You assume that Microsoft wants every single gamer as a customer.

Personally I rather like the idea of one of the three calling out the entitled gamers. "you buy used games and can't be bothered using our online service? You are worthless to us."

Harsh, but true. The margin for publishers is in the online gamers that buy stuff new. Microsoft targets them and ends up with fewer customers but healthier margins and happier third parties. Meaning more games for the actual customers Microsoft wants to protect.

A win for everyone. Except the entitled gamers. And no on cares about them

It ain't good for the player though...

DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying we should all buy used games; I'm saying that sometimes, you either A) can't find a game new anymore because they're out of print, b) you bought a game new, didn't like it, can't return it, c) insertwhateverelseisinhere.

Yeah, downloads work, but still... I like that little price difference on a game that's stopped being in print and isn't online yet.

The only gamers that used sales benefit are the ones that ultimately hurt the industry.

When every game will be downloadable next gen there is no genuine reason for second hand games of current gen consoles.

The "next-gen" ain't fully completely here yet, ain't it?

wasnt assuming they want every customer and personally i buy games new because i dont like scratches and all that stuff, so i wait and keep an eye on it as it goes down in price and get it new for cheap

an average hardcore gamer * who likes to collect or play alot of games, bassically anyone whos overserious about it* can not afford to buy every game ever release at full price, like me obviously so i have to pick and choose what i really want and wait for the other games to drop in price

when i think something like that happens 2 of the 3 game developers loses potiental money to make from a customer

p.s im partly sure the bottom line doesnt give a flying spagetti about loyalty from customers

So this means there's pretty much no point in owning the Xbox whatever-the-next-gen-is-called unless you don't mind shelling out a ridiculous amount of money for Xbox Live.

i want to add this, it the short term its alright in the long term your screwed in 20 years into the future should anything go wrong, should your system break, no point in getting another system if your games wont work on there, you just cant play these games in the long run should they get to be considered retro

Yes because cartridges and discs never break.

well of course they can break if one doesnt take care of it or handles it casually sir/mam?

No. They can break all by themselves. The battery back up can die, excessive use of flash memory eventually corrupts it. Discs eventually wear out from the laser reason them.

Anyone who buys a product - physical or digital - and expects it to last forever is in for a rude shock eventually. It is the nature of electronics.

I just remembered if the PS4/Orbis and Xbox 720/Durango block out used games, then Gamestop will become Nintendostop.

Game retailers will have no choice but to manage if both MS and Sony block used games. A specialist retailer can't afford to drop 60 per cent of its product.

In fact, if that were to happen GameStop might be forced to preserve the retail costs of games longer. Discounting a game after one week happens too often and hurts the industry.

that part almost escaped me, fair enough. thankfully i dont go excessive on my games or play it over and over again like rubber overused

but i still think the way they are going about the digital age is not quite right, there should be balance so one doesnt take away from the other if they feel like it for no matter the reason

steams got it right you get power alongside the creators but with the rumours of microsoft try to go digital with them and they are in complete controll to take away from you from which you cant get your money back, that doesnt sit well with me

Yeah, the used thing is suicidal, and I'm not a fan of paying for online.

Used games do hurt the industry, more then piracy since someone else is profiting. But either way, that's a lot of gamers inconvenienced, some won't bother (assuming Orbis allows for used games) That's a huge chunk of people gone. And I know that a lot of people chose PS3s due to the free online, so forced online is like music DRM. BAAAAD idea.

@Bankai: Regardless of the industry, you can't ignore the backbone: the consumer. There's still gonna be a lot of negative feedback from the customers (especially those of us who don't always have working internet)

My internet is stable enough for me to not care about the always online requirement, and I don't buy a whole lot of used games so I wouldn't care about that either.

As long as it's not too much of a bandwidth hog when idle, then that may be okay.

However, this sounds like it could nonetheless make many people unhappy and cut off some potential to widen the base. There will always be unhappy people, but if there's a lot of unhappy people, that can be a bit problematic.

The likely case is that some features will require an always-on connection to the internet.

My internet is pretty good right now. But what about if I move to another small town? I might be out of luck.

Never know what can happen so always online is a deal breaker for me. I just don't like that practice.

Wasnt this a rumor awhile ago and it was proven to be untrue?