I honestly had no intention of returning to these forums. Given how I was treated by the staff of these forums last week. I feel a certain obligation to give some on these forums their due, and give them the satisfaction that they may crave. After watching the Xbox 1 unveiling yesterday, and giving myself some time to digest all of the implications. Over a restless night of sleep. I have come to the sobering conclusion. That not only am I still pissed about Microsoft's shenanigans, but I am actually more pissed off today then I was yesterday. I am not going to buy this console, and I sure as hell am going to discourage others from doing likewise.

Their behavior isn't simply indefensible. It is utterly reprehensible. There is such a thing as the principle of the thing, and this console is entirely at odds with my principles. This isn't what console gaming is supposed to be about. The utter abandonment of the plug and play philosophy. Which is really the only virtue that the console market ever had over PC gaming. Not only disgusts me, but forces me to ask the more obvious question. What is the fucking point of owning a PC if the company that sold it to you insist on complete control over your device. The answer is there isn't a point. Unless you don't believe in property rights.

Which I absolutely do. If I buy a machine I have every right to do with it what I please. If I want to go online that is my choice to make not theres. If I want to play a used game. That is my choice not theirs. If I don't want a machine that watches me. That is my choice not theirs. I don't know where Microsoft, and for that matter their partners forgot this fact, but customers don't exist to service them. They instead exist to service customers. If they thought I was going to gladly forfeit my rights. They have another thing coming, and frankly its fucking insulting. Even if they retract their plans. The fact that they schemed to do as much. Leaves me not wanting to have anything to do with them. Besided the hardware would still be capable, and they could turn the switch back on any time they so desired.

I hadn't honestly put much stock in the whole console market crash notions that have been floated recently, but I can't help, but think this is the end of the console market. Well at least for me. Microsoft doing this probably means that Sony is going to do likewise, and as for Nintendo. I am sorry it just isn't a very good console. Setting aside the bad software support, the very polar first party software, and the poor online service. It is still way too underpowered for my taste. I don't want to double down on the last generation. So as of right now I am moving away from console gaming, and back to PC gaming. Where I can avoid digital rights management, enjoy backwards compatibility, and save a hell of a lot of money on software.

So yeah Microsoft game studios can go fuck themselves, and I don't pay out empty lipservice. I stopped gaming with Sony when Sony Online Entertainment defrauded me. I stopped gaming with Nintendo when they turned their back on me. Never gone back to either one of them. I wish them a very sarcastic good luck. With selling their console that isn't really a console. I also hope they enjoy the fantastic game sales I am sure they will be getting.

P.S.

I have already started shopping around for a new rig. I have one question for the informed I am comparing GDDR5 to DDR3. How much more preferable is the prior to the latter. The thing is DDR3 seems relatively cheap in comparisson. Can getting more of that somewhat offset less GDDR5. Sorry if this is a noob question haven't been back to PC gaming for like eight or nine years.

from what i understand GDDR5 is for the graphic card not for system memory. so you will get DDR3. when buying the GPU you will have options depending on what your graphic card is.

I will do the same, except game on pc I would get a Wii u if Sony goes the anti consumer way also

Microsoft u f'd up

It seems we can both enjoy the console crash from our lofty PC towers then.

Cheers.

We all know that the people with an iPhone will be the last ones standing after this war..

Using a PC you will run into some of the same issues. You will not be able to play used games for %95 of games and you will have to check in online with your DRM provider(Steam,Origin) at least once a month. You will NOT be avoiding DRM on the computer in fact its much more prevalent on PC(unless you buy from GOG). You cant buy GDDR5, that is video card specific memory. DDR3 is currently the fastest system ram you can have. I know this is just early for you but I would wait for the full facts from PS4/XBOne post E3.

Looks like PC will be my primary gaming device also. Unless Sony doesn't do the bullshit that MS is doing.

Steam games are regularly on sale and other sites offer great value like; Amazon, Green Man Gaming, Gamefly, GOG (this has some DRM free games) etc. Origin.. ok, not going to defend that lol. Plus (most) games are playable offline with Steam.

CPU's and GPU's are going to get a LOT faster next year and beyond. Plus.. DDR4 is also ramping up in production - which should be around twice the speed of DDR3.

All in all its going to be great to be a PC gamer for the next few years

UPDATE

I am looking at an Alienware Aurora desktop right now. Low end specs obviously. Would anyone here happen to have any experience with this particular model, or with the brand itself in general. Here are the specs if you have any thoughts about them.

2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3820 (10M Cache, Overclocked up to 4.1 GHz)
Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
8GB2 Q DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660

Build your own, it will be cheaper, you get more choice and it is fun

A few things to consider about that build

You might want to get a small SSD for the OS to make boot times much faster and the system generally quicker
Intel are now on their 3rd generation of i5,7 or maybe even 4th (I am not sure if they have come out yet). You also don't really need an i7, there is very little gain beyond an i5. Certainly for a 660, there is no point in having anything better than an i5

There might well be some new video cards out soon, so that may be worth considering, though a 660 is a decent comprimise between price and performance.

As for your choice to abandon consoles, as others have said, Microsoft is just getting closer to Steam, for me that is quite good