1- Not a lot of people will buy the next Xbox if it needs to be always online to work. And Microsoft will definitely lose a HUGE market share if they do it.

2- Maybe the real reason people are whining is because they don't have a steady internet connection or they just don't like being online all the time :/

I'm sure many gamers will deal with it by buying a videogame system from one of the competitors.

I largely agree with Cliffy here.

And I also have no problem with "always on" personally. the last 9.5 years with Live and 6 years with PSN, I've never once not had them connected to the internet. I don't see the big deal for me persoanlly.

I understand it might be different if I had dail-up or lived in the rural reaches of Appallachia, but Cliffy is right. People without a 90% uptime stable broadband connection are going to be in the super minority of gamers by Christmas 2014 when the masses will be adopting the next gen. There's no sense developing the system for the handful of early adopters.

I don't know what's worse: the shrillness of the internet or the haughty "eat your peas" condescension people like CliffyB respond with.

As to the issue itself? The inevitability of always-online doesn't put it above criticism or doubt. Especially if companies just pin the complaints on older gamers who will be less and less relevant as the "iPad generation" grows up.

To each there own, yeah i think it was taking it out of proportion to wish bad things to happen to someone because you dont agree, should he have lost his job? no.

I think anyone who uses twitter or other social things are begging for disaster. there is a reason we can not read each others thoughts, we would kill each other. Twitter lets people speak exactly what is on their mind as soon as it happens and no time to really give it thought first. i dont facebook, myspace, or tweet. i refuse to use them at all. So as long as sony doesnt force me to sign up on facebook then we are good to go.

to be fair Orth didn't say just one dumb thing, he had a fucking flame war with a game developer, where he said a number of relly dumb things.

Disagree completely. If it was my company and my product, and someone litteraly told my customers to 'deal with it' when they are voicing concerns, I'd fire the guy on the spot. That is not how you do PR, and anyone with at least some fraction of competence should know that.

Also, Cliffy B is 100% wrong in defending always online, but it is to be expected. He is part of the game industry hivemind after all.

I find it weird that Orthy used to work for Sony and used to badmouth Halo.

Perhaps he was a Sony sleeper agent? :O

Uchiha Orth: his Sharingan is always on. XD

Respect to Cliffy B.