This is assuming that the claims are false, no? I think Nintendo's and Sony's silence on the leaks of their machines with developers hinting at the smoke made it clear that the fires were real. Maybe Microsoft has feared all along how bad this response would have been and was planning to maybe to soften the blow after showing off the system and games, but now it's like no matter what they show, if they're going through with this, there will be an audience that will simply avoid the product altogether.
Yep, they'll only respond if the claims are false but significant damage will already have been done even if this is false.
These headlines will still be out there, the update will be in the body of the story, so any damage done from this will remain for some time as people will continue to wrongly assume that it's always online.
Honestly, I don't believe anything could soften the blow for an always online console. There's simply too many external variables at play to make it work, this is why it should have remained optional as it was on the 360 (if this story is true of course), they mentioned always online, always connected during the lead up tot he 360 launch, but it was a reference to their plans for the console with regards to digital distribution, patches, online gaming, etc.
