In surprising not-so-surprising news today Microsoft has announced major changes to the XBOX One ecosystem, and it’s about damned time. Microsoft has been under fire as of late since after they released their highly controversial and oft made fun of DRM policies for the XBOX One, and is ready to do a complete 180 on most of the policies (with both good and bad consequences). Microsoft will no longer be requiring an internet connection and the mandatory 24 hour check-in to play games, and they will not be instituting any new DRM to the system that will restrict/prohibit the use of loaned, rental, and pre-owned games (meaning the game registration previously instituted will be completely removed). This is a huge win for the consumer and will make many people feel like they’re being heard (a message that MS tried to hammer home in their blog post earlier). All of this will come at a cost though, according to an interview conducted by Kotaku, as you will no longer be able to fully install and play a game sans disc and the “Family Sharing” system will no longer be available. Family Sharing would have allowed you to share a game with up to 10 users that you deem “family” (be it blood, law, extended, or eskimo) w/o that person having to buy the game. The only caveat is that only 2 people can play a specific game, on different consoles, at a time. This is a feature that MS didn’t publicize much and it seemed like they were waiting to see if the backlash was enough for the feature to quell or if they were going to need more. Suffice it to say though, the masses have spoken and MS has listened. All of these changes are supposed to be implemented via a day one software patch, with no specified date on when it will be coming preloaded on the hardware. With that being said though, if you don’t have an internet connection where you’re going to use the system you will still need to connect the unit 1 time to set it up. What do you think? Are these changes big enough to sway your opinion on the 360 or does the always on, always watching, Kinect still weird you out? Let us know in the comments below.
***Addendum***
In my haste to put this up, I forgot to touch on something else. As we put in to our earlier write up of the XBOX One, a lot (and by a lot I mean almost every game talked about at E3) of the games have reported using the cloud to help with the game experience. How this no internet required thing will effect that remains to be seen. If the cloud is necessary for the extraneous textures in a game you could still need a connection no matter what. That being said, while the console may not require it some of the games just might.
Found this on a separate site. Sounds like you have to connect at least once: “An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again.”
I think they worded this kind of confusing on purpose. Still not an off line machine but far better than there original xbone.
If you don’t have the internet, hopefully the one time you do have to connect to set it up, you can do from a friend’s house
Pretty sure I read that reason you have to connect at least once is because it is a system patch and the new features are not straight out of the box
You can do the one time connection from anywhere with an Internet connection, possibly even a Worst Buy or Game Stop if the will do it for you, so that you can register and Config. As of right now that also includes making the console offline capable, as stated in the article above. Microsoft has not stated an estimated date for when the systems will start shipping with the online capabilities out of the box. They’re taking the Windows update approach for a while, I think, since people have become accustomed to having to do updates first thing when they buy a new computer. Although judging from the stupid comments you always read on Amazon computer pages some people are too dumb to realize this type of thing has been going on for over a decade.
A lot of people are now jumping ship back to XB1 but as far as what I can hear the damage is done. Although I understand the need to keep your achievements and all that jazz. (thats why MS thought they could pull what they did in the first place) IMHO.
Agreed! Thankfully I don’t have to worry about my achievements since I don’t have a 360 anyway 😛