I don’t think Microsoft will - they have lately shown quite a lot of stupidity with pricing and features - witness Surface RT which was both executed poorly and priced poorly. But they certainly could back off the used/lending games thing - simply require the disk to be in to play, for disc based games. Or require an online check to play a disc based game that you haven’t installed to your HD and authenticated already (since they already require an almost always on connection already anyway).
The irony to this being that nobody I would share games with is within handing distance to me, but I definitely have friends that would “lend” me their XBL login info and out-of-state family members that would happily share their collections through the undefined family collection sharing thingy MS has alluded to.
Not saying my case is normal, but it’s interesting that Sony’s mic drop moment was literally them saying, “New scenarios that could actually benefit typoink? Not on OUR watch!”
Those are some of the scenarios I immediately thought of too, but I don’t think Microsoft has given enough information to be sure they’ll work.
If your account is used in quick succession on IP addresses that indicate long distances, will there be any repercussions? Not sure, but I doubt Microsoft technically allows you to share your account. You could also potentially get into trouble if you attempted logging on when a friend had not yet signed out of that same account.
If account sharing is allowed then you could do a sharing scheme where each member of the group gets the games on specific days of the week or something like that.
I assume (until we see otherwise) it will be similar to the DRM system on the 360 for downloaded games: no simultaneous connections, otherwise hands-off. They’re relying on the peripheral disadvantages (no achievments or connection to your own gamertag) to discourage abuse. Which, to be honest, would mostly discourage me from doing this, but there are scenarios (especially with things like party games) where it could work.
The “family sharing” thing is way more interesting to me, depending on how it’s implemented. I mean, if my brother-in-law and I can share to each other, it seems to be implied we can play each other’s games whenever, provided we’re online (which I always am).
Yeah, it almost seems too good to be true.
Going by the wording they have used so far, it implies that I could have a family member across the country and we could play an online game together, each on our own console, but would only have to buy one copy of the game to share.
Just noticed the Microsoft mentions your “shared games library” will be available to family members.
Not your “games library.”
It could be that only certain games are eligible to be placed in the “shared games library”, which itself is also limited in size.
Too soon to have any real idea of how it works.
Nintendo announced a lot of good games (though Wii Fit Trainer for Smash Bros? Really?), PS4 looks like my choice between the Crossbone* and PS4. Also Kingdom Hearts III was announced, that’s cool.
- Xbox One – Xbone – X=Cross
And it looks like SquareEnix is weaning itself off the platform exclusives. KH3 is getting releases for the PS4 and Xbone. The Final Fantasies were already there with FF-XIII.
Yeah, it was announced at the Sony conference. Though the franchise has never been entirely exclusive - half the games are on Nintendo handhelds. And given that Squeenix has to sell about a billion copies of anything to “meet expectations” (see the Tomb Raider debacle) it’s hardly a surprise they went multi-platform.
In other news the one-character-only thing for Killer Instinct is only for the demo…there’s DLC to try out other characters. Did I miss something, or did they really announce paid DLC for demos now?
I love my Surface RT but I do think it was marketed poorly.
What are folks opinion of Project Spark?
Yeah, it’s a shame there’s not some sort of major gaming exposition around this time to share details at. I guess they’ve just decided to ride the current wave of optimism and support they’re seeing.
Killer Instinct is free-to-play. You can download it and get four characters (I think) and then pay for others.
That would make one hell of a lot more sense, but the interview I’d seen said only one character, and it at least sounded like the full game was a separate thing from the demo/free version.
Maybe there’s a paid version with everything unlocked in addition to the free-to-play+DLC version. That would sort-of fit with what was said.
Or maybe the interviewee was talking out his ass. Not like that hasn’t been happening at every other Xbox interview.
Killer Instinct will be free with ONE unlocked character. All individual characters are pay to unlock. Without paying, you can play vs. any other character online.
It really depends on how much a “full unlock” costs whether this is brilliant or awful.
I’m going to my local Best Buy to try and get to play Super Mario 3D World, Zelda: Wind Waker, Maro Kart 8, and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. I don’t know if I will get to play all of them. If anyone is interested, see if there’s a store near you here:
No. For two people to play the same game on two consoles simultaneously, they would both have to buy the game. (excepting some sort of unlikely hacking shenanigans) “Sharing” a game is only meant to replace the ability to loan a game on disk to a friend, while at the same time eliminating the ability to sell it on the used market.
What I’m wondering is if the sharing will only be available for games bought on disk, or also for games purchased digitally. I also wonder about the mechanics - can you make a single game available to your ten friends, first-come/first-serve, or can you only choose one of your ten friends for each game you want to share? What if your friend is hogging one of your games and you want to play, can you give 'em the boot? 
The Division trailer… i was really hooked by the ingame chatter and was really disappointed to confirm that those weren’t NPCs. i guess i either need to find more eloquent friends or wait for the AI to catch up. the way they had presented the trailer, with the silent player character and the other teammates chattering between themselves. bastards.
Note: you can share with your “family” which is limited to 10 others. What differentiates “family” from “friends” is something I haven’t seen Microsoft discuss anywhere. I’m betting they’re permanent & reciprocal slots at the very least.
I have some gaming friends that are interested. That’s about it, though.
Project Spark seems interesting, but as far as I can tell it will fall prey to the same problems that any other “easy to use” game maker will fall under (including games with map editors). Anybody with the knowhow to make a really good game is already going to go with some engine that gives them tighter source-level, engine-breaking control. Spark might have that, but since it’s apparently a continuation of Kodu, I doubt it will be that advanced. It’s not built to be (and making it that advanced may even be a security risk). Hell even Starcraft II’s rather powerful map editor that does have source-level control (via a proprietary scripting language, at least) does its damnedest to hide the fact that you can type code rather than using its painfully slow GUI.
Sure, there may be a Dota Allstars or something – that one hit that really takes off and launches someone’s career, but for the most part I predict it will be a cute idea that doesn’t really amount to much more than Warcraft III’s map editor (and that’s my generous prediction). Not a bad thing, to be certain, but I doubt it’s going to be a major revolution. Especially since they seem to be going with a microtransaction model to get more assets and features to build with.
But who knows. Nostradamus I ain’t. I can say that if I get hit on the head really hard and decide to buy an Xbone I definitely want to try it out. At the very least it could be a cute way to quickly prototype less revolutionary design ideas or do silly Game Jams for charity or something.