Xbox 180: Another lesson in corporate homogeneity

So after the shit-stirred bowels of the internet threw a perpetual fit over the DRM-ridden Xbox One, complete with PR disasters from taking the mic of your interviewers and acting like a shitty little brat to basically telling service members to get bent, it seems that Microsoft has back-peddled from their DRM policy in the hopes that gamers will forgive and forget about this whole debacle in the first place. Well, personally, I won't forget about this monstrous, roiling box of spite they tried to push into the consumer.

One step back. One step forward. Progress!

Back at E3 some people were surprised at the warm reception that Sony received, mostly because what Sony did right was nothing. They changed non of their policies in terms of DRM and used games and yet doing nothing was enough to win the masses over. Because that is what the video game industry has become. An industry so submerged in own greed and bile that simply not moving forward is overwhelmingly preferred to integrating into Microsofts vision of "The Future".

 

But humans, being the fickle animals we are, were overwhelmed with a sickening sense of "accomplishment" and happiness when Microsoft announced that they are removing the Xbox One's DRM, as if to say "Hey Microsoft, I know you were getting ready to piss on my foot but thanks for deciding against it". As if feedback and voicing your opinion changed their minds, as if not getting absolutely slaughtered in pre-orders and seeing the overwhelming support that the PS4 had been getting compared to the Xbox One wasn't the primary factor in reversing Microsoft's brutal conquest of the video game space. Meanwhile, gamers everywhere are keen to forget that just because someone decides NOT to screw you over, doesn't mean they deserve praise as if they did something right. I don't demand praise for not beating a person to death so why should Microsoft be praised for not beating the video game industry to death?

People were correct in questioning the praise Sony received at E3, they DIDN'T do anything, in fact, with the addition of a fee on the Playstation Network, things arguably got worse. But now because Microsoft is playing chicken with how much it can get away with, were supposed to praise it for not doing something egregiously bad?

And someone had the balls to say that this is progress? That throwing shit in your own pen and then cleaning it up is progress. 

 

No.

 

You don't get to screw up and pretend that because you cleaned up your mess that puts you on par or better than the competition. And thankfully, from the majority of the comments I've seen responding to this news, people aren't blindly forgiving Microsoft and throwing their wallets at them.

 

Yes, the consumers got their way and Microsoft was taught a lesson, but it was a lesson that had already been taught by the likes of EA and Diablo 3, it was a lesson that didn't NEED to be relearned. And it shouldn't have been a lesson in the first place. Anyone with a modicum of common sense would realize that unreliable internet coupled with always-online DRM is never going to work.

 

Make no mistake, this is not the end of always-online DRM. Companies like Microsoft will continue to push until they finally get their foot in the door, and then we'll see the "future" that Microsoft envisioned. This along with the fact that Xbox has been forced to remove their family share plan essentially leaves Xbox fans with a more expensive version of the PS4 with inferior hardware.

 

So no, Microsoft, you're not forgiven.

Transcribed from http://greaterthangaming.blogspot.com/