is one of the original DVR software providers and is still one of the biggest players alongside Tivo. Their core software powers AT&T Uverse (extremely similar to whats in media center) and Verizon FIOS boxes.

As far as media streaming, as long as you don't upgrade to Win 8 64-bit, you can use the shark codec pack and get great playback support.

Just my movie collection with Win 7 64-bit and shark's codecs. Nothing but headaches with playback problems, slow UI, shitty library support, stuttering, etc.

I even used the MediaBrowser plug-in for a while but after a few weeks of things working fine, random playback issues would surface again. There's nothing better than XBMC on a media center PC, it even has an add-on that lets me watch NHL Gamecenter Live without regional blackouts.

[GONNAFISTYA]

....it even has an add-on that lets me watch NHL Gamecenter Live without regional blackouts.

You bastard. NHL Gamecenter Live is an awesome service...except during local blackouts.

Where can I get this add-on for PC?

[Captain]

Messaged you on FB.

[MKJ]

yoink

http://kotaku.com/report-the-next-xbox- ... -493136979

The e-mail states that the next Xbox will let people play games without connecting to the web, despite the rumors that have been swirling over the past few months that Microsoft's new console will follow in the footsteps of games like SimCity and Diablo III, requiring an Internet connection to function.

[Eraser]

Not a surprise really. I never really expected this always online requirement to be there. Not even MS is that stupid, certainly not after the backlash against the reports about such "functionality".

[Don Carlos]

yoink

http://kotaku.com/report-the-next-xbox- ... -493136979

The e-mail states that the next Xbox will let people play games without connecting to the web, despite the rumors that have been swirling over the past few months that Microsoft's new console will follow in the footsteps of games like SimCity and Diablo III, requiring an Internet connection to function.

Good news