I doubt that anyone that buys the X1 will have no internet access if you can afford a $500+ console you live in an area that has internet access.

I agree but one bad thing didn't make the other a good thing... both are bad.

Now about DriveClub... they are different games with different focus... DriveClub is more graphical next-gen than Forza 5 but Forza will have better physics and all... it's hard to compare now even so Forza 5 seens more polished by what we saw in E3.

Eh, It sounds more annoying than anything else. Almost like they are reassuring that they won't have their shit together by launch date.

I guess the short schedule can be the reason behind the cutted features compared with previous Forza's games.

From what I have seen of Drive Club its not more graphical next gen then Forza 5.  Forza 5 is the first console race game where I actually could see and recognize a metallic paint job like it is in real life I saw nothing from the Drive Club pictures and videos that comes even close.  On top of that none of the tracks for Drive Club shown so far come even close to the Prague track in Forza 5.  Also when it comes to next gen arcade racers Need for Speed: Rivals looks better then Drive Club so far.

hmmm yeah well not saying those number have no value.... but they take into account the entire population of the country.... an interesting number for us would be the penetration ratio of good enough internet connection in gamers household....

cause the millions of shanty town dwellers of brazil are not consoles customer material anyway.... as well as the older population of spain in their 60s ++

when you seen XB 360 having what 40 million XBL gold accounts (i think that's the number) and you see how many have internet and don't want to pay a for a gold account.... I'd be surprised if the issue is real for more than a couple percent of the consoles potential owners  if that... I mean people that have absolutely no access to internet beside not wishing to have one..... and the XB1 is clearly designed to be Kinected ;P even the PS4 to some extend.... having any HD consoles without a PSN or silver account connected from time to time.... is like having a phone without a plan IMO... you might aswell get something else...

Day 1 Patch for a game shock horror, nothing new to see here.

As long as they put a sticker on the box saying online activation is required to play this title, it aint a problem other than to themselves.

That's not really the point.

Looking at USA which is only 75%, it's really not about money. It's the fact that some people just happen to live in very rural areas.

I'm not saying there isn't room for growth, or that sales will be greatly impeded. Rather, I'm saying that one cannot simply say "in this day and age", because it's not about luxuries people should have adopted as standard, it's about geography. Have you noticed that the top 5 best selling consoles in the world do not have internet experience tie-ins?

Ps2, ds, gameboy, ps1, wii..

Yes things are changing, but the point of all this is that access to internet is a legitimate concern. Perhaps it will only result in 10% fewer sales in the end, and business wise that means fuck all.

But you're still forgetting about that 10% who would've liked to buy one. Just because it doesn't adversely affect business doesn't mean it hasn't adversely affected customers. I think that's the big point you're missing.

It's like that whole military thing that is now resolved. So what the military couldn't use the one? How many do they buy? 500k? A drop in the bucket. But look how far that spun out of control. Major headlines everywhere. Lots of bad press, likely bad press that MS will never be able to rectify, because 500k was not a big deal to them. You should take caution before you look at numbers as if there aren't people behind them.

It's worse, it a bit further down the slipperly slope again.
Normally the extra time is spend for further testing and ironing out non critical issues that didn't make it before the disc had to be shipped. Day 1 patches can always be ignored for offline play.
Now the extra time is spend on finishing the actual game, which means the day 1 patch, fixing left over issues, is another 6 weeks behind.
It's not free day 1 DLC, it's the rest of the game without which it won't run at all.
The benefit of digital distribution, sell first, finish later.

They're basically shipping an incomplete game.