After reading comments in the last thread I decided to just make a new thread.  I will copy and paste my comment here, but seriosly guys relax on the rumors.  And if you are going to speculate on them then think a little.  This is regarding the rumor about Always Connected and Installing games.

lmao at the comments in this thread. Very pitiful that people are turning a rumor with little information into something they hope to see people get pissed off at MSFT on forums. In reality forums are very little of the real world but that is a completely different story. 

It sounds like hibernation mode "Always connected". This means if you have XBL and Internet it will update your games and console while in hibernation mode. This will also allow you to turn your Xbox on by saying "Xbox On". That was not that difficult to figure out. It says nothing about constant internet connection.

Installs are not new at all and most PS3 games require an install but i guess we are ignoring that. I think what they are trying to do is make it more like PC where you can just click on your games from your hard drive to change games rather than changing discs or possibly quicker load times. That is a good thing and it is interesting that I hear people complaining about that when PS3 requires installs and that is only for quicker load times and nothing else. Then you have PC which blocked used game sales a long time ago but we will ignore that too i suppose. Hating on MSFT is the cool thing around here right?

Anyways. Always connected means always on "hibernation". 

Installs could potentially block used game sales but until that is confirmed I'd say it is best to not jump to any conclusions. I also want to point out that Sony has been pretty shady about the used game sales as well. From what I've understood about PS4 is that they are allowing publshers and developers to choose if they want to block used games. Now if that is true or not I dont know.

One last comment I want to make. EA has some kind of deal with MSFT correct. now if MSFT does block used games and Sony does not I would not doubt if EA puts all of there games as timed exclusives on MSFT's console so all games are sold as new for let's say 1-6 months. It wouldn't be out of the normal if many publishers and developers would take the same approach so for all of the sony fans saying this is dumb, well it is not. it is a business strategy that will help publishers and developers (which they have been screaming about for years. Do you guys really not think they won't take advantage of this?) and in return help MSFT. So if they team up together (which they will) then it isnt looking so high and mighty for sony any more seeing as MSFT would be getting timed exclusives from many big games. So before you guys draw conclusions without even thinking them through try thinking.

I expect it to be like WiiConnect24, doubt its what naysayers are saying.

Damn Microsoft for copying Sony's idea of copying Nintendo!

I don't think its a "who's copying who" thing this time.  Even tho that whole mess is stupid to begin with.

Odd they didn't migrate it to the Wii U.

I don't like rumors, but when I read the actual details of the rumor I didn't see anything about DRM or banned used games. What I saw lead me to believe that if the rumor was true that MS wants the NexBox to be ready to play the moment you turn it on. For that it would need to be in a low power state similar to how Windows PC go into sleep mode. Turn the system on and skip the boot up. As for the mandatory installs with play-while-installing. That's to me sound like MS wants games installed so they load fast and don't wear out the Blu-Ray drive. Put the two rumors together and you have instant on and low load time. MS probably want your game console to be like your TV and toaster. You push a button and you get what you want. None of it is even close to confirmation on used game bans or always on DRM

I think the full game installs are a way to simplify matters, so every game can be a digital download with no extra effort.

There is a difference between a full install and installing random access data for faster loading. Running fmv or continuous chunks of data from the optical drive while loading random access data from the hdd is faster then hdd alone. Wasn't it Halo 3 that was optimized this way too? (ran slower completely installed to hdd)
The biggest game installs on ps3 are 4 or 5 gb, most a lot less. It's a waste of space to put everything on the hdd.


I think what they are trying to do is make it more like PC where you can just click on your games from your hard drive to change games rather than changing discs or possibly quicker load times.

That would imply a way to tie the actual disc or license to your account, which implies blocking 2nd hand sales or a system in which to transfer ownership back to the disc. You either need the disc for verification when starting the game, or a disc that becomes 'worthless' after you install the game.


Always on / always connected indeed only implies a wii connect 24 mode, or ps+ auto updates. (Or are ps+ update checks scheduled? I've never turned it on as I have an internet cap. Do not want it auto updating a 100 old games) Nothing more then a standby mode that maintains an internet connection. Maybe it's for pvr functionality and/or downloading your new episodes as they become available.
I assume it will be configurable and I'll be turning it off, just as I don't want the Wii or ps+ or pc/laptop to nose around on the internet by themselves. 'Notify me if new updates are available for download' is what I would like to see for consoles when I turn it on.

This is the king of spin. So what do you expect? However you clarified it for some I think. LOl

Noooo... can't be! It must be because they want to block used games and spy on us!

Do I really have to add /sarcasm here?

I agree with most of what you were posting. Just wanted to point out that I have seen at least a couple PS3 games have 10+GB installs, and several that were over 5+GB.

Either way, fully installing a game would be like 20GB per game for a next gen console (I'm guessing here, but Call of Duty games on PC are like 12GB so it could be a tad less than 20GB). If 500GB is the standard HDD size, which it should since that is cheap, that's still room enough for 15-20 active installed games. If you are a hoarder and play older games or game a ton, I'm sure that new feature of playing games while they install would be good if you had to delete some games to make space.

Sadly, probably yes.

To JayWood:

Thank you for posting this thread. I was tired of correting people in all the threads that were talking about it. You may want to change the thread title and information to be "Sleep Mode" though. Hibernation is a deeper state that consumes no power and requires a longer startup time. Also, here is some more info for your OP if you'd like. It is for those people who are worried about this using a lot of electricity on their bills by being "always on".