Xbox One won't play games on day one without mandatory update

That's what I would have thought Dr Wong...

Well goodness hope it's a quick update for those who have put their preorders in!

Weren't they though?
Hopefully MS will learn from Nintendo and have a LOT more servers ready to dish out the update at 8am on Christmas morning ;).

Think just for one second about the logistics of that. Does it really only take a console a few days to be shipped from China to your retailer? No. Depending on where you are it will take anything up to 5 or 6 weeks. Then you have to factor in the time it actually takes to manufacture X million consoles - start working backwards from that and you'll soon see why the consoles are arriving with 'old' firmware onboard and will need this update.

So it needs an update before you can do anything with it? I've heard that it's a 1.4GB download as well there's going to be some traffic generated during the launch week. At least the PS4, like the WiiU, allows background downloading of it's 300MB update whilst you actually play games on the console you bought. In fact you can download the update now and just install it from a USB stick. Much more sensible an idea.

It still makes me think that MS have been rushed into getting something out so that they don't give too much of an advantage to Sony.

We already knew this from at least a month ago, right? That was confirmed by MS after making the switch. Surprised it's still coming up.

I can understand them not having it in day one machines (When did they start stockpiling them? Two months ago?) but would expect those shipped by christmas to have been properly updated in-situ.

@ Robert Barrow:
Given the state of both the XBO and PS4 software side of things they both feel rushed out!

Edited 1 times. Last edit by James Prendergast on 8th November 2013 6:18pm

Welp, anyone who pre-ordered and won't have access to broadband on that day is screwed, I guess. Sure, it's a small amount of people, but some of those according to a few forums I'd read in the past were hoping those rollbacks included the ability to play out of the box without any sort of updates despite everything looking otherwise.

Imagine if you life at teh end of the world like COrnwall or Dorset.
Waahey, I got an XBONE whilst secluded in the wilderness for the holidays.
OH bugger, there is dialup internet......grrrr, trek to Bournemouth , sit in a net cafe and hook the machien up overnight....

@Dr. C: Yeah, something like that. Hey, even around here, I've heard that "can it work offline out of the box" question asked at a GameStop by someone placing a pre-order a few weeks back and it was kind of up in the air with the reply. The Wii U at least ran games out of the box with no updates (and no issues, as I didn't get around to updating mine for close to two months after I got it).

Oh, don't forget to bring a small HDTV on that trek to that net cafe, as they probably won't let you use their TV at all (unless you're going to let people play that copy of Ryse you bought with you...). "My kingdom for a horse!" or something like that...

I'd expected a day one update anyway as MS ( and also Sony) would still be working on updating the firmware & features etc.. Don't see this as a big deal, especially as almost every house has broadband nowadays and i'd imagine that consumers would pre-order online, therefore have access to t'internet .. :)

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Pete Thompson on 8th November 2013 8:20pm

When asked what consumers could with the console straight out the box, he replied:
"Well you can watch the dust settle ever so slowly on that glossy shiny bit....." Then got his coat and promptly left the building.

@Pete: in the real world, that's not entirely true. You can STILL order stuff on a dial-up connection and while "only" 3% of people still use one here in the US (according to some sites I'bve read), I'm betting a few of that small number might be interested in that Xbox One but won't be able to buy one until they see some sort of disc-based updates in play.

THOSE people are always forgotten until they step into the fray and speak up.

I remember Best Buy offering to download system updates on PS3(?) a few years back for something like $40. It's a ridiculous price for something that's super easy to do and free, but not everyone has the ability to do it themselves. I feel sorry for the customers who just shelled out $499 for a console, $60 for a game, and another $40 just to be able to play it.

That being said, I can go out and buy an old Gameboy and it'll play Pokemon as soon as I turn it on.

For all the people complaining I will gladly download the day one update for your console at my house for a small fee of $199 plus taxes and gratuities.

All kidding aside, the PS4 can't play blurays, dvds, use the share button or a whole bunch of other features until you download Sony's day one update. I imagine in the future(after the holidays) both systems will start to launch with these firmware updates already installed. But for now it will have to be a minor inconvience.

Welp, since it seems that Microsoft is running some "early testing" on XBL thanks to all those people who got Xbox One systems within the last day or so (thanks to Target shipping them weeks to early for some reason), it seems that people are up and playing and posting all about their happy times setting up and getting that update.

Now I know MS isn't unhappy about this news (that's for sure!) as all it's doing is getting them early and primarily good press from those lucky folks tweeting away...

In 2004, when Half Life 2 was released requiring Steam, this was a significant talking point.

"Requires an internet connection" is basically de rigeur nowadays. I see this not being a major issue.

I don't think it's a firmware upgrade for bug fixes, it will be used to activate the console on a Microsoft online profile, something I though they had cancelled.

Unfortunately, launching in November means quite a few of the launch consoles will be bought for Xmas, or in the post Xmas sales on boxing day. This means a very high chunk will be updating over a 2 day period, unless the person buying it has the knowledge and foresight to open it a few days early. And of course launch day is another time when a high percentage of pre-orderers will be turning it on for the first time concurrently, many will have taken the day off work, and there will be no opportunity to update early there.

You can hope that there will be enough servers, but when that server load will only be required for a few days, that seems optimistic, especially after seeing the bigger always online game launches this year.

@ Greg

Now I know MS isn't unhappy about this news (that's for sure!) as all it's doing is getting them early and primarily good press from those lucky folks tweeting away...

Ahhhh hahahahahahahaha.

*ahem*

Sorry, I read that comment after the news that at least one guy has had his early-sent XBone banned.

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Morville O'Driscoll on 9th November 2013 11:03am

@Greg: yeah I'd forgotten about dial-up simply because I don't know anyone who still has it, and I thought it had pretty much been done away with, surely using Dial up nowadays must be like knowing you could use a pen, but opting to keep pricking yourself with a needle to write in blood!?
Either way, isn't that just picking at bones though ?? If the dial-up to BB user ratio was something like 50/50 or 40/60 then I could see your point, but with your stated 3% of (U.S) internet users still opting to use what many would consider as an out dated method of connectivity then I see no reason why the majority, in this case the remaining 97% of internet users shouldn't be catered for, in which case a day one update shouldn't be an issue.. My Android & iPad tablets have faster connections than dial-up via a simcard..

I honestly cannot see many people buying a next-gen console and not connecting it to the net..
I'm sure that even game dev's don't take into account dial-up users in what is a very connected world nowadays, especially as it seems that every game released MUST have an online mode, and, not forgetting that the Xbox ONE will make a lot of use of cloud processing which I cannot see being supported by dial-up at all.. Then there's the other connection issues associated with dial-up itself, such as PSN not supporting Dial-up, and XBL's minimum requirement (Xbox 360) of 3mb down & 0.5mb up for online gaming, while SD & HD streaming of videos is 1mb & 3.5mb respectively, I doubt that in reality there's many gamer's, even casual ones who are still on Dial - Up, unless they are mainly playing txt based adventures.. If you can get dial-up, you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to get a BB line even if its the basic ->0.5mb / -->1mb, which is a significant improvement over Dial-Up..

PS: Just think of the lag on a dial-up connection.. :-)

Edited 3 times. Last edit by Pete Thompson on 9th November 2013 11:23am

I honestly cannot see many people buying a next-gen console and not connecting it to the net..

Errr, actually I'm one of those folks who are very happy to have a next gen experience WITHOUT any of its connectivity. I just dont see why I need to let the console, phone, watch, or fridge be connected to the internet. If anything is going to be connected to the internet, there is the net cafe. :)

I can see many reasons why they would do this.

It also makes sense that these companies would take advantage of a controlled launch schedule to get the latest software out there at the same time.

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Adam Campbell on 9th November 2013 7:11pm

This was known several months ago.

Funny thing is that my brother wants an XBox One, but he doesn't have internet access. He's going to have problems when he tries to use it, but I've told my mother, who goes and helps him from time to time, about the problem.

Her response was "I don't know anything about it". My brother's deaf and doesn't always follow her directions anyway... They both live 2,000 miles away from me, so I can go over and just help get it going... It's going to be a problem.

@Jeff: Hmmm... well, unless Microsoft will have disc-based updates at some point, apparently he won't even be able to play a game at all without that day one patch.

Of course, with the recent oddball goodwill Microsoft dropped in the lap of that guy who got his system early from Target, ran that unboxing video and all those tweets, got his console banned until launch and then scored an invite to the Xbox One launch party as a guest, who knows what will happen with your brother?

Helicopter from Hyrb taking his console to the nearest broadband spot for an update and a fly back? Probably not out of the question (but questionable)...

I would say It's your everyday pre-sale prevention patch like we saw in some games (Dark Souls I.E.) but 1.4GB is a lot of data... You would imagine that you are downloading the full operating system there.

I have a question. I have a Spanish account for both my 360 and PS3. Will I need to move the console to Spain to activate it if I want the Spanish marketplace? or will be enough to just use my Spanish address, bank account and stuff? I really don't want to create a filtered
German profile in which every single violent game will be filtered (although this should get fixed if you import profile, right)

This is still awful. How hard is it to burn and provide the patch to people on DVD form? Even now, so they can preload it and have it ready on a USB?

No, this is nothing about manufacturing delay times. This is everything about ensuring XBone owners have a valid MS online profile created - and consoles are "registered" with Microsoft when activated.

The WiiU update was a pain, but at least we played games all night - then let it download all night, and install in the morning.

MS better rectify this going forward - I think we all remember the discussions about "mandatory internet access".

Not to mention, its the hard deadline for both consoles to come out the November door. There is no going back, so both will be needing to patch to work

There's going to be a lot of disappointed kids Christmas morning.

Unless Santa has a magic patch overnight, and then stays up late repackaging the box, sealing it, wrapping it up and then pretending to be surprised when the kids unpack it all....

I don't really get what the fuss is about but I guess that reflects the decent broadband I have.

Talk about much ado about nothing. Yes, I'm sure it's all about Microsoft aiding the NSA in their spying. Good grief people, Microsoft could announce it ships with free cookies and there would be dozens here telling us they're just trying to fatten up the kids for eating on Boxing Day.

I just think alot of effort went into getting all the hardware tuned correctly, with software and firmware having less priority, bells and whistles being tuned late in the hardware manufacturing process. Im thinking that by the the time all the kinks in OS, software and firmware were ironed out, the consoles were already manufactured and packaged ready to be shipped. This day one patch is something i dont mind really. And it is the first batch of consoles shipped. Im thinking the next batch wont require a day one patch.

@ Dr. Chee Ming Wong.. Hope you enjoy your unconnected Next-Gen experience as much as I enjoy my connected one :-)

Edited 1 times. Last edit by Pete Thompson on 13th November 2013 10:53am