good article but i like that bit the best.  i do love me a AAA game but i'll be damned if just AAA doesn't get boring.  indie are the icing on the cake.

also everyone was surpised.  who the hell saw that cluster f@#& coming?

as far as i know it was only confirmed to be logged on once a day, givinf the limited possibility to play offline.

That is indeed different but doesn't prevent the comparison between two online platforms which monitor the activity for the benefit of the platform holder and their partners.

Both policies have DRM for similar reasons other than piracy : user stats.

They got arrogant. Simple as that.

They thought no matter what they did, the Xbox brand was powerful enough that the consumer would bend over and take it. The Xbox brand was nowhere near strong enough, which is why they were FORCED to change policies.

Anti consumer and the consumer let them know.

Very Sony-like, pre PS3, the main difference was Sony didnt panic and change things.

No one can argue that M$ screwed up their launch in the biggest way possible. The real mistake they made was not focusing on the gaming community first. Had they showed their games and demonstrated the benefits of their systems that way, it wouldn't have been such a clusterF$$k. Sure the always checking in/online thing was the biggest problem, but had they sold the console right to begin with, that wouldn't have been such a big deal to drop as it was with the other half dozen 180's they have done. Sony has admitted that they had no intention of advancing their system past last generation. Their intent was to just make a more powerful PS3, and they succeeded. It's best not to sell peanuts to someone with a peanut allergy, and I think that M$ knows that now. They will just sell you peanut butter instead!

This i can easily agree with

Yes you are correct, it was once per 24 hours. If you failed to log in after 24 hours then all gaming functions were shut off.

Yes you are also correct that both had DRM, but there are different forms of DRM and MS form of it was way over the top. It was all because they wanted to change the entire way the retail and 2nd hand markets worked.

Viva la Playstation!

See, I don't believe that, I've never known 2nd hand market to be an issue like people claim until around when Xbone was first announced. Around their announcement, it seemed like 2nd hand games was the only reason studios were closing. I really do believe that this whole DRM stuff was nothing more than a way to control piracy. 360 had huge piracy issues and this was their safe guard. It backfired.

From some of the gaming podcasts I've heard, it seems that most casual gamers don't care. It is just the hardcore gamers / early adopters that are upset.

I am wondering if Microsoft just hired some marketing company to do a focus group or random survey which came back in favour of all of these policies.

They should have looked at what happened to the PSPGo. That was a great device, but the digital only distribution (most likely to combat piracy) did not go over well with users.

Another thought on this interview. He indicates that Sony DID change their presentation based on the negative buzz from M$'s conference. Instead of putting on their own conference, they decided to clearly change their message to "we are here for the gamer".