Should I sell my XBOX or keep it?

[ThinkPad560X]

Should I sell my XBOX One or keep it?
Mostly about game preservation too.

This is a long typed story for warning.

I got an XBOX One and is the same as how the XBOX Series X is with the DRM and always need to connect to the internet for setup before you can play a game and even have to be online to make XBOX HOME console. But if something happens to the HDD and MS severs are shutdown for the X1 then the console will be a brick, because you will need to go through that process of connecting for first time setup again. #2 I sometimes don't play games much and sometimes go 3-5 years even. I gamed a lot during the PSone / PS2 days getting the PS2 day one. But when I got out of gaming for the first time for atleast 6 years that was during the PS3 /360 days. I did pickup a PS3 full backward compat on release but hardly played, Even got a XBOX 360 because I knew I would get back into them someday. In 2011 I got back into playing the systems again "Skyrim" I did purchase IPs I followed throughout the years and some are even still sealed new. "picked them up when at store for future playing"


2013 I got a PS4 and an XBOX One Day One Edition. I later found that the XBOX One required an internet connection rightout of the box.. My PS4 out of the box just asks to setup and press the PS button and I was on the dashboard. Where I lived I had bad internet and the area still slowly got into DSL. I don't like using the internet on my systems unless I want to get a system update on a game or console. But that should be at my option. I play single player games anyway. I actually deleted my Steam account due to inactivity and all the titles I owned on PC physical, all required Steam.
The first time I ran into Steam was during the time I went out to get Half-Life 2. I waited in line at my Software etc when first came out. They gave me the Alyx cover out of the Gordon Freeman and Gman cover box, But were the same everything else on box just different cover. I didn't care I guess as long as I can play HL2. Wanted the Gordon Freeman one.
When I got home I openned the box and at that time we got CDs over a single DVD, so around 5 discs were in box. When I got to the install window, It says welcome to Steam. I didn't know what this was at first but probably just bloatware for installing with the game. But it required it to finish installing, So I let it install. After all complete a window popped up to sign-in and I couldn't play HL2 without making an account and being online (At that time still was stuck with Dialup) I was upset. At that time I don't know if there was offline mode or not. Around the same time I just bought an Original XBOX since PS2 didn't get HL2 as it got HL1 and bought HL2 for XBOX. Steam as of now also ruined it for me, as my older PCs running Windows XP with steam will no longer run on XP and I like to play my games on the original hardware or from that era. So no retro playing steam on older machines. This was another reason I deleted my account. The 3rd straw was the Steam community or forums. I just got negative replies on everything.


So now I am at the point if I want to play games still it will be on console. I still get PC if from GOG. But my latest consoles I own are the PS4 and XBOX One. PS5 seems to allow play offline if want to but XBOX Series X is like XBOX One with Internet connection required out of the box. I was thinking of selling my XBOX One and keeping my 360 as my highest system on the Microsoft side as it works without internet and I get the Left4Dead and Halo games.


Mostly I just play Fallout 4 on the XBOX One but got it on my PS4, So im good there. I don't like the fact that the GOTY is digital only and the game disc only comes with the base game on it. And that is for both systems, even PC physical. Even Diablo III PC is DRM always online and am a big Diablo fan, So i got console version to play offline. The new Diablo II resurrected is completely digital only across the board, So no physical at all. I like to look at the future of my games and know if I can play them 10-30 years from now and that is why I typed this long story. I have games from the 80s,90s and 2000s and like to play them anytime I want to, and I see why more and more people are trying to preserve games.
From my research the PS5 can play offline and i'll get if I ever can find one and one for a normal price. But if anyone knows how Microsoft works, is it visible for me to keep my XBOX One with all physical games or just sale it? Will Microsoft one day, not have the XBOX One work on their servers thus making the XBOX One not able to connect during first time setup bricking the system?

[dr_st]

It is hard to make decisions now based on what may or may not happen in the future.

If you care about game preservation, the only way to be certain is to insist on no DRM, or at the very least no online DRM. This means - GOG for PC, old consoles that support completely offline play.

Offline DRM may be non-functional on modern operating system, but at least you can always install a legacy OS where it will continue working. With online - you are at the mercy of those who control the servers.

For popular games you can always find pirated repacks, cracks and whatnot that disables the DRM completely. Less popular games may fall into obscurity and end up unplayable if whatever DRM they require stops working / gets killed.

[ThinkPad560X]

I know the goal for all vendors is to make games on all platforms streaming like netflix. No ownership or even data downloads on the consumer end. The internet will be there soon for gaming. Software companies like Adobe or Autodesk and Microsoft all have subscription versions now, so no owning of software today just renting. Even windows 11 Home and Pro require an internet connection to function and that is just an operating system. The time of ownership for consumers is over on software/games but now you are just licensed for use. I know physical copies from Adobe and Autodesk you had a license key, but I can still reuse the software on my offline machine like I do still today. I can't activate it as the severs have long been shut down for them and I only get 30-day usage before I have to uninstall and reinstall again. But I paid $300-800 for the physical software. From what I read, I don't do software subscriptions, if you miss out on paying your sub for the month then they delete all your data saves and have to resub again. I know I would hate that.

For games I got everything I need on PC and unlocks my physical games that require steam. Anything new I just get on console. I don't know if the XBOX One will be cracked in time like the PS4 and be able to play your physical discs or not. But just like dr_st said it is hard to make a decision on what will happen in the future.

[skx]

if you are waiting for a hack of the last 2 xbox generations, you can start to lose your faith and doubt there will ever be a hard or soft mod in the wild. sell it, and buy an exploitable PS4 the good old days from the original xbox and 360 wont come back. but never say never, our pandemic brought FreeDVDboot exploit after 20 years PS2 launch just fyi, PS5 heavily moved towards always on DRM as well. watch out! see the mess of this week with GT7 being unplayable due to network issues at the side of sony:

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/15 ... 3856076800


DRM is cancer, you can only avoid it buy not spending 1 USD on DRM infested hardware

[RealBlackStuff]

Call me old-fashioned (which I probably am), but other than in ads, I've never even seen an XBOX or PS4 or whatever they are called.
But then, I don't waste any time either, playing games.
So it would be an easy decision for me...

[ThinkPad560X]

I have a first gen PS4 500GB and it plays my games fine without internet even though it is hooked up to the internet for updates. Since Microsoft bought Bethesda, Phil Spencer said that The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series will be XBOX exclusive. Any title that was announced for release before the buyout will still come to that platform but going forward titles will be exclusive. I forgot PC is part of the XBOX exclusive as well. It will be a requirement to have Windows 11 probably as W11 Home and Pro require a internet connection with a MS account to use the OS now. So Windows is DRM now too. All hardware is getting locked down. I was reading to that Apple is trying to get hardware venders to do what they are doing with right to repair by locking down hardware for PC. I don't think that will ever happen but how everything is today you never know. The PC building market is very big.

[ThinkPad560X]

This guy pretty much explains how the XBOX One and Series X are drm and the future of the consoles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vs2Z71BvpM