This is only a guard against piracy. Nothing more, yet customers who want to just swap games or sell their games are being punished. MS had a huge problem with piracy last gen, this is their solution and while great for them, it sucks for alot of their customer base.

Saying used games kills companies is silly, as in order for there to be a used game, there has to be a sale on the game. If a game doesn't sell many copies for there to be 'used games' to begin with then that is the reason the company has failed. There also won't be many used copies in stores to find... so you buy the new copy. :P

If the RRP is $60 and there is already a traded version in the store for $55 (not been out long with no real discount), then the game was probably crap. :P

This said, what about those who want to sell their games on eBay...

Wait, what about eBay? A major retailer in used games sales. It might be small in comparison to the money they make but no used games sales on eBay? That's a lot of lost cash right there.

No not true, you can swap games and sell them. Reread policies

Cool, so I can just sell my games on eBay like before huh? Good times. 

I've read the policies of late, going to to places like Gamestop and trading in your game is still possible, always has been due to whatever MS is planning. The family sharing thing seems confusing mainly because of exploitation. If you can freely share a game, between 10 of your 'friends', then those 10 can play a free game so that is a lost sale from this new 'used game' system.

Used games bad, free sharing good. Eitherway, not sales for the developer.

To each his own. I'm fine with it. your not buying it, so why are you so upset?

Ramifications to the industry as a whole, more restrictions, less freedoms, less rights. Why are you okay with this?

THe last time I didnt have internet (for any notable time atleast) was about 4-6 months, when I went without for just over 3 days (ISP problem) and know what I did in those 3 days? I thought seen as I couldnt play CoD online, I did the campaign (which I normally dont bother with). Turned out to be boring, and then switched to doing some other campaigns such as Battlefield 3 which I never really intended too. That wouldnt be an option on XBox.

The amount of times I have lost internet is rare, and usually only for a few hours, so not a huge problem. But if I had an Xbox that requires to be 'online authenticated' every 24 hours, that problem could easily get much more noticable. What if the last time I played my XBox was over 24 hours ago (I work a fulll time job, so very feasible) and I get some free time to play it, and at that time, its one of those occasions that I have lost my connection due to the ISP (now that can happen often if only for an hour or two) that free time and chance for me to play my games/console has gone, its not coming back. My time is precious. 

Now I dont know how this '24 hour check in' thing works (thats Microsofts fault). WIll my XBox turn itself on at a set time and renew it? does it only renew when I manually turn the Xbox on? my current XBox hasnt been turned on for coming two weeks now, so again thats a feesible scenario. But lets say it turns itself on and renews it, and you can set the time. What if by chance the time I decide to turn it on is 23 hours after it last 'checked in' and 5 minutes before I turn it on my net has died again? 

For clarification, my internet isnt bad as the above scenario's make it sound, but thats because I dont use it 24/7 - so when there is a fault its not the end of the world. But other than the one time I lost it for 3 days in the last 6 months, but it wouldnt be far from the trurth to say it goes off around once a week for a few hours ~ but thats a negligible amount of time, that hinders me little because nothing I have is 100% dependant on it being there all the time.

There is also another extreme to the above, what if the internets not working and I just want to watch a Blu-Ray? will my XBox even turn on or function at all if the internet goes down and hasnt been able to check in for 24 hours?

There is another scenario, im lucky to be in full time employment and earn decent money (im not rich or anything, but if I want a new console I can buy one without much of a problem). But take someone like my brother, he is self employed and work (and thus pay) isnt always reliable. There are times of the year that the work dries up and money becomes tight. He has an XBox, though didnt buy it at release, a few years later. Last Christmas he was lacking funds, so I brought them a PS3 for the family (family of 4 one being a 12 year old). He can only afford the most basic internet package, and get the basic internet. There have been occasions when his money has been very tight and he falls behind on none essential bills, so (though its not happened much) he has lost his internet. But today if that happened, he, his son, can and do still play there XBox. What if that happened and they only had that XBox One under the TV? tough shit you cant play it anymore.

My best friend (who coincidentally is also self employed, though his line of work means its a more steady income) lives in an area where the internet coverage is exceptionally poor (its actually really bad, I tested it once and only gets 300 kbs DL speed, which to me doesnt even qualify as broadband). He can just about use his XBox and play online AS LONG as no one else in the house is using the net (even someone browsing the web on the PC causes him massive lag). Where does he stand with the 'functions online only' stance? who was the guy that said 'well move house'? as that seems to be there answer ~ but this may not even be a problem for them, as though its a piss poor connection, its always there ~ but Microsoft havent said, and with this Cloud they keep going on about, would they even be able to play an XBox One if they got one? I honestly dont know

Myself, I have always been a PlayStation fan (probably nostalgia as the PSone was the first console I owned and bought myself with my first payday), so I owned a PS3 and get more use out of it. But the above two (brother and friend) have always been pro-XBox, along with most the people I know. In the end I brought one so I could play with them on Battlefield/CoD etc. Im actually pleased to know they both now are looking at the PS4 more attentively as for the first time since PSone they will buy the console I want instead of me having to buy their preffered console to enjoy playing with them.

Used games, I dont really buy used games, but I do sell alot of my games on to make the purchase of my next game a little cheaper. Though again, as above mentioned, they buy used games, and definitly trade them in as they cant afford otherwise. But from a personal stance, its not a deal breaker for me. If I couldnt sell my own used games on it would just result in me buying less, and being more frugal in which games I do buy. But if anyone buys a game that they cant sell on, dont you think alot more developers, those smaller ones are going to vanish than they do now? if you buy a game and are stuck with it, especially when money is a real issue, are you going to buy a game that has had little coverage because the maker isnt loaded like EA and advertising it all over the TV? a game that only has a 70 on metacritic and getting average reviews? probably not as once you get it your stuck with it, so if its crap, tough.

So no used games is probably great for your big game companies such as EA and Activision, but what about the smaller ones? Highmoon Studios? Deep Silver? though I have no evidence to back that up, its purely my opinion, but I believe it would have a negative effect on those companies and more would end up winding up than they do with the current format.

Your half right, I wont say I always planned to get a PS4 no matter what, im not a fool and want to know what im getting before saying 'im getting that'. But its fair to say I was always favourable to the PS4 - but I own all the consoles, I already own PS3, Xbox 360, Vita, 3DS and a Wii U (which unfortunatly gets little use). If I wanted both PS4 and XBox One, its safe to say I could with ouch much problem. Before all the news came out it was a safe bet to say I would own both, partly because thats what my friends would get, and partly because there are some really good games that you can only play on XBox One, such as Halo. But now its hard to say I still want the XBox knowing all the caveats that come with it, especially when compared to the PS4, which basically will operate the same way as the XBox 360 and PS3 I own now do, which I like the way they work now.

The one thing that would be good for them is this sharing between 10 friends XBox One offers, but in truth, its hardly been mentioned or pushed by Microsoft, its not been explained clearly that people like them (who dont visit forums and gaming sites) are going to get that info. If I asked them what they thought about it, they wouldnt have a clue what I was talkiing about. But from my understanding it would be very good for them as people who dont buy many games and cant afford to buy more if they did so desire. I dont know why Microsoft havent pushed that more, it seems like something that would get people interested in the system more. Maybe im just being a skeptic after all the negativity thats been surrounding them since the reveal, and it causes me to think there is a big catch to this that hasnt been revealed yet ~ otherwise why not push it? but even lets say that there is no catch, one person can buy a game and share it without limitation with 10 friends, that one shining light wouldnt be enough to me personally to overlook the things I dont like.

Internet is the future, and one day virtually the whole world will be connected, where the cost to do so is minimal, and everyone has a good connection. As you said, thats the FUTURE, we're talking about today, and thats not now. Maybe in 8 years time when the PS5 and XBox Two(?) come out will be at or atleast alot closer to that future.

I was nor wasnt planning on buying it, I hadnt decided, and know how much I love my electrical goodies and new technology, I couldnt say with 100% honesty I still wont. But the chances are alot lower now than they were prior, and the chances that I will buy one on launch even lower than that. Im not doom mongering though, im sharing my opinion.

Privacy isnt a major issue for me, though I like having it, im not doing anything that im afraid of being seen. Though I dont want a Kinect in general, as I like Joypads, not waving at my TV like an idiot.

Sorry that post went on a lot longer than originally planned :)

I agree with your post .im always online with my 360 and PS3 so being always online isnt an issue for me and maybe PS3 only owners worry about online because of the month long outage.and you get 24hs offline anyway .i wouldnt buy any of the new gen consoles if i wasnt online you might as well stick with current gen

welll first I don't live in the US.... I did for a while but I don't and I'm not american.... and actually it's in USA I have had the worst internet experiences of all developped countries I have been in..... telecommunication in the US is actually pretty bad compare to a lot of other countries.....

so yeah I reuse my cellphone analogy cause internet predates the modern cellphone infrastructure..... heck even in luxor egypt I had internet stable enough for a check in every 24h granted it wasn't enough to play online it was way enough for anything that doesn't need low lattency like a check in.... I have to go back in mid 90's to remember a day where I had zero internet during 24h straight beside when I was moving to a new place and don't have a new subscription yet and even then I still have my cellphone I can use as a relay..... so this bitching is purely about not liking the principle, not about capabilities, out of the 21 countries none should have technical issues with that policy with few exception if you are really in a remote part of the country.... so don't like it, great that's why you have sony or nintendo device.... it's called choice.... but stop trying to make it appear like an issue.... it's just that YOU have an issue with the policy.... nothing more...

no the XB never was intended to be an offline console since the first XB launch heck it never intended to be a gming only device from the get go that's why the first XB got replaced by the 360 and got stoped so abruptly.... the only reason it plays games is because it was the easiest most efficient way for MS to enter your living room in mass.... they never hide that objective..... not happy with that idea and philosophy go back to "real console only device" like WiiU or PS4.... and that's exactly what MS is saying..... you think it's arrogant from them..... who cares go play your games already or is it that they are not entertaining enough for you so you have enough time to come bitch about the competition on forums....?????

yet half of your argument is irrelevent to the masses.... even what people say on XB is god website is irrelevent..... most people are not even aware of all the BS we are talking on forums right now and even if they are for the most part they have no clue what they mean.... 

I stand by it BR or DVD or CD is a one of the shittiest less reliable way to store data ever invented..... even an oldscool floppy is more reliable on the long run than a disc.... and scratches is one of the less important flaws of the support.... but that's not the debate, since we are stuck with it for one more gen (probably the last, finally) 

about the 30 day thing.... any friend I'm willing to lend a game has been in my friend list for way more than 30 days already... I can lend my entire lib at once and vice versa and I don't need and don't want disc periode.... been bitching about it way before we even started talking about the nextbox..... using disc in those day and age is the most saddening thing for a device like a console or a computer.... this is a bad solution technicaly, financially and ecologically... I'm fine with digital only I never sold back a game on PC and most people don't, I sold games back on console but so cheap that it was more to clear my shelves than to have money back..... I'd be willing to lose the possibility entirely to resell games if it means the cost of initial purchase is lower and/or goes down faster.... than having to deal with shit disc even harden BR....

and please comparing server potential of Sony with server potential from MS is a joke.... even if they weren't adding more to reach 300k it'd be like comparing  an airliner with a fighter jet..... and I'm willing to pay for the quality of maintenance, security, stability and services MS is offering so far...  if it's so great on sony's side why is that that so fewer people are using it... 

no the DRM policy of MS doesn't bother me since my console is always online heck my 360 is even always on periode... and that policy will be standard in years to come because internet infrastructure will be better and better, in relevant markets.... so yeah some countries won't have access to new tech that way big deal.... if the infrastructure in those country are not ready I'm pretty sure not being able to game on a 500 device is the last of their problems

again I am not saying I love DRM or the DRM policy of MS I'm just saying they are completely irrelevent to me and my use and will be to most people, even if some us will jump ship it will be on pure ideology not on technical issue with the policy.... so do it.... but Sony has nothing on XB when it comes down to what the product does.... yeah it might be a lil bit more powerful in the box.... but we saw how that turned out last gen and cloud computing makes any stand alone console virtuallly less powerful from the start..... 

and finally selfpublishing indie.... heck no.... I love indie games but to be honnnest a vast majority makes pure shit and i hate to have to move piles of shit before finding a dimond in the rough..... if that gate means less indie content but of better quality I'm fine with that too.... cause when I say I played close to 200 games and have 21 left to complete this gen that includes only XB or XBLA games not the indies.....

so once again the way things are set is fine with my use and it is the use most people over 25 year old do with it..... they don't lend much, they do way more than just game.... actually game is a very small part of their entertainement time and more of an artifact of their youth, or a way to share time with their kids or friends... MS understood that and is aiming at that chunk of the population.... they aim at young actives with a familly, or grown ups gamers with less time than during their freshman years in college.... and to this crowd XB1 is beating PS4 by light years....

the spying and DRM policy is just good argument material for geeks not relevent to the masses... since it ain't spying any more than any other connected device or software like your phone or your computer when you use scroogle to navigate... and you don't see people stop buying android phones last time I checked or leaving facebook like the last exodus..... not getting XB1 for those reason is just opinion based and an opinion that is not a concern to people that are not affriad to give some access to corporations, have access to modern infrastructure, and don't really care about spending money on new games since its what they do anyway 99% of the time.... and that is the target of MS.... always was there intent... if you don't fit that model then don't buy it.... that's what they've been saying..... don't feel offended.... if you don't like the policy of the rotary club or the ritz carlton or can't afford to be in it you don't go bitch about the policy or the fact that you have to pay a premium price for more services or services you don't care/need.... you just go to a different place/club or don't go in vaccation same here wit those device....