The case against the Xbox One’s always-on connection shouldn’t be one of cost

Whereas rumors once swirled that Microsoft’s Xbox One would require a true always-on connection — one that required the Xbox One to be online literally all the time — the policy turned out to be a simple check-in once every 24 hours. As long as a game is being played on your own Xbox One, rather than a friend’s — which requires an admittedly draconian hourly check-in — you can technically have an internet outage for the majority of the day and still be able to play your games. However, a common argument against an always-online Xbox is that some people just can’t afford an Xbox plus internet service, but no one ever seems to go out and survey to see the extent to which this is true.

[Wizziokid]

I'm not bothered about the check in, I'm bothered about the fact I don't own my games anymore.

[Sandmano]

Agreed well said.

[Nizulo]

Absolutely! Just makes you think: If we don't "own" our games, does that mean we're technically renting them for an unsaid amount of time?

[JoGam]

Im bother by the check ins. Believe me I understand the game issue but the fact u need internet to play a game is actually a bigger problem. Why? Because some people don't have internet. Those people have bought a console without internet in the past so now you cut off those potential sales which means less consoles sold. That's a huge problem.

[Boody-Bandit]

I'm bothered by the check in as well. It's one of the deciding factors as to why I won't purchase the XBOX ONE. One thing many aren't talking about is longevity.

With this 24hr online verification process from MS what will happen when they move on to their next iteration of hardware? Are we suppose to assume MS will never turn off the servers so the X1 will last as long as consumers want to use them?

They up and left the original XBOX like it had a plague. The 360 generation has zero compatibility with the XBOX ONE. Even none of the 360 peripherals (controllers, joysticks, FFB wheels, headsets, gaming headphones, etc) are compatible with the XBOX ONE.

When a new generation comes out I usually move on to that next gen but some people still play consoles as far back as SNES and NES. The X1 WON'T work at all without an online verification. So what will this generation from MS be known as, the disposable console? <- Serious questions.

[andrewsqual]

You should be bothered because there are games that are going to use the awesome cloud features for processing or physics and these games will obviously REQUIRE an Always On Non Interrupted internet connection.
AND Microsoft are pushing developers to use these more.

[Commandar_Shepard]

I would be fine with this if, in return, new game prices were dropped to $40. There are rumors that prices will be raised to $70. Are you kidding me?

[lucaskeller1]

Imagine xbox live got hacked like psn, you wouldn't even be able to play offline even though you have already purchased the games and they should be yours.

[Cam977]

XBONE.
That would tick many people off, I can imagine the outcry! I wonder how MS would recover from that? Their free games are worthless as we doń't "own" them.

[Commandar_Shepard]

You can still use your console though.....to watch TV. At least you can still use the main feature of the Xbone if XBL is ever hacked.

[byeGollum]

We never did truly own our games. licences? Yeah.

[LeRise]

Wrong. We actually can own a game: the disc is entirely yours. And the game's binary code is on that disc. Of course the rights for the game do not belong to you, but with physical media you OWN it. Like a book or a music CD.

[byeGollum]

Partial ownership, still not truly ours :) thus a licence to use the software you've purchased.

[Hicken]

Stop it.

[WolfOfDarkness]

Here in Asia All my friends plus Thousands of gamers will get Sony PS4 , Microsoft made it clear to all of us here in Asia , Xbox One require 24/7 connection to the Internet ! 90% of all Asian countries have a SLOW Internet connection , from 8 years ago We understood what is the meaning of the word " LAGGING " when we play ( xbox360 ) Online with people from USA and Other countries , that's why the sales of PS3 is high in Asia , Microsoft doesn't care about us and they didn't even try to install ONE god dame server to fix this issue ....as it expected most of us in Asia will get PS4 .
P.S
Some people are Saying that the PS4 and the Xbox One are similar, is like saying that birds and planes are very similar , both can fly....

1) Xbox One: 8GB of DDR3 RAM (68GB/s bandwidth) at 2100 MHz
1) Ps4 : 8GB of GDDR5 RAM (176GB/s bandwidth) at 5500 Mhz
2) XboxOne : Graphics Core -12 compute units providing 1.2 teraflops
2) Ps4 : Graphics Core -18 compute units providing 1.8 teraflops

So as you can see,Playstation 4 has at least 50% more power.

I will walk naked in streets of Japan if Microsoft won Next generation Gaming with there Stupid. Xbox1 law .

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Out of curiosity. ..how long do you think the 24hour check in would take? And do you believe its something that would be intrussive and on screen preventing from doing something when it runs?

[WolfOfDarkness]

Bro , what I mean is this " the Internet is VERY slow in 90% of Asian countries , I don't mind being hooked with net 24/7 , this is not a problem , the problem is when we play multiplayer with xbox 360 there's always Laggin , But with PS3 we are NOT facing this matter for some reason , maybe Sony solved the lagging problem in Asia. Example : to download huge Game file up to 12 gb from Xbox 360 network it will take 4 hours , just imagine you are facing the same matter with your console . But you are from USA , your country have the BEST Internet networks in the world .

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Ahh.. got it. And yes...if I had to wait 4 hours for ANY download I would be aggravated. I don't know what its like in Asia but in the US its kinda the opposite. PS3 files seem to take way longer than they should and 360 files feel pretty quick on the download and install. Again, different sides of the planet so I can totally see how your experience would be different than mine.

[chamber]

I'm totally out when it comes to Xbox one. The problems may not be huge to some people but i just mostly play my 360 in a place where i don't have a connection. It never bothered me cause i don't play multiplayer at all so i avoid X box Live. I refuse to lug my 360 back every 24 hours to where i have a connection so i can play single player games. Not to mention Microsoft push to have publishers use the cloud as a replacement for weaker hardware could mean that little by little The X Box One will turn into a always online device which wold even be worse.

[Ashunderfire86]

Not keep them temporary. Damn that means countries like China is screwed, cause they can't even bootleg it, since China itself has a draconian policy against selling games there. What about else where like Africa, Europe, South America, Asia, and etc Microsoft? Not everybody has the Internet to play your games! Are you going to leave these potiential customers out in the cool, telling them to get with the times, like your former employee said on tweeter? Gamers unite! Tell Microsoft that we want to own!

[gigoran]

It is about cost actually. The people buying this are investing in a system that is 100% guaranteed to cease working in the not too distant future. Not "maybe" or "it's repairable". It will stop working. It won't have a chance to become a retro system and you won't be able to make a collection of games for it. As soon as this checking service (not to mention that CLOUD PROCESSING) is gone, the system and games become nothing. Money blown.

[Narutone66]

It would be funny if Anonymous hacked the server the day MS started selling the XB1 and everybody who bought it couldn't play anything on it.

[Count]

Yeah, let's make people suffer just to prove a point!

[rainslacker]

I don't condone such measures, Count, but it is obviously a point that many are missing. How many say, "It doesn't affect me"? But at least now you're getting to a point where you can concede that it is a point.

For those people, I would laugh and say "I told you so" without shame.

However, I would feel truly bad for those that had no knowledge of the situation and just wanted to play games on a new system, and expected a new console to be able to do that without hassle because that's the way it's always been. Doing something like that to those people would just be a disservice to them.

@Narutone
I don't know if Anon would go through with such measures right off the bat. They'd probably give MS a warning first, not unlike they did with the Live hacking. It's not to say that there aren't other groups out there that would try though. I'm sure it's coming within the first two years at least.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I tried to read this article but it honestly lost me 2nd paragraph. I am not even sure what its truly trying to argue.

[hazelamy]

face it, you could have gods own internet service, and it won't mean diddly squat once they turn the servers off, and they will.

i can play atari 2600 games from nearly 40 years ago, i bet you won't be able to play x1 games in forty years..

if you can play them a decade after launch i'll be surprised.