Want To Playtest An Xbox? 231
drix writes: "Microsoft is recruiting people to playtest the Xbox!"
Someone over there has got to be reading! Let me have a crack at one guys! (Course, if they don't the conspiracy theorists will know why:
and don't say, "Rob Doesn't Live in Seattle" cuz that's too easy. Course who am I kidding: The Microsoft conspirators are too busy saying the xbox will the crappiest system ever without ever touching one. I just see it as Microsoft's way of saying, "We're not a monopoly. Promise!" as they attempt to swallow another industry. The system may very well rock).
Testing Xbox (Score:1)
Probably pretty low.
Dang (Score:1)
crap.. (Score:1)
Interesting (Score:1)
--
Woweee! (Score:1)
Seriously this would be very cool though, especially with the Playstation 2 being such a disapointment.
Not that I could make it as a playtester, I didn't even get into the Tribes 2 beta (what were there? 1,000,000 slots?)
The X-box is really gonna kick ass. I'm thinking of commuting to Seattle just to playtest the thing (3000 miles.)
and this is a suprise?!? (Score:5)
and it's a dang good business decision too. any product should go through this procedure.
Re:Interesting (Score:1)
Re:Dang (Score:1)
Obligatory sarcastic microsoft bash (Score:1)
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Where's the 2.4 kernal building? (Score:1)
Site down? (Score:1)
I wonder if microsoft.com will be slashdotted...
Re:and this is a suprise?!? (Score:1)
Regionalization (Score:1)
Feel free to extend the analogy in other directions to include tourist destinations in Idaho, Nevada, California, Wyoming... heh heh heh... after all, they post driving directions on their website, and I'm damned sure people will be willing to drive from those states and probably farther to get their hands on an X-Box.
--- [DrPsycho] Coping with reality since 1975.
what the? (Score:3)
The microsoft conspirators are to busy saying the xbox will the crappiest system ever without ever touching one.
Are you okay Cmdr Taco? It sounds like you're having a bad day :-)
wow... really?? (Score:1)
play-test one NOW!!! (Score:4)
to get one, simply call gateway, or dell, or one of your favorite x-box manufacturers and ask them for the X-box special. this includes:
a 700Mhz processor
a DVD player
a large hard drive.
nVidia GeForce2
no keyboard or mouse (those are extra)
whabam! you have yourself an x-box.
Bill Gates:"No, really...it's not just a repackaged computer. i fucking SWEAR!!!!"
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Re:and this is a suprise?!? (Score:1)
Re:Interesting (Score:1)
re: high quality stuff! (Score:2)
Cool!
um.. I done, you can stop reading...
Someone here should apply... (Score:1)
Who will be the first to get an Xbox to run Linux?
It would be nice to see this thing cracked, hacked and repurposed before it ever hits the street.
Get working boys and girls!
Re:Microsoft, Bah! (Score:1)
Seriously, the Dreamcast is just a novelty compared to Xbox and PS2 from a technical standpoint(though a novelty with some VERY good titles thus far) the Nintendo Gamecube has vaporware written all over it (though if Nintendo actually is making the thing it has potential) and Playstation 2 needs good titles to maintain the hype. In Japan many angry customers are ranting about how incomplete the PS2 is, and unless there is a dramatic turnaround in software quality the same will happen in the US.
Besides, has Microsoft ever had a commercially unsuccessful PC game?
Dear lord, Microsoft... (Score:1)
"Be one of the first people to see future Microsoft games and hardware by participating in our Playtest program. Help us build the next generation of games for our new console!
* No experience necessary! "
I mean, really, who out there is going to have experience playtesting an X-Box?
...except maybe anyone with a 700Mhz CPU and a GeForce...
hmmm, ok i see their point.
Looking forward to it (Score:1)
I am not a nintendo loyiest...just a gaming freak. I own a PS2(SSX is the only great game for that console) and a Dreamcast, although they are both great consoles in their own right, none of them have had a phenom title like Zelda/Mario/Golden Eye/Pokeman (laugh, but it sold 3.5++ million copies.)
Good luck to you Microsoft (competition only brings better product), but you are entering a crowded market.
-Angreal
flow of conciousness? (Score:2)
dear lord taco, lay off the coffee late after 5pm.
Re:Dear lord, Microsoft... (Score:1)
But since this seems to be Microsoft's way of saying: "Come test the X-box for 15 minutes, see the pretty lights and go tell all your friends" no experience would be a plus.
BSoD during Games (Score:1)
Re:Microsoft, Bah! (Score:1)
Netscape fans left out? (Score:4)
We should start a fund... (Score:1)
:-)
PS2 Linux (Score:1)
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:2)
Unfortunately Microsoft has infinate resources to throw at this... so unlike Nintendo, Sega, or any other of the bread-and-butter console players, Microsoft can keep releasing new products again and again, failing until they eventually get it right. If they fail long enough, they will bundle it with free high speed Internet/WebTV, or simply a free console.
No matter how great the short term loss, long term success is all they care about.
I'll have some black tar, a quintuple-tall latte.. (Score:1)
Re:Netscape fans left out? (Score:1)
Re:Netscape fans left out? (Score:2)
snicker
im packin my bags for Seattle. (Score:1)
Re:Microsoft, Bah! (Score:1)
Re:What if it rocks? (Score:1)
Re:Netscape fans left out? (Score:1)
Re:and this is a suprise?!? (Score:2)
I suppose the Visual Studio.NET open beta, the enourmous amount of MS beta newsgroups, and their loyalty to beta testers are evidence that they don't like "outside" people. Sure, for several betas, one must "break in" to prove themselves as a quality tester (not just some idiot who just wants free stuff and doesn't file reports). For their game testers, they often reward them with gratis copies of the finished product.
Re:What if it rocks? (Score:1)
The sort of people who buy consoles, like consoles because they work. They traditionally do not crash, or give problems. X-Box is perhaps going to be hampered in the console market because everyone knows Microsoft stuff crashes. Looks like it will be running PC games generally speaking, too - and all the PC gamers I _personally_ know would actually be the sort who want to play them on their computer, not a console attached to a TV.
The X-Box Rox (Score:1)
Re:and this is a suprise?!? (Score:1)
Re:Netscape fans left out? (Score:1)
Do you use Linux? Opera's linux browser is beta. I'm not going to pay for something that isn't finished. A nag screen for a beta version is stupid.
Re:Microsoft, Bah! (Score:1)
If their future depends on it it does.....
Microsofts future is at stake here. IMHO
I believe that is why they are dumping $500,000 into just the marketing of the XBox. They had to save the desktop from Netscape so they MADE Internet Exploder successful by preloading it.
The XBox will be marketed to the scale of Windoz 95 because they have to succeed. OS/2 was the reason for the expensive PR from 1993-1995 and PS2 is the reason for the half a billion dollar PR for XBox.
IMHO
LoB
Re:and this is a suprise?!? (Score:1)
Re:play-test one NOW!!! (Score:1)
Stop M$ bashing! (Score:1)
which means we'll get alpha-blended bsod's
Re:Site down? (Score:1)
Re:Netscape fans left out? (Score:1)
I don't like to break it to you, but the X-Box will probably not have any opensource software, and probably won't be running your warez.
Re:wow... really?? (Score:1)
Re:Netscape fans left out? (Score:1)
Umm...when would this have been....since the start of WWW "browsers" there have always been free alternatives. I've never had to pay for a browser, and I'm not about to start now.
I've found, after bitching about Netscape for the longest time, then bitching about Mozilla...then getting a crappy Netscape 6 and bitching about that, that IE works great for my purposes. It's reasonably small, fast, fairly standards compliant, fast, stable, fast, and works well. On my Linux boxes, I run Netscape 4.7x and deal with it...
God feating goats (Score:1)
Re:Microsoft, Bah! (Score:1)
Microsoft has even MORE experience than Sony and even MORE money.
As the Atari Jaguar would tell us: Do the Math.
Re:What if it rocks? (Score:1)
whats with the map? (Score:1)
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:1)
The question is, even if Microsoft gets it right will they succeed? A great console, marketing and games does not ensure success. Look at the Dreamcast; they have Shemue, Sonic, Jet Grind Radio, Soul Calibur (great fighting game of all time) and other games...but they are failing miserably in Japan.
-Angreal
Short IRC Chat with MS Employee (Score:1)
(Skull): heh
(ShadowDrgn): http://www.microsoft.com/playtest/
(Skull): i didnt even know they had it
(ShadowDrgn): you have to live in the seattle area to do it
(Skull): fuck that, i already work too much
Even M$ employees don't want to waste their time with this crap
Re:Ban the ms-pox. (Score:1)
Phony Test (Score:4)
Even the design of the site with bright colors and flashy catchphrases (* Get FREE stuff!) If they were really looking for quality testers they would probably take a much more lowkey approach (probably contacting previous testers before making an announcement like this).
As good as Microsoft is at software development, they are even better at promotion.
Re:Testing Xbox (Score:2)
Crappy cards? Think again.
Re:ENOUGH BIAS ALREADY (Score:2)
Now if you had said that there was no good reason to say the X-Box software would BSOD, that would be a different matter. One advantage of a totally new platform is that they don't need to maintain 8-bit and 16-bit compatibility, so they may well do a good job, or at least they have a pretty good chance. But it's nearly impossible to be too biased against MS.
Caution: Now approaching the (technological) singularity.
oh no... (Score:1)
oh no...
oh god no...
i.... could.... make ... a beowulf cluster out... of them....
and mean it....
tagline
Re:Woweee! Ghlugh! (Score:1)
Re:play-test one NOW!!! (Score:3)
Right now, Microsoft doesn't own the hardware. They've got the software, lock, stock, and barrel, but they don't control the hardware.
Despite the anti-trust case, and how badly it seems to be going for them, the release of the X-Box is probably the first of many moves to start controlling hardware. Exactly how long do you think it will be before MS releases a keyboard and mouse for the X-Box? How long before they make a "special" release of Windows that runs on the X-Box?
The X-Box is basically a PC. Get right down to it, it has an x86 processor, an IDE hard drive, an IDE DVD player, and a video card that is supported by/supports DirectX.
Three or four generations of X-Boxes later(assuming they're wildly successful, which they probably will be), I can imagine that most MS software will require a special, MS-approved platform to run on. What platform will that be, you ask? Well, probably something that had, as an ancestor, the X-Box.
Will it be very different? Probably not. I bet it'll still have a keyboard, it'll still have a mouse, it'll basically be a repackaged PC - but "approved".
Now, there are good economic reasons for this. If Microsoft only needs to support the four or five different versions of the X-Box, then their life will be that much easier. There's won't be as many worries about hardware conflicts, there won't be as many worries about crappy third-party drivers(which are a massive source of Windows instability). This is probably their way out of any accusations about monopolies; a standard PC can actually be a good thing if used correctly, if it's not exploited through high pricing and exclusive developers' rights.
I won't guess any further than what I've already said - but I *do* think that much of that will come to pass, in one form or another.
Will I go down fighting? Damn right. Our family motto reflects largely on our attitudes.
Will this be good for the population at large? Maybe. If the X-Box variants are cheap and work, then the concept of "access everywhere" might actually happen. Not half-assed attempts at non-standard "web terminals" around today. But if Microsoft gets a lock and exercises that power to milk its customers for all they'll stand(and MS has done this before - don't doubt it), then we'll just be, yet again, largely locked into the "MS way".
Dave
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
Re:play-test one NOW!!! (Score:2)
Wild guess: X-box will be an open platform (Score:5)
I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark on the basis of Microsoft's acknowledged ability to create markets for its products, and suggest that in practice the X-box will become the exact opposite of a conventional console as described in the paragraph above. Instead, it will become an entirely open platform, in practice.
Why do I think that this may be so? For a number of reasons:-
First, the console market is already fairly highly subscribed if not totally saturated, so the X-box will have to be pretty special to make a large proportion of gamers reach into their pockets again. All the other popular consoles are closed platforms. A way of becoming "pretty special" is ready and waiting. [The still-to-be-launched Indrema [indrema.com] is doing something similar, albeit with a certification hurdle imposed, but hopefully this will not be a substantive barrier.]
Second, it just so happens that virtually all the big players in the console arena either have or will be bringing out new mega-powerful systems within the same time frame, so high technology alone may not be enough, especially since Microsoft is a latecomer to this market. A novel angle may be required to make headway.
Third, Microsoft knows full well that the popularity of Windows stems very largely from the massive buzz that was created by several years worth of unimpeded free-for-all copying of both the O/S and its applications. The official face of Microsoft may protest about "piracy", but unofficially they must know that in reality unconstrained access is an extremely powerful popularizing mechanism, vastly cheaper yet more effective than advertising.
These three things all point in the same direction: Microsoft will either make the platform fully open, or it will create an easy and inexpensive method for all and sundry to write and install games on the X-box, or it will turn a very blind eye to the cracking systems which will appear 2 microseconds after the machine hits the streets. Nothing is gained by restricting what can run on a platform (all the talk of controlling for "quality" is unadulterated rubbish --- people like to decide for themselves, thank you very much), but everything is gained by having thousands of products run on a console rather than merely hundreds.
We'll see.
Re:God feating goats (Score:2)
Calm down... take a step back... and *think* (Score:2)
Microsoft hardware in hopes that their help will make it better
are also...
A large group of people who are thrilled at the thought of being given free, state-of-the-art
Linux software in hopes that their help will make it better
Re:Netscape fans left out? (Score:2)
Play testers are the 'directors' of video games (Score:4)
The most interesting questions from my point of view were 1) What is the most important part of game design and 2) Who is the 'director' equivalent in a game.
We were having dinner at four separate tables, so we got four different groups of people answering the questions; but the answers were completely uniform. 1) The most important part of a game is the 'game-play', the way that the button presses influence the way the game works. Next is visuals, last is 'story'. 2) The 'director', as it were, are the game testers; the people who sit there and play the game all day, every day, as it is developed; to determine how it works and feels. We were quite surprised, and asked the question a few different ways; but the answer was always the same.
Now, Microsoft is not writing the games (are they?) but are building the boxes, so testers would have a different role there. Still, it's a very important one.
thad
Re:Oh my. (Score:2)
Whether you're talking about Sun or Apple or what have you, they all tried to take on everything at once. Hardware, software, connectivity.
Microsoft, however, has done things in a very methodical
I don't know where it started, but they keep getting a bigger piece of the pie. Then they start on their neighbor's pie. One step at a time.
Damnit, they're fucking scary.
Dave
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
MS Objective (Score:2)
.
Standardized Linux gaming/kiosk platform? (Score:4)
Since I'm not a gamer, I have other ideas. If I didn't strongly object to giving $$$ to the evil empire, I'd pick one of these things up, load Linux on it, and use it as a home multimedia terminal connected both to my LAN and to the television and stereo. View web pages on the TV, play MP3's off the server, pick up streaming audio, control the lights in the house via X-10
And just think -- with XFree86 running on it, it'd be a real X-Box!
--
Re:Woweee! (Score:2)
Re:Wild guess: X-box will be an open platform (Score:2)
Re:God feating goats (Score:3)
Two small problem with your arguement. The dreamcast bears a logo that states Compatible with WinCE, not powered by. Secondly WinCE games for the dreamcast are extremely few and far between. WinCE on dreamcast has a reputation for slow loading times, and wasting alot of resources.
The only game I can think of that runs WinCE on the dreamcast is some vegas gambling game. Think Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, or NFL2K1 run WinCE underneath? Nope. Now, you are right, bsod's on dreamcasts are few and far between. But it has little to do with Microsoft. Prolly 95% of the games for it have nothing to do with WinCE, and wont load it. I'm all for giving Microsoft credit when they deserve it, but the dreamcast's success has little to do with them.
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:2)
Personally, I'm amazed that they appear to be going through with it- X-Box will bankrupt them. The smart thing to do would have been hyping it to kill PS2 adoption, and then quietly let it die like Farenheit or .NET without spending too much. They may be actually trying to go through with it- I didn't think they were that stupid. I guess they mix the Kool-Aid pretty strong up there in Redmond :)
Re:and this is a suprise?!? (Score:2)
Everyone knows that that is the market you must ultimately conquer and what better way to do this than to create a sham playtest available to people in this region only.
Their hopeless attempts at deception were made very obvious when they didn't launch it in bigger market areas like New York and LA. Everyone knows that those markets are irrelevant when it comes to creating a buzz about a product.
Re:Testing Xbox (Score:2)
And, i bought it for less than a Geforce2 with video-in/out and no tv tuner at all. This card handles all the video needs I have beautifully. Replaced a Geforce + tv tuner + video capture card gorgeously.
Oh yeah, 2D is wonderful too
Re:play-test one NOW!!! (Score:2)
Re:Obligatory sarcastic microsoft bash (Score:2)
Zetetic
Seeking; proceeding by inquiry.
Elench
A specious but fallacious argument; a sophism.
Re:Wild guess: X-box will be an open platform (Score:2)
Clearing up the playtest requirements (Score:4)
Re:What do they mean by this? (Score:2)
Re:Standardized Linux gaming/kiosk platform? (Score:2)
so does the law that forbids this (ofcourse ms won't require ms software only onb the X-Box.. that would be cutting off a LOT of big time games). what is left is a huge licensing fee required, ala CSS. and DeCSS is legal
//rdj
Re:play-test one NOW!!! (Score:3)
Re:BSoD during Games (Score:2)
Re:God feating goats (Score:2)
No hope of restriction if consoles sold (Score:2)
That depends on whether they sell the X-box or just loan it out under a license. If the latter then you could be right, but if the former then the hardware is yours and you can do what the heck you like with it.
Of course, the previous point will be highly debated by lawyers what with DVDs and DeCSS and the DMCA and all that, but everyone will ignore such restrictions utterly because any possible law in this area would be unenforceable. Somehow I don't think that taxpayers around the world would be too happy if their police forces start dedicating their resources to raiding a million console users.
Re:play-test one NOW!!! (Score:3)
um....what exactly is a PC clone?
secondly. what makes a *nix any less of an OS than, say windows, or BeOS, or MacOS? a 200Mhz computer is still a computer whether you run Windows, or Be, or Linux, or OpenBSD.
the fundamental point here is that microsoft is simply repackaging a PC and calling it a gaming console. I'm not irritated that they're getting into the gaming market. I'm irritated that they're trying to promote sales by telling the uneducated masses that this wunderbox is the next big console when it's nothing more than a mass-produced e-machine without the monitor and 3-years' worth of payments.
oh well, i suppose it's simply another case of Microsoft taking standard tech, repackaging it, and calling it theirs. that sure seems pretty fsckin' innovative to me!
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Re:Looking forward to it (Score:2)
I don't see it. I see the media saying the sky is falling, and I see corporations failing to upgrade tens of thousands of machines (if not more) first because of y2k freezes, then because of hardware shortages. This year might show a turnaround... unless this silly pseudo-recession impacts the sales.
Nonetheless, I wasn't speaking specifically of PC sales. This is the strategy they've been using on the handheld platform too. Operating systems are still desparately required by corporations, as are perpetual system replacements, upgrades and license renewal.
Sony and Nintendo have oodles of power, but they have not locked in... the world?... to their plaform.
What do you mean by 'Culture of Economy?'
Open-source games (Score:2)
Ever heard of a good opensource game? Freeciv? LOL.
What about TOD [8m.com]? or Hampsterdeath [8m.com]? or Tux Racer [sourceforge.net]? Or any of the many cross-platform Allegro games [allegro.cc]? Or the entire GNOME Entertainment [gnome.org] collection? I forgive you for not having looked hard enough.
Tetris on drugs, NES music, and GNOME vs. KDE Bingo [pineight.com].
Not good for game publishers (Score:2)
It'll BSOD all day long! (Score:2)
The subject line is a joke that mirrors many of the posts under this story. The sad thing is that many of these neanderthals are SERIOUS.
The irony is that any Microsoft produced book on code design, code quality testing, management, etc., absolutely FLY off the shelves. I've had Linux anti-MS zealots recomment MS Press books that basically document the internal work activities at Microsoft. Doesn't anyone see the absurdity of this paradox? Any of you people who talk about the "notoriously bad code quality" of Microsoft code please ensure that you get rid of all of those MSPress books that line your bookshelves.
Of course the reality is that Microsoft is a benchmark for code quality in the industry, with some of the lowest failure rates per line of code in the field. Do I wish they did a better job? Absolutely! Most of us would love if the failure rate was 0.0%. I would love if Windows could run on any mixture of a virtually infinite combination of hardware with drivers of astronomically varying quality levels and auto-magically fix code problems in third party applications. I would love if they made their code immune to the meanderings of poorly written third party applications (i.e. DLL hell though it is largely immune to it as of Windows 2000). However we must dream on.
As far as anecdotal evidence there are always reams of people yapping about how they define the standards because on their system Windows 2000 BSODs once a day, and NT 4...it BSODs before you even start it up. Then again there are many people like myself that have run 2000 without a single BSOD...ever (have single applications failed? Absolutely...but never taking down the system). I manage heavily used NT4 SP6a systems that run several months on end perfectly until finally being rebooted to enact a new security fix.
Bah. I don't even know why I'm going down this path. The reality is that Microsoft produces code that is better than average in the industry. With a solid, target platform and minimal services running on the system (i.e. it's pretty damn easy for a PS2 to be stable when the game is _ALL_ that's running on the machine...the propensity for failure is geometrically proportional to the complexity of the system) I have no doubt whatsoever that the system will be rock solid. Of course the day a game by Basement Publications crashes it'll somehow be considered MS' fault.
ARG! (Score:2)
Also Microsoft has been known to license VBScript, the now defunked Chili!Soft licensed it so they could port ASP to *nix. Everyone says Microsoft policy is to "Embrace and Extend" this is true, but sometimes the extensions are worth while, I find VBScript a much easier language then JavaScript. the MS DOM makes a lot more sense then the Netscape DOM, people should support what Microsoft has done, even if the WC3 has gotten around to it.
-Jon
btw: i'm not trolling, I believe this
No I'd say that YOU'RE full of shit (Score:2)
A stray application should never, never never have priviledge to take a machine down, period.
No, it shouldn't. Who doesn't agree with that? However if that "stray application" interacts with a system `feature' in a way that exploits a flaw that exists in system code then it can take the system down JUST LIKE IT CAN IN ANY MAINSTREAM OPERATING SYSTEM. A lot of the video driver runs in ring 0 in NT & 2000, just like the drivers do in Linux, and if an application twiddles the bits just right yes it can bring the system down, though it's the system bringing the system down, not an application. Your moronic perspective that this simply shouldn't be possible is absurd (i.e. you're saying that all system calls have to be 100% stable under any situation and condition which is ridiculously naive) and the only OS that should satisfy you is QNX. I certainly hope you're not a Linux fan because an errant driver called can certainly take the system down. As far as me blaming third party applications I did in two ways:
As far as your claim that "Microsoft created their own ratsnest when they decided that the operating system should provide everything for everybody instead of clean". Let me give you a little piece of advice : You don't have to run DirectX games on your [mother's] server system(s). Oh, what's that? You're running your machine as a game machine? What's that : You're using shit video drivers from a crap vendor? Oh.... okay. Well gosh in that case yes Microsoft should march right over to your hardware vendor and give them a stern talking to! This is unacceptable! DAMN THAT MICROSOFT!
Re:play-test one NOW!!! (Score:2)
I have thought about this before too, but even my cynical self doesn't think that things will go this way. There is obviously value in exerting control on the hardware world, but there is MORE value in dominating the software world.
Microsoft will, IMHO, run with their
Software will become a service, not something you necessarily buy on a CD. You'll be charged subscription fees to use your word processor. Hell, they may charge you for each new document you create, or each time you use bold text, or apply a $n surcharge to any document that features colored text. Sky's the limit in this model, and they will push us right up to the edge of revold with their fees. This IS the future, and we need to prepare for it.
In this model, it is more valuable to them to have their software running on ANY hardware possible, not just MS-approved boxes.
Personally, I find the thought of subscription based software that is always in communication with the MS Home Office to be repulsive. Each day I am closer to becoming one of those wild-eyed, long-haired, sandal wearing free software advocates.
Re:God feating goats (Score:2)
Re:Wild guess: X-box will be an open platform (Score:2)
The reason that MS wants to license games has sweet fuck nothing to do with quality, it's because they sell the console at a loss and want to make up for it with the game sales. And since they don't write the games, they want a piece of the games that other people make.
There's nothing (legally) that they can do to stop someone from sitting down and writing a game for the X-Box. In fact, reverse-engineering any piracy prevention measures to make your game work with them is about the only use allowed for under the DMCA (which would only hit US game companies anyways.) I'm sure MS would lie, cheat, and steal, throwing fake lawsuits at anyone who tried this, but then that's their tactic with everything.