How can you even think that they're being generous? It's one of the most invasive and intrusive DRMs ever devised - absolutely no lending games, no renting, stringent restrictions on used sales, no private sales...all that along with the online requirement, it's pretty much a nightmare scenario and one of the most blatant anti-consumer policies ever from a gaming company. Sure, when things go all-digital, borrowing and lending will be a thing of the past (and I'm not looking forward to that day), but putting arbitrary restrictions on disc-based games when that's still the primary means of game distribution?
This is why I'm not fond of digital media distribution. I don't get to own anything any more. It's all just a license to play. Their rules aren't generous, because they have no reason to exist. How did we ever survive in the past without having to define a group of players together as a "family" (or whatever). It may work just fine as ten is workable, but it isn't necessary. Extra steps. If you have access to the system and the game then you should be able to play it. Simple. Any extra rules are restrictive, not generous. They could do all that evil for digital games, and I wouldn't mind. Because, I know that you're only buying a license to play the game, so you must follow their rules and restrictions. But for a physical disc? Let me do whatever I want with it, so long as it isn't piracy.
This situation upsets me because it feels like Microsoft is assuming the player is a thief. These rules should be in place when it has been detected that the player is participating in piracy.
@_@ Did I read something totally different from everyone else then? I had read that up to ten people can be added onto an account under "family" (for lack of a better term) and they can all share games between them, even if they're using another console. They can't play the game at the same time on different consoles but that's no different from if they all shared one disc anyway. Admittedly I'd misread the lending thing--I thought the gifting a game was lending but even so, it's not that bad compared to most digital things. Microsoft seems to be pushing digital anyway so I guess they're consolidating the rules skewed in digital distribution's favour. I'm used to this license with digital downloads, I honestly don't mind it that much when applied to everything. Generally the only people I "lend" games to would probably end up in my family group anyway, so I just don't see it as a huge deal. I feel restricted by the online check, but nothing else. :/ I don't think anything else would affect me. So while I think they could probably come up with a better way to ensure people are using their games properly than what essentially comes down to always online, the rest of it is fine by me. I dunno, maybe I'm just so used to Steam and PSN/XBL games that the licensing thing doesn't seem bad at all.
Well, I guess not but I can count the number of games I've lent to people in the past (that I did not live with) on both hands so it really doesn't affect me and I don't care that they've restricted it. I won't notice the restriction so it's fine with me. :/ I guess it sucks for other people but in this day and age, especially on Xbox, the number of games you could feasibly lend to friends without detriment isn't very big anyway. Most games that are big on Xbox are multiplayer games and if you're giving a friend the disc, you can't even play together so I imagine it's far more likely they'd be going out to buy their own games anyway. I feel that all of this is just Microsoft realizing that and adjusting their policy accordingly. Don't see the problem with the family thing, though, unless you were just saying it's weird you have to specify them if you're handing out the disc. It wasn't clear. And I guess it is but again, I see why they're doing it since they're pushing digital distribution now, it would seem. (What with giving you a digital license for any retail game you buy, which honestly, I'd be excited for if I were at all intending to get an Xbone.)
As far as I've read about the Xbox One's DRM, it requires people to put in a product key of the game before playing the game for the first time when using it on your Xbox Live account. And you can transfer your product key activation to someone else's account, but it can only be done once though, so it would be stuck on that account forever once it's transferred. And since the product keys are assigned to your Xbox Live account, the only way you'll be able to play the game at a friend's place is to install the game on their Xbox One and then sign into your Xbox Live account. And... yes, the Xbox One games requires connectivity to the internet once every 24 hours and if it finds no internet connection... the game will be paused until there's internet connectivity again. So pretty much it'll be like PC games and Steam games where internet connectivity is mandatory. Which would be bad for a console, since not everyone has a fast internet connection or even a stable internet connection. Some may not even have internet connectivity at all, which would mean the Xbox One would be totally useless to them. Here in Australia... not all parts even have fibre optic cables connected underground yet, and in my hometown... we've still got copper and no fibre optic at all, which means much slower internet connectivity than most 1st world countries. Just think of the people that don't have a fast internet connectivity... and just think of how they'll be unable to use the Xbox One completely and how we'll gradually adapt to the annoying "Internet Connection Lost. Please reconnect to the internet." error on Xbox One consoles when playing games. So basically... it's impossible to play offline on Xbox One, that's a major change to what previous consoles did. :P Edit: Oh and I've also heard a rumor that the new Xbox Kinnect will be watching people while playing games and when it detects more than a certain amount of people in a room... it won't allow you to play a movie. Not sure if that's even true, but if it is... that's pretty intrusive. :\
I think that rumor sprang from something that Microsoft patented, or at least tried too. Basically, if you had too many people watching the movie, it'd tell you that you need to pay more. It is pretty intrusive and pretty damn dumb, but I can think of a few ways to circumvent it, at least. Staying out of the Kinect's viewing range, hiding behind something, etc.
Further to that... Not so much anymore, because somehow my vacations have gotten busier and less relaxing every year (also shorter), but in the past there were a few times I had brought up my console at the time with me when we would go out to cottage country for week or long weekend, in case of a rainy day. No Internet. If I need to look something up, I've got my phone's network or my Dad's work network and that's only on his laptop. Bringing a Xbox One along would be useless after one day.
