PSN Online Pass vs Xbox One = Oh boy

This idea has been growing in my head for quite some time now. I didn’t really expect this concept to actually take up much of my thoughts. Yet the recent turn of events in the gaming industry has left me with a unique opportunity to try to explore and explain issues that have weighed heavy in my mind as of late. I’m sure I’ve made my thoughts on the Online Pass System abundantly clear yet it is only now that I can fully articulate my thoughts on the events that have transpired with the Xbox One, and the inability to understand what all exactly happened with it.

You’d think talking about the recently released “The Last of Us” game and the news of the “Xbox One” would share no connections given their stark differences in being software/hardware offerings. The game isn’t even offered on a Microsoft system. I’m sure for many gamers comparing “The Last of Us” and the “Xbox One” is an asinine idea and on the surface I would agree. In one hand you have the Xbox One: A system that had a policy that would limit used games and how you would share them, force gamers to install their disc based games on their console, require an internet connection just to authenticate/update the system every 24hrs, have much stronger DRM features that this a step up from PC gaming standards and a Kinect camera that is “always-on” even when your system is not even in use.

And on the other hand you have “The Last of Us”, a winner of multiple awards after E3 2012, the latest in the survival horror action-adventure genre that is now considered a new standard for this gaming generation.  A game that has won critical acclaim in pretty much every aspect in what this game has to offer. A brilliant plot that gamers say does not need a sequel, for it would ruin the ending. A world that is believable given all the work the developer, Naughty Dog, has done to make it so. The characters, the music, the sound design, even the emotional depth offered in this game are being heralded as anything short of being a “Masterpiece”. And with their unique take on the multiplayer modes of gameplay, offering modes of play that actually fit with the general theme of the game itself, is also winning high praise as yet another reason to “come for the game, stay for the multiplayer” mode of reasoning. The only price to be able to enjoy the latter is making sure you buy the game new or else you’ll have to pony up the dough to pay for the PSN Pass that’s attached to this game.

As you can see from the last two paragraphs the stark differences between the subjects at hand is anything but ridiculous. Yet despite this I feel compelled to explore this idea. The issue in question is why does the game “The Last of Us” gets a “free pass” on using the PSN Pass System whereas the Xbox One goes not with its system policies? “The Last of Us” and the “Xbox One” share absolutely no comparison in conventional terms. Yet there is an underlying issue involved between the two, though not connected directly, still holds a comparison that for me is hard to ignore. More so after the recent events with the “Microsoft One-80” and Sony’s announced intentions of having none of their games on the PS4 having PSN Pass.

Now before you blow this blog off in thinking this nothing more than the bloggings of a madman, please hear me out on this. If not only to understand where I’m coming from, but to also help me understand the gamer’s rationalization in the process of the underlying issues I’ll speak of now.

Trying to understand why gamers were so outraged over the system policies of the Xbox One yet have a lukewarm response to the Online Pass Systems in general, and little to no response in regards to “The Last of Us.”, is indeed an odd parallel. Though they’re both divided by different degrees of contention and implementation, their core purposes remained the same: to change the way gamers looked at their games, how we viewed/valued/accessed games and to alter the standard practice in what we expect in a game purchase. It doesn’t matter if the means to do this is on a software level or the hardware level, its being done in varying ways. And both can set the stage for a dangerous precedent. 

With a broader view the answers may not seem quite obvious. Online Pass is a system someone has to deal with if they happen to buy a certain game that uses it used. You still get to play the main game but other features like multiplayer, some single player content, or other features unknown at time of purchase gets hidden behind a pay wall. The only way to avoid the headache of dealing with the pay wall is to obviously buy the game new at retail, or in my case never bother with the game until I see it where the game belongs: in the 5 dollar bargain bin. For some gamers the whole Online Pass issue is a non-issue. They figure they’ll always buy their games new and if they happen to buy it used and they want to try it out the Online Pass locked features they’ll just pay the fee. A simple decision to make, yet a decision that alters the paradigm of how games are made, sold and resold. Buy buying the game new and imputing the code, (even if it means waiting for the game to go on sale or waiting till the game is dirt cheap used thus getting ahead in the long run) you’ve just legitimized the process on how and why this game was made the way it was. Recall how during this gaming generation where companies got the notion that ALL games required a multiplayer mode, even if the mode was shoehorned it. (Remember Bioshock 2 and Condemned 2: Bloodshot?) The Online Pass game is no different when you look at how most of them were made and how most of them suffered for it in the long term. Recall the new SSX game that felt more like an over glorified offline mode of gameplay? Remember F3AR that focused more on co-op play and “interesting” multiplayer modes of play, yet was lacking in the single player campaign in both story and build? How about Batman: Arkham City that had a shaking launch when some codes for single player content and extra DLC were either missing or nonfunctional? When you compare those games to their Non-Online Pass enabled predecessors the stark differences between the quality and build speak volumes. You’d think there would be some out there that would notice this trend in Online Pass titles (or perhaps they did but considered it as the “new standard” in gaming). Whether that was or wasn’t the case there are still a good number of gamers that are willing to go along with this despite the damage this does in both the near (though not as visible) term and long (and industry altering) term.

Now with that said how does this even relate to the aspects of the Xbox one?

You may recall a prior blog I wrote about the “PC”ing of our next generation gaming consoles, you’d have read that I wasn’t too shocked in seeing what was to come with the Xbox One & PS4. Though not exactly PC in quality and build the Xbox 360 and PS3 were slowly offering more and more features we’d normally see on a PC. Online play was only the beginning for we later saw the release of DLC, map packs, day one patches, gameplay updates, stand-alone digital game offerings that are DRM-tied to the game console, profile synching to company servers, partial (and sometimes mandatory) hard drive installs, ACTUAL hard drives than simple memory cards, cloud saving, microtransactions and most recently Free-to-Play titles being offered on XBLA and PSN respectively. My disc-based consoles have more in common with PC’s than they do with the prior systems released before them!

So when I learned of the Xbox One requiring constant-on internet access for game authentication, mandatory game installs to the hard drive, access to digital copies of installed games via the cloud, tighter DRM not just to the Xbox One but to one’s gamertag as well, cloud process computing for select titles, a mentioned yet under-explained game selling/sharing system for users, and an ever watching improved version of the Kinect camera, I honestly have to admit I actually ACCEPTED it. I know, I was just as shocked as I’m sure you are now in reading that statement. I didn’t consider trying to “rally the call” against the Xbox One like I have with Online Pass. It didn’t occur to me to say that Microsoft had overreached in their plans to make their system “The One” system to dominate anyone’s entertainment center. After learning all I did of the Xbox One, see all that had come to pass with the Xbox 360, and despite my thoughts of the “PC”ing of next generation gaming consoles, the Xbox One did appear to indeed be the most “logical” step (note I used the word “logical” not “right”) in console gaming evolution. That we were actually going to SEE something truly different being offered in this upcoming gaming generation. No more motion control gimmicks or pushes toward headache inducing 3D but an actual step up from what was being offered with current generation consoles.  Even if some of it was based on current PC standards, it diverted enough to be unique to them.

That is IF you took into account what we’ve seen come to pass on the Xbox 360.

Now does that mean I’d be first in line to reserve an Xbox One? Not in the least. Though I’d come to accept the news of what the Xbox One was offering, it didn’t mean I liked it. As much as I’d like to see what the next generation of console gaming would have to offering with Microsoft, the tradeoffs from the more traditional aspects of gaming I’ve grown accustomed to was a price to high for me to pay. I’d just end up treating it like I do with Online Pass game titles: I just wouldn’t buy it. Sure I’d be missing out but in the end it was a choice I could live with.

Now why didn’t it occur to me to join the rallied against the Xbox One like so many others? Oddly there were a few factors in this decision. Given the lukewarm response I received in trying to rally people against Online Pass, my hopes were dim that people would actually take a stand against Microsoft and the Xbox One. Despite all the talk from gamers on how they were not impressed with the xbox reveal back in May, there were still other gamers out there that not only were looking forward to the Xbox One but actually EMBRACED it after the E3 presentation. To them it was indeed a new generation that offered something different from the long; stagnate years of this current gaming generation. I couldn’t come to believe this myself and figured these gamers to be nothing more than “MS/Xbox fanboys” or standard loyal consumers to the MS/Xbox brand.

That is until I met some gamers, both online and in person, that were akin to the younger generation of gamers than those of my generation. The generation that have found it easier to embrace these new changes that the Xbox One had to offering. Who were content with having a system that was constantly connected like their PC’s and smartphones. That preferred to have a digital catalog/library of media right at their fingertips than a bulky physical copy that takes up physical space. A generation of gamers that want faster load times by having games stored on non-removable hard drives. Gamers that didn’t care if a camera was always watching them when they themselves share everything on social media. Gamers that would rather have access to everything on the cloud than carry it all with them from destination A to destination B. Gamers that figure if they can’t access their content/authenticate it due to a down internet connection, they’d just rather do something else than worry about an internet infrastructure that hardly sees any downtime where they live. To them their reasoning was the exact opposite of mine.  And despite contrary belief there are indeed a good number of gamers out there that accept this. To them the tradeoff for a next generation system was worth it. Like how gamers were willing to give up the offerings that have come to be expected with the used games market with Online Pass and begrudgingly accept it, they too would accept what was offered to them at the cost of the traditional standard of gaming in the form of the Xbox One.

It’s already been said that what the Xbox One offers will eventually be the new standard if we continue on the track we are in with console gaming. If this indeed will be the case still is up for debate and discussion. And upon seeing how many gamers were okay with Online Pass, it didn’t seem like a stretch that despite the outcry of some gamers, the Xbox One in its current form was here to stay. Yet unlike Online Pass, Gamers literally took up arms against the policies of the Xbox One and within a week had Microsoft perform their now infamous “Microsoft One-80”.

Now here’s the part that I can’t wrap my head around: Gamers are confronted with a system that would change the standard in traditional gaming by trying to altering the exact nature of what we expect from the used game market, a market that has existed since the beginning of ANY industry let alone gaming. A system that punishes gamers that perform the sin of buying a game used by locking features behind a pay wall that was originally meant as an INCENTIVE to keep our games than sell/trade them. A system that would overrule the sell/trade system of old by adding a fee based system just to access content from the title. A system that wouldn’t have even been possible (let alone got off the ground) if tried back in the Xbox/PS2/GC era of gaming. A system that we are told is supposed to help share our games in unique and better ways than the old system. A system that has shown time and time again being the basis and reason why certain features, core mechanics, and heavy handed focus on multiplayer, changing the single player experience radically from prior games in their series. A system that was originally sold to us as a means to fight piracy, THEN to help pay for server costs, THEN to give some revenue back to developers (that we have yet to see if actually did go to developers), THEN finally being told it’s meant as a new digital service to help “unlock” the ultimate edition of said game.  A system that tries to stack the cards in the publisher’s favor as a “justifiable” means of additional revenue when cut/held back content to be sold as DLC wasn’t enough. A system that makes it more of a gamble for gamers to pay for a game when the publisher could shut down the servers just as fast as it takes to process the transaction, even on games that have a sizable user presence. A system that even though still gives us the illusion of having a CHOICE when buying used, the only logical courses to choose is to either wait for the game to go on sale if we don’t have the money to buy it on day one or wait when the game’s servers shut down to truly gauge the game’s true price. A system that’ll determine how a game will be sold in any format at the publisher’s discretion. A system that would require you to give up some personal information to register and use their products/services to confirm you indeed own what you own. A system that I’m sure will be able to track all of your activity and transactions so they can not only find out when you bought a game, but how you also used it, when you last played it and if you’re getting your money’s worth out of it.

A system that radically and fundamentally changes the used game market, a market that wasn’t even on the gaming industries radar till after the 2008 economic downturn. Yet despite some mild opposition from some gamers (like me) the majority of gamers accepted this new system as the new reality of gaming. That without it developers would go bankrupt and be unable to invest in better technology, newer IP’s or pay better wages to employees. A system that was, that was offered and implemented during this gaming generation as the next step in what gamer’s really wanted to see in the next generation. It’s was a change that a majority of gamers didn’t like but some were willing to adapt to with this new reality.

Confused on which “system” I’m referring to? Funny how if you remove the phrase “Online Pass” and “Xbox One” the "system" I'm referring to could be either one.

The radical changes done with the Xbox One got a radical response in return, and yet why didn’t “The Last of Us” with its subtle use of PSN Pass receive an equally subtle response? Instead we got hardly any response at all from anyone? There was no mention of it from game reviewers even as an afterthought. We’re we lulled with news of Sony’s Online Pass system not to be used on the PS4? Or perhaps unlike other game releases that used Online Pass, this game seemed to have bucked the trend of prior games that used Online Pass and hit the “sweet spot”.  It’s very hard to find any flaws or faults with “The Last of Us.”  Almost every review site gives this game a glowing review in all aspects of the game. Even if one I could find one fault with the game, I would be hard pressed in explaining those faults to be in part of the work done creating a multiplayer mode (that’s locked behind PSN Pass) that fits the general theme of the game itself. Would those small faults been fixed if there was less focus on the multiplayer (which has its own small faults of its own), a multiplayer mode that probably had the use of PSN Pass in mind. (Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 3 used a similar feature for their online multiplayer, an odd choice given how Uncharted 2’s multiplayer didn’t.) Is it because this is a new IP that shows a lot of possible promise, despite the fact that if a sequel was ever made it would spoil the ending of the game itself? Or could it be that the game was just “that damn good” that gamers are able to overlook the underlying subtle use of PSN Pass thus never bothering with the “narrow view” of what this game means for the gaming industry in the long term. By that logic gamers should be out there making their voices heard and at least asking why this game uses an Online Pass system. But instead we hear neither the outcry or even underlying question like what was directed toward the Xbox One.

Speaking for myself I can see the danger “The Last of Us” offers when it comes to the future of console gaming. And upon viewing this danger from a “narrow view”, it is just as dangerous as the “wider” view of the past policies of the Xbox One. If you compare the “wider” view of the past policies of the Xbox One and the “narrow view” of “The Last of Us” separate and individually, you lose focus of the underlying issues spoken of at the beginning of this blog. But if one has an open mind and takes the time to look at both the policies of “The Last of Us” PSN Pass and the Xbox One with a “FULL VIEW” of what they can do to the gaming industry, the broader issues of the Xbox One start to mesh with the narrower issues of the Online Pass system. They may be different when compared to their policies, but when compared to their “principles” they are equally worth the justification in criticizing the both of them.

Granted if “The Last of Us”s policy of using PSN Pass and the policies of the Xbox One could be manifested as a physical substance and weighed on a scale, the Xbox One policies would bottom the scale. Yet when you look at the policies of the two with a “FULL VIEW” (or dare I say, and please forgive the sci-fi movie quote, “from a certain point of view”) they are equally just as dangerous. It is indeed like comparing apples to oranges on the wider and narrower issues between the two,  yet apples and oranges  are both fruits, and both can do damage to any console or game disc if enough of their fruit juices are squeezed onto them. Sure you could wipe those juices aside with your hand or a cloth, or choose to ignore it altogether. But if left unchecked, or by not telling the people who keep pouring the fruit juice to stop, the damage will eventually be done and be irreversible.

Gamers cried out over the “spilled gaming juice” over the Xbox One. I think it’s high time we do the same with the “gaming juice” spilled over “The Last of Us.”

Ta-ta

“N”