If you'd like to follow along, here's the link I'll be talking about.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/06/microsoft-is-removing-xbox-one-drm/
For the people who have yet to hear, Microsoft have released a statement that, simply put, they are removing the DRM in their upcoming console, Xbox One. In their statement, they've also announced that game can be resold, traded and borrowed. 24 hour log in has been removed and the console now allows offline gameplay, even on downloaded titles. Mainstream games can also be downloaded on day of release and regional restrictions are removed. And with all of this the internet is celebrating like the Ewok party at the ending of Star Wars VI. And while I see this as a positive thing, there are certainly negatives when it comes to this.
Microsoft is pretty much saying "Okay Internet, you win." While I support this change, it's just disappointing that it took hundreds of anger filled Youtube, Tumblr, Twitter, Blog, Forums, Petitions and other forms of online media content to reach this easy and simple decision. While they made the right move, the company has definitely caved, making them look even more weak than they already appear now.
Personally, I didn't care about the 24 hours thing, I'm on my Xbox once a day anyway to check messages or to play. I didn't mind about the Kinect issues, there's an off switch on the side you can use when your Xbox is off. I didn't even care about the DRM, I only have one second hand game anyway out of the 105+ hard covers that I own. To be perfectly honest, to me the internet was complaining for the sake of complaining; even if they kept the DRM in, most people were going to buy an Xbox One anyway. It's... almost like the gamers who complain about COD's unoriginality yet still buy the newer game every year. As a user commented after reading the Kotaku post: "We're not getting the Xbox One, we're getting the Xbox 360 V2". Microsoft, the internet will never be happy. You now appear weaker and more susceptible to caving in to change. Even if you were the losing horse of this next-gen console race, you have to back your horse, no matter how much criticism or hatred comes your way. Even though you've changed the Xbox One for the better, the views of history will forever see the Xbox One as the horse the company simply shot in the back of the head for the sake of profit.
As my dear friend Mr. James Mills once said to me: "You can't question how something is made in the eyes of the developers. It's almost as if you buy a CD, not like some of the songs and then throw it back to the band, demanding them to remake those songs."
Internet, whether you're a fan of Xbox, Playstation, Wii, PC or whatever else is out there, simply put - we're all gamers. Playing games is what brought our community together and this console war is tearing us apart. The average age of a gamer worldwide is 28 and yet we're fighting like nine year olds over the favourite toy in the playground. It's time we got back to doing what we love the most: Play games for the good times with our friends, family and simply to escape reality into a great story.
Whether or not you play games for a campaign or multiplayer, to have fun doing silly things or wanting to have a meaningful playthrough, we're all gamers looking for a great time, it's time that we band together for our love for gaming then tear into each other.
Long live gamers!
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