Juding a system by its connectivity

Rumors are always floating around the internet.  Ranging from Nintendo bowing out of the video game industry to SEGA going out of business to Obama revealing to be from the planet Equestria.

But the newest rumor from Edge Magazine points out that The Next-Box may not only cut out Used games, but it may also require an internet connection to even work at all.  And that may be the tip of the iceberg.


Microsoft’s next console will require an Internet connection in order to function, ruling out a second-hand game market for the platform. A new iteration of Xbox Live will be an integral part of Microsoft’s next console, while improved Kinect hardware will also ship alongside the unit.

Sources with first-hand experience of Microsoft’s next generation console have told us that although the next Xbox will be absolutely committed to online functionality, games will still be made available to purchase in physical form. Next Xbox games will be manufactured on 50GB-capacity Blu-ray discs, Microsoft having conceded defeat to Sony following its ill-fated backing of the HD-DVD format. It is believed that games purchased on disc will ship with activation codes, and will have no value beyond the initial user.

Activation codes?  That sounds like what the Wii did with its digital titles, except they're physical titles.

But there's also word that Sony may be more open with the PS4 than Microsoft with the Next-Box


Though the architectures of the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation both resemble that of PCs, several development sources have told us that Sony’s solution is preferable when it comes to leveraging power. Studios working with the next-gen Xbox are currently being forced to work with only approved development libraries, while Sony is encouraging coders to get closer to the metal of its box. Furthermore, the operating system overhead of Microsoft’s next console is more oppressive than Sony’s equivalent, giving the PlayStation-badged unit another advantage.

Is this anything for X-Box fans to worry about?  Is Sony up for choking out Microsoft due to a mistake like that?  Or will Sony wind up pulling a fast one?

One thing to say is this.  It's too early to tell.  We'll have to wait till E3 to know more about Sony and Microsoft's next generation of consoles.

Works Cited

Edge Online