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And there’s one area in which Sony and Microsoft are in perfect harmony: Neither of their new machines are backward compatible with their current ones. That means your seven years’ worth of digital game purchases made over the Xbox Live Marketplace won’t function on the new machine. (Microsoft says your licenses for purchased movies, music and the like will transfer over.)

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There’s one feature of Xbox One from which we can infer quite a few conclusions: You can install any game from the disc to the console’s hard drive, and then play that game whenever you like without having to put the disc in.

Wired asked Microsoft if installation would be mandatory. “On the new Xbox, all game discs are installed to the HDD to play,” the company responded in an emailed statement. Sounds mandatory to us.

What follows naturally from this is that each disc would have to be tied to a unique Xbox Live account, else you could take a single disc and pass it between everyone you know and copy the game over and over. Since this is clearly not going to happen, each disc must then only install for a single owner.

Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc.

But what if a second person simply wanted to put the disc in and play the game without installing – and without paying extra? In other words, what happens to our traditional concept of a “used game”? This is a question for which Microsoft did not yet have an answer, and is surely something that game buyers (as well as renters and lenders) will want to know.

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And what of the persistent rumors that Xbox One games will be “always online” – that is, that single-player games would require a constant online connection to function? As it turns out, those rumors were not unfounded, but the reality is not so draconian. Xbox One will give game developers the ability to create games that use Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service, which means that they might be able to offload certain computing tasks to the cloud rather than process them on the Xbox One hardware itself. This would necessitate the game requiring a connection.

Are developers forced to create games that have these online features, and are thus not playable offline? They are not, Xbox exec Whitten said to Wired — but “I hope they do.” So the always-online future may come in incremental steps.

Vash the Stampede

May 21 2013, 10:36 AM

I'm speechless. So far, so good. All they need now is free online play.

Pianta

May 21 2013, 11:29 AM

And NO GAEMS?

Neo Metallix

May 21 2013, 12:40 PM

Also, what's with the name? It's stupid! It's not the first Xbox but this makes it sound as if it is which could be confusing to dumb consumers. Just Xbox would have been fine.

Eevee-Lv.EX

May 21 2013, 12:49 PM

Neo Metallix

May 21 2013, 12:40 PM

Also, what's with the name? It's stupid! It's not the first Xbox but this makes it sound as if it is which could be confusing to dumb consumers. Just Xbox would have been fine.

I believe its because (like you said) they want it to be an all-in-One box that does everything, so in that respect the name kinda makes sense.

Eevee-Lv.EX

May 21 2013, 12:49 PM

Neo Metallix

May 21 2013, 12:40 PM

Also, what's with the name? It's stupid! It's not the first Xbox but this makes it sound as if it is which could be confusing to dumb consumers. Just Xbox would have been fine.

I believe its because (like you said) they want it to be an all-in-One box that does everything, so in that respect the name kinda makes sense.

Neo Metallix

May 21 2013, 01:17 PM

I'm interested to see a price tag though.

Eevee-Lv.EX

May 21 2013, 01:43 PM

Neo Metallix

May 21 2013, 01:17 PM

I'm interested to see a price tag though.

Judging by the fact that the Kinect is a standard feature now I am reasonable confident that it will cost more then the PS4.

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The Xbox One doesn't have to be online all the time, but it does have to be online. Not just once in a while—once a day, according to Microsoft vice president Phil Harrison.

In a Q&A on their press site for the new Xbox, Microsoft tackles the always-on question with a strangely-worded answer: "No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet."

At the event in Redmond today, Kotaku boss Stephen Totilo asked Phil Harrison for clarification on this. And what Harrison told us might not please people who enjoy playing Xbox on military bases or other locations without Internet.

"There are many devices in your life that require the Internet to function," he said. "Xbox One is no different in that it requires, at some point in the beginning and at various times through its on state, to connect to our cloud and to our Internet. That is to deliver Xbox Live functionality, that is to deliver download content to you, that is to deliver some of the innovations around TV and entertainment that we showed today. But it doesn’t require it to be online all the time."

So how often does it check your connection? "Depends on the experience," Harrison said.

"For single-player games that don’t require connectivity to Xbox Live, you should be able to play those without interruption should your Internet connection go down. Blu-ray movies and other downloaded entertainment should be accessible when your Internet connection may be interrupted. But the device is fundamentally designed to be expanded and extended by the Internet as many devices are today."

And here's the bombshell:

Kotaku: If I’m playing a single player game, do I have to be online at least once per hour or something like that? Or can I go weeks and weeks?

Harrison: I believe it’s 24 hours.

Kotaku: I’d have to connect online once every day.

Harrison: Correct.

So the system is built to work even if your Internet connection goes down, but you still have to be connected at least once a day to use it, Harrison said. We're not sure exactly what would happen if you don't connect once per day—and that timeframe could change—but this doesn't sound good for anyone who was hoping to use Xbox One without an Internet connection.

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We had the opportunity to chat with Albert Penello, senior director of product planning at Microsoft this afternoon, who was kind enough to clarify a few topics for us regarding the recently-unveiled Xbox One. One thing we were quick to ask about was the integrated storage. 500GB sounds like a lot today -- but so did the 20GB unit in the original Xbox 360. The HDD there was, at least, replaceable. Can you do the same with its successor?

Sadly, no. Hard drives in the Xbox One are non-user-serviceable, but Penello confirmed that the USB 3.0 port is there for external storage, which can be used for everything the internal storage can be used for. That includes game installs and downloads. So, don't fret: adding storage will be just as easy as ever.

Neo Metallix

May 21 2013, 12:40 PM

I really didn't think Microsoft was this stupid.... All games linked to your profile(meaning no sharing games with friends), online required to play even single player games, all games required to be on your HDD, HDD no longer removable, controllers still use AA batteries, most of the features only available for the U.S. during launch, Live TV will require a supported receiver device with HDMI output, kinect required to function.... I think that killed any hype it could have had like the price killed the hype for PS3.

As far as games go, E3 will be where they focus in that aspect, but I really doubt they can compete with Sony or Nintendo in games when they're focusing on entertainment as a whole.

Also, what's with the name? It's stupid! It's not the first Xbox but this makes it sound as if it is which could be confusing to dumb consumers. Just Xbox would have been fine.