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Gears of War designer: ?Always online future is probably coming? deal with it?

Bleszinski says technological advancement can't worry about the "edge case."

In the wake of former Microsoft employee Adam Orth's controversial tweeted defense of the next Xbox's rumored always-online features (and his subsequent departure from Microsoft Studios), legendary game designer Cliff Bleszinski has come out publicly in support of Orth's comments, saying that those unhappy about an always-online future should "deal with it."

Bleszinski, who left Gears of War maker Epic games last October to take a break from game development, writes on his personal Tumblr that he thinks the time when most devices require a consistent Internet connection is coming sooner than later. "My gut is telling me that an always online future is probably coming," he wrote. "It?s coming fast, and possibly to the majority of the devices you enjoy."

While some gamers are still loudly complaining about the required server connections in PC games like SimCity and Diablo 3, Bleszinski notes that the former game is "selling briskly," and the latter has moved over 12 million units. "I would bet money that without the always online elements of Diablo 3 that it would have sold half of that," Bleszinski wrote, pointing an implicit finger at software piracy as the main reason for always-online requirements.

What about situations where people might want to play a game or console in some remote location without reliable high-speed Internet? Bleszinski replies that such situations are "the edge case... the week-long vacation to the cabin is only 30 hours of not playing a game or a device that?s built for much more. Technology doesn?t advance by worrying about the edge case." (Emphasis in original.)

He also pointed out that Microsoft's decision not to support dial-up connections on the original Xbox 360 was seen as a "bold move" in 2005, but that technology quickly caught up to the company's decision. "Well behaved people rarely make history. Deal with it," he summed up.

As far as Orth's departure from Microsoft, Bleszinski noted that we'll never know what really happened behind the scenes, but he still decried the Internet mob mentality that developed around Orth's statements. "If I departed from Epic every time I said something dumb I wouldn?t have made it the last 10 years there."

Source: Ars Technica

Link: Cliff Bleszinski's tumblr post

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There's been enough examples on why the always online connection thing doesn't work in the last year alone.

So yeah..I'll deal with it by not buying your games or consoles. And in return you can go on blaming piracy for poor sales.

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Why the always online crap has to be mentioned like if it's only going to be in the next Xbox? When PS4 was revealed, always online was a big thing in the press release with all the "PS4 will download game demos in sleep mode and in the background for games that it (the PS4) think you'll want to play to save time for you" and the whole "Share" button fiasco that among other social network crap, also streams your gameplay (using the ustream service) so any of your friends can watch you fail at games :rolleyes:

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"If I departed from Epic every time I said something dumb I wouldn?t have made it the last 10 years there."

so he knows that it is dumb? yet supports it?

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Why the always online crap has to be mentioned like if it's only going to be in the next Xbox? When PS4 was revealed, always online was a big thing in the press release with all the "PS4 will download game demos in sleep mode and in the background for games that it (the PS4) think you'll want to play to save time for you" and the whole "Share" button fiasco that among other social network crap, also streams your gameplay (using the ustream service) so any of your friends can watch you fail at games :rolleyes:

Considering he's using Diablo and Simcity as examples I take he means always-on as in requiring a connection at all times even for single player games.

That's what people have issues with, and that's something that Sony has stated the PS4 won't have (although they can obviously backpedal later). No one is criticizing that a console might take advantage of a persistent connection to do more stuff (something the PS3 is doing already to a certain extent, waking up to automatically download game patches and system updates) but rather that they might require it even for offline games for no other reason than DRM.

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Considering he's using Diablo and Simcity as examples I take he means always-on as in requiring a connection at all times even for single player games.

That's what people have issues with, and that's something that Sony has stated the PS4 won't have (although they can obviously backpedal later). No one is criticizing that a console might take advantage of a persistent connection to do more stuff (something the PS3 is doing already to a certain extent, waking up to automatically download game patches and system updates) but rather that they might require it even for offline games for no other reason than DRM.

And when did Microsoft stated that the next Xbox will have that, for games or any other services?

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And when did Microsoft stated that the next Xbox will have that, for games or any other services?

Their silence on the whole issue speaks volumes though, doesn't it?

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Yes, it does. :| They (Microsoft) won't address the issue at all. If it was something they had zero intention of doing they would have said so by now. People are judging the system by this rumour before the console has even been announced. Not a good thing for consumers to already be disliking your product.

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Just read on The Verge that there's an XBox Live outage. It sure wouldn't be fun if the current XBox required an always-on connection and was hence rendered totally useless until the issue was fixed.

And when did Microsoft stated that the next Xbox will have that, for games or any other services?

I didn't say they did, just that Sony has stated that they won't.

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What I don't understand is how if so many people DON'T want this, and arguably for many titles it provides no benefit, how can they continue down this route so bullishly? I guess they know they can as very few people are likely to vote with their feet :(

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Their silence on the whole issue speaks volumes though, doesn't it?

By that logic Microsoft don't have a successor for the 360 because they haven't said anything about it at all.

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And when did Microsoft stated that the next Xbox will have that, for games or any other services?

Also sony never said they wouldn't have always online required, they basically said it wouldn't be required. meaning it probably will be there for publishers to use if they want. and if you know publishers, you know that will be 99% of games..,

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What I don't understand is how if so many people DON'T want this, and arguably for many titles it provides no benefit, how can they continue down this route so bullishly? I guess they know they can as very few people are likely to vote with their feet :(

It's the new Microsoft through and through (Or more accurately Apple 2.0). To hell with what our users want, we're doing it and if you don't like it get lost.

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Will be a disaster if MS try this (system wide), I genuinely believe if they were going to they are now scrambling to not do it any more in the light of the internet outrage. It will be entertaining as it is currently if they do to see people try to defend the practice, but after the initial laughs it'll be sad to see this practice become part of our gaming world.

Same goes for any publishers that continue to try and push forward with always online required in SP situations.

The console version of Diablo having it removed speaks volumes, as does yesterdays Live outage.

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internet commenters don't represent how the market works. theres a group of them that will bitch and moan about anything. the few games that require an internet connection to work sell in great quantities,meaning most gamers don't have a problem with it. Its a win for everyone,except for pirates of course.

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Also sony never said they wouldn't have always online required, they basically said it wouldn't be required. meaning it probably will be there for publishers to use if they want. and if you know publishers, you know that will be 99% of games..,

Publishers can already require a persistent connection right now on current gen consoles (just try to connect to your own servers every x minutes and halt the game if the connection fails) so no required connection on the PS4 effectively means you'd be in the same situation as with the PS3 regarding that issue.

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internet commenters don't represent how the market works. theres a group of them that will bitch and moan about anything. the few games that require an internet connection to work sell in great quantities,meaning most gamers don't have a problem with it. Its a win for everyone,except for pirates of course.

It's not a win for anyone but publishers. This is how they will kill the used market. It's nothing in it for consumers. Always on? Sure. Required always online? Not at all.

And I love how people like you blow off Internet opinion. These people opinions will be passed on to their friends and family. Which will hopefully result in lack luster sells. No company should be rewarded for being anti-consumer.

Microsoft will learn. If they don't they will fail.

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It's not a win for anyone but publishers. This is how they will kill the used market. It's nothing in it for consumers. Always on? Sure. Required always online? Not at all.

And I love how people like you blow off Internet opinion. These people opinions will be passed on to their friends and family. Which will hopefully result in lack luster sells. No company should be rewarded for being anti-consumer.

Microsoft will learn. If they don't they will fail.

The Internets have really been terribly successful in bringing down EA in the last twenty years haven't they? Twenty years of accomplishing nothing.

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Considering he's using Diablo and Simcity as examples I take he means always-on as in requiring a connection at all times even for single player games.

That's what people have issues with, and that's something that Sony has stated the PS4 won't have (although they can obviously backpedal later). No one is criticizing that a console might take advantage of a persistent connection to do more stuff (something the PS3 is doing already to a certain extent, waking up to automatically download game patches and system updates) but rather that they might require it even for offline games for no other reason than DRM.

PS4 requires a connection for it's entire back-catalog of single player games. All games with an incompatible architecture are going to have to be streamed via gaikai.

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What I don't understand is how if so many people DON'T want this, and arguably for many titles it provides no benefit, how can they continue down this route so bullishly? I guess they know they can as very few people are likely to vote with their feet :(

Perhaps because the Kinect market, who Microsoft is looking at as it's new base market, is unaware and oblivious to these types of things and have no clue what DRM is, nor do they actually care.

They just want to headbutt the air - Ryse. :/ Whatever keeps the kid out of their hair.

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