Microsoft Reverses DRM Policy, Keeps Extra $100

In the biggest instance of corporate "Oops! My bad!" I've seen in a long time, Microsoft has now completely changed their tune with the XBOX One. Don Mattrick, they guy who last week essentially said if you don't like what we're doing go pound sand, is now saying,

"I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One."

If you haven't heard already, it boils down to this. No more 24 hour internet check-in. You can play any game offline for as long as you want. You can give a disc to a friend or sell it just like with current consoles. And disc-based games will require the disc to be in the tray of the machine. You'll also be able to purchase games via download instead of disc, but you won't be able to share those games at all (unlike the previous "10 family member" scheme they had proposed).

Lots of people on the Internet are taking victory laps now (just read the comment section of any news article on the subject) but I'm more interested in the specifics of what made Microsoft change. I expect it had more to do with the developers who backed the XBOX One freaking out than even weak pre-sales. (Check out this article in the Guardian, "Xbox One reversal: did Microsoft make the right decision?".)

With dropping all of the DRM restrictions, I think this has changed enough minds so that the Xbox One will be a competitive gaming platform into the next ten years. The reversal shows that Microsoft is listening to its community, even if (cynically) it's really because they were listening to the developers who were listening to the community.

PS4 still has momentum post-E3 and I'm ever concerned about how the extra $100 cost over the PS4 will affect sales. But Microsoft doesn't seem to be worried about the money and they're the ones with the most skin in the game. Personally I've gotten well over $500 of enjoyment from my Xbox 360, so in November it looks like I'll be going with the Xbox One.

XBOX One Too Costly? Don't Take My Word For It.

Yesterday I very much voiced my displeasure at the extra $100 the XBOX One will cost, especially when you take into account all of the extra "features" Microsoft has piled on.

But I'm not the only one. Check out these headlines:

• PS4's Price And Policies Humiliate Microsoft's Xbox One At E3 [Forbes]

• PS4 takes E3 with $399 price tag [Engadget]

• Sony Outmaneuvers Microsoft in FIrst PS4-Xbox One Skirmish [San Francisco Chronicle]

• PlayStation 4 undercuts Xbox One by $100, won’t require online connection to play [Penny Arcade]

• Sony Outduels Microsoft in First PS4-Xbox One Skirmish [Bloomberg]

• PlayStation 4: Sony outmaneuvers Microsoft on price, design, and common sense [The Verge]

Video Game Controllers Through the Years

Extreme Tech has a great rundown of historic video game controllers and why each was an important step in the evolution of gaming. It's most interesting to me to see that the controllers for the new Playstation 4 and XBOX One are just slight variations of their predecessors, a fact I'm very happy about.

Shoulder buttons of giants: The evolution of controllers leading up to the PS4 and the Xbox One | ExtremeTech.com