No Used Games On Xbox 3

[Retrodude]

All games on Blu-Ray will be installed onto the console’s hard drive, and play from the optical disc will not be supported.

So basically, they've just eliminated the rural market for this thing completely. If it's "always connected" and you can't play from the disc, then that would presumably mean that if your internet hiccups (which happens extremely often in the mountains), you'd be kicked out of the game and lose all your progress, never mind the fact that not everyone cares about the online component to begin with (I haven't taken my 360 online once since getting it and, aside from buying games from XBLA, I don't plan to). Not to mention the potential for abuse (spying on players, forcing people to pay for dlc simply to finish the game, not giving people the option of a complete "game of the year" type release, etc). I predict that once consumers realize all the problems this is gonna have, they'll stay away in droves and if they really want a next-gen system, the WiiU is gonna look mighty attractive compared to this mess.

[AppleQueso]

All games on Blu-Ray will be installed onto the console’s hard drive, and play from the optical disc will not be supported.

So basically, they've just eliminated the rural market for this thing completely. If it's "always connected" and you can't play from the disc, then that would presumably mean that if your internet hiccups (which happens extremely often in the mountains), you'd be kicked out of the game and lose all your progress, never mind the fact that not everyone cares about the online component to begin with (I haven't taken my 360 online once since getting it and, aside from buying games from XBLA, I don't plan to). Not to mention the potential for abuse (spying on players, forcing people to pay for dlc simply to finish the game, not giving people the option of a complete "game of the year" type release, etc). I predict that once consumers realize all the problems this is gonna have, they'll stay away in droves and if they really want a next-gen system, the WiiU is gonna look mighty attractive compared to this mess.

Not sure why the bolded isn't possible now. If companies wanted to do that, they would.

Mandatory installs isn't really as much of a big deal as the always-online thing is, so I'm not sure why you quoted that bit. I think you're assuming that the constant connection will be like Ubisoft's online-required stuff a while back. While that might be the case, I kinda doubt it, as Microsoft can't possibly be that oblivious to the fact that many, many areas of the US don't have reliable internet connections that could sustain something that's always on like that. I'm suspecting that it just checks in when you start a game to authenticate it, and then checks in any time the game calls for it. You likely won't be booted out just because you have an internet hiccup.

People "staying away in droves" isn't something I see happening, at least not in areas that already have good internet anyway. I can already imagine the nightmare that will happen the first time say, Microsoft's authentication servers go down for whatever reason though.

[BurningDoom]

All games on Blu-Ray will be installed onto the console’s hard drive, and play from the optical disc will not be supported.

So basically, they've just eliminated the rural market for this thing completely. If it's "always connected" and you can't play from the disc, then that would presumably mean that if your internet hiccups (which happens extremely often in the mountains), you'd be kicked out of the game and lose all your progress, never mind the fact that not everyone cares about the online component to begin with (I haven't taken my 360 online once since getting it and, aside from buying games from XBLA, I don't plan to). Not to mention the potential for abuse (spying on players, forcing people to pay for dlc simply to finish the game, not giving people the option of a complete "game of the year" type release, etc). I predict that once consumers realize all the problems this is gonna have, they'll stay away in droves and if they really want a next-gen system, the WiiU is gonna look mighty attractive compared to this mess.

Not sure why the bolded isn't possible now. If companies wanted to do that, they would.

They already do. Our personal information is sold and traded all the time between companies.

[Pulsar_t]

I believe at this point MS wants their Xbox as a trojan horse for further media penetration into urban homes, where typically most consumption of TV shows and films takes place. The revised 360 dashboard has been only a glimpse of the things to come. Fine for those who want this, but for a console MS seems to be trying very hard to make conventional customers look to the competition for options.

[AppleQueso]

I believe at this point MS wants their Xbox as a trojan horse for further media penetration into urban homes, where typically most consumption of TV shows and films takes place. The revised 360 dashboard has been only a glimpse of the things to come. Fine for those who want this, but for a console MS seems to be trying very hard to make conventional customers look to the competition for options.

Hasn't this basically been Microsoft's plan for the Xbox brand since the original was first introduced?

[Opa Opa]

I predict that once consumers realize all the problems this is gonna have, they'll stay away in droves and if they really want a next-gen system, the WiiU is gonna look mighty attractive compared to this mess.

There would be a greater chance that the Xbox crowd would flock to a PC or PlayStation 4 should MS screw up the next system; a marginally improved Wii isn't what I'd call enticing.

[BoneSnapDeez]

So basically, they've just eliminated the rural market for this thing completely. If it's "always connected" and you can't play from the disc, then that would presumably mean that if your internet hiccups (which happens extremely often in the mountains), you'd be kicked out of the game and lose all your progress, never mind the fact that not everyone cares about the online component to begin with (I haven't taken my 360 online once since getting it and, aside from buying games from XBLA, I don't plan to).

This.

I live on a 200 acre farm in rural Maine. I literally could not run this console.

[Pulsar_t]

I believe at this point MS wants their Xbox as a trojan horse for further media penetration into urban homes, where typically most consumption of TV shows and films takes place. The revised 360 dashboard has been only a glimpse of the things to come. Fine for those who want this, but for a console MS seems to be trying very hard to make conventional customers look to the competition for options.

Hasn't this basically been Microsoft's plan for the Xbox brand since the original was first introduced?

True, but only recently have they managed to make it intrusive enough for people to take note and complain about it.

[Ack]

So basically, they've just eliminated the rural market for this thing completely. If it's "always connected" and you can't play from the disc, then that would presumably mean that if your internet hiccups (which happens extremely often in the mountains), you'd be kicked out of the game and lose all your progress, never mind the fact that not everyone cares about the online component to begin with (I haven't taken my 360 online once since getting it and, aside from buying games from XBLA, I don't plan to).

This.

I live on a 200 acre farm in rural Maine. I literally could not run this console.

I don't think it's a real claim though, or at least not a realistic one. It sounds similar to what EA claimed the latest SimCity would be like: always connected, only playable online. But no, modders discovered that the game only checks in with EA's server at specific times to receive data regarding other players' resources, but generally could be played offline for periods of time when the system was not busy checking. So it's possible that what they'll actually be doing is developing a system which periodically checks but doesn't require a constantly active Internet connection to actually work, despite their claims otherwise.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Perhaps. I have had problems with every "always-online" PC game I've ever played (I haven't tried SimCity) so I can't see myself getting an always-online console.