I'm going to assume that 3rd parties are going to have identical achievements and trophies, which means this updated achievements crap will be mirrored in trophies. I don't want to be forced to buy another game I probably don't want to get a Platinum trophy. I don't want to be forced to buy and use an app for a phone or tablet to get a Platinum trophy. Given the age of my phone and the fact I don't have or want a tablet I don't want to be forced to buy a new phone or a tablet (or a PSVita in terms of Sony) to be able to get a platinum trophy.

Cross title and cross platform achievements / trophies are a dick move which have nothing to do with improving gamer experience and everything to do with parting gamers from their money.

Just as well I'm not a completionist, I only go for platinums that are easy to get and in games I really like.

I quite like the idea of achievements / trophies for events. Like in Demon's Souls if they had a trophy for playing when they locked WT to black or white, and you achieved something that requires Pure White or Pure Black world tendancy. That sort of thing encourages people to buy games early, rather than wait for them to hit the bargain bin. No problem with that. But it's unlikely I'll get many platinum trophies for games requiring that sort of targetted gameplay schedule.

Hopefully you're allowed to carry your Xbox account to the next console with all your achievements and stuff.

I think a change in achievements is fine so long as they make it so that it isn't displayed as "0/1650 GS" for a game that has had DLC releases and you have barely touched.

It should just say "0 GS" for those games and just show the total score with a list of your achievements you have and a list of ones you could still get. I hate it when I have games that I play mostly multiplayer, but don't have multiplayer achievements, and so it looks like I have a low gamerscore for those games.

That isn't an answer at all. It's a basic statement that answers nothing. Of course a disc purchased from the store should work on any hardware. All of their hardware is designed the same. They mention absolutely nothing about it being able to work on "all" hardware or being playable from multiple systems.

There is a big different between "any" and "all" to begin with. But even when not nitpicking that detail, his statement does nothing to say used games will work on any system. His next statement supports what a lot of publishers are currently moving towards with the 360/PS3 and activation codes to play online parts of their games. Sony and MS will have the tech to block used games or to handle DRM, and let publishers decide how to use it.

They already confirmed the PS4 can play used games http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/21/sony-ps4-can-play-used-games/

From what has been understood developers/publishers have the choice whether to block them or not.  However Sony has not talked much about it yet.  

That is an old source.  This one is more recent:  http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/02/sony-uk-exec-ps4-used-game-question-isnt-clarified-just-yet/

Oh,according to user "RicardJulianti",up to publisher=the console itself will require online lol

I didn't read the whole thread so this is probably going to be exactly what everyone else said....sorry about that

The rumors about Sony blocking used games had everyone up in arms at first, but it turned out that they are (probably) leaving it up to publishers if they want to do it or not. Same goes for this always online stuff. In the article they say that it will have some sort of always online requirement, but that publishers will likely be the ones controlling if the game boots you without an internet connection. This could be what Thurrott meant when he said that it wouldn't "be as draconian as many seem to believe." It could mean that you need to be online to access the media stuff, or XBLA, or just the downloaded games, or it'll be like Steam where you connect to the internet to register the game, but then can play it offline. (if that's how Steam works......I don't use it because my PC is garbage)

This sounds a lot better than a Sim City like DRM function, if it turns out to be true. Microsoft was pretty bold when it came to requiring a broadband connection for XBL, so it's not like they haven't done crazy things in the past.

It's a bit confusing though when you get into it....always online required, but you can (probably) still play offline......so what happens to the 42% of the userbase that doesn't have XBL at all? (~75m-76m 360's sold, 44m Gold & Silver XBL accounts)...do they just have to find another alternative? I get the whole....anti-piracy thing, but it still seems a bit weird to me....people still hacked Sim City to play it without the DRM so what's to stop them here? People have hacked Halo 4 to play online with mods....the DRM would just seem like a challenge to hackers.

When someone's favorite franchise turns out to require an online connection in order to play and they don't have the internet, or one that is stable enough....they won't be able to get it unless they drag their Xbox to a friend's house, register the game, and then drag it back. If it requires a constant connection, that's the end of that.

It's unfortunate that this is really seeming to be true in one form or another....I have enjoyed my 360 quite a bit over the years. But paying for XBL and then needing that connection to at least register games in order to play them offline is very unappealing....and I have an internet connection that would work just fine. If it's all one big misunderstanding, awesome. Really the bigger issue for me is Kinect...I would rather not absolutely NEED it for the console to function. Also, not a fan of Windows 8 or even the current 360 layout...even after you take away the ads.

Hopefully they don't brush it under the rug on the 21st. This is all getting a bit to crazy to ignore.

Dude, seriously? Lay off. I was talking about a different source entirely and even the Polygon article says "Sources tell Polygon that the next Xbox will indeed have some form of an always-on requirement."