Am I the only one who pretends to care about consumer rights to bash the Xbox One?

[binary solo]

ironmanDX said:

kupomogli said:
I'm a collector, so in 20 years, I'd like to own the games I've purchased this or any generation. Can't do that with the Xbox One so I'd never get one.

That being said. I'm not going to deny I'm pro Sony and I'm happy to know that Sony is going to be back in first. Back where the Playstation brand belongs.

You can.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125064-Xbox-One-Games-Will-Still-be-Playable-When-Servers-Shut-Down

I'm sure that's their intent. But until they spell out exactly how they will achieve it technically and what the fool-proof measures are that will prevent an error I'd still regard it as a risk. Major Nelson can't make any guarantees about what MS will or won't do after he's either dead or retired.

In 20 years time MS's institutional memory about Xbone may be almost non-existent, such that some mid-level 25-year old exec (who played PS or Nintendo as a kid) sees that there are a whole bunch of ageing servers, servicing a small number of very old and obsolete devices. He or she might just flip a switch without realising the implications of doing so. When that happens the 10,000 or so people who still play the occasional Xbone game with go WTF! When the system bricks. But because they are such a tiny and insignificant segment of the community MS will flip them the bird when they complain. "Sorry about that, here, have a Xbox360. That's an offline device and it comes from the same era of gaming."

I won't have a PS4 in 15 years time. But if I was the sort of person who does keep consoles forever and takes the occasional trip down nostalgia lane I'd want devices that are not dependant on an enduring online service for inherently offline functions to work.