Marketplace videos gain expiration date?
Was this a stealth new fall update feature, or just some investigative reporting conducted by MyGamerCard.net? Whatever the case, MyGamerCard.net has just discovered an (depending on your point of view) unsettling new feature: expiration dates for Marketplace video downloads.
Expiration dates for Xbox Live Marketplace content aren’t new. We first saw inklings of this during Rockstar’s Table Tennis timed demo debacle and the various betas for the 360’s two MMORPGs, Final Fantasy XI and Phantasy Star Universe. Heck, even the Artist of the Month videos have shelf life on the Marketplace… but when they disappear, the Artist of the Month videos are at least still playable as long as you’ve got ‘em on your hard drive.
Even MyGamerCard.net realizes there’s no real reason to limit video playback on the Marketplace:
There seems to be no reasoning behind limiting how long you can watch a video of GameTrailers interviewing Ubisoft developers, an exclusive Marketplace Red vs. Blue episode, or, on a more personal level to the 360 community, the Halo 3 announcement trailer. However, there are obviously some plans to use expiration in videos if the current Marketplace label on videos saying “Does not expire” means anything. And, if there’s a “Does not expire”, it must mean there also exists a “Does expire: in two days,” or something of that sort.
I’ll concede that limiting some demos could make sense depending on the game. I’ll concede that taking down trailers after games have come out makes sense. I’ll even concede that taking down event-sensitive videos like the E3 and X06 videos somewhat makes sense. But I just don’t see the point of giving console content an expiration date. Seriously, how is a piece of content sitting on one’s hard drive going to hurt some intellectual property? Most of these pieces of content are too big to fit on a memory card, so there’s no real reason for publishers to worry about gamers transferring these bits of content to their friends’ consoles.
But could this just be the start of a new wave of content? Could we be getting bigger and better content where an expiration date might actually be warranted? MyGamerCard.net seems to think so.
Now, this could all very well be in preparation for some new Marketplace content (shows, etc.), but would this mean future content would expire? Let’s say Marketplace becomes the new home to some episodes of a TV show. Does this mean that, once you download the videos, they’ll expire after a certain amount of time, perhaps urging you to buy the DVD for that show (this would also mean only Gold would have access to said content)?
If this were the case, then that might make sense. But only if these are free video downloads. I’d certainly hate to shell out 100-150 Microsoft Points only to find out that the content expires two days (or even worse, plays) later.
What do you guys think about the DRMing and possible future playback limitations of Marketplace content?
Thanks for the scoop, kineticonline and TRIGGER M4N!
What, I found this out hours ago, sorry.
http://forum.xboxic.com/s...p?p=21945&postcount=2
Sorry. Credit now given.
You spelt his name correctly, you fail at Xboxic puns Drew
(nice article btw :D)
well this cant be true cuz i got my e3 vids still and they have no expiration date.
try playing them now and they will say that they wont expire. The expiration date thingy doesnt seam to have anything to do with the time/date of download but for how long / how many times you can view it?
Argh! I hate this. This is similar to what the previous mini-update did, adding yet more restrictions. And I bet they will do some kind of scheme so that people with Gold never get expirations with some videos in the future.
An expiration date would make sense for rental content. Perhaps MS will eventually allow for movie/music rentals through XBL, possibly through their existing partnership with MTV (Urge, or whatever it’s called).
Well they very well could be using Xbox Live Marketplace to distribute movies which do require DRM/time limitations - similar to cinemanow and/or movielink. The movie is downloaded and you pay $3.00 to view the movie within 48 hours after the first time you open/view the movie. This is not a bad thing at all.
If they use it for movies, it would be great!
it’s a bad thing for videos that should last forever.
Here we go, first we get limited to WMV now we get DRM on the marketplace videos, shit is MS turning into Sony ?, at least the PS3 can play divx you listening MS the most requested feature and you leave it out the update…jeez mightjust fuck the 360 off and go buy a ps3 at least that can potentially do the “digital home media hub” bit. Yeah I like gameing but i was sold the 360 on the basis I could stream all my media to it and play my videos through it total bs.
- the marketplace videos always had DRM on them.
- don’t expect the expiration date to play a major part in the existing type of content on the marketplace, but more likely to be used for time sensitive content and TV shows/movies.
- if you were ’sold’ on the basis it could stream all your media you didn’t read into the 360 very well.
- MS would have to pay $$$$ for the license to run DivX on the 360, something that although not out of their reach, probably takes a LOOOONG time to sort out for legal reasons. Xvid would have fewer licensing issues, if any, except that’s no better thanks to the bucketloads of different codecs which xvid is made up of.
- Get a PS3 if you want, so long as you don’t mind installing CONNECT on your PC. Your funeral.
Yours,
a mac user, twiddling his thumbs whilst Nullriver update Connect 360 to stream video.
The PS3 cant do divx, the supported codecs have been announced (google it)
I’d be willing to pay for a divx codec on the 360 (so would most real divx fans/users)
As for xvid apparently there is patents issues, im not sure about the specifics but i think a generic mp4 codec with some “tweaking” either by MS or a 3rd party would sort all the problems.
I still think the people behind DivX should get together with MS and release downloadable content to enable the codec. (like with the ipish thing thats free for one download)
[sorry about any spelling mistakes, it halloween and this is the biggest party night of the year here so i’ve had ALOT to drink]
so…
Well, here’s an idea; by putting an expire date on videos, Microsoft can in theory get a lot more people looking at it at the point of release, which in terms of marketing, means something. But also, I’m sure that we will soon be able to rent tv show episodes or movies via the 360… they wouldn’t want these kinds of things to be a permanent download.
i HATE expiration dates!!! they ruined my belove table tennis demo!!
update is incompatible with new 360’s: http://forums.xbox.com/7757400/ShowPost.aspx
don’t want credit just spread the word. these guys need a fix fast!
We pay for cable TV so that we can get access to shows that expire the moment they start. As long as Live doesn’t take it too far, it’s probably not a big deal.
I don’t see this being a bad thing at all.
What kind of video’s do you have anyway on your 360 that you’d truly want to keep forever?
Dagh stop whininh they had expirations always just now they added a way for us to see them… i more think this will be used for TV episodes that we can download and watch for a limited duration, or for special promo’s etc…
As for divx and xvid… yes xvid is in nasty patent issues so is out the door but divx can play back xvid files so tada
… As for divx support i agree i’d easily pay 400-800 points for a divx pro codec for the 360 plain and simple… maybe someone should talk directly to divx to see if they personally would develop it for the 360 and release it on the marketplace as a pro version with a cost… i know myself and many others would be more than willing to pay if needed to get proper Divx/Xvid support…
IN THE END, microtransactions, consumables, expiration dates… its not that microsofts forcing it on you… ITS DEVELOPERS and PUBLISHERS want the functionality to be their so they can use it… and microsoft is complying with their needs/wants.
Remember theirs You and Me on one side, the Developers and Publishers on the other, and Microsoft in the middle, they have to make the developers and publishers happy and give them all the features they want so they want to release on the 360… the more they want to release on the 360 and XBL the more games we get on the 360 plain and simple.
This is obviously in preparation of some downloadable content such as tv shows, movies, music etc as they would license it to have a shelf life on the hard drive..
In the UK, satelite and cable companies employ such methods when watching tv so I don’t see the problem…
OMG its da end of da worldz!!1
As some other people already have said, it’s probably for downloadable tv shows or other stuff, not game trailers. Calm down