Datel Slaps MSFT with Lawsuit Over 360 Accessory Lock Out
Datel Slaps MSFT with Lawsuit Over 360 Accessory Lock Out
November 24, 2009
Datel, who expressed disappointment over a recent Xbox 360 firmware upgrade that eliminated the ability to use its third-party memory cards with Microsoft’s console, has responded with a lawsuit.
The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California U.S. District Court, alleges that the October 2009 Xbox 360 update, and subsequent lock out of Datel products, was designed to “to exclude competition from the Xbox 360 aftermarket for controllers, and to force consumers to buy Microsoft's own controllers.”
Datel claims that Microsoft informed them that the lockout of Datel products was an “unintentional effect” of the software update, but notes that Microsoft told G4TV that, “Unauthorized MUs are not tested for compatibility or certified for safety and compliance standards and thus could damage -customer's Xbox 360 consoles.”
Datel also says that Microsoft has changed the 360’s authorization protocols and Security Integrated Circuit process to prevent all Datel accessories, even a currently unreleased 360 wireless controller, from working with the console, stating:
In fact, it is Microsoft's anticompetitive conduct, including tying and predatory design, such as the erection of technological barriers to third party accessories and the disabling of otherwise functional third party accessories, not consumer loyalty or esteem, that primarily drives Microsoft's accessories attach rate.
The lawsuit asks that Microsoft be adjudged to have violated federal anti-trust laws and that the Redmond, Washington company “be preliminarily and permanently enjoined and restrained from disabling or erecting technological barriers to Datel accessories and add-ons for the Xbox 360. Datel is also seeking damages and to have its attorney fees paid.
The full complaint can be viewed here (PDF).
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Posted 02/08/10 at 10:22pm
JDKJ: Landrieu. That's a good Cajun name. I ga-run-tee.
JDKJ: Landrieu. That's a good Cajun name. I ga-run-tee.
Posted 02/08/10 at 09:36pm
BearDogg-X: New Orleans elected Sen. Mary Landrieu's brother, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu as mayor Saturday night.
BearDogg-X: New Orleans elected Sen. Mary Landrieu's brother, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu as mayor Saturday night.
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:22pm
Valdearg: J/K, btw, with that last comment. Just in case anyone was confused.
Valdearg: J/K, btw, with that last comment. Just in case anyone was confused.
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:21pm
Valdearg: This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin telling the Teaparty Convention to pray for Divine intervention to stop the Progressive tide. It seems she succeeded in recruiting the big man to offer some help. >.<
Valdearg: This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin telling the Teaparty Convention to pray for Divine intervention to stop the Progressive tide. It seems she succeeded in recruiting the big man to offer some help. >.<
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:20pm
Valdearg: @A_L: I'm hearing that, as well.. It seems the dems aren't just losing seats via elections... :(
Valdearg: @A_L: I'm hearing that, as well.. It seems the dems aren't just losing seats via elections... :(
Posted 02/08/10 at 02:04pm
DarkSaber: Did he design Big Murtha Truckers 1 & 2?
DarkSaber: Did he design Big Murtha Truckers 1 & 2?
Posted 02/08/10 at 01:50pm
Austin_Lewis: John Murtha reportedly deceased.
Austin_Lewis: John Murtha reportedly deceased.
Posted 02/08/10 at 01:04pm
Shadow D. Darkman: DarkSaber: (EDIT) IDC really, it's just good to see some new stuff here.
Shadow D. Darkman: DarkSaber: (EDIT) IDC really, it's just good to see some new stuff here.
Posted 02/08/10 at 01:02pm
DarkSaber: @Shadow If the on-going spat in China over WoW counts as "new" at least. Does anyone here REALLY give a shit about the state of chinas game industry anyway?
DarkSaber: @Shadow If the on-going spat in China over WoW counts as "new" at least. Does anyone here REALLY give a shit about the state of chinas game industry anyway?
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:59pm
gellymatos: Oh, we pro-life advocates have our nutjuobs to (ie, guys who shoot up abortion clincs). We can have worse ones than yours.
gellymatos: Oh, we pro-life advocates have our nutjuobs to (ie, guys who shoot up abortion clincs). We can have worse ones than yours.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:58pm
Shadow D. Darkman: Finally, new articles!
Shadow D. Darkman: Finally, new articles!
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:57pm
Valdearg: @Gelly: As much as I hate to admit it, it's because so many of us on the Left are utterly predictable with our outrage, LOL.
Valdearg: @Gelly: As much as I hate to admit it, it's because so many of us on the Left are utterly predictable with our outrage, LOL.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:57pm
gellymatos: Oh, and the boycotting didn't get that much attention to be a real blow to pro-choice advocates either.
gellymatos: Oh, and the boycotting didn't get that much attention to be a real blow to pro-choice advocates either.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:52pm
gellymatos: ...predict such a bad move by what is not considered a stupid group.
gellymatos: ...predict such a bad move by what is not considered a stupid group.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:50pm
gellymatos: How can you script someone boycotting the super bowl over such a trivial ad. An ad they must have seen before hand. You can't...
gellymatos: How can you script someone boycotting the super bowl over such a trivial ad. An ad they must have seen before hand. You can't...
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:47pm
Valdearg: There are plenty of bright people in Marketing, and this struck me as too perfect, and too scripted to have been just a byproduct of some lucky stroke of luck on FotF's part.
Valdearg: There are plenty of bright people in Marketing, and this struck me as too perfect, and too scripted to have been just a byproduct of some lucky stroke of luck on FotF's part.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:46pm
Valdearg: You are so quick to disqualify the possibility that it was planned. I'm not saying that it necessarily WAS as I describe it, but I certainly believe it a very real possibility.
Valdearg: You are so quick to disqualify the possibility that it was planned. I'm not saying that it necessarily WAS as I describe it, but I certainly believe it a very real possibility.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:42pm
gellymatos: ...that. However, that doesn't strike me as something predictable. Was it a bonus? Yes. Was it planned to be so? No.
gellymatos: ...that. However, that doesn't strike me as something predictable. Was it a bonus? Yes. Was it planned to be so? No.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:41pm
DarkSaber: Ah right here we go again, someone disagrees with Val therefore they don't know what they are talking about.
DarkSaber: Ah right here we go again, someone disagrees with Val therefore they don't know what they are talking about.
Posted 02/08/10 at 12:40pm
gellymatos: Ok, you're right there. It did make the pro-choice advocates look bad, specifically boycotting the Super Bowl. Forgot about...
gellymatos: Ok, you're right there. It did make the pro-choice advocates look bad, specifically boycotting the Super Bowl. Forgot about...
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Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
I hope they damn well win. And win big.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
For once, I agree with you.
Someone check the temperature in Hell.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
Weather for Hell, MI
- Add to iGoogleWind: S at 7 mph
Humidity: 92%
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
http://www.facebook.com/nightwing2000
Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
Wow...just wow
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
You surpised that there's a city called hell or that nightwing took the comment literally?
Personally I thought it was funny.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
As someone who has had a PS2 memory card slot fried out by making the mistake of using offbrand accessories, I hope they lose and lose big.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
What brand? After all, people get a RROD WITHOUT using any third-party equipment for a 360.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Nyko I think?
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
And this is relevent to Datel, by pretty much all accounts a reliable third-party, suing over being locked out how?
You hope they lose because you're bitter that your shitty cheap-ass third-party-nobodies-ever-heard-of memory card fried? That about right?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
You've never heard of Nyko? That's strange. I've never heard of Datel. But regardless there needs to be a leash put on this cheap crap 3rd party hardware sabotage. I'd sooner pour water into a memory card slot on one of my systems than one of these Korean sweat shop proto-accessories.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
If you never heard of Datel... You never bought third-party accesoires :P
Datel exists since the ZX Spectrum era, they invented Action Replay, that is sold also as Game Shark (you heard of Game Shark... right?)
They also make keyboards, controllers, wireless stuff, software that circunvent regional lock (like the boot CD for PS2, and Wii Freeloader, for wii), memory cards, debug aid hardware (that is from where Game Shark is derived), and console hard-disks (even to portables... like PSP Oo)
criadordejogos.wordpress.com
"If you never heard of Datel... You never bought third-party accesoires"
Well I generally try to avoid such hardware poison.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Keep digging your hole of retard ignorance, it's fun to watch.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
I'll take a hole of ignorance over a busted ass console any day. It's much cheaper.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Only 3rd party accesories I've ever had an issue with was Mad Cat. The rest I've never had an issue with in controllers or mem cards, While I have had a sony card fry my PS2's slot. Its possibe you just got a bad one, it does happen.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Regardless, I am not going to make the same mistake twice.
I've heard of 3rd party cooling systems for the 360 actually melting the 360's case. And it is because of 3rd party crap that I've never gotten into any of the Guitar Hero games. It seems like everyone and their uncle has an eastern sweatshop churning out countless amounts of knockoffs for that title.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Wait what? Dude considering how popular guitar hero is it's a pretty fair bet that they don't screw up your system (I own the original which didn't screw up my PS2 and I've played at least 1 or 2 sequels + rock band 1 and 2, all worked fine)
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
I'd really prefer not to take the chance.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
That is funny. I have been using a Nyko Memory card for my primary PS2 memory card for the last 6 years and it and my PS2 still function just fine.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
Congratulations on luck. Now go buy me a lotto ticket.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
You need a lottery ticket... If I sum memory cards of all people living in my house (I live with a bunch of students) we have several PS2 Nyko mem cards, and they never failed... It is you that has a uncommon fortune...
criadordejogos.wordpress.com
Actually no, it wasn't an "uncommon fortune". The guy at the Funcoland told me that if I used it that it was going to wreck my system. Back then, yeah I would probably be on the side hoping that Datel kicks MS' ass with the rest of you. But then the memory card that the Funcoland said would ruin my system ruined my system. So I felt like an idiot since I told him that I thought he was just trying to get me to buy something more expensive and to mind his own buisiness.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Again, your shitty memory card was not even by this company nitwit.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Ass-goblin, did I ever state that my memory card was from this company? Try to point out where I said it was, go on, try. I'll be laughing my ass off at you while you attempt to do so.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
For the love of pete, I've bought more third party crap for my systems over the years then I can count, and for almost all of it, I've liked it better than the official merchandise that was twice the price.
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I once had a dream about God. In it, he was looking down upon the planet and the havoc we recked and he said unto us, "Damn Kids get off my lawn!"
And at one point I did buy lots of 3rd party crap like you do. Now I do not. When you start messing around with these cheap devices with thrown together hardware and shoved into a chintzy plastic shell you really are making a gamble. Between both my first hand experience along with horror stories I've heard from other people I've swore them off. And with how numerous those stories are I am quite shocked that 3rd party equipment is 100% safe and there is no gamble over that of official devices.
So anything by Nyko, Datel, MadCatz, or Pellican I steer far far away from.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
RROD, Blue-ray lasor failure, controller problems, ect ect. Yeah, the official merchandise is 100% safe.
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I once had a dream about God. In it, he was looking down upon the planet and the havoc we recked and he said unto us, "Damn Kids get off my lawn!"
Just because you own a Fiat doesn't mean you should go pouring sugar in the gas tank.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
What does that have to do with anythign in this discussion?
He pointed out problems that 1st party Hardware has and you respond with a non sequitur.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
Then I shall translate the "non sequitur" for you.
Just because a system has hardware troubles does not mean that you should pursue an action that could damage your hardware.
You see a Fiat is a car known for mechanical problems. Sugar can damage a car's fuel system when placed into the gas tank. So the car's other mechanical problems aren't really a factor in deciding whether or not to dump sugar in your gas tank.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Nope still a stupid analogy as sugar is not designed nor advertised as being compatible with cars (or gasoline). A better analogy would be third party tires, yes there's been some failures (like Firestone) but to dismiss all of them made by any company for that is stupid. You can do research if you're skeptical.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
And yet I would be more likely to put sugar in my gasoline tank than some sweatshop knockoff 3rd party memory card like Datel in my 360
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
No kidding, if the makers of sugar were telling people to put it in gas tanks then it'd makes sense but they don't.
Even the 1st party stuff has failure rates, if you're worried about trusting a third party appliance I'm sure there's somewhere on the internet you can go to see if they work or not.
----------------------------------------------------
Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Bad analogy. Better one is:-
If you buy a Fiat, you don't have to have it fixed at a Fiat dealership.
However that analogy doesn't help your case :)
Does this non-Fiat dealership used tires made by "GroodYeer" that are made out of styrofoam? How about a battery made by "Dusenlast" that is just a bunch of AAs taped together?
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
See, what you are doing here is making a strawman argument. You are exaggerating your analogy and trying to imply that it backs up your claims. It doesn't.
I have used 3rd party memory cards all the time. I dont actually own any official ones because they rip you off something rotten. Take the Gamecube ones. £15 for a Nintendo 8Mb card or I could buy a 64Mb one from Ebay made by Proplay. I chose the latter, and consequently not only got a better deal, but backed up all my games on a single card instead of having to use multiple nintendo ones.
There are some things that 3rd party don't quite get right, for example controllers are usually inferior to the official ones I have found, but they just feel bad or clunky rather than causing any machines I have had to fall over and die.
You had a bad experience - I can understand that, and certainly if it cost you a great deal of money then you might well take a stance of "once bitten, twice shy", but you are over-exaggerating your claims. Datel and other 3rd party manufacturers prevent official manufacturers from setting inflated prices for hardware by offering alternatives. If it were not for them, we would have situations like the XBox360 Wireless Adaptor (£60?!?) all the time.
And I don't own any 3rd party memory cards because they are a rip off. When something doesn't work and wrecks your system then it is a rip off no matter just how low the price is. Even one measly cent I would feel to be a ripoff when it comes to these cheap knockoffs.
As for keeping the prices down on the official hardware, I doubt it. I really don't think that Microsoft or any other console company for that matter would even bother to compete with these Taiwan knock-off, bootleg, sweatshop hardware. I mean you don't see Hollywood trying to compete with DVD sales of bootlegs of their movies selling for $1.
Though I am pleased that you have been lucky enough to not run into any of the rather frequent problems with 3rd party crapware. I recall at one point I bought a generic ram stick at some no name computer store. No box or any other packaging that went with there ram. He reached into a bin and flung the chip onto the counter. Took it home, and it fried my motherboard.
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
While I don't like Datel's products I hope can kick some MS ass.
http://www.magicinkgaming.com/
I can not believe I am about to do this.. but in a way, I kinda feel for Microsoft in this case.
I used to work for a company that produced a coupled hardware/software game product. 3rd party hardware swap outs were one of our repeating nightmares. Not because it lost money from a sale, but because of QA problems. Any time a 3rd party part became common, we would get flack if we did not test and support it with every software upgrade, and anything that caused parts to stop working was a big conspiracy that we must have done it on purpose (as opposed to, say, only including drivers that we tested and matched our hardwave).
But even worse.... people would swap out hardware which would effect system preformance (a typical example would be replacing the hard drive), and then people would walk away talking about how crappy our software was because the hard drive was not behaving just right (we had custom firmwares on our drives that changed how they handled sleep, so normal desktop drives would cause stuttering and such). Very, very frustrating... and very loose-loose.
I'm with you on this one. It is Microsoft's console, so they are free todo what they want with it. If you don't like it, go to Playstation or Wii. Microsoft isn't forcing players to use only the XBOX.
"they are free todo what they want with it."
Your ignorance of the legalities is laughable.
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
To be honest, I am not sure I feel they have a right to.... but I can see why they would want to lock 3rd parties out beyond the 'they are greedy' argument.
No, no it's not their right. They continue to try and gouge their customers any way they can. This is going to make it real hard on'em come next gen.
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I once had a dream about God. In it, he was looking down upon the planet and the havoc we recked and he said unto us, "Damn Kids get off my lawn!"
In your case a simple and well publisized position of "We do not test nor support 3rd party hardware and accessories. if you cannot use such 3rd party equipment with our game, then take it up with the provider of said equipment."
Its not your responsibility to test other people's equipment.
That is one of the main "arguments" against Linux. People complain that linux doesn't support their Video Card, Wireless Card, Printer, software etc. What they don't, or often refuse, to realise is that it is not Linux's responsibility to provide drivers and compatable software for their operating system, it is the responsibility of the hardware and software vendor to supply the support.
But this is a bit different than the Console market. Ever since the NES, third parties have produced controllers, memory cards etc for game consoles. Game Consumers expect to have cheaper 3rd party options for accessories. With Microsoft using firmware updates to lock out all 3rd party accessory competition, something that they have publicly stated, they are stepping into very thin ice with regards to anti-trust laws.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
However Microsoft haven't locked out all 3rd party accessories.
What they have done is to disable the use of unlicensed accessories which (due to lacking the quality assurance that licensed partners go through) can be used to cheat on various multiplayer games.
Or as you so nicely pointed out, it's not Microsofts job to support 3rd party hardware that can ruin the game experience for others.
That still would fall int oati-trust law. They are locking out people that aren't paying them money.
So it still boils down to Microsoft locking out hardware that is not gaining them any money.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
Would any of the antitrust cases against Apple apply here? I know that Psystar had their antitrust claim tossed out, but I think that was in part because Apple no longer licenses any 3rd party hardware.
Psystar had their case tossed out because a judge found that they were in violation of the Anti-circumvention laws of the DMCA.
One might make a case against apple if they were requiring all printer, mouse, keyboard, monitor etc accessory manufacuters to pay either a license fee to get support or not make accessories for the Mac. You might also make a case against Apple if they maliciously released updates that broke compatability with unlicensed accessories.
As it stands, Apple is not under similar circumstances with their Mac line of computers as Microsoft is with their 360 console.
The Psystar case would more similar to someone trying to make a 3rd party 360 console, while Microsoft were still actively manufactuering and marketing their 360 console.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
Heres what I do not get Apple made mac OS PC sompalbitle and Psystar is selling mac clones with a legit copy of the software, it may be modded a bit to run on the hardware but otherwise tis fully legit they can;t stop the end user from doing it so how can they stop a business whos buying the software legitmatly? Its almost as if apple dose not want to sell the OS at all.....
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
That's just it. Apple doesn't sell their OS, they sell computers. Any disc copies you buy from Apple are Upgrade discs for current Mac Computers not for 3rd party computers. Mac Motherboards have soem chips installed on them that the OS looks for in order to register the PC. Psystar was modding the software to bypass that check in order to get the OS onto their computers. That is why they wer found in violation of the DMCA.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
As pointed out, they really do not care about selling their OS in the first place. They are not an OS company, they are a hardware company.
Beyond that, they worry about the public perception of their OS. People see OSX runing poorly on cheap clone hardware and it leaves them with a poor impression of apply products, and thus are less likely to buy a full system.
Apple ran into this problem last time they tried lisencing clones, and the PC clone market went though quite a bit of it in the early days. A original IBM PC and cheap chinese knockoff ran the same software, more people bought the cheap ones, and came away thinking that PCs were crappy and unstable. The image then work its way back to IBM.
That was why I was asking. One of Psystar's defense claims was that Apple's refusal to allow 3rd party hardware was an anti-trust violation. That defense was dismissed, I think because the Judge determined that there wasn't actually a Macintosh hardware market for Apple to be anti-competetive in (or something along those lines).
That's odd 3rd party manifacturers make devices for other consoles and I don't see a "X or Y licensed product" anwhere on their boxes "cept for a few devices". Or did Microsoft just started to apply this strategy recently? I can understand with video games (software) but hardware is a bit of a stretch. Imagine if Microsoft would lock out Logitech's Keyboards or Mice from operating in a Windowws OS via patch. If I were logitech of course I would be pissed just like Datel is right now. Or even worse imagine if Microsoft starts asking for a "licensing fee" to let 3rd party controllers or devices work on the 360. This is a recipe for disaster if you ask me.
This Anti-Trust lawsuit looks like it has some good merits.
Didn't Nintendo lose a similar suit way back in the NES days because of how much they were charging 3rd party companies to get "Liscensed"?
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Trust me, no matter how bit of writing you put such a warning in, you STILL get customers complaining after they used 3rd party parts. What is even worse was repair shops were doing swap outs and then putting them back in locations, and end customers with no knoweldge of the modifications walked away with a bad impression. This would make them less likely to use well maintained machines at other locations due to the previous crummy experince.
Frankly they will have to prove datels hardware is bad in court for me to side with MS.
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
I use Datel and have no complaints.
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I once had a dream about God. In it, he was looking down upon the planet and the havoc we recked and he said unto us, "Damn Kids get off my lawn!"
So have I in all my years of PSx/PS2,N64 one of my offical mem cards died and the super multi that had 5X the spave lost one "page" of data and I had a perfectly fine working PS2 that a offical pad blew the rumble fuses in.... so you know what offical might work better most of the time but tis not fool proof....
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
its microsofts console and thats all well and good but this lets them charge through the roof if they want
anyone here know if their controllers and hard drives etc etc are actually worth what their selling them for?
I know their hard-drives aren't. Someone opened up the "case" of a 360 HD and found out it was an off the shelf model. You're basically paying a premium for the case and maybe an adaptor
I hope MS lose. The PS3 is open to just about all accessories, no need for special Sony memory cards now, just use a USB flash drive, swap around the hard drive with ease. With the 360 buy Microsoft's own products that cost at least 20x more than that of comparable media, buy the MS memory card, buy the MS hard drive.
It has been hell for me moving around a few save files between two Xbox hard drives, and this is all legimate, I created the saves, I want to use them, but in order to do so I have to install my profile, move saves through a MS product and then hope the copy protection allows me to use the saves.
Being an owner of both a PS3 and 360, I have to say Sony easily won out with freedom to use non own-branded accessories and freedom to move data around.
I doubt I'll ever buy another Microsoft console. Sure in the beginning it was cheaper than the PS3, then I had to go out and buy a wifi part, and another hard drive, and had to pay monthly for online (which is free on the other two consoles and both handhelds) and then the whole fuckin RROD debacle. Yeah, Microsoft is going to really kick themselves during the next console era.
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I once had a dream about God. In it, he was looking down upon the planet and the havoc we recked and he said unto us, "Damn Kids get off my lawn!"
The issue here is that MS doesn't seem to have a (robust) licensing system for 3rd-party accessories, locking you into the MS-made peripherals only. If I had a choice in WiFi adapters for the 360 I would get a licensed non-MS one as it would certainly be cheaper and just as functional. The same goes for a memory card.
Heh, and funnily enough, I doubt Microsoft licenses any third party accessories.
Their online service is pay to use, when it could easily go free, andn ow you're forced to pay double what an item is worth.
Go Datel!
I'd love to see MS forced to losen its grip on 3rd party accessories.
Microsoft doesn't licence 3rd party gamepad or memory cards. The only exceptions are steering wheels and the Modern Warfare™ 2 Combat Controller by Mad Catz.
The only other things they licence are faceplates, maybe graphics kits? I doubt any of the battery chargers made by nyko, etc. are licensed.
This is a 3 part problem one MS dose not make it cheap or easy to be liscenced this allow a slew of crap products, make it cheap but force higher standards then start locking out the bad stuff. But no they just want to lock out competition....
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
hey I happend upon something on wikipedia I havent read it fully (me no smart hur hur heheh) but it seems relevant (hmm cant copy and past the link) just search for "sega v. accolade"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_v._Accolade
this it??
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
yeah thats it does it mean anything to this case?
It may but from my meek understanding the DMCA pretty much makes anythign that is not ok'd by the media indutry illict, even if you perchase the CSS liscneing and make a fully legit program that then adds another elvel of DRM on it to make digital copies off your dvds is illict becuse the media mafia dose not paly fair....
Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
I think I'll side with Datel on this one. It's not that I harbor any fondness for 3rd party electronics; quite the opposite (A 'Maxdrive' brand memory card fried with my gamecube, back when they actually costed money). And i'm not against Microsoft having their own 360 market, either. I believe their well in their legality to exclude others from their console.
However, I think that if Microsoft wanted to put a system like thiw in place, it should have been implemented when the 360 came out, instead of letting a market of 3rd party accesories go unchecked, only to pull the floor out from under them now.
Does the U.S. court system work that way? No. But that's my opinion.