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zwolanerd

I guess I just like liking things

Good heavens is this ever dizzying.  So now Microsoft has (relented? backtracked? realized the error of their ways?) changed their minds about some of the XB1 features: no more DRM preventing used game sales and no checking in online every 24 hours.

Yay!

…maybe?  I should stop being surprised that people can gripe about any and every thing. Just this morning, not even 24 hours after the announcement, I read a “well, now we’ve done it, we’ve ruined everything forever because we made Microsoft change their minds about this” article. I can’t remember where I read it and forgot to bookmark it, but the point was “we were going to live in a new age of lower prices and freer yada yada yada” and I kind of gave up after the “lower prices” bit because, sure I was hopeful that would be the case, but I wasn’t in any way figuring it would be.

Look, I can appreciate efforts to change the infrastructure of a thing if it needs to. But in some cases it’s okay to have coexisting infrastructures, something Microsoft and Sony have both been doing already: yes, play your on-disc games, but, sure, have some digital-only downloadable games, too, have fun!

I had pretty much come to the decision I was sticking with Xbox before they announced this, for two reasons:

  1. I’m pretty deep in the Microsoft ecosystem, they all tie together pretty well, and there’s the promise of even more in the future.
  2. I like to be an early adopter when I can be. Yes, I know I just registered my discomfort about all of the stuff, but the more I thought about it the more I decided it was the way to go. These announced changes are icing on the pumpkin bread for me.

Granted, they still haven’t addressed the indie game question, and I hope they do, but it won’t affect my decision, most likely. I support the idea of indie games and want people to have that avenue, but I have rarely availed myself of the offerings, so I’m probably not the best person to speak to this.

Here’s hoping this is the last article I write about the XB1 until the “I got it and I love it!” one later this year, which I’m also hoping is one I get to write.

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