[citation][nom]renz496[/nom]yes!! always online is the future.....btw i can see it some people might not be able to play their games on the weekend because the server will be hammered hard during such peak times. if they handle it like EA does with Sim City 5 maybe we can get free triple A games every week[/citation]
Who cares if we can't play any of them.
To say this leads to blocking used games is speculating on a rumor, nothing concrete at all. A more substantial conclusion is that since the hard drive is large enough to hold "a lot of games", it will be a magnetic based hard drive. Using an SSD of great size would push the console's price range far over typical console pricing. Honestly I prefer Wii U's approach of a small SSD. Having a few games loaded at a time is no problem for me. I don't play 20 different games at a time. I play a few at most, so I can eventually switch them out and get better load times. This is what I do with my PC games, why wouldn't I want it on a console?
But anyway, yeah the new XBox and likely the new PS too will be highly controlled, checked during an internet connection, and may block used games. Even though Sony said they won't, their tapdancing around the question leaves many people skeptical of whether they're giving the whole truth. It isn't a console dev's issue, it's a publisher's issue. I have a feeling there's a lot going on behind the scenes to pressure consoles to give publishers the same DRM options they have with PC. The ones Activision and EA, two of the strongest arms in video game publishing, seem to enjoy. Gamers buy consoles based on the titles available, not due to hardware. Players will flock to the system that has strong 3rd party support. Nintendo didn't implement always on and blocking used games, and they've gotten an unexplained cold shoulder from publishers outside of their usual stables.
"With this 'Always On, Always Connected' design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install games." This is, by the way, one of the most disgusting uses of publicity speak I've seen. Trying to twist this to be for the consumer? No, I'd still have to restart if I wanted to turn the console off and I could leave any console always on if I wanted to. I wouldn't have to wait to install games if I play them by disc, and I'll still have to wait if I download them to my hard drive. Microsoft, I don't WANT my system to go into idle mode when I turn it -off-, and I don't WANT things being automatically installed when I go online. I turn these "features" off on my PC. Trying to force people into things they don't want is why Windows 8 is tanking and dragging the entire industry down with it.