It's nice to see MS throw their own under a bus for telling the truth. Hopefully, they do something about it before this thing comes out.

You can argue/defend this till your fingers bleed. 

You have almost 12 months of rumors from sources saying always connected... not always on. You don't need to explain the difference between the two. Most of the "leaks" have pointed out the required connection for the Next Box. It's not as if these sources over the last 12 months simply confused the Always On to mean Required Internet Connection. Whether it's was something Microsoft was thinking about, then later got rid off... or will go through with is unknown as of right now.

Do I think Microsoft will do this? No. I think it is such a bad move that they couldn't possibly go through with it. But that thinking doesn't discredit all those many sources over the last 12 months. Yours doesn't either.

No you didn't.

His account is blocked from public view.

The only ones you could have read are the ones that were used in the articles.

I'd be surprised if MS finalized the always online requirement mainly due to consumer backlash.

For one, there has to be some sort of offline mode, limited as it may be, for those times when an internet connection is out or not available. Since this is a home console, and not something the average person takes along with them in a console backpack all over the place (and yes, I know there are people like this out there), this would be mainly be when a user's ISP is on the fritz. Or when XBL is offline for service, updates, whatever. Regardless, the idea that when any of those apply, one couldn't simply turn on their console and play some single player whatever until services were restored is a legitimate grievance.

But, even if they go through with that, keep in mind that this is something that could presumably be changed in an update if it remains an issue for too many consumers.

Just last summer, both the dev kits for the PS4/orbis and the Xbox 3/durango were always online mandatory. SCE has since backpedaled, and there's no reason why MS couldn't as well, even though it sounds clearly like their strategy with the XB3 is based almost entirely upon providing/selling online services rather than simply selling a box for playing games.

I really want the NextBox to be always connected.

This is the future.

It's the same DRM that exists with the Xbox 360. 

No, you have speculation.  You don't have credible sources.  The most credible source there has been for the next Xbox has been Super DaE and even HE has refuted the notion that it required an Online connection for DRM.  The rest are anonymous sources unable to provide evidence or proof.

Again.  Your sources for the original rumor is Stephen Totillo at Kotaku.  He speculates that DRM would be always online.  That's in 25, January, 2012.  It isn't until 3, February, 2013 that The Edge staff through a "credible source" confirms that the next Xbox requires an always online connection for DRM.  No proof or evidence is given, just confirmation of an unsubstantiated rumor originally incepted by Stephen Totillo.  A few months later, you have Kotaku using additional "credible sources" to support the very rumor they began.

Yet all through this, you have a credible source, since everything he has produced has been 100% accurate so far, saying he saw no evidence of always online DRM, as well as several other anonymous sources currently working on games for the system saying the same thing. 

You can't have two camps saying two different things.  One is right and one is wrong. 

Being in the position that Orthy is, it is NOT a good thing to have happen.  Microsoft had to go into damage control over a response of one of its employees which told people to suck it down, regarding rumors about always on.  He gets buried, if anything.  It is akin to what happened with DMC, where they decided to do a mocking of the wearing of blond hair.  You don't taunt your audience with always on and so on, making them feel wrong about it.

On this note, I will give you my "always on". It is a boardgame.  Open up the boxes and play, and it isn't dependent upon any sort of power or booting up time, and I can patch the game if i don't like it, the way I choose to do so.

Ok lets go ahead and breakdown the last Kotaku article because it's the newest. Here we go

Two Kotaku sources have added more credence to the rumor that the next Xbox, expected to battle the PlayStation 4 in late 2013 or early 2014, will be an always-online system, though it will be able to tolerate dropped connections.

Unless something has changed recently," one of the sources told us over email, "Durango consumer units must have an active internet connection to be used."

Durango is the codename for the next-gen Xbox.

"If there isn't a connection, no games or apps can be started," the source continued. "If the connection is interrupted then after a period of time--currently three minutes, if I remember correctly--the game/app is suspended and the network troubleshooter started."

The PS4 will not require an online connection to start or run games, Sony has confirmed. No gaming console ever has.

Reporting about the next-gen Xbox is still mostly a matter of checking rumors and leaks. No one in or out of Microsoft is authorized to discuss the console publicly. But there are a growing number of people tied to the gaming industry, including our sources for this story, who have had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with Microsoft's plans for the machine. Development of games for the console is intensifying. Microsoft has sent beta development kits,sporting a new controller and Kinect motion/voice sensor array to game creators. Our main sources for this story have a perfect track record in getting these kinds of things right.

Ok so how did he or she confuse Always On with Internet Connection Required? After 3 minutes of no connection, no games can be played. Talking about internet there... not electricity. 

Going further

That said, a caution and a caveat: other sources familiar with the codenamed Durango console have told us that they are still unaware of any Microsoft plans regarding an online requirement. No one has been able to say it's not true and some have speculated that this is required at the operating system level and therefore isn't something Microsoft has to tell all developers or retail partners. Microsoft also has the ability to change this type of requirement seemingly at a moment's notice through changes in firmware or networking infrastructure.

Microsoft doesn't comment at all about its next-gen system, so the best we have from them on the matter is as follows: "We do not comment on rumors or speculation. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform, but we don't have anything further to share at this time." That's from a Microsoft spokesperson after we asked, today, about this always-online rumor and told them this story was planned.

But if Microsoft is about to walk this back, they probably haven't done so yet. One of our sources says that the always-online plan was in effect as recently as two weeks ago.

The always-online rumor has been swirling for about a year. We'd been hearing it but couldn't nail it down with the specificity we have today. We raised it as a possibility, tied to a good source, but were unclear how dropped connections would be handled. We also weren't clear if this was something like Microsoft's anti-used-game system, a plan the company briefed partners on in 2012 but that we had heard so little of since that it may well have gone away--or if this was like the plans for the new Kinect, which, it has become increasingly clear, is an essential element of the Durango.

An always-online requirement would obviously be a big deal. It raises many questions about how the system would perform in places that don't have reliable Internet and about the extent that the connection would be used to authenticate ownership of games. This is something every gamer would want to know about. So, since we first heard about it, we have tried to confirm whether the requirement was real and in the cards. Sources in development, publishing and retail mostly responded with shrugs.

In January, the hacker SuperDaE began sharing official development documents for the next-gen PlayStation and Xbox. Many of the dozens of pages of the Xbox/Durango documentation were full of programming code but the parts in plain English--the parts that, honestly, we could understand--said nothing about an online requirement. They were, however, crystal clear about the new system needing the new Kinect to operate: "Every Durango console ships with a Kinect sensor. A Kinect sensor must be attached and configured for the console to function."

Some sources told us that they believed that the Durango development kit required an online connection so that Microsoft could keep tabs on them and update them with new, ever-evolving firmware. Others weren't sure.

A few weeks ago, we heard from one reliable industry source who told us about a Durango developer making a game that would use an always-online connection for gameplay purposes, to constantly be able to share game data back and forth. It wasn't clear, though, if this indicated the Durango's capacity to be always online--Nintendo's Wii had its own optional 24/7 always-online mode--or if the online connection was a must.

Meanwhile, the site VGLeaks, which appeared to have access to many of the same Durango documents shared with Kotaku by SuperDaE posted a new document that appeared to indicate an online connection was required for the console. It referred to an "Always Online, Always Connected" console, the better to give users current content and quick access to their entertainment, without waiting for updates or for the machine to boot up. We were unable to confirm this document's authenticity, but the major gaming website IGN reported that they confirmed that it is real. The gaming magazine Edge has also reported that their sources say the next Xbox will require an online connection.

The new confirmation we've heard from sources, including the specifics about how the Durango would handle a dropped connection, bolsters our confidence that all this smoke is a sign of some fiery facts.

But why would they do this?

Every person we've talked to about the always-online connection, internally and externally, has been incredulous. They predict a fiasco. They detect hubris in a Microsoft riding high off of the Xbox 360's incredible post-Kinect sales performance. But they also detect, as I have, an intensified interest in Microsoft's part to position the next Xbox as an entertainment device, to not emphasize games as significantly as they had with past Microsoft consoles. Add that to far shakier rumors of the next Xbox working as a cable box or DVR or some other TV-viewing enabler--something not a single source of mine could confirm--and you might wonder: if my cable box always has to be connected, why not my next Xbox?

Personally i think think this interview is better than any rumors about what MS thinking

Microsoft: internet bandwidth issues make cloud gaming a "challenge"
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-06-07-microsoft-internet-bandwidth-issues-make-cloud-gaming-a-challenge

I must say Microsoft hires great people who know how to clear up shitstorms. Rarely do you ever catch them in one.