XBox 360 DRM Policies - Love it or Leave it
23 January 2008As I’m sure anyone with an XBox 360 knows, Microsoft had some stability issues with XBox LIVE over the Christmas Holidays and continued to have issues well into January. Even Major Nelson posted a message from Marc Whitten, General Manager of XBox LIVE discussing and apologizing for the issue.
During this period, users were unable to log into their XBox LIVE accounts. This combined with the DRM method which Microsoft uses on the XBox 360, users were unable to access Movies, TV Shows or In-Game Content they have downloaded to their console. This caused quite the uproar or people spouting off the usual consumer rights bullcrap. “I should be able to have full access to anything I buy!“, yelled the masses.
At first I joined the mob because I was frustrated that I wasn’t even able to continue my XNA development as even my own XNA created games for the 360 required me to be logged in before I could play them. It was both frustrating and laughable at the same time.
But as the debate and flames continued I started to think about what this really all means to me. Sure, I’m spending my own money for Microsoft Points on a virtual product tendered and stored by Microsoft. With this, you have to either accept that Microsoft is within its rights to protect this information in any way it sees fit, or seek out an alternative that has a license model that you agree with.
It all comes down to people complaining about the licensing model and how Microsoft chooses to enforce it. Older technologies had similar licensing models that were enforced differently. Even a standard DVD movie has it’s own licensing model:
- You’re only allowed to create X number of backups (DMCA)
- You can’t play it through another device (Macrovision)
- You can only play it in a the specified region (DVD Region Codes)
So limitations of use on purchased materials is nothing new to consumers, it’s just now that the product is completely virtual companies have to go to extra lengths to make sure that their property is protected and people can’t just go about stealing their product.
My point here is that Microsoft has made perfectly clear how they are handling the DRM and copy protection policies on the XBox 360. What every person in this position needs to weigh is What is this data worth to me?
If you feel that the XBox 360 content is worth the money and worth dealing with their DRM restrictions, then accept it and feel free to use the content as permitted by Microsoft. If you’re morraly against the restrictions or feel that they’re unfair, then thanks to a free market economy there are plenty of other options. Sony, Nintendo, PC Games, Mac Games, Arcade Games… outdoor sports?
“But Eric, I REALLY want to play Halo 3 and watch my movies no matter if I have internet access or not!“
Then perhaps an XBox 360 isn’t the device to be doing this on. I hear laptops have come a long way in the past few years 
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