Originally by: Abriael VonRosen

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Edited by: Abriael VonRosen on 09/06/2011 10:47:56
Just reiterating a few key facts for the ones utterly blinded by their platform preference, thing that causes them to completely miss the point.
Repetita iuvant.

1: Dust was never supposed to be on PC, it's always been publicized as a console game

2: the fact that the PSN has been hacked doesn't mean that the PSN is less secure than any other online environment. Online networks are hacked every day, even networks that include much more sensible data than the PSN. Hell, even Xbox Live gets hacked from time to time, involving the accounts of major Microsoft executives.
There's no ironclad network on the planet. As long as it's connected to the internet, all you can do is to protect it as much as you can, but if you get the attention of a hacker or a group of hackers that are determined and knowledgeable enough, there's a high chance that they'll get in, no matter what you do.

3: What prevented Dust to be on Xbox 360 is not some weird unilateral decision from CCP, nor them "selling out" to the evil devil Sony (mind you, between Sony and Microsoft, the second is quite more well known for buying exclusives). The cause is to be found in Xbox Live's policies and structure:

a) The network's structure is closed. Everything is handled by microsoft or through microsoft.
b) No cross-platform play is allowed. it was intialy considered (and experimented upon with Final Fantasy XI, for instance), but then the idea was scrapped and no further instances have been allowed.
c) All billing and patching is handled by microsoft or trough microsoft.
d) No Game Currency outside of microsoft points is allowed on Xbox Live.

3: If you believe that CCP didn't try to bring Dust to the 360 you're entirely delusional. They most probably tried, entering talks with microsoft to try and get an accomodation in order to make the cross-platform structure of Dust work with Xbox Live, and Microsoft, as usual, didn't budge of an inch, making the project impossible. They didn't budge for Valve (causing Gabe Newell to go rage on Sony's stage), they didn't budge for Square Enix (for Final Fantasy XIV), They didn't budge with Funcom or Cryptic (causing the cancellation of the 360 version of Age of Conan and Champions Online), do you really think they'd budge for CCP?

4: The ones most disappointed about Dust not being a multiplatform game aren't you guys, it's CCP, considering that they're losing potential userbase, and with it revenue.

The facts are simple. The current Xbox Live policies are not MMORPG-friendly, or anywhere advantageous for any game that needs to be run like a MMORPG or that needs to interface with a MMORPG, or that needs to involve any kind of cross-platform gameplay.

Want to patch your xbox 360 game? Sure. After your playtested your patch internally, you have to send it to microsoft, and wait for two weeks for them to certify it. Is your patch going to affect another platform (or a linked game on another platform)? Though luck. You'll have to wait to patch both platforms.
Oh wait, that's not even possible, anyway, because cross-platform gameplay is disallowed by the xbox live policies.

Want to blame someone because Dust won't be on your favourite console? Microsoft -> That way. Probably you'll join quite a few CCP executives, they're probably more disappointed than you.

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