http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...00_-microsoft-designer-adam-orth-resigns.aspx Game Informer has learned from sources close to the matter that Orth is no longer with Microsoft. A call to Microsoft's main switchboard confirmed this fact. Our sources, who wish to remain anonymous, suggest that Orth resigned in the wake of last week's events. We haven't been able to confirm whether this was a voluntary or forced resignation. Good riddance.
This guy actually made a claim that every device is always-online anyway which is most definitely not true. I can use my PC, PS3, Samsung Galaxy S3, PS Vita and iPad 4 without internet access. That guy deserved everything he got IMO; he's an idiot who posted rubbish on Twitter without thinking first.
PR people are a dime a dozen though. We'll find out soon enough if the rumors are true. I wont loose any sleep over it either way.
Indeed Good riddance, its great someone may have had to leave there job because of a minor Twitter fiasco (it wasn't as bad as the net made it out to be). Was it bad what he said? - sure, was it leaving job and vile internet hate worthy? - not a chance. I don't know what's worse, the fact he posted what he did OR the fact that some gamers are making of fun of someone who may have lost/been forced to quit there job over something so minor. Scratch that I do know what's worse - the 2nd thing. --- I know I'll be in the minority on this one, but I just find it pretty sickening.
Customers hate always-online only content. Deal with it. Don't know this guy, but not even understanding where the hate is comin from (regardless of whether you understand it or agree with it) is shocking and Microsoft clearly need to up their game in the human resources deparent to stop idiots like this from even getting an interview, let alone a public facing job. Muppet.
The thing is, he was in one of the many managerial positions that will always be scrutinized for whatever actions that may have an impact to the image of the company he worked for. And it wasn't exactly minor, either. If his tweets were really enough to drive some Xbox user base to jump ship to PlayStation, that's not exactly the risk Microsoft would like to take. It's enough risk to lose their existing user base if Microsoft decides to really make the new Xbox to be an always-on device, but it's even worse there's a higher-up in Microsoft to have that kind of (perceived) attitude with his tweets. As to making fun of...well, he did make fun, or rather make light, of people who doesn't have stable Internet connections. Or at least he's being perceived like that by most people who criticized his tweets. Twitter is already more or less a public space; what did he expect? Might as well use MSN Mes-...wait, Skype, or something else if he just wanted a discussion filled with sarcastic remarks with Heir. But nope, he had to make his (sarcastic) remarks available to public and open to (mis?)interpretations. To anyone who hasn't read the exchanges between him and Manveer Heir (BioWare's senior game designer): Regardless of whether his tweets were just his personal opinions or not, sarcastic remarks or not, everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions. He's a grown man. He should've known better. #dealwithit
my cousins lives in a old mining town in Virgina. the only internet they have is dialup,which they dont use. and no cell phone towers. walmart 10 miles away so how can they have the new xbox with always on internet connection. whats it going to connect to?. there microwave? "get new xbox. have to get dsl or high speed internet to use it" is microsoft paying my bills. not everyone plays xbox for the mp.
So let me get this correct: IF a games developer wishes to launch a NON-ONLINE game, they cannot launch it for a device (regardless) that has to be online for it to function? Don't games developers dictate the market, based on audience demand? Manufacturers of hardware don't, do they? Analogous to ATI/AMD/NVIDIA stating that you need to be online for the graphics card to function, and games/software developers must comply if they want to release software for that graphics card. I don't like arguing by analogy, but that was as close as I got..
When I was working down south in Louisiana, Walmart (or the city in general) was 60miles away and I used my phone to tether to the internet because my phone was faster than the DSL available in the middle of nowhere. Ping was too high to play anything online.
he had point though EVERY thing is ONLINE now thought rumor going around for next xbox seem to go well beyond specially that if u not connected to server games stop after 3min. Im all for a steam like system on consoles but not one that pauses games cause there internet droped or has no internet. not that really matters to me MS will never get dime from me specially there hardware/consoles
This guy must be kicking himself, doubt he'll ever get hired in something like his previous line of work again, or even close to it. Stupid move, but his immaturity clearly shows that hes not suited for the job.
Though like Tsunami321 said, he does have a point, as we all know thats where its heading, but his handling of the situation or just the fact that one arose simply because he wanted to troll, was just dumb.
Huh...I've seen people make mistakes costing well over a million in revenue and still keep their jobs and this guy loses a job over minutia. Wow. Too bad we didn't have this low a threshold for the Wall Street execs and Bankers that bilked the public out of hundreds of billions, bankrupted companies and still, ended up with BONUSES. The public priority for 'outrage' is screwed up.
This guy for the most part said nothing wrong. Yes, he had a slip of the tongue at the end; but all that calls for is an apology, nothing more. Face it, always on is the future. All these people arguing about these "unconnected cases" are talking about extreme edge cases that don't affect the extremely large majority of people buying these products. And a company like Microsoft doesn't make money by prioritizing edge cases.
I believe some of the anger is the removal of ownership that goes with this and gaming becoming some sort of time-limited offer that can only be experienced under certain circumstances, versus buying something and owning the right to experience it 25 years from now. Now, if the 'always online' console model is to be able to play any game you want whenever you want, but anything online like social networking/multiplayer + anything the console has as a secondary optional service that could add value to the game or not, is not something people are concerned about it seems.
He's not in a high enough position to make mistakes safely. =b But really, it's usually "CEO or GTFO" in the corporate world. If they (board of directors or major stakeholders) openly admit the CEO is doing something terribly wrong, it usually won't bode well for the shares value. It's not right by any means, but that's just how it is. And that's exactly the thing; he didn't give any. He felt he's still entitled to his own opinions, which is not wrong. What's wrong was he kinda dragged the entire image of the company he worked for. Most of the time people talked about this they didn't really refer to it as the guy's attitude but Microsoft's. (which is probably true in a sense, but hey, corporate image...) A statistics would be nice, and they did release Windows 8. That the console would have to check for Internet connection every 3 minutes else you won't be able to play, however, is not nice. Even Steam doesn't do that, and just go to Offline Mode without rendering you being unable to play a game.