Truthfully, though, we don't know.  We nothing to definitively judge it's worth right now, but MS and the devs working on the X1 seem to think it's going to be a difference maker.  Using it the way they are hinting at is an emerging technology, like multicore processing once was.  We keep judging everything about the cloud on how things are now, ignoring how fast technology progresses.  By fall 2014, where will internet connections, prices, availability and speed be?  How better will developers grasp how they can use the cloud to enhance games?  How about by fall 2015?  2016?  

You see this is what I don't understand about the backlash to what they are saying about the X1 and the cloud.  This has the potential to shake things up but so many seem to fighting even the very notion.  I see more excitement about 4k than this, and that will require a RIDICULOUS personal investment for us as consumers whenever they become available in the future.  The burgeoning integration of 'the cloud' into mainstream gaming should be championed by us gamers instead of letting petty company loyalties and destructive negativity drive our dialogue.  

You're assuming Moore's law of integrated circuits applies to Internet Service Providers. Considering my ISP's copper network around here is 30 years old, that's a dubious guess at best. 

The question, though, is where is Microsof going to get the money to upgrade the servers come 2016. Xbox Live subscriptions? That'll barely cover the maintenence. The only thing that makes sense is swallowing a loss, and If Microsoft's really going to do that, why not launch a new console. At least then your user-base will help you float *most* of the loss.

Heck, why launch a new console at all? Sony's been doing Remote Play with the PS3 and the Vita. Some even support using the PSP, and that's practically ancient at this point. In theory, Microsoft could push out a firmware update to the 360, make it next-gen with the cloud, and lock Sony out of all those new sales. You really don't need that much power for a cloud-box to bounce a signal onto a TV, and if that's basically what the One is about, it's massive hardware overkill. Launch a Roku-box at a fifth the price and undercut everybody.

It just sounds like marketing spin to me. It needs to be connected? Say it'll use the cloud.

How can any logical person say that physical media isn't going anywhere? CDs are already basically extinct. I don't even know where to buy them anymore. BluRay is the last form of physical media we will see for movies, games, etc until we go all digital. The digital age is coming and it will be here in 5 years or so. Physical media is a dinosaur.

I don't see them being successful despite there "network upgrades". Sure we are heading for a digital future, but i expect to follow a steam model rather than the Xbox one, at least with steam you can get to play most games offline unless there is 3rd party DRM like Assassin's Creed or GTA IV.

If Xbox one becomes the so called "genius console", i will probably stick to offline gaming on older consoles and finally catch up on the many classics i missed from the PS1 and PS2 days. If there's anything new i want, i'll have to get it from steam when consoles become completely digital, especially if they follow the Xbox One's way of doing things.

Who cares?  Seriously, it's questions like these that convince me people don't WANT the Xbox One to succeed.  I've honestly never seen so much F.U.D. about a console in all of my life.  That's a problem for MS to figure out.  I use Skydrive and, since signing up for Google Fiber, I also have a terabit of Google Drive space too.  I have a Dropbox account as well.  Have I ever questioned how they are going to pay for that?  No.  I don't care.  It's free to me and I figure that these corporations have figured out a profit plan for these free services without me needing to know all of the details.  Sony is going to be streaming PS3 games, but nobody is questioning how they are going to pay for that.  Why?  Because it doesn't matter at this point.  People are actually asking and holding against the Xbox One that they fear they won't be able to play their X1 games when the NEXT-next gen comes out.  They buy new iPad's every 2 or 3 years that cost more than eithe of these consoles but are hesitant to buy the X1 because of what they fear could happen in 10 years to their games, as if they would just disappear.

F.U.D. can be so destructively annoying.  Considering all of the HORRIBLE things that could happen when people leave their homes, I'm surprised anybody does if they held the outside world to the same fear based scrutiny of every single thing about the X1 ...

So because you lack the basic knowledge of where to purchase something, it doesn't exist?

Awesome logic is awesome.

@wick
CDs are done. BluRay is next. Face reality

I've been hearing they're done for quite a few years now.

The reality you speak of is that I can still go to my local music store and buy them.

Maybe we have different meanings for the words extinct and done??

I try to follow the English definitions

And record vinyls are getting a small following now, some people will never let go of physical media.  

It might become the genius console... in the US.

But I dont care, and the PS4 has the potential to get such a strong foothold in the rest of the world that the Xbone lead in the US might look like an anomaly and far from the trend. MS is doing all that it can to secure 'murica and its working with a closed 'murican mentality, while Sony has a far better, global approach IMO.
Also, I game for games, and if Sony delivers the same amount that it did this gen, then its more than OK for me.

While I like some of these positive news about the competition, the truth is that thus far MS only hurt the Xbox brand in the last month, while both Sony and Nintendo helped their own