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The Pros and Cons of an Always-Online Xbox One
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The Pros and Cons of an Always-Online Xbox OnePosted:

1984
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XBOX ONE PROS & CONS


UPDATE: Microsoft has done a 180 with their console. Following a lot of criticism they have decided to completely change the console's DRM. Instead, after a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360. Xbox One will also be region-free; any Xbox One disc will function in any Xbox One console.

Additionally, players will be able to trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today. There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

This will come at a small cost despite previous announcements, Xbox One will require that discs remain in the tray in order to play games, and players will be unable to share downloaded games. In other words, itll work exactly like the Xbox 360 for better and for worse.


PRO: Microsoft is not afraid to take bold risks
When the company follows instead of leads Im looking at you, Zune and Surface the result tends to be failure. But when they throw their weight behind an original idea they believe in? Take Xbox Live. Remember, Microsoft shipped the original Xbox with an Ethernet port in 2001 with the intention of launching a broadband-only online gaming network in 2002, in a time when 56Kbps dial-up connections were still king and high-speed Internet was a pipe dream for many Americans. Slowly but surely, the service caught on. That led to things like extending your game via DLC (ah, remember the good ol days when Ubisoft gave away Rainbow Six 3 maps and Splinter Cell missions for free?) and Halo 2 fundamentally changing the online multiplayer landscape for consoles. The point is, if Microsoft does go through with the always-online threat, then well all be fine, if the Xbox Live experiment is any indication.


CON: People fear change
This is a simple fact of human nature. But take the iPhone as the perfect example. Apples revolutionary device was hardly the first smartphone, but it was the first to be widely adopted complete with a required monthly data plan for its own always-on connection. And now, of course, data plans are as accepted as they are ubiquitous. Heck, when I first considered writing this editorial, Chris Stockman, the lead designer on the original Saints Row for Xbox 360, tweeted to me on the subject and said, I embraced the iPhone like a fat man embraces cake.


PRO: System and software updates are done invisibly...
...And overnight, and the new Xbox automatically downloads trial versions of games it thinks youll like. You know, kind of like what the PlayStation 4 is going to do. To return to the iPhone example, just look at what that device is capable of thanks to always being connected to the Internet. Text messages, emails, FaceTime video chats, sports scores, stock ticker updates, and more are all fed to you automatically without you having to actively connect to a service and seek them out. Imagine what sorts of possibilities the video game space offers: All of that plus scheduled gameplay sessions with friends (e.g., the system could automatically sign you and your buddies into Halo 5 at 7 p.m., per your smartphone- or Kinect-inputted request)


CON: Server maintenance would become a nightmare
Unless Microsoft changes the way Dashboard and title updates happen (and youd have to think they would in an always-online scenario), millions of angry customers would simultaneously rise up in anger anytime Xbox Live went down, whether expected or not. Microsoft would need to have some serious contingency plans in place.


PRO: More and more people are embracing their Internet connections...
...With a growing number of consumers ditching cable or satellite television providers and instead watching all of their content online via services like Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon Video, and others. Im one of them, and I have to say it was easier than I thought it would be. After having cable or satellite TV and its dozens and later hundreds of channels available anytime I wanted, I thought Id miss it. But, in fact, I prefer watching TV a la carte online.


CON: You have an Internet outage and you cant play
This is, obviously, the problem for which Microsoft has no solution the argument to which it has no rebuttal. Its difficult to think of a scenario where not being able to play your games when you want to is ever defensible. The launch of always-online blockbuster Diablo III and the more recent Sim City (2013) debacle are obvious but relevant examples of the worst-case scenario brought to life. Now imagine that crippling an entire consoles ecosystem instead of simply one game. Its not a pretty picture, and could make PSNs month-long downtime following the Anonymous hack seem trivial by comparison.


PRO: It might not actually require an always-online connection, it might simply prefer one
Think about this one other possibility that seems to be getting lost in the knee-jerk reactions of fear and terror to the always-online rumors. Its entirely possible that the Next Xbox will give you all sorts of TV integration and who-knows-what-else if youre jacked into Xbox Live, but if youre not, itll still retain all of its core (read: game-playing) functionality. What if this report that it shuts down after three minutes of no connection is for the development kits only, in an attempt to keep things like the DaE leak from happening again?


CON: You dont have high-speed Internet at all
For Microsoft, they might be willing to accept that, considering youre in the minority. But that wouldnt change the fact that youd be frozen out of the next Xbox. Thats a dangerous game to play if youre Microsoft, considering that if one influencer/alpha male in a group of friends that have been loyal Xbox guys for years, his dissatisfaction could easily spread through schools, dorms, and offices leading to a lot of new PlayStation 4 customers.


Last edited by 1984 ; edited 2 times in total
#2. Posted:
-TwilightSparkle-
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Where'd you get this all from? I know you didnt write all this. I've read some of these elsewhere
#3. Posted:
Postering
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Just accept the fact that Xbox One will not be that great.

Check it.

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#4. Posted:
Zeff
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Too bad it's not always online anymore...
#5. Posted:
ImBoYoGamer
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Postering wrote Just accept the fact that Xbox One will not be that great.

Check it.

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thats your opinion, I think the PS4 is going to be bad. Better exclusives on Xbox One.
#6. Posted:
Postering
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ImBoYoGamer wrote
Postering wrote Just accept the fact that Xbox One will not be that great.

Check it.

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thats your opinion, I think the PS4 is going to be bad. Better exclusives on Xbox One.


I do think the whole 'social network' thing is going to blow majorly, because some people make spoof accounts, and that'll be a waste of time. But yeah, you're right.
#7. Posted:
Mykhal
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im glad its like the 360 now
#8. Posted:
1984
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Jibbers wrote im glad its like the 360 now
You're glad what is like 360 now?
#9. Posted:
xGAMERxILOVENOAH
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There is no pro for always online it is just something for them to make more money, consoles should not have to be always connected period
#10. Posted:
csnyder12
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Microsoft completely switched their DRM. You dont have to always be online, it just needs internet when first setting up the console
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