Microsoft and Sony have had interesting days

Microsoft is Removing Xbox One DRM - Kotaku Australia

Well, in what is probably the biggest tech news of the day Microsoft's president of interactive entertainment, Don Mattrick, announced that they are removing the much maligned features requiring the new Xbox to be connected once a day to prevent even single player offline games being locked and that there will not be any used game restrictions. And this from the company where Phil Spencer said just last week that anyone who was concerned about being online all the time should buy an Xbox 360 instead.

The trade off is that the family sharing feature is no longer a thing and there is the suggestion that discless play for physical copies of games may also be no more.

The other thing that kind of got buried in amongst all the shouting is the confirmation that the last bastion of the now irrelevant PAL/NTSC days is that the box is no longer region locked.  I guess ensuring they comply with regional classifications and restrictions is no longer a big concern for Microsoft.

In amongst the cheers today I have noticed a very strong contingent of commenters now complaining about this change of policy and calling all those who criticised the now defunct options essentially "a pack of whingers who got their own way and ruined it for everyone else".  Now I can respect that Microsoft was trying something new, but I still feel that essentially removing all rights of ownership from a game the customer has legally purchased is a bit of a stretch.  The other thing I would like to ask those who are less enthusiastic about this back flip is "Where were you for the past week?".  I can honestly say I have seen pretty much zero support for Microsoft, so where were these now vocal defenders?

All in all, this is a very positive outcome.  There is still nothing stopping Microsoft from gradually reintroducing these features further down the track via system updates and optional applications.  The Xbox One is obviously designed to include them so I don't expect for a moment that this is the last we'll hear about it.


Sony Apologises For Faulty PS3 Firmware - Kotaku Australia

Sony didn't have a clear run either.  After releasing version 4.45 firmware for the PS3 reports started coming in of "bricked" consoles.  It soon became apparent that those most likely to be affected were users who had upgraded from the console's standard hard drive and installed their own.  The firmware was soon removed (thankfully before I got to my own hard drive upgraded console) and we were all allowed to continue on 4.41.

Sony is yet to announce what they are doing to help those affected.  Here's hoping there is an easy fix as I know from experience it is not nice to have to reinstall a PS3 and lose EVERYTHING.

I know it is impossible to test every configuration but Sony built the PS3 to have the option to upgrade the hard drive.  They know there is a significant number of users who do not have the original drive tucked away in their big black curvy units anymore.  Was the firmware only tested on standard machines?  I guess we will never know.