You bring up some excellent points. Especially how these kinds of changes will affect people overseas. I guess we will have see how MS responds to these issues over the next few months as they release more details. They are going to have to do something to prevent these privacy issues. You are right though, I am normally against this kind of stuff. I guess the only reason I am being a ‘sucker’ for it is that I have gotten so used to it with my online PC games.

As far as the cloud – yea I love the cloud. I use it for everything. I only have a hard drive as a backup but I almost no longer use any computer space unless software requires it….now I am speaking of personal use. If I had anything that couldnt be viewed by others, I would never use dropbox or whatever.

I didnt get into the diablo 3 thing but I did see the issues it had. I am kinda glad I saved my money there:) Although blizzard has gotten enough out of me with their wow subscription fee that I paid for like a year or two.

Look up the DRM issues that have been plaguing the PC world for the last couple of years.

Why would you like to save everything to a cloud? Might be nice in the States where Internet is prevalent, but elsewhere in the world having a constant connection is not the same – I get a bandwidth cap on my internet in New Zealand meaning all of those GB’s uploaded and downloaded are charged back to me. Also, being outside the US I fall into the Governments ability to snoop on my cloud based in the US, just by having an outside connection from the US… 9th Grade English class all over again… BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING.

There are plenty of cases with DRM software companies, such as Ubisoft, who have also terminated people’s rights to the software they have purchased… nothing governing this from not happening to you. You can’t negotiate the Terms and Conditions you agree to when installing.

Look at the Simcity and Diablo 3 launches of their always online model… people did not have access to their purchase for several weeks and it was beyond the customers control.

Also,… for years and years now, software developers like Microsoft have tied software licenses to Machine Registry information. Having a disk doesn’t mean that anyone can use it if there is a pre-screened registration process which ties back to you specific machine registry – this in itself sucks, I will admit too, because if you change a graphics card for instance, you loose you software rights as the machine registry has changed.

Then you have the “Book Syndrom” where having something in your hands empowers some people, over saving it in some cloud and reading it off a tablet.

Now, the cloud idea isn’t bad, but it should by no means be trusted. I mean, why not just have a registry check to the software you bought and be able to save it to the XBox 1 or an external hard drive? Is it really that bad to have to take with you a disk or external hard drive to a friend’s place? Why wouldn’t you take the whole box these days with LAN connections, or even just play together from separate locations? Beats having to share the same TV for gaming.

And remember it isn’t Microsoft who is dictating that you can take you uploaded software over to a friends place, it’s the Software publishers. Kindle has this agreements too with the book publishers – they have yet to allow book sharing!

Don’t forget you are also killing the local game and video-rental shops by backing this too!

I see too many reasons to be suspicious and cautious of this new advance in gaming than benefits. Just because Microsoft are trying to make it a business to save your stuff, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy into it.

You bring up a good point. I wonder if they could justify a $10 a difference because people would not be getting physical disk/case. It seemed as if people really wanted that physical disk. But you are right, retailers may cause the prices to stay the same.

basically the retailers dictate pricing for digital. Don’t price it at similar prices to us.. Don’t have your games on our shelves.

Yeah, it would be nice if MS released a bundle without the Kinect. I’m also interested if they do the whole subsidized model that they are doing with the 360. If they do, that could be another way to gain more sales, especially if could bring the initial cost down to $299, that would be a huge hit to Sony. I will say that that is the best thing about the Kinect, it is fun to have with a family, especially kids, and when friends come over. That’s about the only time mine gets used.

Yep, forcing kinect is just not cool. I bet a lot of people would rather just spend $399 for the same system with no kinect. I actually wonder if both MS and Sony will have a few different bundles for the holiday season so we might actually see something like that. I am actually opting for kinect. Not that I will ever use it but I want to test it out and I think my son might really enjoy it.

These are some valid points, it would just be nice if Microsoft would just explain to the public the specifics of how these changes that they are making is going to benefit us. While yes, I am connected to the internet at pretty much all times and their “always on” mentality does not affect me, there is still wide area of the world, even in this country, where the infrastructure for high speed internet is just not there. Why MS would chose to alienate these potential customers makes no sense to me. I do like the feature to have access to your games anywhere from any system. This will be much easier than bring my games and save files if I choose to play at family and friends houses. Live is much better than PSN and I do like the fact that they are trying to award their gold members by giving them free games like PSN Plus. As for the Kinect, I’m sorry, but I don’t want it. Yes, from a technological stand point, it’s awesome, but the fact is that I will NEVER use anything that they are trying to implement with it. I WILL eventually get a Xbox One, but it will be for playing the games the they are offering (Halo, Titanfall, Gears Of War, etc), not to watch TV or to control by media center with my voice and hand gestures. Since I consume most of by media through streaming and DVR, these would be of no benefit to me. I had the first Kinect and never used any of the extra features it offered, matter of fact, it was unplugged if I was not actually using it. It bothers me that the Kinect has to be connected for the Xbox One to work. And if it wasn’t mandatory and made it optional like the first, MS would be able to charge a lower cost for the system, which is good for everyone. Like i said, I will buy one, as I have with every system to come out, I just don’t think it will be my PRIMARY system this next generation.

Hey xhris, since posting this my views have changed somewhat as ive talked to several game designers who know a lot more about this industry than i do. I still think MS did a terrible job at marketing this but I actually really love their new system. I think its awesome, they just introduced it all wrong. At this point I am now leaning towards xbox.

1. always online – this is no different than my pc games. also sony will require this for all online games. I only play online meaning that with either system i am always online. i dont think this will really affect most people. i mean when i play wow its always online.

2. download/install – at first I didnt like this. Now I love it. I am probably going to pre order just based on this. Its awesome. first its just like my pc games. But now they are in the cloud. so when i go to my brothers or father in laws house i no longer need to bring my games. i just log into xbox live and i can play my games. its a pretty sick feature.

3. used games – i dont actually buy used games. i never have. i also found out there is a chance MS will be able to lower game prices if their piracy things work, just like a lot of PC titles have (ie steam). i want to hear more from ms but i do know used games are killing the industry so im not too mad they are trying to stop it.

4. 300,000 servers sounds awesome. I already like xbox live more than psn and now they will both be the same price. so it seems like xbox users will be getting the better of the bunch.

5. multimedia/kinect – the more i think about it, the more i am glad they have this stuff. i do use it a lot (well not kinect but i think my son will).