Xbox One making another 180 and confirming self-publishing

While at first this sounds great, they've already burned so many bridges with nearly every indie developer that's worked with them at this point that no one really wants to go anywhere near them. One indie developer (specifically the man behind Retro City Rampage) said, and I quote:

"After my experience working with them to release on Xbox 360, I have no interest in even buying an Xbox One, let alone developing for it. The policy changes are great, but they don't undo the experience I had. I'm not ready to forget what I went through. Working with Microsoft was the unhappiest point of my career. Policies are one thing, but developer relations are another."

That's pretty heavy and was the resounding remark from indie developers that have worked with them. Phil Fish was quoted from an interview, which he was asked: "Interviewer: Is there a chance to see your next game be ported onto next gen consoles?   Phil: Not Xbox." 

Then there's the fact that Microsoft has shown that they don't even know what they're doing with their own console, yet it's supposed to come out in less than 4 months?! What are you doing! Do you even know? This is news to every indie developer, excluding maybe Notch, but that's it.

They haven't even talked about how it'll work in the marketplace. What they've said so far is that it's all going to be in the same place, but what does that mean? It's now a Windows 8 console, which developers already don't like the Windows 8 platform as it is with major players like Gabe Newell, who happens to be the owner and creator of Valve and Steam, saying that Windows 8 was basically trash for gaming developers. If it's going to be anything like the current Microsoft store, which it most likely will as the majority of the UI looks incredibly similar/the same as Xbox 360, then that's just another reason to not develop games for it. Sony has a very distinct section for Indie titles to make them easy to find. Sony also holds a huge number of exclusive indie games that will be big seller indie titles, such as the next game from Supergiant Games, those guys that made a little game that no one's heard of named Bastion. The game in question is named Transistor by the way.

At this point, all Xbox One really has going for it would be Halo, and that's not saying much as Bungie isn't even making Halo, they're making Destiny, which is available to PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. You'll also notice that more games this year were demo'd on a PS4 and not the usual Xbox, including Bungie's new title Destiny. That wasn't a coincidence. The PS4 is easier to tap into its full power as they don't have esRAM like the Xbox One while also having GDDR5 RAM instead of DDR3. 

This has turned into the Xbox One-Eighty at this point. Here's to expecting the console to have a defective rate due to increasing changes during the final stretch as well as being rushed to retail at the same time as the PS4. I wonder what will change next. 

MORE PUBLISHERS TACKING ON AN EXTRA $10 TO PLAY USED GAMES ONLINE.

Some people may have noticed how more video game publishers have been throwing on this additional fee of 10 dollars to used games in order to play them online. Some of the publishers that are doing this so far are: Electronic Arts, Sony, THQ, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. My favorite part about this is that people are getting extremely angry about it. Now why is that my favorite part? 

Well, for starters, the only reason that this is happening is due to companies such as Gamestop who have basically been raping developers by selling and heavily pushing used games. Every time you buy a used game, it hurts the developers. The reason is that developers don’t get the profit from a used game, the company or person you bought the game from does. Companies like Gamestop sell far, far more used copies of games than new copies. 

Now people are crying foul for it. They don’t want to buy a used game and buy a $10 “online pass” because it’s “not fair.” I’m sorry but I don’t see the “not fair” part of this. If it wasn’t for us, the customer, this wouldn’t be happening. That’s all there is to it.We are the reason this is happening. Hell, you can’t even share the vast majority of PC games at all so this isn’t an issue in my book. You want to play with your friend on a PC? He has to buy his own copy and that’s how it’s been for years. Most of the time you don’t even own the game, you just own a license of the game of which the developer can take from you if they so choose. 

In my opinion I believe it’s about time we started helping out the developers that make the games we so enjoy instead of screwing them over. If you don’t like it, vote with your wallet.