The Xbone, again.

Good ol' Microsoft released some information regarding the Xbone yesterday. They broke it into three segments - licensing, privacy and connection. Cheeky little bastard, separating the information to soften the hard-hitting truth of your policies. Anyway, let's go check them out.

Licensing
To sum it all up, most retailers will be dead.

Microsoft is seriously testing my patience here. I can GIVE my friend a game that I OWN, and it can only happen ONCE. Yeah. And this guy must have at least been on my friend list for 30 DAYS. What is with all these restrictions? I will, however, make the assumption that both you and your friend can play the games concurrently. Remember that you have to install the game to play it, and you can play without the disc. This would be beneficial to a gamer and his ONE friend (yeah, because we are loners), but this potentially means that retailers will lose a potential sale, which in turn affects publishers.

As for trading-in and you selling your games, "Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers or consumers for enabling transfer of these games". Guess what Microsoft? It has ALWAYS been this way. You are not DOING anything. We could also look at this as Microsoft saying "oops, hey guys, we aren't gonna charge an activation fee to enable you to play the game". No apologies, just pure business. Wait, hold your horses... We now need publishers to enable trade-ins? Yeah, guess what, bye-bye pre-owned games market.

Enabling people to buy the game on Xbox Live without the need to go to retailers? WHOOPS, sorry guys, direct sales. Sucks to be you GameStop. HUEHUEHUEHUEHUE.

And the best of all, now EVERYONE who comes to my place gets to play the games I OWN. What in the... Just... Shut your mouth Microsoft. Seriously? "But you get to play it without logging in!" THAT IS THE WAY IT HAS BEEN ALL THIS TIME??? MAYBE??? I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE I AM MISTAKEN?

Grrghh... Why? Why would you make stupid statements? Who does all these things for you? Jimmy the 9-5 office boy who earns $8 an hour? Who doesn't play games because he's so broke?

The family access bit is a little too ambiguous. How does the registration take place? How do you identify that this person is actually my family member? Oh by the way, I can essentially play any games I own on any other consoles nowadays because CONSOLE ADVANTAGE. You dumb... Why do you make it sound like it's some "oooh, aaaahhh..." issue? And no, it won't be like today, because today I can play that same game on multiple consoles. Guess what? In the future, I can probably only play it on one other console thanks to your restrictions. "But, cloud power! Your account!" I have friends who own consoles but do not necessarily own high-speed internet connections. WHAT THEN?

Damn you Microsoft, just, damn you.

Privacy
"You are in control". Or are you? Am I actually in control Microsoft?

Obviously, when I am not using the Kinect to record or upload my conversations, it should not do so. Why should you even mention that? However, the fact that is has such capabilities worries a lot of people.

"Oh you can turn it off, on or pause it, whenever you wish to." Oh really? Thanks guys, but really, though, can I not want it? No? I MUST buy it in order for the Xbone to function? They come together? Oh, okay.

No really though, Microsoft, why did you word it the way you did? When the system is off, the Kinect is only listening for a single voice command? But, that means it's on then? I can turn that feature off? Does this mean JUST the listening feature, or can I actually turn off the Kinect? So far, you've only told me that I can turn off, on or pause the sensors. I wonder if electrical engineers have better knowledge of this...

By the way guys, although they say you have control over your personal info, I would like to point out that:

1. Your personal info is in a database. It could be hacked, even though it is a minuscule chance.
2. Microsoft, with the "right reasons", can use this information. According to this anyway.

So, overall, everything stays the same. You are at risk as much as you are on your computer.

Connectivity
You shitlords, this is... Just...

Every Xbox owner has a broadband connection. Yeah, until I have to go on a holiday and I don't want to get charged a ton of money for a hotel connection, PER HOUR. And your stupid reason of "developers can create massive, persistent worlds that evolve even when you're not playing" is bollocks. If I wanted to play something with massive, persistent worlds, I would have gotten an MMORPG like FFXIV, which is available for current-gen. Stop masquerading what is already available as something revolutionary. 

"Your Xbox One is always ready". This means that, even though the console is off, it is on. Because everything will be updated so you don't have to wait for it to update. Therefore it is always online, waiting for updates. Why in the seven seas... GRGRAGHHHHHH


I give up. I cannot do this. The more articles I open up on the internet, the more I want to tear my hair out.

Look, if you are here reading this, thank you. And if you are reading this, you hold the responsibility to inform your friends and what-not about how shitty the Xbone is. Why? If this goes on, the game industry will get messed up. If this goes on, Microsoft will be the evil emperor they are clearly striving to be. Retailers will lose their business, people will be unemployed, shitstorm is abrewin'. 

So please, just... Tell them. If you are not sure about what's up, feel free to Google things up. Game forums, Kotaku, Destructoid and other gaming sites will tell you more than shitty mainstream media outlets will ever do. 

DAMN YOU MICROSOFT