Gamers for a big part have always been students or people around that age, MS is disoriented about what their target audience is me thinks.

It's just a shift, and gaming is becoming more like everything else.

You get access to a virtual world, Kinde's - you own a license for the book - World of Warcraft - always online - and you have to wait in a cue, itunes - you own the license to the music. But people are freaking out because they want to hate Microsoft.

The new Xbox One is an all digital machine in reality. Yes, it's a shift from the game disk to your loginID. And just like itunes and the others, in a few years everyone will be used to it. A few years ago DJ's and friends had to carry everything to bring music around - it was heavy, bulky and would break. Now it's all digital and people love it.

It will be the same in a few years with gaming and people talk about how great it is not to have to carry around all those disk yet still have access to their entire library.

I agree, just like the PS3 targeted gamers with second jobs. 

So that is my advantage, this is what I gain from the most restricting piece of hardware ever concieved ?

I am relieved from the unbelievable burden of carrying the disc around.

snapalisious !

Funded by Microsoft you say? Well, this is amazing then. Lost before even reaching the battle. Xbox.com might as well join in. Why do they say about middle class gamers? the poor game too

Yeah a big part of their target audience is kids, teenagers, and college students. The majority of those will not have a problem with the online check thing, especially considering the next generation of kids are growing up in an always online environment and will not think twice about something like this.

I'm a college student, and don't have much money, yet I am perfectly OK with it.

On a side note I don't think they will require a 24 hour checkup on games that you bought digitally. The only reason for the 24 hour check is to keep people from buying games, installing them, going offline forever, and selling them right away to get most of their money back despite still being able to play them.

There is a certain point when turning your face the other way is no longer possible, Polygon may be cruel but at least with this they show they are no longer bias towards defending only microsoft just like IGN did a few years back and decided to start showing the PS3 love in 2009 :)

Remind me how many students actually have contracts with their cellphones and how many just buy pre paid time. Most gamers operate on a budget and are "underprivileged" by default.

How many of those "99% of all companies" mentioned by TheJimbo1234 have a target audience with a high percentage of costumers without a steady or a low income ?

I don't think you understood my post.  It's not the most restrictive piece of hardware, not even in gaming. 

But it is a console catching up with what many other devices have already been for years.  Something like 30% of game sales on the Xbox are already digital.

That was, what I consider, one of the big changed Bill Gates made to computer tech - that you don't OWN the program, but a license for it.  It has lowered program's cost, but changed how you access them.  It means more people have access to it - but under limits.

And how did that work out for Microsoft?

Do you really think that most students (the type that game and buy the Xbox brand and live in first world countries) don't have access to internet? Heck I know if you live on campus you pretty much automatically have internet. So again, most will not have a problem with this.

I can bet that students who own the 360 probably have among the highest rate of connectivity to the internet and XBL out of the whole 360 userbase. Why would they care if the next Xbox requires an internet connection once in 24 hours (and probably only for physical games) especially considering that internet is only ever becoming cheaper and more common.