Honestly, there are many more concerning things about Xbone than that.
- Always-online DRM with every game permanently attached to your XBL account
- Must authenticate online every 24 hours
- Must logon with your XBL account to play your game at someone else's house
- Non-upgradable storage
- Mandatory Kinect connection to use console
- No headset included, use Kinect instead!
- Primary focus is apparently on TV not gaming
- How do I into used games?
I still don't get how MS is planning on replacing the sales of the 20 million Xbox 360 owners who have never taken their console online. Are they just giving those customers to Sony and Nintendo free of charge?
The point of a game console is that you own the disc you buy and you can do whatever you want with it, including trade it in to Gamestop. MS is trying to turn game 'ownership' on the Xbone into a 'permanent rental status' where you don't actually own the game disc you paid for and it looks to me like a pretty blatant violation of the
First Sale Doctrine. Someone's going to be suing MS over the Xbone and the case is going to wind up at the Supreme Court at the rate they are going.
Then there's the concern that with the Xbone's primary function which is GAMING, the hardware is going to be weaker than the PS4.
And yeah, it seems MS has given up entirely on Japan. They spent a lot of money on the 360 trying to make it with Japanese gamers, buying exclusive RPGs and that sort of thing. Japan just wasn't interested. I don't blame MS for quitting on Japan, and realistically we should be more worried that they seem to have entirely forgotten about Europe during the announcement.
The way I see it, the One's focus on cloud is less about some draconian DRM than about the idea/vision that soon every device will be connected to the internet. When things like smartphones and PCs heavily rely on internet access, why shouldn't consoles even though they haven't been in the past?
Always-online DRM is not mandatory and the online requirement of games MS is talking about can also stem from the reliance on cloud computing. Most games won't be always-online.
Games being permanently attached to your account isn't any different from Steam and all the other app stores. Comes with the territory of digital sales.
Not sure what's up with the 24 hour authentication. MS doesn't quite seem to know either. This may be the closest thing to draconian DRM they have, but it's not quite clear yet.
Having to log on at someone else's house is unavoidable if the system doesn't need the disc to play the game. Otherwise multiple people could play it at the same time. On the plus side you also get access to your savegames and other data.
You are probably right about the storage. Sucks. A really annoying trend in consumer electronics in general. If they'll let you use external disks, I'll be fine though. Still using my 20 GB 360 with an additional USB stick.
Mandatory Kinect. It is weird that it's really mandatory, but on the other hand if you have a device that ships with Kinect and you want every single game to be able to take advantage of that device and completely rely on its presence, then it doesn't seem so unreasonable to require it. Or at least it's understandable that it's not a priority for MS do make the machine work without it.
Headset would have been nice, but since Kinect already can do voice and lots of people probably never use their's (atm I can't even remember where I put mine), I'm not surprised it's not included. They might offer different headsets, too. Ranging from cheap ones to more expensive 5.1 ones.
Just because TV was the primary focus in the reveal doesn't mean it's the primary focus of the One. E3, where the focus will be on games, is in three weeks and showing off what makes the One different from a merely somewhat more powerful 360 isn't exactly unexpected.
It's absolutely rational and valid to champion the PS4 over the One for being more powerful, more open to indies, and other advantages. But all the outrage over the One is absolutely ridiculous. Even though they didn't prioritize power and things like no self-publishing may seem outdated, it will be a great gaming machine. Some games will surely put the improved Kinect and XBL to good use.
People are always clamoring for that elusive Apple TV that will swoop in, fix television, and attack consoles in the process. If at some point such a device materializes, just focusing on a pure gaming machine won't do anyone much good.
Edit: as for used games, MS was clear, that used games will be possible on the One. We (and possibly MS) just don't have all the details yet. That's more than you can say for Steam, which comes with some of the same restrictions as the One, but unlike the One people in Gaming just seem to love Steam.
