Xbox One and what it’s come to

There’s problems and then there’s problems, and what has come to light about the Xbox One fits firmly into the second category. I can ignore backwards compatibility and what it means in regards to playing the games for the 360 on a new console pretty easily. What I cannot ignore, however, is what it means to have a system that must always be connected to the internet.

A lot of people in my life have taken to calling the One the XBone. I find this incredibly fitting, as it really feels like Microsoft is giving it pretty good to a lot of people who have been loyal for a really long time. They’re just bending us over and inserting it right into the tailpipe, through the pants, with no lube. Not even a polite reach around as an acknowledgement of what we’ve given them over the years.

To me, having to have a system on all the time smacks of a level of control that no other human being has a right to enforce upon another. It’s the kind of thing that gets jokingly brushed off as micromanaging in an office and anal retentiveness in personal lives. But on a grand scale such as this, can’t be ignored or forgotten about. And shouldn’t be, really. The implications of this to me aren’t about what they might be able to see through the Kinect or what data they might be mining. It’s about what I do with a system I own in my house. Once I buy something, nobody should be able to tell me what I can and cannot do with it. Even if I buy it just so I can take it out back and fill it with buckshot. It’s mine. That’s my right.

There are several things that I feel Microsoft hasn’t taken into consideration with this always on bullshit. And it is bullshit. Not everybody out there runs on broadband or better internet connections, the fact that they seem to think so really shows just how out of touch they are with the general population. There are entire areas of cities that don’t have that kind of connectivity. Hell, there are whole towns that don’t even know what a cable modem is for, existing solely on dial up, or if they’re really lucky, satellite.

I have a few military friends that get deployed on a yearly basis who pack their 360s along with them so that they can have something to do in their downtime. Their sanity rests in their gaming consoles. Every single one of them that I have talked to is livid about this always on move. They get computer access to send emails to friends and family, yes. But they aren’t at any time allowed to connect consoles to the internet. Which means that they won’t be buying the One. If Sony decides to do the same thing, they won’t be buying the PS4, either. Not even for when they’re home. That’s how mad they are.

Then there are people who don’t have internet at home. I have a few of those. They work with computers all day and don’t feel the need to have access when they aren’t working, or to save money they’ve opted out of having connections in their homes. They still play games.

Or how about when something goes wrong with the internet, either on the company’s side, or because somebody took out a line somewhere, and it’s out for a few days? That means, with the One and how it’s set up now, I’d not be able to play even a single player game after a while.

There’s also power outages. Now, you might say: But you wouldn’t have electricity then. Ah, but you’re forgetting gas powered generators. I lived for a whole week in Seattle in a house run off of a gas powered generator. Life was pretty normal for the most part. We could have played games the whole time, if anybody had thought to haul a system over. But with the One, we wouldn’t have even had that option.

Which brings me to the idea that there are people out there who take their systems with them when they go out to their cabins. There’s no internet out there, but there’s electricity. Or how about LAN parties where all the boxes are connected to each other, but not to the outside world? I’ve been to a few of those. I guess those won’t happen anymore either.

I’m sure there are other examples, too. Places and times that people enjoy playing their games when there isn’t any internet to be had. I just can’t think of them now. But there are countless reasons to not make a machine like this be always on. And it doesn’t all have to do with when we want to play games. It’s just not necessary to life. I feel like it would be akin to saying “You can’t use that laptop you’ve just bought because it’s not connected to the internet. Nevermind that you don’t need internet for Notepad and PhotoShop. Can’t use it anyway.”

There’s a lot of outcry about this racing around the internet right now, but the problem is that a lot of these people who are standing up now will likely end up buying the One anyway. That’s what Microsoft is counting on. Those people. And the people who rush to buy stuff just because it’s the new thing out there. And I’m sure that there are also a number of folks who don’t care about always on, Microsoft is counting on them, too. Outcry and petitions are great, speaking out is great, but only when you follow through with it. You can’t buy the One if you’re upset about always on, it just can’t happen. You can’t even pre-order it in hopes that Microsoft will change their minds. They’re not going to see your pre-order as a tentative plan to ultimately NOT buy the One. They’re going to see it as intent, and run with it.

Keep speaking out. Keep pointing out what is wrong with this idea. Join groups. Write letters. Petition. Convince Microsoft in every way that you can think of to backtrack on this plan. But most of all don’t buy it. Vote with your money, which is all that ultimately matters to them. Take away that which they love the most so they can see the errors of their ways. I think that’s the only real route that any of us have.

Never again.

It feels like forever since I’ve sat down to write anything about games. Which, honestly, it has been. I am, admittedly, addicted to my Xbox. I have named her, I speak to her, I long for her when we’re parted. So to be away from her for this long has been a terrific ordeal.

Yes, overly dramatic, yes, they’re only games, she’s only a gaming system. Whatever.

By the time I got my living room set up, my television plugged in, my machines hooked up to it, it had been 68 days since I had played anything, or even seen my 360 in any manner than tucked away securely in a box awaiting my attention.

68 days.

I can honestly say that I have not gone that long without using my Xbox since I got it. Probably since I got my original Xbox, actually. Which I still have, by the way. And I do still love him, too.

It might have been one thing if my hiatus was voluntary, but it was not. It was forced. The sheer mess of things, the current status of certain rooms being that of a storage unit with no end in sight, my absurd notion of working from the back of the house forward (don’t know, don’t ask, can’t tell you) all impeded my … well, my whole life, to tell the honest truth. My gaming systems were not the only things tampered with. My ability to spend any significant time online, my books, my writing materials, all hidden under piles of other shit, thus making my life one of the circles of Dante’s Hell, I’m not sure which. All of them, maybe, at various stages. Yes, I know I’m using that entirely wrong, the example, but as stated above – overly dramatic.

About the only entertainment I have experienced that is of my norm is my movie watching. I have seen a good fair number of those. Not all of which I have written about, but could soon be on the way.

Anyway. All of this was just to say that everything is back to how it should be.

But, it’s a dead technology…

In 1992 there was this neato little thing that came out called the Minidisc. Special little players. Special little recordable disks. Everything a technophile might want in a new toy to play with.

Well, I never got one. I can’t say for sure why. Either it was too expensive back then, or something else caught my attention and I needed to have that more. Note that this is during a time when I have to rely on my parents to get me the gadgets I want because I’ve got no income except from babysitting (not even an allowance!) and five bucks an hour doesn’t really add up very quickly.

Let’s cut here to recently. It’s been well over ten years since this magical device was on the shelves of our electronics stores. I am an adult now. I have my own money source. And I no longer need the permission of anybody else to buy the things that I want. Even if they are completely rediculous. An acquaintance of mine informs a group of people on a forum that he’s going to sell or just plain give away a bunch of his old stuff. I note on the list that there’s a minidisc player in there, along with blank discs and a charger.

So I wait like two weeks, stalking the thread, mildly curious as to why nobody’s snatched up that player. It’s only 20 bucks for all of it, I feel I should make that quite clear. It’s not expensive. Oh, yes. It’s a dead technology. Now we’ve got CDs and MP3 players that will hold thousands of hours of music on them, plus videos and whatever the hell else we want to put on them.

The minidisc is – quite bluntly – the retarded cousin of the cd player.

Every once in a while, two things come out. In this case, minidisc and cd. They battle over the populace, each denouncing the other for it’s various faults, and touting it’s own prowess in the music world. But there can only be one. We saw BetaMax go down, we saw LaserDisc flounder and die. It’s not only the truth of history, but also Darwin’s theory of evolution. The fittest one wins. For minidisc? It was the CD. A simple, easy thing that people flocked to, leaving the poor little minidisc in the wakes of it’s glory.

So I finally decide that I’m going to buy this thing. Why the hell not, right? 20 bucks, and it’s something that I used to want really badly. Maybe it’s hearkening back to my younger years. Wanting to remember easier times. Maybe it’s nostalgia. I’m also admittedly lying to myself and saying that I could use it in more “dangerous” or “risky” situations that I don’t want to bring my Zune into. The truth of that that’s held down in the dank depths of my mind is that I likely won’t take it any further than my front door. But shhh. That’s not what’s important.

Cue to two days later. A package comes in the mail. Ho! It is my recent purchase!
A lovely box of deleted disks with a few fresh ones mixed in. The player itself. A Gameboy Color charger that amusingly works for this contraption.

Of course the first thing I do is to search the disks for something on them. One of them does contain some music. It sounds pretty freaking good considering how old this thing is. I figure out how to delete not only individual songs, but also the whole disk. (This was on purpose) I’m pretty amused by the whole thing, and then it comes time to explore the machine more completely.

Ridiculous Point Number One: This thing actually runs on a single regular battery. Oh, I know. This is how it all used to work. You don’t have to tell me. I’m old enough to remember a time before Duracel figured out how to create rechargeable AAs. Back in the stone age where when our tape decks started to run out of juice, everything would start to sound as if it were coming to you from under water. It’s just surprising, that’s all. I don’t think I’ve seen any electronic device with a normal battery case in like five years.

Yes, console controllers do come with them, but there’s that option for the rechargeables, isn’t there? There is. And what do we all do? We go buy the rechargeable pack, because we know in our hearts that using regular batteries is borderline retarded.

Luckily, the thing works if you plug in the A/C adapter. I seriously thought I was plugging it in to recharge a dead cell, not because the thing wasn’t actually holding a BATTERY at all.

Ridiculous Point Number Two: A few minutes of prodding and exploring shows me that there’s no real way to connect this thing to my computer. Everything is on USB these days. And even if it’s not, it’s got some kind of link cable to connect it to your PC and do whatever it is you have to do. But this?

I think I’m missing a cable, maybe. So I send a PM to the seller asking just how on earth I’m supposed to get music onto these blank disks that I’ve got.

Do you know what he tells me? Do you? You have to record the audio onto the discs like you used to do with tapes. Are you all too young to remember that process? You had to play the tape you wanted to record, and hit the record button on the device that you’re recording to. Manually controlling the two items, and making sure that you’ve got it all synced up perfectly, lest there be dead air on your tape. All while, I might add, having to actually listen to the length of the song, because it had to be playing for the second device to record.

whut

So I’m laughing. I’m laughing my ass off. This is so fucking absurd that I can’t help it. I have lived through so many changes in this world, seen so much progress, that I can’t even fathom not just clicking on something and dragging it over to the destination device and have it just instantly be copied there.

Ridiculous Point Number Three: So this is where our determined heroine goes searching over the vast plains of the Interwebnetlands to obtain for herself the magical cord which will connect her computer to her new and slightly creationally deformed device.

Imagine her amazement to discover that she got her minidisc at an astounding price. That these things are still going on Amazon for 50 dollars or more used. USED. That is, out of the box, played with, taken around the world. USED.

Imagine her amazement at the fact that these silly little things are in incredibly high demand, even now! People are still buying and trading these devices like they’re brand new!

Imagine how her mouth hangs agape and her eyes widen to impossible dinner plates as she explores further and further, finding out that somehow, somehow, this product has survived the depths of obscurity and thrives!

No, they’re not making new ones. Nothing is new. Everything is old. And everything is very expensive.

I’m completely dumbfounded here. Before tonight I never would have imagined that this thing still had followers in the world. Actual followers. True believers, if you will. Loyalists. I thought that I wouldn’t find a cord that would work because it’s so dead and gone that it just wouldn’t exist. Now I realize my problem is not that, but finding a frigging cord that I can afford.

As it stands currently, without said cord, my player is rendered a mighty shiny brick, and I suppose I could use the blank disks as pointy Frisbees. But that’s all it’s doing. Not that I mind. The more I discover in this lake of absurdity, the funnier it gets. I have honestly been laughing for hours. Sitting all by myself, looking at this whatnot, laughing. The neighbors might think I’ve gone insane.

Will I ever find a way to make this thing viable for myself? I don’t know. Right now, I’m not worried about it.

I have dived into the pool of the minidisc, and find myself floundering, not because it’s a dead technology, but because it’s a dead technology that’s somehow still alive!

It’s a fucking ZOMBIE TECHNOLOGY.

Technology

I love technology. I do. Very much. I love little gadgets, I love the way that over the past couple years we’ve gotten new things in leaps and bounds. I love learning about everything, figuring out how it works.

You could say that I’m pretty technologically inclined. Very often I can figure out how things work without having to look at manuals. This isn’t a hard-headedness on my part. Thinking I know everything and then getting confused or lost. I’m just in tune with certain things. I will look at a manual if I need to, I’m not opposed to it.

BUT.

And you knew it was coming, didn’t you.

I like my technology separate. I don’t want my phone to play music, go on the internet and take video.

I like my internet on my computer, which is a laptop that sits on my desk. I like my camera in a different hand from my phone. I like my video games to be on a computer or on my consoles. And I’d like my music nicely tucked away on my Zune in my pocket or bag.

All these little devices that merge everything into one thing really bother me. Not only because of the idea that if one thing breaks on it, you lose it all. But also because, why? What’s the point? What does it really matter? Why have all of these things in one place? Because it’s easier to carry? It’s not really all that hard to carry what I carry. Plus, I can keep listening to music if a friend wants to take a few photos. Or I can keep taking pictures and listening to music if said friend wants to listen to a song or borrow my phone for a call. Fancy that.

I feel like it’s really limiting. How many pictures can you take and store on a camera phone? Not many. And they aren’t very good quality. But, I fancy myself a photographer, even if I am just an amature. All the pictures I take are taken for a reason, so I don’t want the quality to be that poor.

And if I’m going to tote around music, I want to tote around a lot of music. A phone with music capabilities will never hold the amount of music that satisfies me. I suppose you could go through the process of changing out your music every single day to hope that you will pick the right thing. But personally, I never know if I’m going to be in the mood for that particular sound later in the day. So guess what? I have an MP3 player that can hold a hell of a lot and I don’t have to choose.

Yeah, I know my Zune holds other things along side it’s music. And I do use those features, carrying with me photos that I like and videos for long trips, but I sure can hold a lot more of that than a phone can, can’t I?

I know my point of view on this isn’t a popular one at all. People like their fancy phones that hold a lot of things and do a lot of shit.

But I don’t. I want my phone to be a phone. I don’t even particularly like texting. I really think that if you want to talk to somebody on the phone, you should call them. Texting to me is good for sending short, and I do mean short, notes. Not for whole conversations. It’s too impersonal. It’s also spawned a whole breed of idiotic spelling.

Wow. This turned a little ranty, didn’t it? Certainly not what I had intended when I started. Oh well.