Posted Fri Nov 8, 2013 at 09:30 AM PST by Brian Hoss
Update announced in June only now being understood.
Those entirely unfamiliar with the Xbox One and its former DRM strategy may not be aware that the change from a region-locked, family sharing, convoluted used-game policy, install and forget the disc design to a more traditional disc-based and digital media device may not release that the day one update announced by Microsoft back in June to enable the change is required before the console will be able play games.
From Engadget, "Imagine it's November 22nd: You've got your shiny new Xbox One from the local games merchant, you've got it home, and it's time to video game. Aw shucks, the internet is out! But that's okay, as you've got yourself a physical game disc ready to go. Sadly, it looks like you've got yourself a $500 paperweight until your ISP comes back online."
Apart from the fact that Microsoft shared this information months ago when they decided to listen to fans and critic reaction to the muddles Xbox One vision, producing the Xbox One console is not an overnight operation. Fundamentally changing how the system handles media in June in a press statement takes engineering time to implement. Meanwhile, hitting the then unannounced November 22nd date means having a set production image months in a advance. Each console that rolls off the assembly has to hit targets within a set of constraints.
Even yearly products like smart phones have to be finalized to a manufacturing spec months in advance. Software changes that can administered through an update can come later, even to the level of unlocking existing memory and CPU resources.
How this has been missed by Engadget until today's "bombshell" is questionable. But yes, for Joe Sixpack, who just this moment began considering the Xbox One, he or she will need a day one update in order to get much out of the launch wave of Xbox Ones. Hopefully the need for an HDMI enabled display and Xbox Live Gold for online functionality beyond the store and updates also haven't fallen by the wayside for any launch day customers.
Source: Engadget
Author: Brian Hoss
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