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'Heartbroken Xbox One engineer' criticises Microsoft, details cancelled features

'Heartbroken Xbox One engineer' criticises Microsoft, details cancelled features

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 22 June 2013 13:18 IST

Someone who claims to be a Microsoft engineer has chosen Pastebin to express his outrage against the Redmond giant's inability to explain to consumers how the always online model of the Xbox One could have benefited them.

The angst filled note comes a day after Microsoft took a U-turn by backing off plans for the Xbox One consoles to require Internet connections and put restrictions on playing second-hand disk games after wide spread outrage among the media and gaming community and the good response to PlayStation 4 pre bookings that does not have any such restrictions.

The engineer acknowledges backlash amongst game publishers and says that the used gaming industry was killing game developers whose only source of revenue was from game buyers.

He then talks about the Family Sharing feature of the Xbox One that has now been removed after Microsoft announced a change in its policies.

The Family Sharing feature enabled Xbox One owners to share game libraries with anyone they deemed to be family, no matter where they were located. He also gives details that were not previously revealed by Microsoft.

According to the engineer, Family Sharing would only let family members access a "demo mode" of the game for between 15 mins and 45 mins, and in some cases an hour, after which it would stop and the user would be asked to purchase the full game.

He also added that Microsoft was thinking of limiting the number of times Family Sharing could be accessed for each game till it was purchased. He says that it would have generated revenue for developers and allow users to retain their progress in the game. He does mention that the feature might still be implemented at least for digitally downloaded games.

The engineer goes on to talk about another feature that Microsoft didn't speak about, mentioning that the company was building a 'natural social network' with Xbox One, so that gamers could post their high scores, show off their best Game DVR moments, share what they've watched via Xbox TV and leave messages for others to read and respond through their account's "home space" to without the need to use their laptops/ tablets or keyboard add-ons.

The engineer suggests that the Kinect 2.0 and Xbox One voice to text capabilities would be utilised for communication and though the network would be independent of Facebook or Twitter, there would be integration with the services. He reiterates Microsoft's message that people who don't prefer new add ons that make the Xbox One an entertainment consumption device should probably be happy with the Xbox 360.

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