I would hope that EA have learnt after this debacle. One of the responders to Adam Orth's ridiculous twitter comments was from a Bioware employee (who EA own) where he effectively said "Haven't you guys learnt from The Sims?" so hopefully that view runs through the company.

What's so special about Uncharted multiplayer? 

Hi guys. I've talked a lot to my buddies on xb live about all the rumours of the nextbox. To be honest nearly no one was complaining about the fact that the console should be always on, coz most of us are playing online all the time anyway. Here in Switzerland we nearly have no network issues. I feel bad for you, if you're not so lucky. Blocked games seemed not a big problem for the most of us, either. Maybe coz we're all mature gamers in the late 20 up to nearly 40 and I am only buying a few AAA titles per year, like gears, halo, forza and up to 2 sports games (nhl, fifa). So I always pre order them and keep them in my collection shelf when they're done. Maybe there are more like us as you think an MS is targeting for them nextgen. And beside that because we are all on xb live and the most of us are going to get the next box, no one even thought to switch to PS, coz you're playing with your friends. And yes this gen the PS3 was the superior device and that'll be next gen as well for sure. Some of us had PS3's as well and came back to xb live after a short while, saying PS as bluerayplayer and some exclusives, Xbox for playing online and chatting with friends.

I don't know about Uncharted, but PSABR and Resistance 3 did this.

Any proof for this? 

Always online would be a big "fuck you" to consumers. I honestly can't believe MS would be that stupid.


You can't play if:

-MS closes their servers (not being able to play these games in X years. Your games have an expiry date. Absolute bullshit.)

-Their servers are down (e.g.: the problem MS themselves had less than a fucking month ago with Hotmail).

-You have a shitty internet connection (e.g. most people in developing nations and many in developed ones).

-You travel (I've been living in 3 countries in the last year, most of the time with a dongle for my laptop. No gaming for people like me?).

-You change internet providers/move, etc. and must wait for your router to arrive or something.

-You're a student and live in a dormitory not being able to connect a console.

-You have a fucking download cap and it runs out (seriously, this would be infuriating).

-You rely on your 3G phone only for surfing the net.

Etc, etc, etc.


How anyone can defend this is beyond me. "It's ok for me coz my internet is solid" is not a good excuse. You're still fucked in many instances, plus millions of people are still screwed by this.

There is no defence for this. If you defend something that has 0 advantages and 1m disadvantages coz "I should be OK" (till I'm not) or because you don't like to see X fans criticise these policies then it's time for you to take some time and to evaluate what you stand for.

It is not going to happen, they are just allowing this to spread, so that at E3, when they say the contrary they get hyped......very hyped about something that should be in there without a doubt :S. But still the media will begin spreading this as if it was a major revolutionary thing, and people will get sucked in the "hype".

I really dont think M$ is that stupid for making an always online console.

I don't think anyone would argue your last statement, it makes perfect sense. However, consumers would not love it, not even one bit. Always online for Diablo III and Sim City kills the games for me, if every single game on an entire platform had the same feature, that would seriously drive a lof of customers away. I guess MS would have to choose; do they want developers to love them (let's face it, most already do, just look at the support the 360 has gotten) or do they want actual consumers actually buying their product? I can't see one being worth much without the others and that a feature like this would only damage them real bad.

That said, I still have a hard time believing that they would implement this in their next xbox, seems too ill advised for an old contender like MS with all their experience to be true. Seeing the incredible flack EA is getting and the fact that only a tiny sample of the original buyers of the game still play Diablo III, one can imagine the consequences of shoving this down consumers' throats.

I say no, MS are not stupid enough to actually do this, its a rumor, nothing more. Let's wait for the unveiling that hopefully comes in about three weeks.

I don't see how this is relevant to the always-online debate. Yes, U3 requires an onlne pass, so do ALL EA titles.

http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/24801/t1841440-rumor-microsoft-acquires-p2p-torrent-software-developer-pando-perhaps-related-to-next-xbox/

Israeli business website Calcalist is reporting that Microsoft has acquired peer-to-peer torrent software developer Pando for $11 million. Pando is perhaps best known for developing the Pando Media Booster, software widely known for its use in League of Legends and other PC games, which allows for peer-to-peer transfer of the game client or large updates. According to a loose translation, Calcalis says that Microsoft is planning to us Pando's software in the next-gen Xbox.

It should be noted that Pando doesn't exactly have the best reputation with gamers. Pando Media Booster has been referred to as "borderline malware" on occasion by players and tech sites alike. For example, the small application is installed with League of Legends and will run in the background as you're downloading the game and also afterwards -- potentially devouring your bandwidth. Disabling peer-to-peer can stop the process, but uninstalling the "booster" is the only sure way to stop it.

While a business website reporting that Pando was purchased by Microsoft is likely reliable, any statements they make about gaming should likely be taken entirely as rumor. While the article does say the software is planned to be used in the next-gen Xbox, how can we know for sure before Microsoft has even unveiled the thing? Maybe Microsoft just wanted Pando's patents for peer-to-peer transfer. Maybe it's nothing at all.

Calcalist also says that the next Xbox console is planned to be shown off in June. Now it should be fairly obvious just how much a stretch some of these statements are. Truth or rumor, don't be surprised if Microsoft has some interesting ways in which it connects to the internet when it's finally announced. If the Durango is permanently online, it has to be fast, right?