I’m not sure if I’m more upset or sad right now. After the internet whined and whined and cried and cried, Microsoft just reversed course on its DRM and online check-in policies. You no longer have to check in every 24 hours — “After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again.” — and you can “Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today.” Great news, right internet?
WRONG.
Why? This is the infuriating part:
These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.
Gone is any notion of a family share plan, which was infinitely better for all parties involved than loaning a physical disc. Gone is the convenience of having all of your games installed on your hard drive, so you’d be able to swap from one to the next with no need to swap discs. Gone is all innovation.
What we’re left with now is an Xbox 360 with better graphics, a top-notch Kinect and TV integration. That’s about it. The PlayStation 4 is no better — it’s just a PlayStation 3 with Gaikai streaming support coming next year.
Every truly “next-gen” feature has been wiped from the Xbox One. I’m honestly, genuinely saddened by this.
I give up. You’ve won, internet. Be glad you got your way. Great job.