While I'm thrilled to hear DRM policies and features have been reversed for the Xbox One, I can't help but wonder is it really that easy?

Microsoft has spent a great deal of resources to bring us the "future" of gaming. They most likely had a business plan, staff, content and potential contacts with other companies to offer more services through the life cycle of the console. The "always online connection" would be necessary for growth and development of Xbox One. For them to just roll over and say uncle to these original plans doesn't make sense in the long run.

Here's how I foresee Microsoft handing this when the console launches:

1. When you turn on your console you will be given the option to choose an "always online" and have DRM feature experience.

2. If you choose no, you can still use the system similar to the Xbox 360 as they stated, Gold service.

3. If you choose yes, you will have the original feature set as well as some bonus content exclusive only to "Always online" and DRM users, Gold Plus service.

• Content such as asking developers to create things for those Always online users. So imagine Titanfall and Destiny having more content and gameplay that takes advantage of an always on connection. Discounted DLC, games and exclusive updates.

This way Microsoft can continue to move forward with their plans and overtime see users move from the no internet/DRM free service to the always online DRM restricted option only because they get more when they sign up. Gamers can't just change cold turkey, Microsoft will gradually guide this change. It's better than turning the original policies back on 2 - 3 years later.

Thoughts?

Out of all the interviews had with Microsoft not one has asked the simple question of why?

It seems to be this fear of not wanting to push back and challenge the decision of the company that we support with our dollars. Just ask question in a more direct way.

Yes I know I can only lend out a game once but why? Why can't I let multiple people borrow or keep a game that I paid for and play it for free? What do you MS as a company lose if I pass a game around to all my friends?

I know you want to give me a full experience, I know it will update 24/7 and keep me in tune with all the latest and greatest but why can't I play a single player game without internet? The reason I don't have internet on doesn't matter, why? What do you MS as a company lose, you've already made your sale?

Why am I forced to use Kinect? If you didn't mandate it to be bundled in every package would the price be less than $499? What happens if my Kinect breaks do I have to shell out $60 to $100 for a new one just to play video games again or do I need a entirely new XboxOne?

These 3 questions are what has led me to go with PS4 over MS. MS has this mysterious way of discussing the reason they do what they do. Sony has it's moments but for the most part they speak plainly.

After watching this video above on violence in video games, I started thinking about the debate people make between movies having just as much or more violence than video games and how movies aren't being attacked. At one point I did agree but after giving it some more thought I came to the conclusion that movies and videos games cannot be an equal comparison.

Just follow me for a moment...

Movies display the violent acts while video games require you to engage in the act. Movies show a trigger being pulled video games allow you to pull the trigger. While both forms need to monitored, video games are much more engrossed and interactive. I don't watch a violent movie for 6 to 8 hours day after day for weeks and months. I may see it once or twice over a lifetime but then I'm done. With video games it's a much longer lifetime of consistent use and connection to the user because they are causing the events to happen. Movies are pre-built unchangeable by the viewer, no control over who lives or dies in the video, you just follow the story. Video Games on the other hand are built for you to create a path, your own story, shoot/kill as much or as little as you want but you have to press the button, you cause the action. The music in the video game will trigger the person to remember what they did in the game. Video games have been used as simulators in all kind of ways, from recreating a plane crash to see if it could have been avoided, a car crash, NASA uses simulators for their launches, the military uses simulators to help their soldiers in combat. They don't show a movie, they need the interaction with the scene and feel some control over it in order to have a better understand of what would happen.

Thoughts?

Hey GBer's,

I'm planning on building my first PC mainly for gaming (Steam and Origin) and maybe audio/video editing purposes if the build is good. If possible could you provide me with some help.

1. The budget is $700 to $1,000 (including monitor and speakers if possible)
2. My hardware expertise is slightly above average but I've been into software and coding most of my life. I'm not sure what hardware plays well with each other or if I should wait for any new hardware on the horizon.
3. Could you provide me with a build (links would be a bonus) or a website that helps me put together the right components?
4. I'm going to follow the PC build video from Tested.com. I like how Will took his time and explained basically everything. If you could recommend any other videos I would be grateful.

I'm going to use this blog and provide pictures and maybe video to document my progress.

Thanks in advance!

I'm in the market for a new laptop. My old 2005 Windows XP (Media Edition) PC is dying out (boot sectors errors). I'm always hearing of building a desktop PC but can the same be done for a laptop?

My other option is to look at buying a Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 Laptop - 20994MU for $849.00. This PC will be for video editing, gaming (Steam), and live video streaming (Justin.tv, Twitch.tv). The specs look pretty good:

• 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor( 2.40GHz 6MB)
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 2GB
• 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
• 15.6" HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
• Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad
• 1TB 5400 rpm
• DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
• 6 Cell Li-Polymer
• Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200BGN
• Bluetooth
• One year Warranty
• HD Camera
• HDMI (Out)

Would this be a good buy or would you recommend building my own laptop or looking a different model/brand?

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=457&Code=20994MU&category_id=AC523278A4F13F27A84F5F5622D1AC7A#.UIml_2_A-4E

Thanks in advance for your help!

While looking for quality headphones for the gym I came across the Sennheiser Adidas sports line. The guy introducing them does a dead-on Christopher Walken, hilarious!

Should game companies be held accountable for known issues with their products?

I asked this question after reading the response from Street Fighter X Tekken developer regarding the online sound and network issues below:

The new netcode implemented in Street Fighter X Tekken allows for up to 4 players to have a smooth online experience, however depending on the connection stability between players, things like “spontaneous match rollback,” “voice effects cutting out,” and “sound effects cutting out” also are occurring. This netcode is written in a completely different way than the Street Fighter IV series netcode, and that is why these problems are occurring.

As Street Fighter X Tekken is a tag battle game, the amount of data that is exchanged between player connections is a lot more than the normal 1v1 battles of the Street Fighter IV series. In order to compensate for this and provide a smooth gameplay experience, the netcode was written the way it currently is. Unfortunately, this has also brought on the sound problems we are having now.

In order to completely fix all the sound issues, the smoothness of the online gameplay has to be traded off, so it is a very complicated and difficult balancing act. We would like everyone to know that the development team is currently looking at various ways to improve the sound issues.

We will have additional updates on this and other things soon, so please stay tuned. Thank you all for your understanding.

While I’m sure Capcom knew this was a problem during testing they felt it was acceptable to release the product instead of delaying the release to fix the problem the right way.

What if fans never complained? Would the problem have been addressed? Why are they now working on an already known issue?

How would you feel if you purchased a new car and the dealer forgot to mention that the door jams or the radio/cd player is glitchy from time to time but still charged your full price? Or a DVD that was known to have issues during playback by the company but they failed to fix it and still charged you full price?

While a car cost much more than a video game, I still believe the same standards should be set to deliver a quality product to a fan base that is spending quality money. Statements such as:

In order to compensate for this and provide a smooth gameplay experience, the netcode was written the way it currently is. Unfortunately, this has also brought on the sound problems we are having now. In order to completely fix all the sound issues, the smoothness of the online game play has to be traded off, so it is a very complicated and difficult balancing act.

Having now? Really? So they never saw this before eh? Personally, I find that statement to be bull. Don’t tell me about your programming woes trying to making sure all the code play along well with each other, fix the problem or don’t release the product. At no time did they say, we apologize for this or we’re going to make up for our mistake. If I paid full price for a game that was to be fully functional and it doesn’t meet that I need to be compensated for my purchase, especially if the problem is so easily found and affecting the majority of the users.

Movie theaters give our free passes to another showing; dealerships offer free items to make up for their mistake, even restaurants give out free meals or discounts on meals/bills. Microsoft lived up to their mistake with the RROD and offered extended yearly warranties. Why? So the customer will know how sorry they are and to keep you coming back.

Games cost roughly $60 dollars and development in the millions of dollars if people spend their money on a product they should be able to fully experience the best way possible. My recommendation of compensation would be either discounted or free DLC character packs or clothing packs for those who purchased the game day one until the problem is fixed. Maybe they bundle these packs in with the network fix, I don’t know. Either way, something should be done to make right what was knowingly done wrong. My hope is that this doesn’t come off as a rant or venting but their responses sparked this post, enough is enough.

Lately the BF3 commercials I've been seeing are for PS3 and the MW3 commercials I've been seeing are for 360. Is it just me or is PS3 not promoting MW3 as much due to MW3 sales and DLC favoring more towards 360?

Thoughts?

Just moved into my place and I need a solid desktop PC to start broadcasting my games online as well as playing a few here and there and media editing purposes. Mom called me this morning and said "What do you want for your birthday?" First thought was a gaming PC or something compatible to it but I can't think of any good brands or prices. I know there's a desktop deal out there besides Dell. The gift will probably be shared between Mom, Sis, and Bro so split the total price 3 ways. I will also need a monitor. Can you help? Thanks in advance Bomb Lovers!

So I finally got my FiOS internet installed and figured now was good time to purchase a Hauppauge PVR to record some of my gaming for YouTube and streaming to websites like justin.tv 
 
Took a little time to figure out the right settings for my Xbox but the quality of the video is amazing.  Below is the picture of the box and a video of my brother and I playing Super Puzzle Fighter over XBL, I'm on the left. Only 3 mins but file size was 243MB.  If anyone knows any good settings for a smaller file size without compromising the video quality too much I would greater appreciate it. 
 
P.S. Today was my first day back on my Xbox in 6 months due to a E74 error hence the crappy gameplay.