As an Xbox fan (and someone who in no way hates Sony), these are my responses:
1. DRM
Microsoft's DRM and restrictions (while I do believe they should be improved) are, on the whole, not too much different from what Steam has, and Steam is a service that is practically revered by gamers of many stripes (and is a service I personally have no qualms with, though I don't use it since I'm not a PC gamer). Neither services allow you to "own" your games (similarly, Kindle doesn't allow you to "own" your books, and iTunes doesn't allow you to "own" your songs), and either can take away access to the things you have purchased at any time. In some ways the X1 is more restrictive (namely the internet requirement, which really should be relaxed so that people can play offline for more than just 1 day at a time), while game licencing is FAR more relaxed than Steam. On Steam, you can't share access to your games with ANYONE, and you can't sell your game to, or share your game with, ANYONE, EVER. With the X1 you can sell your games to at least some retailers, as well as to friends, and you can share access to your games with up to 10 family members (an important feature that Microsoft does need to explain in full detail soon).
So far, whenever I bring up Steam, people try to act like it's completely different, and they resort to a few typical arguments:
a) "They give great sales, so you don't need to re-sell games." OK. So if Microsoft gives great sales on Xbox One, then..."well, I don't trust Microsoft to do that!" I don't care whether you THINK they will give great sales or not. They COULD, and if they DO, then this argument is invalid. (btw, recently picked up Alan Wake on sale for $5 on 360. Typical price is $30. That's a discount of over 80%.)
b) "Steam has offline mode." Yes, Microsoft needs to loosen up in this area. Yes, Steam has a more relaxed internet requirement. But you still need internet to set that up, and people have had different experiences on how long they can stay offline before being forced back online for authentication (some have gone months, others just a few weeks). Steam's offline mode clearly comes with some strings attached.
c) "PC gamers have more options than just Steam." That's true. That's also irrelevant. Steam is a platform. Xbox is a platform. Playstation is a platform. Nintendo, GOG. All platforms. Some platforms just have dedicated hardware (and guess what? Steam is getting that pretty soon, too). No one is forcing people to purchase games on any one platform; consumers have plenty of options to choose from; some platforms have DRM, with various positives and negatives attached, others have no DRM, and lack those positives and negatives.
2. Kinect
Yes, Kinect drives up the price of the machine. But I like Kinect. Not because it stands to revolutionize most core game experiences (it doesn't), but it IS capable revolutionizing how we interact with our television as a whole, and it IS capable of providing unique, interesting experiences that I might not otherwise get (like Child of Eden motion controls), and now that it is included in every Xbox, developers might actually be willing to take a risk and really innovate with it, since they don't have to worry about a split base of users (some with and some without Kinect).
As for privacy? First of all, Microsoft has been very clear that the data collected by the new Kinect will only leave your Xbox with your permission. You don't have to take my word on it; just google "Xbox Wire kinect privacy." Should be the first link. And second...if you're really that worried about the government spying on you, then the new Kinect is the LEAST of your problems. You'd better not use the internet. Or make any phone calls. EVER. You pretty much need to break off from society and just live in a cave or in the woods somewhere, because that's the only way you can (maybe) guarantee that the government CAN'T spy on you.
Final point:
I don't say these things to make it seem like Microsoft is infallible, or that Sony is trash for not doing the exact same thing, or any nonsense like that. I say it to show that Microsoft's X1 policies are not by default going to lead to the doom of the games industry, just as Steam and their DRM did not doom PC gaming. If anything, PC gaming has been re-invigorated by Steam, which leads me to believe that the Xbox One COULD (not necessarily will) see the same level of success, and help push us towards a day when the middleman (retailers) will not hold such an iron grip over the industry.
