At this year's E3 press conference, Microsoft had confirmed a few of their policies regarding the Xbox One. These policies included a restriction on sharing, renting, and reselling games. Additionally, the included and improved Kinect camera would be always on and a constant internet connection is required to play games, even if you are playing on single player. There were a lot of complaints and unhappy comments voiced afterwards and, recently, Microsoft has responded to them.
Back to the Future
Originally, game discs would be locked to a certain Xbox gamer profile and additional access keys would need to be bought in order to play on multiple consoles. This meant that, if you wanted to take a game from your house and bring it over to a friend's place to play it, you would need to pay extra. Microsoft has since announced that they will not being putting a restriction on the game discs. Additionally, this means that the Xbox One no longer needs to check every 24 hours that you are allowed to play a game you bought and that the console does not need to be constantly online. Microsoft is even removing region-lock, which means you can get games from anywhere in the world and play it back at home.
Big Brother
The update to the Xbox One policies means that you only need to be connected to the internet when you first install a game in order to get the updates and whenever you want to play online multiplayer. However, the original Kinect inclusion to the Xbox One remains the same. The new and improved Kinect camera that is included with every Xbox One console must be connected and is on at all times. Concerns have been raised that privacy may be invaded, but Microsoft has defended the Kinect camera by saying that users can control whether the camera sensing is on, off, or paused. Ideally, Microsoft wants players to be able to turn on the Xbox One with a Kinect voice command.
Have Your Say!
Who do you think will win the next generation gaming battle? Does this bit of gaming news change your mind? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
