Which consoles require internet connection?

[dudeguy]

Obviously the Google Stadia does, as does the digital-only PS5. But what about the Xbox Series S, Series X, Xbox One, PS Vita, PSP Go, and PS4? If I dont have internet at home, can I buy one of these systems, set it up, play through the games and never once connect them to the internet?

[Steven Pendleton]

It is impossible to legally get games on the Series S or PSP Go without the internet. Illegally obviously requires the internet, as well.

[jhd]

 

The PlayStation 2 was really the last console to not make use of an Internet connection (and even then a few games had some DLC available and/or had online play). 

 

I too would be interested to know if any contemporary systems can work without an online connection. (The newest system that I personally own is the NES Classic.)

 

 

[Atariboy]

I don't see why the Playstation 4 couldn't. There's no day 1 mandatory update like the Xbox One iirc. And I've installed and played new discs just fine while offline. 

 

My Xbox One on the other hand even though it's set to my home console, doesn't seem to do much of anything offline. It's supposed to be able to function and I've double checked that the system is set to my home system, but games I'd expect to function like XB1 classic compilations just give an error when I'm not connected to Xbox Live. And of course there's a day 1 update that I believe was still a thing until the end of XB1 production, that requires you take it online before being able to do anything.

 

I suppose the PSP and the Wii are the last were the offline experience was dominant. You'd miss out on very little other than online multiplayer with those two systems and retail discs. 

[zzip]

4 hours ago, dudeguy said:

Obviously the Google Stadia does, as does the digital-only PS5. But what about the Xbox Series S, Series X, Xbox One, PS Vita, PSP Go, and PS4? If I dont have internet at home, can I buy one of these systems, set it up, play through the games and never once connect them to the internet?

I know you can play PS4 without internet connection,   however many games issue patches after the discs are manufactured.   So ideally you'd want at least periodic internet acccess to get latest updates (even if that means taking it to someone else's house to do updates every so often)

[Ninjabba]

I can't confirm this but I can imagine that certain newer games on the PS4 require the OS to be at a certain version, the same was true on the PSP but interestingly enough the OS updates came with the games themselves.

Other than that, the PS4 can definitely be enjoyed offline.

[Punisher5.0]

The Series consoles require a log in when you first set them up. Some games also require a log in.

 

Vita does not require to go online but depending on your firmware you might need to update it to play newer games.

[dudeguy]

9 hours ago, zzip said:

I know you can play PS4 without internet connection,   however many games issue patches after the discs are manufactured.   So ideally you'd want at least periodic internet acccess to get latest updates (even if that means taking it to someone else's house to do updates every so often)

How broken are the games without the patches? Like enough where you cant enjoy the game?

[zzip]

13 hours ago, dudeguy said:

How broken are the games without the patches? Like enough where you cant enjoy the game?

it really depends on the game.  Some ship in a pretty good state,  others have been notoriously broken.

 

There's also been a trend towards games that keep adding new features for years.   Like Minecraft, No Man's Sky.  The original release works, but if you upgrade to the latest there is so much more content and things to do.

 

if you can only connect it once every few months to download the latest patches, it will be a better experience than playing the vanilla games.   Maybe your phone has a mobile hotspot feature..  that would work for periodic updates

[Steven Pendleton]

21 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

Vita does not require to go online but depending on your firmware you might need to update it to play newer games.

Don't the games themselves have the firmware on the cards or was that just with PSP UMDs?

[TheGameCollector]

5 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Don't the games themselves have the firmware on the cards or was that just with PSP UMDs?

I think some Wii games had firmware on the discs. Possibly Wii U as well.

[TheGameCollector]

I think Switch is playable offline, and many of its games are good enough at release without the patches. There are some games that need internet to download the full experience though, like Spyro Trilogy.

[dudeguy]

2 hours ago, TheGameCollector said:

I think Switch is playable offline, and many of its games are good enough at release without the patches. There are some games that need internet to download the full experience though, like Spyro Trilogy.

Ive played several Switch cartridges without going online. worked just fine. and all the games i downloaded, i can just play offline. i dont need to reauthenticate or any BS like that. they know i paid for it and I didnt need to do any updating or patching at all with the games I got

[juansolo]

Essentially from the PS3 era onwards. Stick a new drive into a PS3 and it needs to be activated using a PSN account before you can use it. Once that's done it works fine offline. But even if you plan to jailbreak it, you still have to activate it first...

 

It does bring up all sorts of questions for modern consoles when it comes to preservation. Probably the most aggressive DRM is on the Xbox One. Every single game you install, disk or not, needs to 'initialize' by connecting to Microsoft before it'll allow you to play it the first time. Replace your boot drive (how I found out about this) and you'll have to start every single game you have installed on there for it to once again authorise itself. I've no idea if these keys are indefinate once you have them or whether they expire. I wouldn't put it past the DRM to expire and force you to connect at intervals to make sure you own the disc you've stuck in the drive (this irritates me more than you know...).

 

DRM is evil and is the main source of my dislike for modern consoles. It's all them trying to get to the stage where you're leasing their games, not buying them.

Edited September 2, 2022 by juansolo

[youxia]

48 minutes ago, juansolo said:

DRM is evil and is the main source of my dislike for modern consoles.

It is evil, but there's a pervasive myth that somehow on PC things are better, that it's an "open" platform (lol). As if Steam et al didn't require internet connection. Ok, there's GOG but if you're into modern games itls not a solution. At least on console you can actually buy a game in a box, and then resell it. Good luck doing it on PC.

Edited September 2, 2022 by youxia

[juansolo]

2 hours ago, youxia said:

It is evil, but there's a pervasive myth that somehow on PC things are better, that it's an "open" platform (lol). As if Steam et al didn't require internet connection. Ok, there's GOG but if you're into modern games itls not a solution. At least on console you can actually buy a game in a box, and then resell it. Good luck doing it on PC.

I have a PC and I only buy my games from GOG, thankfully I don't like many modern games. Those I do I get on Xbox One or PS4 full in the knowledge that once I've played them, I should probably sell them as they're not any sort of long term proposition. Infact I've been doing that recently by heavily purging my PS4 and Xbox libraries. They're now significantly smaller than any other system I own in that regard with a view to me just selling up at some point. GOG has come into play there where the games also exist on that platform, I've shifted them over to my old PC that (touches wood) to this point has ran most of the games as well, if not slightly better than the consoles.

Edited September 2, 2022 by juansolo

[Keatah]

I have a hard fast rule, if I can't play the game without any sort of DRM internet connection I don't buy it. This means no forced requirements for verification, updates, dowloading additional required parts, online checks, that sort of thing.

 

This doesn't apply to the one time a connection is needed to D'L it the first time around. Nor does it apply to optional DLC that can be downloaded and saved and made accessible to a re-install without an internet connection.

[dudeguy]

So are Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X discs essentially worthless 15 years from now once Microsoft shuts the service down for allowing you to authenticate your game disc?

[Keatah]

Yup. Unless someone mods the console, patches the OS, patches the games, Yes.. Maybe a fake server could be made, run it on R-Pi, or do an internal redirect like KMS activators do.

[dudeguy]

4 hours ago, Keatah said:

Yup. Unless someone mods the console, patches the OS, patches the games, Yes.. Maybe a fake server could be made, run it on R-Pi, or do an internal redirect like KMS activators do.

Well I guess when the primary fanbase of these consoles is males between the age of 12 and 25, I suppose they dont see value in owning a game that isnt going to become a beer coaster after a few years

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well on my PS4, the only time it basically yells at me to login to PSN is when I want to check for any updates to games. Otherwise, I was playing quite a bit of games on my ps4 while I completely offline one weekend waiting for my ISP to repair lines the next house over. Aside from the updates and using apps that require the internet, I'm able to play my games just fine. The only annoyance I have is the fact that I still have to insert the disc on games I've bought and installed. There should be some way that the installed game, knows it was installed from a legitimate physical disc. But I'm sure if it did that, someone would figure out how it works and exploit that too. 

 

 

[Guest]

On 8/31/2022 at 7:27 AM, jhd said:

The PlayStation 2 was really the last console to not make use of an Internet connection

I was always a PlayStation guy up to that point. But after that I moved over to the 360 and never looked back. It didn’t happen that quick a buddy of mine let me borrow his launch Xbox and after playing Forza on it I realize that was even better than GT4!  I still have my PlayStation and occasionally play some wipeout or destruction derby. I remember thinking of getting the online adapter for my PS2 back in the day. After playing Forza I figured I put that cash on the PS2 adapter and throw it towards the 360. 

[Guest]

On 9/17/2022 at 8:32 AM, dudeguy said:

Well I guess when the primary fanbase of these consoles is males between the age of 12 and 25, I suppose they dont see value in owning a game that isnt going to become a beer coaster after a few years

Not necessarily true. I’m heading towards my late 50s. When you’re young you don’t think about stuff like that. And when you’re much older, who knows you could drop dead tomorrow it doesn’t matter anyways. I’m split 50-50 between digital and physical. I don’t sweat it either way.

[MrMaddog]

Well here's some good news for owners of disc games on the Xbox Series X...

 

Xbox Series X update allows more discs to be played fully offline | Ars Technica

 

I've always felt that buying physical games for the Xbox One was a joke since you still have to be online for the game to check for patches before it lets you play, and the day one patches are about as big as the whole digital download version anyway.

 

But now it'll be just put the disc in and play it, the way it should have been...

 

(Backwards Compatible titles still need to be downloaded due to having a built in emulator though...)

 

[Video]

Ps4 requires internet to initially set up, but largely works without internet otherwise. Some games may need an update, but most I've thrown at it worked fine before updates. 

 

Xbox one required internet, games are mostly keys, or at minimum require a titanic patch before playing. I sold mine years ago (no good internet option at the time made it unusable)

 

Switch is a bit weird, the original and lite models require internet for setup, but the new oled one can be set up completely offline. Games are hit and miss, but largely they are fully playable sans internet, just stay away from those games with the blue and white internet banner and you should be fine. (May not be able to tell if its cart only, don't know if that's marked like the box or not)

 

I have no current system (maybe switch, as its Nintendo's most current console) and see no point in getting one. Yeah my internet is fine now, no that doesn't mean I'm going to intentionally buy a crippled game or console. Nothing against those that want it, I just dont. Vote with your wallet.