Its crazy that we are 15 months into a console cycle and I have still never seen a single unit on a store shelf. And if this shortage continues into next year, we will be halfway through the normal lifespan of the systems. Will MS and Sony still push out a mid cycle upgrade? Continue work on whatever is next? Try to…

Good luck.  I’ve never been involved in the formation of a union, but by most accounts it is a difficult process, but worth it.

Good, keep this going.  Stories like the TT one yesterday prove without a doubt that Unions are 100% necessary in this industry.  

That would make sense.  Have exclusive COD as a launch title.

But can he kickflip?

I can’t imagine it would be timed exclusives.  Imagine if they made Zombie mode exclusive to Xbox.  Exclusive maps, skins, etc.  Maybe one thing isn’t enough, but it adds up.  The multi console owners will switch, the hardcore players will switch and before you know it the PS advantage over MS is inversed.  Now maybe…

Interesting thought on DLC contracts. I always assumed those were made for each release, but they might be for multiple years.

Yeah I wonder if MS won’t put it on the PS for at least a year or two, but keep exclusive DLC and modes on the Xbox.  That will slowly get the base to shift before they make it completely exclusive.  It is probably a better financial decision too, because I doubt 20 million PS players are going to suddenly buy an…

Except you can literally play gamepass games on iphones and ipads, on top of current and last gen consoles, and pcs, with more hardware support coming. They even reached out to Nintendo to try to get it on the Switch. They want it on anything that they can get it on. Microsoft (along with most console makers) either…

Obviously they are trying to consolidate as much content as possible, just like Netflix and Disney and every streaming service is currently trying to do. I wasn’t discussing the software and monopoly side of things. I was merely talking about the ultimate distribution method that Microsoft is working towards. And I’m…

You are right, its not. Right now. But that is their plan. They want you to be able to play Halo on any screen you can.  Your tv, your computer, your phone, tablet, fridge, whatever.  That is what they are trying to build.

I think the reason your analogy probably isn’t right long term, is that this isn’t a move for Xbox so much as for Gamepass.  It seems like Microsoft is planning to become the Netflix of gaming, so your hardware really wouldn’t matter.  In the immediate future it could be problematic, and will continue to be so unless…

The easy assumption is that the physical release was delayed to patch the disks and carts. But what is the lead time from when a game goes gold until it is on shelves? I would assume most of the disks were already pressed before the digital copies were out. If that is true, then Rockstar had to know this shit storm…

Or maybe the board is watching the stock price drop, just waiting for it to bottom out so they can do a buy back, then fire Kotick and wait for the rebound.

The difference with the Nintendo Sony situation was that it was Sony’s own greed that got them cut off, not Nintendo finding a new partner. Sony basically told Nintendo that they would own everything Nintendo ever touched in the past, present, and future. And for that privilege would be charging Nintendo huge…

Exactly.  I don’t want to cheat the system, but I am a father with two young children.  I often can only squeeze in small periods of play, and even those are constantly interrupted.  

Most of it just looks like the idiots that turn on all their instagram filters because they are professional photographers when they aren’t busy being influencers.

Another part of preservation that will be hard is that now the game you buy is often not close to the final product.  With Day One patches, DLC, etc, even if we do have physical copies of the game it will be difficult to make it complete.

Will the game take a definitive stance on weed whacking before or after mowing?  

Fair enough, and while I disagree with some of what you said, you make some good points.