The internet has been abuzz, and video game messages boards have been flamed ever since the Xbox One announcement last month when Microsoft hinted that there would be fees to play used games (up to the full retail price of the disc), that the Kinect would always be on, and Xbox One would require an always online connection. Many people were (rightly) upset that this would ruin the ability to rent and buy/sell used games and that people’s privacy could possibly be violated by a camera that would always be recording your every move, sound, even heartbeat.
Much of this was speculation, of course, as Microsoft had only alluded to some of these requirements, but people were up in arms and threatening Xbox One boycotts if these rumors came to fruition.
Thankfully, the Redmond company came out today and spelled out in detail what these policies would be.
On an always online system:
While a persistent connection is not required, Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend. Games that are designed to take advantage of the cloud may require a connection.
With Xbox One you can game offline for up to 24 hours on your primary console, or one hour if you are logged on to a separate console accessing your library. Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection, but you can still watch live TV and enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies.
So you CAN play offline for a little bit, but the system will have to daily check in with their servers to verify the games and what you have installed on the system, although DVDs and blu rays will play normally. I’m not too opposed to this, as whenever I use my gaming system, I’m always online as it is, so this isn’t too much of a problem. What I was really worried about was a DRM system like Diablo III or Sim City wherein one wouldn’t be able to even game if their internet connection went down. Will there be some players who will be unable to purchase the Xbox One due to the lack of a broadband connection? Yes, but that will only be for a very small section of the demographic. With Microsoft making the required broadband connection at minimum of 1.5 Mbps, I don’t see this being a huge problem for gamers.
Privacy concerns with Kinect?
You are in control of what Kinect can see and hear. By design, you will determine how responsive and personalized your Xbox One is to you and your family during setup. The system will navigate you through key privacy options, like automatic or manual sign in, privacy settings, and clear notifications about how data is used. When Xbox One is on and you’re simply having a conversation in your living room, your conversation is not being recorded or uploaded. You can play games or enjoy applications that use data, such as videos, photos, facial expressions, heart rate and more, but this data will not leave your Xbox One without your explicit permission.
Basically, while the Kinect is required to be plugged in whenever you’re using your system, you can pause or cancel any of its data collecting features. And while it’s nice that Microsoft claims nothing you do or say is being recorded or uploaded online, it’s only a matter of time until someone develops a loophole or patch that would enable this feature. I’m not entirely convinced how private this really is.
And of course, the biggie — used games:
Your friends and family, your guests and acquaintances get unlimited access to all of your games. Anyone can play your games on your console–regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you.
It’s good to see that once a game is installed on your system, anyone using it will have access to every game that you have purchased.
Xbox One will enable new forms of access for families. Up to ten members of your family can log in and play from your shared games library on any Xbox One. Just like today, a family member can play your copy of Forza Motorsport at a friend’s house. Only now, they will see not just Forza, but all of your shared games. You can always play your games, and any one of your family members can be playing from your shared library at a given time.
So apparently, any family member will be able to access and play any of your installed games at any time from another Xbox One. How exactly they will determine who is a family member isn’t clear at the moment, but this is a really cool feature. The fact that my brother will have access to my games and vice versa is a pretty smart idea, as it will encourage a higher saturation rate among families, especially with siblings who have moved out of their parents’ house.
Xbox One is designed so game publishers can enable you to give your disc-based games to your friends. There are no fees charged as part of these transfers. There are two requirements: you can only give them to people who have been on your friends list for at least 30 days and each game can only be given once.
Want to give a friend a game? Go for it, so long as they have been on your friend’s list for at least a month. Just keep in mind, you can only do it once.
Today, some gamers choose to sell their old disc-based games back for cash and credit. We designed Xbox One so game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers. Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers, or consumers for enabling transfer of these games.
In our role as a game publisher, Microsoft Studios will enable you to give your games to friends or trade in your Xbox One games at participating retailers. Third party publishers may opt in or out of supporting game resale and may set up business terms or transfer fees with retailers. Microsoft does not receive any compensation as part of this. In addition, third party publishers can enable you to give games to friends. Loaning or renting games won’t be available at launch, but we are exploring the possibilities with our partners.
Microsoft will allow games to be traded or sold to a 3rd party, such as Gamestop or Best Buy, so there will apparently be a system in place for those retailers to contact Microsoft and the game publishers to inform them that the game is no longer owned by the original purchaser, needs to be uninstalled from their Xbox One and the license made available for resale. Here’s the sticky part and actually a very smart move by Microsoft — they won’t be charging any used game fees or blocking used game sales. Instead, publishers themselves will have the power to charge fees, block sales or allow free trade of their games. By making this decision, Microsoft has effectively taken itself out of the used game argument and let the publishers be the bad guys. Pissed that you have to pay a $30 used game fee to play Call of Duty 5? Don’t blame Microsoft, it’s Activision’s fault.
Is this a perfect solution? Not for gamers, but it’s a wise decision by Microsoft, and it will be interesting to see how Sony reacts to this information.
It’s also important to note that games will not be available to rent around launch day, so we’ll have to wait and see when the used games system is fully fleshed out and supported by publishers and retailers.
What do you think about all this? Has it influenced or changed your decision to buy and Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below!