Its not blocking used games and its not always-on... It is whether or not the cable and Television apps will require Xbox Live Gold. That is ultimately all I want to know right now. I've given up on xbox as a gaming device but I have to admit, the prospect of a set top box that I may occasionally be able to play games on is intriguing. My current cable box only allows me to watch tv, why not replace it with an xbox?

The way I see it Xbox this gen will be what my PS3 was last gen, a multimedia device. My PS3 gets so little play time that I went ahead and sold the controller. Instead I use it as a blu ray player and netflix streaming device (netflix on xbox has a horrible interface).

I guess, the other consideration is whether or not PS4 will also have the same capabilities close to launch in which case I may not buy the nextbox after all.

Those features requiring a Gold membership is already a given for obvious reasons.

Not obvious enough for me apparently. If they are going through Comcast or Verizon or some other cable provider and I am already paying my cable bill why would I also need xbox live to watch tv?

MS will always require Live membership.

Now, will they split their services for the sake of the mass consumer who will not want to pay a fee for added functionality outside of games?

Considering the use of Netflix and HuluPlus requires the paid Live service, then MS will force it to be paid.

BUT if they truly want to compete with Apple and Google's set-top boxes, then its very likely those media based features will be free and only the higher end gaming aspects will require the yearly fees.

The latter is what I'd place my bet on.

Because I have to pay for gold if I wanna use my 360 as a cable box?  Microsoft is banking on everything being forced through a gold account.  Hell you can't even web browse without gold.  Kinda funny cause a few things I would check out on my 360 redirects to Internet Explorer and I can't use it cause I don't have gold.

You're not missing out on much. The consoles are plain *horrible* at web browsing. :P

Last few years I've been buying a 12 month gold subscription, but then only use the console during a Halo launch and maybe a few weeks after, then it gathers dust for another 12 months and I migrate back to the PC, waste of cash? Probably.

You never know, Microsoft might ditch the live! subscription idea with the next Xbox in favor of a different more advert-heavy business model.

Considering their current dashboard is filled with ads, whether you have gold or not, is quite telling.  Why loose out on money when people will gladly pay for something they shouldn't and get advertising money?  I actually see these extra features as a way for Microsoft to charge you more.

The Wii U web browser is pretty great, so maybe the other 8th generation consoles will follow suit.

@OP: I'm a little confused. You want the next Xbox to serve as a cable box with Netflix and Hulu applications, with the option to play video games? If you're not that interested in the games, why not just stick with Comcast or whatever, and continue to use those TV/movie apps on your PS3 or computer?

i wont be buying the next xbox even if the rumours turn out to be false... after switching to ps3 i feel really baited and drained by microsoft because of its paid live service that the main competition can nearly replicate for free.. they are dead to me. and no matter how much they impress at e3 i wont be going back.

I like the option of knowing that it plays games even if I never use it to do that. I did play some games on PS3 at one point. (I just do less gaming nowadays in general).