Xbox One vs. indies: Microsoft bullies developers into signing with publish


Recommended Posts

what I thought they could've done was in order to trade/sell games

1) you would have to de-authenticate said game from your account and the system gives you a one use code for said game.

2) de-authenticated games are removed from the harddrive by the system but kept in the online repository (if the game is on a different hddnot connected to the system then it can't be de-authenticated).

3) if the user wants to re-authenticate said game they would need to use the 1 use code. if they trade the game to gamestop (or like place) the game is removed from the user's online repository. if another use on a different xbox use the code, the game is removed from the first user's repository and added to the later account.

I think that would've eliminated the need for a 24/hr check.

Probably would also work but I think the 24hr check is specifically for the disc-less option, which is why when you do a action with said disc game I'd say it'd need to do a online call home to register.    I don't think it had much to do specifically with the whole used game bit but that that was effected by it as a outcome.   

Probably would also work but I think the 24hr check is specifically for the disc-less option, which is why when you do a action with said disc game I'd say it'd need to do a online call home to register.    I don't think it had much to do specifically with the whole used game bit but that that was effected by it as a outcome.   

 

disc-less and family sharing (making sure only one plays the game at the same time)** :-)

If MS are going to be *******s about this, indy devs should just ignore them. Surely all the other platforms have the user base to make any good game a success.

Totally!!  They should ignore what's going to be a massive fanbase because who needs customers and money anyway!!

 

:|

This is why I love PC gaming. No delivery system holds a monopoly so marketplace offerings need to be competitive to developers and customers to succeed. These days indie games are so popular that it's very disappointing to see Microsoft continue to spit on their developers like this. They, like all games companies should be encouraging developers to target their platform.

The big problem with self publishing is that because a dumping ground for crapware.

 

Even if that were the case, the "crapware" sinks to the bottom & the good games get the sales and attention they deserve. It's no different to how XBLA / XBLIG / PSN / Steam / App Store etc have operated for years.

 

Unless people are suggesting everything ever submitted to the above services is gaming gold? :blink:

Even if that were the case, the "crapware" sinks to the bottom & the good games get the sales and attention they deserve. It's no different to how XBLA / XBLIG / PSN / Steam / App Store etc have operated for years.

 

Unless people are suggesting everything ever submitted to the above services is gaming gold? :blink:

 

It's a weaksauce excuse for oldhat policies. Have seen the "it prevents crap" punchline said pretty much this whole generation. Nothing ever prevents crap, quality simply rises.

Fez 2 ? Polytron has no plans to release it on Microsoft consoles

 

http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/20/fez-2-polytron-has-no-plans-to-release-it-on-microsoft-consoles/

 

So that's Jonathan Blow, Phil Fish, Team Meat....List is growing....

My guess is that Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided that indie game development is part of programming, and belongs at build - not E3. So they'll have their announcement, just... after E3, not during it when everyone expects it to happen.

 

In a (what has become) typical Microsoft PR disaster, they don't release information when the consumer expects it, takes a lot of flack for it, and then release it later when everyone stopped caring.

 

  Well, I don't blame them.  The Game Developers Conference (GDC) and Build are the places that Microsoft could have the announcement and there was another game conference that happened every year called GameFest.  I don't know if GameFest is still around or if they merged it into build. 

 

  E3 is an industry show, it's not something for developers.  Now you can meet other developers there and network, but it's not really where you show code. 

This is why I love PC gaming. No delivery system holds a monopoly so marketplace offerings need to be competitive to developers and customers to succeed. These days indie games are so popular that it's very disappointing to see Microsoft continue to spit on their developers like this. They, like all games companies should be encouraging developers to target their platform.

 

oh, I would say that steam holds a big marketshare on the PC.  I wouldn't worry so much about Microsoft and developers.  Microsoft knows where their bread is buttered.   I mean Steve says it all the time so much that I don't even need to quote him.

Talk about taking quotes out of context. On the article linked referring to Indie devs:
"As of right now, yes. We intend to continue to court developers in the ways that we have."

 

Did anyone miss the as of right now? As in, we haven't announced other wise. With the infrastructure of W8 and WP8 and how apps can dramtically change a platform, do you really think they would stick the middle finger to developers when they have thousands of apps which easily could get ported? Even if they are verified for quality, at least it'll provide a consistent platform. 

 

I love people how can jump to these detailed conclusions of unannounced business models on a few quotes.

 

Also, MS would never announce plans to Indie developers due to leaks. They're making assumptions based on what they have at the minute regarding Indie development, which is none. People really need to sit back and think.

MS did need to communicate the business models to game dev, preferably enough time before launch,

otherwise xbox one would only have small amount of game title at launch.

 

That's to big AAA companies that use and pay for, full Xbox developer kits.  Indie developers don't, they use the software tools, like XNA, to make a game and just push it out to the store.  They just need to software, not the hardware, they're games also don't cost millions to make and 2 years of time either.    

 

It's been said a few times already, the clues are there but people want to deny them.  First off we know that they're not going to split the game stores in two like they have on the 360.  There is no longer going to be XBLA and XBLIG section.  ALL games will be in ONE store.    Second, Xbox is now a part of BUILD, MS's big developer event, it's never been a part of any developer event outside of a few small demos of XNA years ago.    It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that what they're going to do is copy the same Windows Store and Windows Phone Store model on the Xbox One.   That means you get your nice free Visual Studio express for Xbox One SDK, you pay whatever store fee you have to pay, and you send in a game.  Of course the game has to pass their tests but that's nothing new.

 

Now, that works perfectly for indie games, I've seen lots of them on Windows 8 and WP8 already.   Any game on those platforms without the Xbox Live branding is a indie game.   Now what does it take to become a Xbox Live game and not just a indie game?  I don't know how it works on Windows 8 and WP so I can't say.   But those aren't thought of as indie games anyways.

I don't believe a single word from Major Nelson he's paid by Microsoft to put the Xbox in a positive light, and as for Indie Developers apparently not being "in the know" then explain the whole concept and point of dev kits?

 

Microsoft have royally screwed indie developers (apart from 4J Studios).

I don't believe a single word from Major Nelson he's paid by Microsoft to put the Xbox in a positive light, and as for Indie Developers apparently not being "in the know" then explain the whole concept and point of dev kits?

 

Microsoft have royally screwed indie developers (apart from 4J Studios).

People don't understand the concept of the X1. The apps won't be running inside the Xbox VM but the Windows kernal. This will be developed for using usual tools I'm guessing in an Xbox flavour. None of this has been announced and won't be until build. I doubt there will be a self-publish model, but rather something that supports quality and interfaces like Kinect.

I don't believe a single word from Major Nelson he's paid by Microsoft to put the Xbox in a positive light, and as for Indie Developers apparently not being "in the know" then explain the whole concept and point of dev kits?

 

Microsoft have royally screwed indie developers (apart from 4J Studios).

Yeah, it's almost as if he's an employee or something.

  • Like 2

As a best case I bet all it will take is for a indie dev who has a Windows 8 game out already to recompile with support for Xinput instead of just touch or mouse+kb and send.  

I don't believe a single word from Major Nelson he's paid by Microsoft to put the Xbox in a positive light, and as for Indie Developers apparently not being "in the know" then explain the whole concept and point of dev kits?

 

Microsoft have royally screwed indie developers (apart from 4J Studios).

Yeah it's not like he didn't work on the product and is proud of it. Not at all.

Fez 2 ? Polytron has no plans to release it on Microsoft consoles

http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/20/fez-2-polytron-has-no-plans-to-release-it-on-microsoft-consoles/

So that's Jonathan Blow, Phil Fish, Team Meat....List is growing....

That's three. Still not droves. And Team Meat divorced themselves a long time ago so if its growing, its not growing very fast.

+1 unhappy dev

 

Microsoft ?Institutionally Incompetent," Has ?****ed Up? Processes, Says Skulls of the Shogun Dev

 

Very very happy this game is no longer Win8/phone exclusive & coming to Steam. Talk about a death wish.

 

@Spenser.d it's not just the devs that speak out is my point you are missing. It is those who don't even want to bother with the platform at all now & skip it entirely for something better. XBLA SoA this summer is evident enough with that. The lineup is shocking.

 

@GP007, Sony did. They visited indies prior to E3/ I think Destination Playstation too & presented to them the PS4. Microsoft should have done the same.

+1 unhappy dev

Microsoft ?Institutionally Incompetent," Has ?****ed Up? Processes, Says Skulls of the Shogun Dev

Very very happy this game is no longer Win8/phone exclusive & coming to Steam. Talk about a death wish.

@Spenser.d it's not just the devs that speak out is my point you are missing. It is those who don't even want to bother with the platform at all now & skip it entirely for something better. XBLA SoA this summer is evident enough with that. The lineup is shocking.

@GP007, Sony did. They visited indies prior to E3/ I think Destination Playstation too & presented to them the PS4. Microsoft should have done the same.

I downloaded Skulls because MS put it front and center in the Win 8 store and advertised it heavily. They should be happy for that. Also got bored with the game after a couple hours and haven't been able to bring myself to play it again, so there's that too.

Like I said before I don't doubt it could be better, and they've broken down some of the barriers in Win 8 ecosystem, but if you're going to just listen to a handful of people who had a bad experience and ignore the fact that there are many many more who aren't complaining and are making money off the Xbox platform, you're being disingenuous to that platform.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Oh no...the wallet is already screaming. So many games and so little time. Being old and responsible is awful!
    • LibreWolf 152.0.2-1 by Razvan Serea LibreWolf is an independent “fork” of Firefox, with the primary goals of privacy security and user freedom. It is the community run successor to LibreFox. LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. This is achieved through our privacy and security oriented settings and patches. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. LibreWolf features: Latest Firefox — LibreWolf is compiled directly from the latest build of Firefox Stable. You will have the the latest features, and security updates. Independent Build — LibreWolf uses a build independent of Firefox and has its own settings, profile folder and installation path. As a result, it can be installed alongside Firefox or any other browser. No phoning home — Embedded server links and other calling home functions are removed. In other words, minimal background connections by default. User settings updates Extensions firewall: limit internet access for extensions. Multi-platform (Windows/Linux/Mac/and soon Android) Community-Driven Dark theme (classic and advanced) LibreWolf privacy features: Delete cookies and website data on close. Include only privacy respecting search engines like DuckDuckGo and Searx. Include uBlockOrigin with custom default filter lists, and Tracking Protection in strict mode, to block trackers and ads. Strip tracking elements from URLs, both natively and through uBO. Enable dFPI, also known as Total Cookie Protection. Enable RFP which is part of the Tor Uplift project. RFP is considered the best in class anti-fingerprinting solution, and its goal is to make users look the same and cover as many metrics as possible, in an effort to block fingerprinting techniques. Always display user language as en-US to websites, in order to protect the language used in the browser and in the OS. Disable WebGL, as it is a strong fingerprinting vector. Prevent access to the location services of the OS, and use Mozilla's location API instead of Google's API. Limit ICE candidates generation to a single interface when sharing video or audio during a videoconference. Force DNS and WebRTC inside the proxy, when one is being used. Trim cross-origin referrers, so that they don't include the full URI. Disable link prefetching and speculative connections. Disable disk cache and clear temporary files on close. Disable form autofill. Disable search and form history...and more. Download: LibreWolf 64-bit | Portable 64-bit | ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Download: ARM64 | Portable ARM64 Links: LibreWolf Home Page | Addons | Screenshot | Reddit Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Hands on with iFlyTek AINote 2 E-Ink tablet: insanely thin and smart by Taras Buria During Amazon Prime Day 2026, iFlyTek is offering its E-Ink tablets with big discounts. The AINOTE 2 is now available at 20% off, allowing you to save quite a lot on one of the thinnest E-Ink tablets out there. I was offered a chance to look at the device, so here are my impressions. The AINOTE 2 is a large 10.65-inch E-Ink tablet that strikes you the moment you take it out of the box. It is extremely thin. At just 4.2 mm, this tablet is at the edge of what is possible for a device with a USB Type-C port. It is also very light, which makes it comfortable and enjoyable during long reading sessions. The tablet has a gold metal chassis with the front and back made of plastic. The back also features four rubber feet that prevent it from sliding around your desk when writing. Besides a USB Type-C port and an LED indicator, there are two buttons mounted on the top edge: a power button with a built-in fingerprint scanner and a dedicated AI button. I would say the fingerprint scanner is quite mid. Given that iFlyTek positions the device as a digital notebook, it makes sense to have a biometric scanner to protect sensitive information. However, it is not the fastest fingerprint reader, and sometimes it fails to recognize my finger. I assume that is due to the tablet's insane thinness. A dedicated AI button is an interesting choice, especially in the middle of the top edge. I can see this button being useful for those who heavily rely on AI and use it frequently, but I cannot help but think its placement is impractical. Having it on one of the longer sides would make so much more sense. The AINOTE 2 is a very pretty device. Gold finish with thin chassis and nearly symmetrical front bezels create a fantastic combination, and iFlyTek cleverly hides the front chin with a section that looks like an extension of the screen, housing two touch-capacitive buttons: one for AI and one for quick notes. This section can also scroll pages when you swipe from the middle to the left or right. It is a cool idea, and very handy when you need to scroll tens of pages at once. AINOTE 2's elegant look extends from its exterior to its software. The user interface is very clean and not cluttered with an abundance of buttons. The tablet prioritizes the note-taking experience, and when you unlock it, it defaults to the list of all notes and folders. Additionally, there is a separate "Schedule" section with your calendar, tasks, memos, and other productivity features. You can connect your Outlook or Google account or use a local calendar. The tablet has quite a lot of AI features powered by OpenAI's GPT-5 and Google's Gemini 3. Besides a standard app with all your chats, you can invoke AI by pressing its dedicated button and dictating your request. It is not limited to just chats. It works with the built-in calendar, and you can tell it to create events, tasks, notes, and more. Additionally, AI features are integrated into the built-in notepad, allowing you to summarize notes, ask questions about your notes, and more. The tablet can OCR handwritten text in different languages (about 120 languages, which is very impressive), and it surprised me with very good accuracy. Voice note transcription is also available, including a "multiplayer" mode where the tablet detects each speaker. Unfortunately, the AINOTE 2 has no built-in speakers (even though it somehow makes a tapping noise when you flip pages using the Quick Bar), so the only way to listen to something is to connect a Bluetooth speaker or headphones. However, there are four front-facing mics for dictation, voice notes, AI chats, and more. Unfortunately, certain features require a Pro subscription that costs $5.99/mo or $59.99/year. Those include offline voice transcription, access to better AI models, the ability to edit notes on a PC or mobile app, and extended service coverage similar to Apple Care. It is a bummer to see yet another app, especially in a device that costs $649, but at least they give a free 90-day trial so that you can see if the benefits justify the price. As for the reader, it supports PDF, EPUB, TXT, MOBI, AZW3, DOC(X), XLS(X), PPT(X), JPEG, JPG, and PNG. The app is quite customizable, with features like text contrast/boldness/size adjustments, margins and spacing customization, and the ability to load custom fonts. Plus, you can annotate books with the stylus, add text notes, and use AI to work with them. Just keep in mind that most AI features require an active internet connection. Like with other E-Ink tablets with Android inside, you can load any other reader you want from the Google Play Store or a third-party source. Despite its hefty price tag of $629 or $519 by the time of publishing this article during Prime Day 2026, the AINOTE 2 has quite modest hardware inside. There is only 4 GB of RAM and about 42GB of storage. It is powered by the RockChip RK3576 processor with 8 cores at 2.2 GHz. Given that the tablet runs Android 14 and has Google Play, you can install Android apps, but do not expect much from this thing performance-wise. As for the battery, there is a 4,000 Li-Ion battery, which, on full charge, lasted me for about one week of active daily use of reading and note-taking. The screen has a resolution of 1920x2560 pixels, which equals 300 PPI, a perfect spot for a sharp, nice-to-read display. It supports EMR styluses that do not require charging, and I have to say that the note-taking experience on this tablet is fantastic. Stylus lag is nearly imperceivable, creating a very natural, paper-like feel. The stylus comes in the box (including two extra nibs), and it features an extra button for various actions and an eraser on top. It magnetically attaches to the tablet and stays safely secured. The stylus has a very nice coarse texture, and thanks to using Wacom tech, you can swap it for any other EMR pen if you wish. The AINOTE 2 has no front light, and because of that, the display sits very close to the screen surface, reducing the distance between the stylus tip/your finger and the display to a minimum. No front light is certainly an inconvenience in certain scenarios, but the screen makes up for that with a seriously impressive paper-like feel and writing experience. In dark conditions, you will have to find a lamp, but the good thing is that the screen has a solid anti-glare surface that diffuses light. The display has two modes: Crisp and Fast. Crisp ensures the image stays, well, crisp and sharp, while Fast speeds up refresh rate and response by toning down display resolution and making everything a bit more jagged. In my testing, I only used Fast mode when browsing the web for a much faster render time. The iFlyTek AINOTE is an impressive device, but it's not flawless. A few things disappointed me during a week of using it. Software localization has a bunch of not necessarily broken, but certainly awkward, machine-translated English. System navigation is not good, as there is no universal "Home" gesture. To go to the main page, you have to swipe up and then press the Home button from the multi-tasking window. There are many gestures for various actions, such as display cleanup, screenshot, undo/redo, but no back/forward or Home gestures. I really hate that the tablet won't let me update its software without creating an iFlyTek account first. Finally, privacy could be a concern for some, as most tablets' features require an active internet connection, an iFlyTek account, and sharing data when using AI. If you can overlook its quirks, some of which could be addressed with software updates (I received two with massive changelogs over a single week), and accept a $519 price tag (with a discount), you will be happy with the AINOTE 2. However, if you do not need that many AI features in an E-Ink reader or you want something a bit more affordable, you'd better look at cheaper competitors from BOOX or Amazon, such as the BOOX Go 10.3 Gen 2 or the Kindle Scribe, which is currently 24% off during Prime Day sales. Buy iFlyTek AINOTE 2 on Amazon - $519 | 20% off with Prime What I liked What I disliked Very impressive hardware Beautiful design Fantastic display with an EMR stylus Supports offline voice transcription Easy-to-use software Clever, useful, and well-made AI features A fingerprint scanner Very expensive Some features require a subscription Poor system navigation Mandates a user account No speakers Privacy could be a concern Note: iFlyTek provided the review unit without any editorial input or review guidance. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Look up "greed". If you are willing to buy that it's only inflation, I've got a bridge to sell you.
    • Very umm, blue?  
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      kinowa earned a badge
      First Post
    • Rookie
      krychek57 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Grand Master
      Jaybonaut went up a rank
      Grand Master
    • One Year In
      Philsl earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      416
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      168
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      132
    4. 4
      Xenon
      73
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      73
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!