Microsoft to charge royalties for peripherals

[SanGreal]

game informer and offical xbox magazine

Well, I reckon they're wrong then.

Btw...

This probably means no Mouse/Keyboard support unless MS oks it (and so far they dislike it for games)

That doesn't really have much to do with the licensing requirement. Microsoft just won't certify games that support KB/Mouse. But since you brought it up, FFXI will support standard usb keyboards so I wonder how accurate this whole thing is.

 

[Powderkeg]

This is what Madcatz had to say about it:

"The nice thing is it puts everyone on a level playing field. It means we’re not competing with people who aren’t following basic rules of manufacturing and product quality."


http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=747&Itemid=2

Am I the only one who laughed at that?

 

[SGX-1]

99% of 3rd party controllers suck!

 

[Ty]

they can stop sub par acessorys coming out .

As for them selling the consoles cheaper . They aren't allowing 3rd party acessorys for a year . Which will surely offset the losses they are taking

Well sub-par peripherals normally just would get squeezed out by the very nature of them sucking. I.e. EB gets a ton of returns, they stop carrying them. Also people learn what are good/bad brands.

So really, it's not as if people were getting ripped off. But now peripheral prices are quite likely to be higher. Frankly the good brands did not need this quality control and this will only limit choices for consumers that couldn't afford Logitech or didn't mind lower quality devices. Lesser, more expensive choices don't sound like a "can only be a win" type of situation.

I also don't see how monetizing this in any way will mean MS will pass the savings onto the consumer. Maybe if the PS3 is a strong competitor price/value wise, it could afford MS some leeway but I just don't know if this is a strong possibility. Mind you, I think we just agree on the possibility but just that you are more optimistic than I.