@Barighm: What's the source you have on this "real marketing data" just curious as I would like to see how they polled those numbers. How many people did they ask, across what platforms and age groups. How big was the pool that this data was pulled from. I remember gamespot did a poll, and yes, it is gamespot....but I remember the numbers being in the 70% of voters who see it as an important feature.
And the famous soldier incident you are talking about wasn't about BC...it was about the disastrous attempt to make XB1 require an internet connection..."always on". The question was asked about not having an internet connection to which that tool Don Mattrick said "We have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity; it’s called xbox360." So you're actually wrong as this incident had nothing to do with BC as you've stated.
And yes, MS did listen to their fans. I know the popular action, especially on gamespot's comments sections is to bash MS at every chance and discredit all they do as a sad attempt to turn the market to their favor. But they do have a community site which the xb1 community posts suggestions for future updates and features...the community then votes on these suggestions and the highest voted features get implemented. BC was always one of the most requested updates and MS got to work on making it happen a long time ago and finally rolled it out.
So maybe there is truth to what you said...MS got their butts handed to them for sure, which prompted them to make changes including the resignation of that tool Don Mattrick. That guy was a joke and the launch of XB1 was a disaster under his leadership. He then went to Xynga and now he's "resigning" there to after their stocks have plummeted under his leadership. If Phil Spencer had been in charge of things back then, I believe things would have been different. Xbox has actually been doing some good things since he took over...I think they're making the effort, no matter what the motivation...if gamers benefit, then it's a good thing. Hardware wise, they don't measure up to the PS4, but if we're talking features, I think the XB1 actually has them beat. I mean come on..."Appear Offline", "Friend Notification" "Play together"...all of these new features are old news, even for the 360...and remote play...xbox had that feature months ago...another community requested feature.
@mlauber: ahh...sorry. Just jumped right in there didn't I? I was speaking specifically to the feature in the title of the article. The "Appear Offline" feature.
@philip6k: that's your opinion bro. Backwards compatibility is easily the most requested feature by the console gaming community. Even MS recognized this fact and actually listened to their fans and came up with a solution. Microsoft, actually listening to their gaming community. Sony could do the same, but they never will because of Playstation Now.
@yukushi: are you aware that some people want to hold onto their favorite games even into the new generation of gaming? Some people like their game libraries and what's wrong with people wanting their new PS4 to have the ability to play their old titles and not have to dust off a different console for each generation? Also, those who didn't own past PS consoles but have a PS4 could fully take advantage of their PS+ subscription, by getting to play the monthly free titles for PS4 and past consoles. Why would that be a bad thing?
Maybe you want to get with the "modern era" and "march on" and only play new titles, but more people than you think still like to play the old titles as well.
Love or hate MS, they're doing a great thing with the backwards compatibility, a feature fans have been requesting and they delivered on those requests. If you have only an XB1 and no 360, you still get to play all of the monthly free titles they give out for both the XB1 and the 360 on one console. If you had a 360 and owned digital titles, they transfer. If you still own 360 discs, you put them in the console and they play. My understanding is that not all titles are working yet, but they're adding to the list constantly. I think Sony should do the same, but they never will because they invested too much into Playstation Now, and providing a simple and free solution as MS has done would undermine their Playstation Now service.
@xzerocarnagex: I totally agree with you. I really do hope that Bungie can learn from it. The whole structure of Destiny was so disjointed all the time. It was clear that Bungie really didn't know what they really wanted it to be and were kind of figuring it out as they went along. And instead of expansions being true expansions, they were almost an excuse to piggyback a bunch of changes that they wanted to make. Just when you started to get the feel for how to grind in the game, how to level up, they'd drop these massive updates on the shirt tails of their DLC and you'd feel like all that work you did pre-update was a big waste of time.
I really did have some good times playing with my friends...I'm not gonna lie. If you have a group of friends who you can team up with every day or at least a couple of times a week, it was satisfying. I have hopes they can learn from it and get it right for Destiny 2...it's just too bad we had to be part of their ongoing experiment before they truly got there.
So excited for the division. I played both the Closed beta and open beta...even the improvements from closed to open were significant enough to give me high hopes for the final product. Can't wait.
@cboye18: Of course DLC isn't free to create...this is how 343 is making up for it, with the OPTIONAL req. packs. It seems to be working well for them which is why they can do what they are doing, continuing to support the community as a whole with free DLC content that keeps the community whole instead of dividing it. If you knew anything about the req. packs that you have the option to buy, these perks and upgrades cannot be used (aside from player skins) in the Arena, which ensures that everyone is on an even playing field. Req. packs are also earned by getting points in the game and MP. Say what you want about it...it isn't going away, paid DLC or Microtransactions. You can want them gone and not like it all you want, but the gaming community says otherwise because people continue to buy season passes, DLC and microtransactions. If the community as a whole didn't support it, then it wouldn't continue to show up on seemingly every game lately.
I'm not saying I disagree with you about the model. But it is what exists and trends show that it is working for the developers, so they'll continue to do it. All I'm saying is that 343 is doing a good thing here. They could easily do what other studios are doing and still have microtransactions AND make you pay for map packs. Plenty of games are doing that already. They are saying that they want to keep the community together and not divide it based on who has what content. No one is forcing me to make microtransactions in Halo 5...they don't offer an edge in the arena, yet those who purchase them are supporting the dev. which transfers to free DLC for EVERYONE who plays the game. Since paid in-game content isn't going away, it is pointless to say "I want it all gone" because it won't happen. I'd rather take the better of the two options, which is free DLC all made possible by those who wish to pay for extra content. As long as it is optional and players have a choice, then I'm all for it.
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