Nextbox SKU with no optical drive - strictly download/cable box?

[Shifty Geezer]

PS3 is very flexible in that regard as it's tied to the console, not the user. you can buy one game and share it with a friend and play online together. The downside is you can't visit a friend and show a game you own on their PS3 by downloading and playing then and there, which you could on XB360. The abuse of game sharing has also seemingly caused Sony to drop the hardware limit to two consoles - you and one family member or friend. Ideally we'd want a best of all worlds, such as two hardware devices and unlimited machines via account, so you can play with family members on second console, or visit friends and play.

 

[BRiT]

But i would not be able to actually play my games on 2 XBOX's at a time, unless i login on one and go offline on the other..

That's not exactly true for digital games like the games-on-demand or the arcade titles. The XB360 games can be played by anyone on the original console that did the download and then on a second console can be played by the original gamer-tag that did the purchase. You just need a different gamer-tag/profile on the original console.

 

[-tkf-]

PS3 is very flexible in that regard as it's tied to the console, not the user. you can buy one game and share it with a friend and play online together. The downside is you can't visit a friend and show a game you own on their PS3 by downloading and playing then and there, which you could on XB360. The abuse of game sharing has also seemingly caused Sony to drop the hardware limit to two consoles - you and one family member or friend. Ideally we'd want a best of all worlds, such as two hardware devices and unlimited machines via account, so you can play with family members on second console, or visit friends and play.

True, but i would say that sharing your account with anyone is risky, to some extent the same can be done with steam, share your account with a friend, let him download your entire library and then go offline...

 

[AzBat]

So, it's a bit like Steam with an automatic offline mode

But i would not be able to actually play my games on 2 XBOX's at a time, unless i login on one and go offline on the other..

You actually could but not using the same Gamertag. You would have to login into the Gamertag that was used to purchase it on a machine that wasn't used to download it. On the machine you downloaded it on you would need to log into somebody else's account. It wouldn't necessarily need to be offline though.

*EDIT* BRiT beat me to it

Tommy McClain

 

[eastmen]

Going down that route will drive MS right out of retail stores. I imagine most stores like Best Buy, CC, etc.. sell consoles at no margins or minimal ones to make up for it in moving software (similar to what MS and Sony do, lose money on console and make it back via software/dlc).

With a move to digital delivery only there would be a strong possibility that stores that move the vast majority of consoles will have no incentive to sell them. This would then significantly lower the volume of consoles sold.

Yes , this is why these stores don't sell iphone/ipad/kindles .


MS can build in margins for the store and stores can drive revenue with xbox live download cards / subscriptions along with acessorys.

They would be able to devote a smaller floor space for a greater amount of content than before.

 

[orangpelupa]

can monthly bandwidth limitation be solved by business agreement?

in my place, internet is limited. But the ISP also provide TV streaming and it is not limited at all.It even get higher bandwidth (as in download per second) than the normal internet connection.

maybe because the ADSL network is owned by them and the data is on their own server, its like having zero bandwidth cost? to need to rent other company/isp network?

so,
if Microsoft decided to have agreement with Virgin, then all downloads from Microsoft will not be counted on the bandwidth monthly limit.