Even though I am a Pro PS guy I won't troll the Pro Microsoft people...

There seems to be a lot of reasons to believe this rumor. I am not going to list them. I will simply state that I find it hard to believe just because it seems like insta-console death.

I will however ask the few who are defending it a question. How is this move (however unlikely) good for you???

Its over for MS, unless Sony fucks up the price I'm getting a PS4

I know the Sony guys are fully erect over this but for what its worth, the dude he was having the back and forth with works for Bioware and has since said they always troll each other and joke on twitter. So people can probably chill calling him a douchebag among other things. Whether the always-online stuff is true or not, apparently the cracks at some rural parts of the country was just good fun between friends.

How hilarious is it going to be if this always-online stuff just turns out to be the same stuff our smart TV's and other things already do? The Xbox reveal is going to be hilarious either way.

People will move house to play Xbox.

I wish people would use the proper term when describing the function. Always on does not mean always online.

Some thoughts-

If you think of games in a traditional brick and mortar sense then always online sucks. But if you think of games or an entire platform as a service (which inturn is a collection of smaller services) always on is the only thing that makes sense. Your cable box is always online, because that's the only way such a service would work. And so might your 720.

Truth is it's only as bad as it's implemented (could go either way here).

One things for sure, if Microsoft do go this route gamers would have to give something up (loss of ownership rights to software, mandatory service fees, and potential connection problems, etc) but also potentially gain something in return (cheap/free hardware subsidized by contracts, and a significantly more functional, robust, and content rich online infrastructure with content and features only possible with an always online system.)

As one scenario; I could see an always on x-box that's $100 with a two year monthly service plan out sell a $400 PS4. Nothing to do with the quality of the system, but just from a business perspective. And I'm totally a Sony guy.

The next gen will be won by who ever has the better business model plain and simple. It's foolish to discount Microsoft so easily, especially based on rumor...

"Why on earth would I live there? Ha!

Really? I would say that MS is very smart when it comes to marketing. They are the only one out of the 3 that could pull something like this and have it come across as something positive. I mean look at Xbox Live.

wait, so based on this graph we can conclude that M$ has never profited from their gaming division??  >.>

Here's some more fuel to the always online fire
http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2200505&postcount=46

Detective gaf at work lol (user pennywise found the following)

http://www.xboxlivescore.com/profile/Mr-Lake

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/s...operId,126367/

This guy.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmohilchock

Working here :
http://www.theworkshop.us.com/about.php