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Adinnieken on 18 June 2013
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CGI-Quality said:
Adinnieken said:
adriane23 said:

Gran Turismo 5 did pretty well without DRM. And if Cliff needs a more recent example, how about The Last of Us? What a dumb ass.

-pic

PlayStation 3 games have DRM.  Disc-based games do not use an active DRM, but digital copy protection is a form of DRM.  Nevertheless, any DLC or games you've downloaded use DRM.

The Xbox One's DRM is active DRM, not because it is draconian, but because you can create groups of friends, assign games and DLC to those groups from your library, and they have instant access to the library you opened up to them.  To ensure you still want them to have access to it, when they're accessing your library or when you're accessing theirs, it checks to see whether or you or them still have access to the games you had access to an hour ago.  It checks those lists every 24 hours to ensure no changes have and to update any game library additions or deletions. 

If I buy a game on a disc, with the Xbox One I can play that game AND I can share it with a friend and they can play it too.  In single campaign, in co-op, or multi-player.  They have full access to the game.  If I go to a friends house, my entire library is available on his/her console.  If I have a game that's four-player, split-screen co-op, all four of us can play the game, the same way you can with the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the PS4.

If I want to trade in that Xbox One game, I can.  If I want to give it to a friend, I can.  They can be my next door neighbor, or they can be half-way around the world.  As long as my game is also available in their country, they can access a region specific copy of it.  So, what is draconian about it?

An Internet connection?  My Xbox 360 was connected to the Internet 24/7, 365.  As long as the console isn't doing a massive download while I'm playing a game online, I don't really care if it's phoning home to Microsoft.  In fact, if it does it after midnight, I'd be hippy skippy.  But I don't see how updates, be it software, or access/control lists are draconian.  Your average Anti-virus/Malware utility checks multiple times throughout the day to see if an update for the software or database is available.  Frequently these are large lists, often into the MBs, yet we persist in allowing them.  They're not considered draconian.  Windows Update requires a check-in every week, and once it downloads the updates forces you to wait before you can shutdown your computer.  Especially, if you haven't installed them before attempting to shutdown.  Yet, we don't consider this draconian.  

Sony installs a rootkit, that's not draconian DRM.  Microsoft requires an Internet connection and to use that connection to phone home at least once, every 24 hours, and that's draconian. 

When you start pointing a finger at people, just remember, you have three pointing back at you.  

Why, then, would people be complaining if the PS4 and Xbox ONE are practically one in the same? 

You'll need to provide context.

Hardware wise, I think they are more similar than they are different. 

In terms of digital content, the only area where Microsoft and Sony are the same is in their policies as first-party publishers, and in their policies toward third-party publishers.  The problem is that Sony hasn't defined how it will implement an active DRM solution, nor it's features and policies regarding it.  By leaving it up entirely to the publisher, Sony is opening the door to disaster. 

In a worse case scenario, let's say The PS4 gets hacked over the next year, and as a result the pirating of PS4 games becomes rampant.  Sony's passive DRM is compromised, disc copying possible.  Sony doesn't have a solution to this problem ready.  Developers and third-parties, seeing their work get stolen and distributed without their control implement various active DRM solutions.  Some stringent, requiring constant contact with the server and no offline play at all, others a bit more user friendly.  Some allow for resale, others don't.  Some allow for rental, other's don't.  Now the PS4 is no better or open than a PC and worse than the Xbox One.

If we do the same worse case scenario with the Xbox One, nothing has to change.  If the Xbox One gets hacked, there are measures built into the system to restore it to original.  If a hacker persists, then there are measures built into the system to disable it without ever going online.  If somehow the Xbox One gets hacked and disables the two processes mentioned before, the active DRM built into the system ensures that content will only work if licensed to that user.  If somehow a hacker circumvents that process, another exists to verify that the content was activated and authenticated on that device. 

Nothing has to change on the Xbox One.  There are a number of security measures hackers would have to be able to circumvent that they won't be able to.  The first one is getting on the system at a root level itself.  The second is getting their software to run.  The third is getting license restricted content to run.

God forbid if the PS4 gets hacked because the house of cards will come tumbling down.