Just read the five pages of this, and frankly, I'm kind of appalled. I've seen a lot of MS haters, and MS supporters on both sides of the fence, and the only arguments have been, "MS made a mistake, and they fixed it" with the basic, "YAY, or BOO" response.
Why was it a mistake? Why was the DRM and the "draconian" online every twenty four hours thing such a massive problem? The problem was never MS's policies, and despite popular opinion, they didn't try to FORCE any horrible thing upon us.
What noone here seems to have realized is that they were trying to get ahead of the curve and do things that noone else was doing, and not only do it first, but do it the best way that was reasonably feasible, given the current state of the market.
I think the biggest problem is that MS' marketing wasn't able to (or really wasn't given the ability to) properly explain the benefits of why they were adding these seemingly horrible policies. Believe it or not, there are a large group of people (I count myself amongst them) that have petitioned to have MS reinstate these original policies, to give us back the original features that the Xboxone originally had.
1) Once installed, no game disc ever had to be swapped out. You could simply switch to the next game you wanted to play (kind of like how XBLA already is). While still giving you the sense of owning a real product, they were giving you the ability to use it like a digital download. Face it people, digital distribution is the way of the future, and MS was spearheading this one. in 10 years time we'll all be doing this. And really, on that note, anyone here HATE apple or google for FORCING us to not have a physical copy of the apps/software we bought for their mobile products, or not forcing us to do some dirty physical work to switch between apps and games, etc.?
2) Owner of game unlimited able to play the game from anywhere, regardless of physical location of copy. You could sign onto your own account and begin to start playing the game on someone else's console without having to worry about the original disc, or bringing it anywhere for that matter.
3) Free lending of games in a virtual space. Yes, it required you be a friend to someone for at least 30 days, but it would still allow you to lend someone a game, and that person would be able to play it without you ever having to physically go to them. As simple as sending a text message, your friend could be playing your game while you're not (and there was talk of limited multiplayer capability to go along with this, which would have allowed the owner, plus the receiver of a lent game to play the same game together - think online split screen).
It's late and my brain is starting to hurt from seeing the sheer uninformed vitriol (and frankly unwarranted) cast about here. Some people are being at least honest about things, others are just being plain hipocritical, praising Sony for changing their policies and system between the problems of the PS3 and making the PS4 better, and now MS is doing it in one generation (i.e. seeing what people perceive as problems on the Xbox one and bending to their wishes to make consumers happy), and somehow MS is horrible but Sony is not?
But I will say this... Kinect. I LOVE the kinect - yes, even the first one. The problem isn't so much the device, it's the unfortunate lack of real support for it. For people saying the first one is a failure, someone else mentioned it, but I'll state it again to help to reinforce this fact - the Kinect garnered roughly 30% of the ENTIRE Xbox 360 market. That's one of the largest percentages of a non required peripheral of any console ever (may be the highest, but I'll have to check).
But I bought a Kinect day one, and I've played a few games for it, and frankly, doing some research, finding the games that actually got GOOD reviews and only getting those - I've never had a bad experience with the game, and Yoostar 2 is, perhaps, the most fun party game I've ever played - not properly doable without Kinect.
Now let's take that idea into the next generation. Any of the hardware problems with the first gen have all but been eliminated, and now we're left with a system that requires it to be bought with every system. It is now going to be in 100% of the hands of Xbox one owners. Devs will take this seriously. Devs will give us better games for it. Imagine a real time strategy game that plays like the control system in Minority Report.
Let me say that again. Command and Conquer, or Xcom, or Sid Meier's Civilization, or bloody Total War being controlled with just hand motions (and done well)... This will get me to throw my hard earned cash, en masse, in the general direction of any developer that pulls this off with even half a decent level of accuracy.
How about a boxing game like Ready 2 Rumble, or hell Punch Out, in a pseudo first person perspective? Remember playing Punch Out on NES (or Ready 2 Rumble on Dreamcast or Gamecube), and flinching to one side or the other, and, well, looking completely silly doing it (because it had no real effect). What if you could play a boxing game that is enhanced with Kinect, and you dodging to one side or the other allows a real time dodge. People's reactions can be faster in the physical world, than translating it to the button mashes that we do while playing these games. Or full bore boxing, using the Kinect 2 entirely. I know I'd play it. It just takes triple A devs to take the peripheral seriously to finally push the quality of games using it in the right direction.
And for those of you who have a Kinect and AREN'T enjoying it right now. Play Yoostar 2, Gunstringer, or Child of Eden, for pure Kinect goodness. Or just hook it up to play Skyrim and finally be able to do the real shouts without having to swap between them, etc.).
